 |
|
We spend a great deal of time in Rotary talking about what we give, whether it’s our time, talents, resources, professional expertise or energy. How often though do we stop to consider what Rotary gives back to us?
Beyond the pins and certificates, are rewards that are much more personal and enduring. If we want people not only to join Rotary but to stay, there must be something meaningful about the experience that makes them feel: “This is worth my time. This is adding something to my life. I belong here.”
For me, much of that experience can be captured in three simple words: Relationship. Reach. Reward. Together, they form what I call the R.R.R. Effect—Reaping Rotary Rewards.
Relationship: The People Are the Story
My own journey began before Rotary, at a Rotaract event in Tobago. I did not walk into that event imagining where the journey would eventually take me. I simply walked into a room and met people.
Looking back, there is something profound about that: one room, one event and one decision to show up. As a direct result of that, there are people in my life today whom I probably would never have known otherwise.
That is the first great Rotary reward: Relationship.
The longer we stay in Rotary, the more we realise that relationships mean much more than networking. They are found in the person who encourages us to accept a role when we are unsure we are ready, the Rotarian who sees something great in us that we have not yet recognised in ourselves or the person we call for advic on just about everything.
Throughout my journey from Rotaract into Rotary, every stage brought opportunities to serve and lead yet the most lasting aspect has been that people I have met. These people are truly the story. These people taught me, challenged me, trusted me and gave me opportunities to try.
When we invite someone to Rotary, therefore, we may be doing much more than inviting them to a meeting. We may be introducing them to a future mentor, professional connection, lifelong friend or even someone who is going to change the trajectory of their life.
We may join Rotary to serve, but very often, we stay because of the people and the relationships we build.
Reach: Rotary Makes Our World Bigger
As those relationships grow, something else happens: our world expands. That, to me, is Reach.
Most of us join a Rotary club and soon discover that we have joined something much larger than we anticipated. Our experience can extend from our club to our district, our region and basically, the entire world.
As my own Rotary journey expanded, so did my perspective. We discover people thousands of miles away addressing similar community challenges. We encounter expertise we did not know existed and people working in different cultures and circumstances, all speaking the same language of service.
This is where Rotary becomes incredibly powerful as reach creates possibility. One club may have an idea, another may have expertise and someone else may have a connection. Together, an idea that seemed too large for one club can become a reality.
Our clubs may be local, but our Rotary experience and our impact certainly does not have to be!
Reward: Who Are You Becoming?
The third R is Reward.
Recognition has its place, but perhaps Rotary’s greatest rewards are much less tangible. The greatest reward may simply be who we become.
Think about the person you were when you first joined. What can you do today that you could not do then? Perhaps Rotary taught you to speak publicly,manage projects, lead volunteers or work across generations and cultures.
Some growth is harder to place on a résumé. Rotary can build confidence, resilience and perspective. It can also teach us that leadership is not always about being the person at the front of the room. Sometimes leadership means giving somebody else the opportunity to stand there.
There were people who took a chance on me, trusted me with responsibility, amplified my voice and allowed me to grow. Because someone did that for me, part of my responsibility is to do the same for someone else.
Therefore, the reward becomes something we pass on. The opportunity someone gave us becomes the opportunity we give to another person. The mentorship we received becomes the mentorship we can now provide.
Are You Experiencing Rotary?
Perhaps why we stay can be captured in three more words: People. Possibility. Purpose.
Relationship gives us the people. Reach opens possibility. Reward strengthens our sense of purpose.
Using my journey through Rotaract and Rotary, thus far, I can look back over the last 19 years and see the three Rs woven throughout it: Relationship, the people who invested in me. Reach, the opportunities that took me beyond what I imagined. Reward, the person those experiences helped me become.
So perhaps the question is not simply, “Are you a Rotarian?” but rather, “Are you experiencing Rotary?”
Build the relationships. Expand your reach. Continue to learn, lead, serve and grow. Reap the rewards and then help someone else to do the same too!
Giselle Holder
District Membership Chair
Rotary District 7030