Since 2018 Rotary District 7120 has offered facilitated strategic planning workshops to those clubs who have chosen to engage in this process. The purpose of these workshops is to strategically position clubs to “Create an Exciting Vision of the Future”. Specifically, the process is designed to transform clubs by providing a clear focus on key critical objectives. This is done by defining goals to better set priorities, achieving these goals with less time & money, retaining members thru richer engagement, and attracting new members. This process has allowed clubs to better use members’ skills, club actions becoming proactive not reactive, service projects becoming more relevant, identifying possible threats to club growth and organization health, renewing energy, creating excitement & restoring commitment, and more effectively using budget dollars.
The workshop, usually conducted with anywhere from 8 to 15 club volunteers, is divided into four major sections:
1) an analysis of the previously completed Club Health Check Survey focusing on examining Club Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats in five categories: Club Experience, Service and Socials, Members, Image, and Business and Operations.
2) the development of a Vision Statement for the club.
3) A determination of what category to work on first.
4) Action Planning – What specifically to do to get to where the club wants to go.
Until early 2020 approximately ten of the sixty-five clubs in the district completed the five-hour in-person process, usually done on a Saturday morning although it has also been conducted in evening sessions.
The pandemic brought a halt to the traditional in-person workshop model. Therefore, over a period of several months the D7120 District Strategic Planning Team transformed the in-person Strategic Planning Workshop (SPW) into a virtual workshop. The team, led by PDG Bill Gormont of the Greece, NY Rotary Club, has created a COVID-friendly virtual workshop that includes a slideshow, break-out room discussions, polls, and activities that help clubs realize their fullest potential. In addition, there are also pre-workshop videos to help begin the process.
This virtual workshop was successfully rolled out this past June with the Brighton, NY Rotary Club which met on two successive Monday evenings during its regular meeting time. As a result of these efforts the D7120 Strategic Planning Team is now able to offer an effective and worthwhile strategic planning process to clubs well beyond the borders of the district.
Here are testimonials from a recent workshop:
This is the best seminar workshop I’ve experienced in my 42 years in Rotary! Learning how to strategically plan to grow our club was amazing. It is a process, not a race!
Once we had the guidelines, and under the direction of our facilitators, we actually discovered our strengths, our threats, and more.
The highly engaging and interactive style helped our club focus with a clearer lens on areas for opportunities for growth in our club. The process was just what we feel our club needs. This was time well spent and will help ensure the future of our club.
Thank you soooooooooooooooo much.
If you would like more information on the Strategic Planning Workshop contact:
PDG Bill Gormont, billgormont1@gmail.com, 585-802-6813 (M)
PDG Scott MacDonell, smacdone@rochester.rr.com, 585-281-3324 (M)