Dave Curry
Concept Nine - Distinguished With A Twist
All programs, including our distinguished program for clubs,
can lose their luster over the years. When done right, these
programs do provide encouragement to many club officers to
not only "fight the good fight", persevering to
the end, but also as a means of communicating a path or direction
to follow, with subsequent awards/acknowledgement. One problem
with the current system is that it does not encourage club
officers to work together year to year to achieve multi-year
successes & so we often develop a "my year"
syndrome.
Two years ago, while on the International Board, I presented
an idea to have an Honors program that would reward individual
Districts who worked together for multi-year district successes.
In essence, the concept is that districts that have three
concurrent years of being distinguished would receive a special
"Honors designation" for all three Governors who
made up that span. This encourages Governor Elects, Governors,
and Immediate Past Governors to work together for success
each year. Although not enacted at the international level
yet, we have pursued it in our district for club officers.
Imagine a program that encourages club presidents to work
together and support each other as they pursue successful
years. This program, adopted in our district two years ago,
will have a special dinner and one nights free stay at the
district convention hotel for the three club presidents who
made up the leadership team that had three concurrent years
as a distinguished club. It would even be possible for an
individual to receive this award three times as President-Elect,
President, and Immediate Past President (requiring that the
club be distinguished five years in a row!). Although we have
not completed our third year, so the jury is out on the program's
success, we do have four clubs that, if distinguished this
year (2003-04), will have achieved this milestone and will
be used to promote the future success of the program. We look
forward to honoring these club presidents for their success.
Considerations:
- Remind folks at mid-year and district conventions of the
clubs currently eligible to achieve this honors award. This
encourages perseverance and familiarizes the district with
the new program.
- Send out a letter to all incoming Lt. Governors discussing
this program (or another) so that when you meet for the
first time they are mentally prepared to be creative in
defining and implementing this program in the district.
This makes it much easier for all involved in leadership
to get into a creative spirit to develop something worthy
of district pursuit.
- Don't get caught up in the initial costs of any program.
Weigh the costs against the benefits, but also think outside
the box in how to creatively fund efforts such as this -
make it happen!
- Include programs such as this as a central part of the
your next dues increase. Offering something new and exciting
is important when requesting finances so that members can
see where funds are going and you have an opportunity to
create a district program with lasting positive effects.
Dynamic leadership always requires perseverance in implementing
new programs. New ideas, if not promoted & implemented,
remain unrealized opportunities. Once an idea is accepted
- pursue it!
For more information contact:
Name: Dave Curry
Address: 1204 W Woolman
 Butte,
MT 59701
Phone: (406) 723-8067
email: Dave Curry
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