At the Thursday meeting of the Thursday Rotary Club of Hickory, Guy Guarino led a presentation of the club’s Strategic Plan. The plan is the result of nearly a year’s work and the purpose of today’s program is to present the Strategic Plan and to encourage the entire membership to become part of the conversation and involved in the implementation.
View the Strategic Plan Document Using This Link
The Strategic Planning process began with a meeting called by Past President Suzanne Trollan on April 1 of last year. After a great deal of discussion around the table on a variety of issues regarding the current state of the club, with respect to our rich traditions as well as future aspirations, the group decided it would be helpful to gather the thoughts of the entire membership through a survey that was conducted on April 17, 2014. Guy Guarino then agreed to chair a sub-committee to examine the survey results for emerging themes that needed to be addressed for the sustainability and growth of the club. It was this sub-committee that developed a series of Wildly Important Goals, or WIGs, around these emerging themes. The sub-committee met for 6 months from May to October to draft the plan before presenting it to the full committee in November. Finally, the plan was presented to and ratified by the board at a meeting on January 13, 2015.
Borrowing a term from Stephen Covey, Wildly Important Goals are those so important to the vitality and effective operations of the organization that without them nothing else matters. The overarching goal of the Strategic Plan and the WIGs is to reaffirm Hickory Rotary Club’s preeminence as the first and best service organization in the area. The four WIGs identified by the sub-committee are as follows:
- Building Our Brand – To be recognized as the premier service organization in our area
- Engaged Membership – To have all members engaged through participation in meetings, events, activities and membership development
- Synergized Fellowship – To build fellowship through interaction that leads to friendships and mutual support
- Serving Our Community (At Home and Around the World) – To provide relevant and sustainable service commitments that are vital to and recognized by our community
In the end, Strategic Plans and WIGs aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on without strong leaders and engaged members to put them into practice. Our club is extremely fortunate to have such members – or WIGwams as they are now affectionately known – step up to lead each WIG:
- Bruce Bumbarger (Building Our Brand)
- Steve Mull (Engaged Membership)
- Jennifer Clark (Synergized Fellowship)
- Susan Huffman (Serving Our Community)
Just as everyone has a role to play in helping our club achieve the goal of being the first and best service organization in the area, we will not be successful in achieving these goals without all hands on deck, from our newest to our Senior Exempt members.
Special thanks go to the Strategic Plan sub-committee members for their commitment of time and effort in drafting the plan from May to October last year: John Bates, Michael Blackburn, Bruce Bumbarger, Jennifer Clark, Susan Huffman, Lamar Mitchell, David Moore and Mark Seaman. In addition, we would like to thank our Assistant Governor Jack McCaskill for his guidance, leadership and engagement during this entire process.
