Club Direction Meeting

Friends, it was indeed amazing how we were all connected with a sense of purpose in yesterdays meeting. Here is a perspective about the same. Would be lovely to have your thoughts/comments.

At the outset I thought it was very kind of Dr.John to have joined us for one more meeting despite having multiple priorities seeking his attention and involvement (since he is leaving this week for India).

Dr.John also kindly offered us the invocation address which I felt was crisp, clear and inspiring. I thought it was interesting how he tactfully addressed any potential doubts possibly lingering in the minds of his audience by saying, "some of you may be wondering why is this guy still here, we gave him a send off party the other day";

The message in the invocation address was profound - that of learning to look at our knowledge/experience as a treasure that has been bestowed onto us, for which our gratitude will have been conveyed in full only when we eventually transfer it back to others. Further that we have to see beyond national, ethnical or other affiliations when we think about doing this transfer; with his example Dr.John illustrated and inspired us to consider that it is not only  possible but also necessary for the loop of knowledge to closed.  I thought it was interesting he used the world "Grateful" to describe his feeling towards the young doctor who he had mentored. This emphasizes the importance of his message- it suggests we can be grateful to whom we give,  because if not for their cooperation the act of giving wouldn't be possible.


The invocation session was followed by an intensely engaging workshop by our new President, TM Lawrence. The workshop was aimed at setting the much needed direction for the club. Lawrence facilitated the session with passion and clarity; a brilliant balance was struck between concept presentation, reflective questioning, individual and group exercise, all of which helped extract some very meaningful outputs (presented bellow). Above all, participants actively engaged in the session by querying and contributing.


After the workshop TM Saaj and  TM Girish thanked everyone and offered their concluding remarks.

Here is a description of the workshop outcomes:
All members contributed to the creation of the mission vision and values of the club.
Further all members also agreed to serve the mission of the club which is:
Mission of our Club
To help each other to become effective communicators, leaders, trainers coaches and mentors. 

All members also promised (by a show of hands) that they would demonstrate commitment to the club values we have together created, for only if we practice these values day in and day out will the mission be accomplished. And these values are:

Values of our Club : 
Punctuality; 
Receiving Feedback; 
Giving Feedback; 
Sharing and Contributing; 
Regular Attendance; 
Active Participation; 
Quality Content

Finally members also agreed that if the values were practiced day in and day out, it gives us a vision of an ideal we could achieve . This vision is: 

Vision of our Club: 
To become a trendsetter club that makes a difference by achieving mastery 

In summary all of the members have been wonderfully aligned and have agreed to demonstrate  commitment to the Club Mission, Values and Vision. Many thanks to Lawrence for the valuable session.

Further more, the below three aspects have been agreed:
Members will constantly align speeches with the Vision, Mission and Values. This will be done in the following three ways:
1. Each speaker will describe the purpose and objectives of their speech before starting preparation. For this speakers will take audience feedback in order to understand expectations before preparing speech
2. A "Club Values Alignment Auditor" role will be introduced in each session.
This role will critically evaluate if the club is aligned with the values and will give a report at the end.
3. After the report by the "Club Values Alignment Auditor"the VPE will facilitate a quick meeting to plan for the next session.

The following role-players have agreed to the meeting:
1. Sajan/Girish (Speaker/Evaluator)
2. Rajan Mehta/Salar (Speaker/Evaluator)
3. Sunil/Elango (Speaker/Evaluator)
TM Lawrence: Club Values Alignment Auditor

I urge the speakers to lead initiate conversation in social media groups to ensure they have gathered as many feedbacks about expectations from your session so you are not caught by the "Values Alignment Auditor"

Looking to have a fantastic engagement and progress towards our goals.
Sincerely,
Saaj