M-E-M-B-E-R-S-H-I-P
If you will remember from last month’s article that I wrote about the three areas that we constantly talk about in Lionism; Leadership, Membership and Service. These areas of focus are ingrained in everything that we do just take a look at our Global Action Team. What are the three positions that we appoint? Global Leadership Team, Global Membership Team and Global Service Team.
We appoint someone to each of these positions on a multiple district and a district level so I thought that with so much emphasis being placed on these areas maybe it would be interesting to explore each area as an acronym. This of course is my interpretation of each.
Last month I discussed Leadership so this time I have decided to take on Membership.
M – Mentor. We have to remember to continuously mentor new members. A mentor is a person or friend who guides a less experienced person by building trust and modeling positive behaviors. An effective mentor understands that his or her role is to be dependable, engaged, authentic, and tuned into the needs of the mentee
E – Encouraging. We must always offer encouragement to our fellow Lions for any job. Positive reinforcement is paramount to continued success and sustainability
M – Meaningful. Make all experiences meaningful for your fellow Lions. We have to continue to make their existence and experience within Lions meaningful.
B – Believable. This goes hand-in-hand with meaningful. Our mission and reason for doing what we do has to be believable and has to continue to be so. If people don’t believe in the cause then the sustainability that we need is lost. Projects and our actions have to reflect this or people will lose interest.
E – Excitement. Continue to make all aspects of Lionism exciting for each member. When we start being complacent is when we lose our edge and begin to lose members. You have heard the old adage “the fire inside” well there is truth to this. Making things exciting keeps people wanting to be involved and be a part of the excitement.
R – Respect. For success in any endeavor anywhere you must have respect. Respect for what you are doing and the respect of others for doing it. We use the term Respect for others a bit flippantly but it rings true. Lions Clubs over the years have earned the respect of their respective communities through the actions of their members and they continue to garner that respect.
S – Supportive. As Lions we must be supportive of one another and of our communities. New and experienced members alike need to have that support of their fellow Lions albeit through an encouraging word or an atta boy. After all by definition To be supportive is to give help or assistance, or to hold something or someone up
H – Helpful. I think this may be the easiest one to explain but the hardest one to do. We all know what it means to be helpful but I think the hardest thing is to know when to be helpful without making the person feel helpless. Probably the easiest thing is just to offer assistance for any and all situations and let others know it is there whether it is used or not.
I – Imaginative. Be imaginative. Use your imagination to create and reinvent things to fit the changing world about us. Think outside the proverbial box and remember just because we have done it a certain way for a hundred years doesn’t mean we have to do it that same way for the next 100.
P – Pride. Always have pride in what we do as Lions. That doesn’t mean puff up the chest and be egotistical. What it means is be proud of what being a Lion means and that you are a part of that prideful tradition.
I know I cut this a little short but I did want the opportunity to say Happy Holidays to all members of Multiple District 36. I hope this festive time of year finds you and yours in the best of spirits especially with the trying times we have experienced over the last two years. The greatest gift anyone has ever received is family and we need to embrace it and enjoy it because if this has taught us anything it has taught us about the fragility and fleetingness of life. I wish each of you a very Merry Christmas and the Happiest of Holidays.