Tackling Lighthouse Award with the Learning Committee

Happy Holidays Rotarians! The holiday season is a time to reflect, rejoice, and celebrate all the accomplishments over the last year and prepare our hearts for a new season of Service Above Self. Congratulations, you are already halfway through the Rotary year! As you prepare your club service and administration for the new year, I invite you to check in on where your club stands regarding being honored with the District 7090 Lighthouse Award. Several requirements are related to promoting a learning culture among your club to help support your leadership, club officers, and new Rotarians in acquiring the necessary skills to unite and take action to create lasting change effectively. The learning committee can support you in achieving the criteria for the District 7090 Lighthouse Award. 

-submitted by Aaron Carlson

Several requirements are related to promoting a learning culture among your club to help support your leadership, club officers, and new Rotarians in acquiring the necessary skills to unite and take action to create lasting change effectively. The learning committee can support you in achieving the criteria for the District 7090 Lighthouse Award, available at https://rotary7090.org/documents/en-ca/e260d7f1-0d63-4634-a8c8-1bc3b144b4e3/1/

Remember, 50% of new members (not your entire membership), need to attend Rotary 101. The Learning Committee hosts this event twice a year. The first one is being offered on Tuesday, December 5, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. You can register for the Rotary Web Talk: Rotary 101 Fireside Chat on the website.

The login information for the district ClubRunner is the same as your login information for your Rotary Club’s ClubRunner. If you need assistance registering and logging in, please contact me.

Presidents and Membership Chairs, please encourage new members who have joined Rotary over the last 18 months to be aware of this offering and help them register. We will offer a second session later in the spring.

Does the day or time not fit with your new member’s schedule? They can take an on-demand “New Member Basics” course on the Rotary Learning Platform. They will be required to log in using their my.rotary.org credentials. (Note RI website credentials differ from ClubRunner; new users must register a login). Once logged in, they can navigate to “About Rotary” and enroll in “New Member Basics.” Once they have completed the course, they will receive a certificate of completion.

Are you looking for a topic for an upcoming Club Assembly? You can demonstrate My Rotary Website and its features (i.e., Learning Center, Club Central Goals, Donation History, Rotary Showcase, and much more). During the demonstration, you can walk members through the easy registration process. Please invite me if you need a resource in your club to demonstrate my.rotary.org.

It is generally agreed throughout the Rotary world that the success or failure of a Rotary club depends on the quality of club leadership. It has been said that poor club leadership is the primary cause of membership losses. Because of the annual turnover of club officers, Rotary needs a constant influx of knowledgeable Rotarians with the leadership skills necessary to move a club forward. A voluntary organization's leadership skills often differ from business leadership skills. RLI provides a fun, engaging, and dynamic educational opportunity for quality Rotary education. The teaching methods are not lecture-based and are designed around building and strengthening your connections outside the club to increase your collaboration through impact.

The learning committee hosted Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) Part 1 earlier this fall. Our next offering is coming up in February. The training will be hosted over three sessions on February 6, 13, and 20; attendees must attend all three sessions for credit. The sessions are for two hours, starting at 7:00 p.m. and ending at 9:00 p.m. To accommodate people, we offer this training on Zoom. Participants will learn leadership skills, engaging members, navigating the Rotary world, creating service projects, foundation, public image, and more.

Keep an eye out for an article and email from RLI Chair Paul Gibel in the coming weeks for a link to the registration page.

The learning committee partners with district directors on topics that might interest Rotarians. These offerings are called Rotary Web Talks and are hosted on Zoom. During the fall, we offered sessions that covered Abuse Prevention Tools, How to Host a Foundation Event, Strategic Planning, and Youth Services.

We will offer more opportunities in the Spring; keep an eye out for the district calendar and your email for Rotary Web Talks that might interest you. Please email me if you have suggestions for topics or things you want to learn more about.

As we prepare for President Elect Training in January and Club Leadership Training (training for incoming club officers), we need you to update ClubRunner. Navigate to your club’s website > Member Area > Organization> Executives and Directors > Navigate to 2023-2024 (and 203-2024) and populate the information. If your President or Secretary needs assistance obtaining this information, please reach out, and I’ll help you.

To qualify for the District 7090 Lighthouse Award, you must complete five out of fifteen tasks. These five are easy ones that the learning committee can assist you with. How do you keep track of the completion of these five tasks? I recommend that you utilize your club assembly to promote district learning opportunities. If club members take advantage of these offerings, offer them a few minutes of Club Assembly time to debrief the club on what they learned!

Toward the end of the year, the President can also email me, and I can verify the attendance rolls to see if anyone from your club attended a learning event that will qualify for the District 7090 Lighthouse Award.

If you see another task your club can complete but don’t know how to tackle, email me, and I’ll help connect you to the appropriate district support.