Programme week commencing 29th March 2012

Oddly vocations is not a term which is often used these days, however much emphasis is placed on Vocational Service in Rotary. Many used to refer to a vicar’s job as vocation and likewise with teachers etc, today we talk more about careers and ensuring we get our Life/Work balance right. The dictionary definition of vocation is – strong feeling of fitness for a particular career or occupation or a person’s employment, esp. regarded as requiring dedication. Paul Harris when he started Rotary in 1907, put vocation at the forefront of his new movement, where it still remains today.

Lots of people have been asking the question, ‘what do we tell people they will get out of Rotary?’ Many already recognise the charitable work that Rotary undertakes both locally and internationally, some consider this to be carried out by those who are now retired. However perhaps Rotary and those who observe our activities have missed the point and emphasis, Rotary is encouraging its members to use their vocations in the service of others. Whilst doing this, Rotarians will learn new skills and develop existing ones, they will build on their experiences in new environments and apply their experience in new and different situations, this provides valuable opportunities that some people might need to pay huge amounts of money for if they were to attend external training.

Building our Team

Last week we were considering group dynamics and how our new District 1100 eClub needs to consider developing our relationships in order to move forward as an eClub. This week we need to consider how each of us brings our different vocation to the team. Without understanding these vocations, it will be difficult to understand how we can get the best results from the team, plus vocation is different from the current job or employment we have, vocation is more, the skills, talents, experience, knowledge and aspirations we have to develop these attributes. For example drawing skills might not be your strongest attribute, but you may wish it was, however you’ve got some fantastic creative ideas, so how can you develop these through others who have the drawings skills, but maybe not the creative ideas. As we develop our team:

• let us share our vocations,
• let us share what we believe we can bring, our skills, talents, experience,
• let us share our aspirations of things we’d like to do as we expand our vocational experience
• let us share what we would like to learn more about