[Rotary] January meetings- a long summary of importance

[Donna Schuler]

Dear Rotarians,

We had three excellent meetings this month, with high levels of
participation. The first two featured speakers who surely drew in the
crowd, Steve Lund, Chairman of the Board for the Mendocino Coast Hospital,
and Dan Hamburg, 5th District Supervisor of Mendocino County, and were
luncheon meetings. Last night we held our third evening meeting (Oct was
our launch, Nov, and Jan), the new format, to invite busy working people
and younger professionals.

The first fifteen minutes were social, some people at the bar, some at the
tables, and a few loading up on the tasty appetizers. We had a new young
professional Jason Moore attend for the first time. We kept the first
section of the meeting brief- happy dollars, anniversaries, sunshine
report, and pin check.

We then watched a TED talk video on Mobius, a sturdy SUV designed, built
for, and by Africans. We had a lively round table discussion about how this
type of innovative thinking solves many problems.

The discussion was a spring board into our next section of the meeting,
which had a leadership focus. I presented a concise handout from a book I
have used over the years with groups. Most people have heard of acronyms,
S.M.A.R.T. goals SWOT analysis, and things like this in business. But when
it comes down to any organization- whether it is a small service club or a
Fortune 500 company, there is always a need to find out what is going to
help the organization. And that thing is the people. People are the
valuable resource. So it is worthwhile to take a look at where our
strengths and weaknesses are. We reviewed the hand out and graphic
together, which has these things


   - Attention to results
   - Accountability
   - Commitment
   - Healthy Discord
   - Trust


Actually I lied- it has the opposite of those things: Avoidance of
Accountability, Inattention to Results, Lack of Commitment, Fear of
Conflict, and Absence of Trust. I bullet listed above with the POSITIVE
opposites of dysfunctional behaviors

We did not come to any conclusions because of the lack of time last night.
Nor did I expect to. I would say one of the most important for us to say is
- we CAN have a lively discussion when we don't agree- without hurting
feelings. Being in a trusting group means we are genuinely open with one
another about our mistakes and weaknesses.

After those two helpful parts of the meeting with excellent discussions, we
were ready to take on the elephant (s) in the room. What is our succession
plan- namely who will be our President July first, and who is our President
Nominee? And what happened to Casino night planning for February 23rd? What
are we doing to bring in new members?

We did have have a trusting discussion as to who would be our next
President Elect (PE) and President nominee (PN). President Elect Nominees,
whether you were present or not were: Heather, Jeff, Matt, Pete and Brandt.
Gary made the excellent point that a president has a whole lot of backup to
run meetings when the current president presides. So true. I feel supported
by every past president.

SUCCESSION PLAN
Jeff agreed to serve as our President Nominee, but we still need our
President Elect. As our DG Bob Rogers pointed out last week, we will lose
our charter without a president. Let's continue to give support to our
potential PE's.

CASINO NIGHT
Casino night has been on the calendar since last April. I have asked for
co-chairs, and Jerry did secure two excellent prizes. Last night we decided
it is still on the table, but it would have to be later, OR we just do not
hold it this year, and possibly go with a fundraising idea Ray has.
Fundraisers are the highway to service projects.

MEMBERSHIP
Membership will not go anywhere soon with members calling out in our
meetings 'we need new members!' especially when there is a potential new
member present. That is a big no-no. I hope we did not scare Jason away.

One of the reasons we are failing at gaining new members is that our club
members have a poor record of attending the District Assembly in April
where we get trained, or at least following established methods. We have
had all top quality  meetings with excellent programs to invite potentials
to, and our club does have a 51 year history and is highly regarded.
Another other reason is because we have too many speaker format meetings
and not enough mixers and assemblies like last night.

Sean is our Membership chair with John C. Co-chairing. If we have a speaker
cancel in the upcoming weeks, the meeting's focus will be on membership. I
have a long list of leads of people who have expressed interest, which I
gave to Sean.

*Keep a look out in the Beacon for the advertisement that John Porter
submitted for Community Grant applicants.

*Jody will be sending out an email soon to get Rotarians to join him in
presenting dictionaries to 3rd graders. And then it will be scholarship
time soon.

*Our January board meeting has been moved to accommodate a board member who
would have missed next Thursday. It will be Monday 1/22/18 at noon at the
Mendocino Hotel.

Please feel free to call me.
Warm regards,
Donna

Donna Schuler
Strategic Management Consulting
President, Mendocino Rotary Club
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