Why You Should Fund Your Managers to Join Rotary

The Managing Director said "you are joining Rotary" …"huh" I said that's for old blokes! Well now I'm an old bloke and I've been in Rotary for over 30 years... So what you may ask…!

I am now a member of my eighth Rotary Club and I have also been a member of clubs in five countries. So what has Rotary taught me and how might it help developing in your managers.

There are obvious advantages that come with being a Rotarian and they're not just about the old "its just for business networking". Sure that is an obvious outcome however I have seen plenty of inept members almost destroy the positive side of the opportunity by their behaviour in their Rotary club. If you join a club with the view of just selling your products and services to other members you may well be very disappointed. I have however over the years sold are large proportion of my services both as a financier and corporate trainer through my Rotary connections. What I have said is not contradictory.... its more a matter of how you go about things. People like to deal with individuals they can trust and in Rotary you gain trust and respect from the efforts you put in on behalf of your club and of course the projects they are involved in. 

Firstly through involvement in the club projects you are exposed to how "true" and effective teams work. Because all members are volunteers there are no individuals with legitimate authority they can rely on. This also teaches you sound human relations skills as you need to work well with others who are likely to be fairly self sufficient and competent in their own right. You will also learn how to sell as you will need to sell you ideas on how to do things and also to sell your particular point of view on what should be accepted as a legitimate use of your time and what is not.

A Rotary club is run somewhat along similar lines to any company or organisation and if you accept positions in your club you will gain experience in financial control, secretarial duties, directorships and of course as president, a CEO. Even the position of Club sergeant teaches you crowd control and most of all... public speaking. If you think about it all activities involved in Rotary have parallels in your career however Rotarians will usually be a little kinder about helping you overcome your shortcomings than your company or boss will. If you are always late for meetings you may cop a small fine from your club sergeant however if you constantly do that at work and you may well get fired. Which way would you rather learn timeliness.

In Rotary you will be exposed to all kinds of leaders from autocrats to democrats. Learning how deal with a range of individuals in a work type scenario will always be valuable.

Where ever people gather there will be politics so you should (or will) learn and develop a great deal of political savvy as well. All clubs have disputes over issues as simple as where to meet, to as complicated as which types of charity or projects they should support or not. There are always more in need than there are resources available to help. Here you learn how to make hard decisions that really can impact on the lives of others.

Rotary is great training for managers!

How to Fix Business Schools

Article by Paul Hemp

Scrap the MBA

"How do we fix business schools? Scrap the MBA If you believe that MBAs and the education they receive are at least partly to blame for the current economic mess, what changes must we make to management education to prevent something like this from happening again?" 

A conversation with Henry Mintzberg a long time detractor of MBA's

Article and Audio here: Scrap MBA

Ric's Comment to Harvard (also published on site)

Mintzberg is correct, "most of the things a manager needs to know-whether that's how to motivate [inspire] people or assess a balance sheet-are context-specific and not universally applicable".

As an ex financier I learnt how to lend money by being sent to collect it from delinquent borrowers for six years. Only late in the process was I able (and permitted) to renegotiate and rewrite existing loans. During this period I learnt how to assess what we called the five C's of Credit particularly the character component. Standing alone in front of shot gun armed and distressed farmer teaches you a lot about character ...and quickly. We didn't have mobile phones in those days so you also learnt a little self reliance as well and of course the all important, how to close a very critical sale... don't shoot me I'm only twenty one. The last couple of years I also supervised (under supervision of a manager) the activities of others, the beginnings of my 'management' training. What ever happened to "supervisors"?

Finally into lending. I wrote loan submissions with no approval rights for two years while the financial controller taught me financial analysis and my direct manager sent back my lending proposals with words "so what" in red pen after each unsubstantiated or illogical statement. If I didn't know how to answer to the "so what" I was curtly told "go and ask the customer". From this I learnt how businesses operate across a broad range of industries and how to deal with senior executives of large companies and find out what I needed to know, diplomatically. What did I learn... everything from the complications and tax implications of shifting income to overseas divisions and why and how my customer did it to... how an injection moulding machine works. My customers taught me business and how it works (or doesn't for that matter). Of course at the same time I was studying the legal and technical aspect of the financial products we offered.

I also of course learnt from my 'allowed' mistakes. Lending limits were finally granted and I was a supervisor (again), this was in a lending department. Early on in my new role I released a forklift under pressure from a 'good' existing customer without getting the deposit cheque cleared, which was of course was a "cardinal sin". The factory and the forklift burnt... it was arson... no insurance recovery. I was requested to tell my story which was then published nation wide (supposedly anonymously) as a learning bulletin. I was also asked "what did you learn Richard". Well I did a dumb thing however I wasn't stupid so I replied "expletive I'll never do that again". The company's response.. money well spent then.

I say it again Mintzberg is correct, management learning is "context specific".

p.s. Please if you get to talk to Mr Mintzberg again can you explain to him that "you can't motivate staff, because all motivation comes from within". You may however be able buy understanding and using their motivations "inspire" them.

Richard Townsend (orglearn.org)