• Scott is a Past District Governor of a Houston District and he is currently a member of the Rotary Club of Austin
• For the last three years he has been District 5870’s Polio Plus Chair; this year he has transitioned into the Ambassador of Rotary Culture
• Oh…and he is a very proud graduate of OU (okay I’ll spell it out!…the University of Oklahoma!) with degrees in business and petroleum land management
Scott began his program saying he was not going to define culture. He was going to have an interactive program where we would have to participate. He first presented several example slides and asked us members to tell him what we thought were the different cultures in the pictures.
He then asked what we thought the culture of Rotary International is; the responses were service, community, peace-making, diverse, generous in giving. Rotarians worldwide are welcoming international travelers i.e. welcoming them to their meetings and even into their homes.
What is Rotary Central Texas’ culture? -- our answers--awesome, generous in giving.
He ultimately wanted us to find self-discovery of the culture of our club, South Austin. Some things that make up culture are attitude, beliefs, space and rituals.
He asked what we thought the culture of our club is, and some examples were -- laid-back, informal, service, local service projects, welcoming, friendly, acceptance of other faiths/religions, values, inquisitive, diverse, adaptable, tradition, different type of members, an attitude.
Our attitude toward service and social projects brings members together; bonding occurs when we do things outside the meeting.
Scott furthers that culture is what “gets you there” that is -- helping a club to grow. Clubs should know what they want their club to be—what kind of culture they want to be and to share. Culture can include attitudes, beliefs, space and rituals.
Strategic planning is one way for a club to determine who they are and who they want to be. On the District website, there is a fill-in-the-blank form for strategic planning that can take as little or as much time as you want to put into the planning process---to determine what type of club we want to be going forward. The process has you ask some of the same questions—who are we? Who do we want to attract as new members?
Scott also informed us that the District has grant money for some membership projects.
PDG Bob Crouch is the contact to see what is available for membership grants.