How can you make a difference?

First of all, to avoid any assumption, can we make the difference? Are we able to give back to less fortunate and share our skills to the people in need? Can we make a difference as an individual or are we more effective working within a group?

I’m not expecting a “Yes” or “No” answer as I believe that we will receive a unique answer from each person.

I’ve attended the training workshop organised by the Rotaract Club of Jumeirah which initially aimed at equipping its members with the right knowledge that will take them to the other level. A very interesting discussion sparked on how efficient the club was and how can we make a bigger impact to the community.

The interesting part is that triggering change take time, efforts and money. May also a lot of tenacity and self confidence. But when you see all the Rotary achievements stretching from building a sustainable water program, fighting polio and instilling a sense of responsibility and leadership to the next generations, you realise that nothing is impossible, as long as you’ve got the will and the right network to tap into.

The history of the Rotary is very eloquent success story. Founded in 1905, the Rotary counts now 34,118 and 1,222, 293 members across the globe. This shows how a universal idea can be embedded in many cultures and bring the same expected result, “Service above Self”.
If you’d like to know more about us and share any skill that you have, visit our website and drop us a note. Rotaract stands for “Rotary in Action” and we have all it takes to reflect that concept.

What would it take to change the world?

Video: Rotary - Make a World of Difference

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Born leader or leader to be?

Dear followers,

I’ve came across this very interesting opinion piece written by the Managing Director of the Market Leadership Centre, Dr Tommy Weir and author of a book entitled “The CEO Shift”.

The expert believes that building responsibilities into future leaders is done since our childhood through our family environment.

The writer uses a great analogy to explain that Sheikh Hamdan considers his father as his tutor in life and he continually learns from him. Dr Tommy Weir strongly maintains that while school meets the academic requirements, it is the family which instils the value system, social conscience, and the practice of daily life.

Based on his analysis, successful preparation requires exposure to future challenges and role requirements long before they held a leadership role. Guidance is key for professional growth. Securing opportunities provide future leaders with a chance to lead. Finally, support and continuous encouragement by coaching a leader help further improve.

Now my question is, do you agree with this opinion?

Leadership, management and being seen as successful are the big buzz words of the moment. But do we all want to be CEOs? Where is the space for personal development? Aren’t we all conditioned to be competitive and forget to work on our professional relationships?

I believe that coming together on any project is key. Building personal friendship and long-lasting work relationship should make everyone a leader on their respective fields. We see that every day with our relationship with the Rotary Club of Jumeirah, and the great networking platform it provides to his members.

Don’t you think that great geographic, cultural and professional diversity are the future of each international firm?

I would love to hear your thoughts as young professionals.

Eid Mubarak

Eid which means “festivity” in Arabic and marks the end of Ramadan. This day celebrates the conclusion of the twenty nine or thirty days of dawn-to-sunset fasting. On behalf of the Rotaract Club of Jumeirah, we want to wish Eid Mubarak to all our members, followers, supporters and sponsors.

It’s been a fantastic month of Ramadan, with members of the Rotaract Club of Jumeirah who kept focus on all their volunteering and professional development activities.

Ramadan is the month of devotion and reflection, a month of service and charity, a month of family and community gatherings. These are also international values that our Club believes in and brings to life through all our community service activities.

Under its tagline service and fellowship which self conveys the humanitarian spirit of the organisation; the Rotaract Club of Jumeirah strives to promote international understanding and peace. We are an international program for adults ages 18 to 30 who want to make a difference, founded in 1968 by Rotary International, an association of clubs made up of service-minded business and professional leaders.

Today we are more than 7,300 Rotary club-sponsored Rotaract clubs with some 170,000 members over 150 countries.

Service and fellowship are the key values that drive our success. Now at your level, how would you like to make a difference and support your community? In that spirit of reflection, what shall we do to improve our volunteering activities in the UAE? Share your thoughts and feedback with us.

Also, keep on following us as there’s more activities coming your way!

The charity iftar organised by Dubai Acts 4 East African Drought in collaboration with the Rotaract Club of Jumeirah exceeded expectations

Dear followers,

It’s been a month now that the Rotaract Club of Jumeirah has been approached by members of the community, very touched by the famine in Somalia but also; determined to make a change, with what they have.

Since the beginning of their support to this cause in Somalia, Dubai Acts 4 East African Drought shown commitment, dedication, hard work and passion for a cause that they fully believe and support.

A series of fund raising events have been organised in collaboration with the Rotaract Club of Jumeirah to raise awareness on the situation in Somalia. And also, to find solutions where any citizen could contribute his way.

This fund raising exercise started by generous donations from members of the Rotary Club, who were fully supportive of the project. Flea 4 Charity which is an initiative aiming at helping causes in the region was also a main driver.

The team of volunteers came across generous donors who made the difference. The project has been taken now to Egypt, where members of the Rotaract Heliopolis decided to follow the same concept and raise funds through a charity iftar. The money collected will also be given to the Red Crescent and support their humanitarian aid in Somalia.

This series of events culminated with a Charity Iftar at Qamardeen on Friday August 26, where all tickets have been sold out two days ahead of the event and over 200 guests were in attendance.

I’d like to end up that post by congratulating all the people involved in that initiative who made a difference. Dubai Acts 4 East African Drought created an impact and unveiled a harsh reality in the Horn of Africa, by focusing on the positive and acting rather than remaining a passive witness.

Well done guys!

Death by Meeting - A Rotaract Guide

One of the best things about my work at a consulting firm is the long lines interesting-looking books that line the office walls. If I read every book on the shelves (which my CEO seems to have done already) I'll be a walking consulting firm all on my own.

So I started with 'Death by Meeting' by Patric Lencioni.

The first 217 pages are a mini-novel that put the model in context, and the next 37 pages summarize the meeting aspects.

How to read:

The novel part of the book does such a good job that I would just skip to 'Problem #1' on page 225 and read about how to make my meetings better from there. Or, if you don't have time to read the novel, start from p. 218 and your golden.

The takeaway:

Death by Meeting prescribes 4 Types of Meetings

1. The 5-minute Daily Check-in
2. The 45-90 minute Weekly Tactical Meeting
3. The 120-240 minute Monthly Strategic Meeting
4. The 1-2 day Quarterly off-site reviews

How to Apply to Rotaract:

Rotaract is a special situation because we meet once a week, but the meeting strategies listed here can work pretty well if we stretch the time-span.

• Combined 'daily check-in' & lightning round at the beginning of each weekly meeting.
• Tactical meeting once a month.
• Strategic meeting for 2-4 hours every 4 months on a Saturday (if we have a pressing strategic need we can schedule an Ad Hoc strategic meeting for the Saturday immediately after our Tuesday meeting).
• Off-site "Quarterly Review" twice a year, we have an off-site where we all go to someones house or somewhere to review the really big picture.

I'd suggest that one of those off-sites be a whole- day meeting at someone's house on a Friday or Saturday, and the other be a weekend away in Fujairah or Oman or somewhere. - Especially if we have somewhere where we can all stay for free.

A Description of Each Type of Meeting:

1 The 5-minute Daily Check-in: Share your activities and schedule.

Keys to Success:

• Do the entire meeting standing.
• I mean it! Don't sit down!
• Keep the meeting to administrative, logistical topics only.
• Don't cancel unless not a single person can make it: even two people is enough to make it effective.

2 The 45-90 minute Weekly Tactical Meeting: Review the weekly metrics and activities, and resolve obstacles and tactical issues.

• 'How' is tactical, 'what' & 'why' are strategic)

Round 1: 8 minute lightning round: Each member gets 60 seconds to I indicate their top 2 or 3 priorities for the week.

Round 2: Progress Review: Report on the metrics that make or break your organization.

Round 3: Tactic Generation with an iterative, Real-time Agenda: The agenda of the rest of the meeting is based on your organization's performance measured against its goals.

• The important topics will jump out of the first two rounds and the ensuing discussion.
• Remember, these are topics that must be addressed in order to ensure that short term objectives are not in danger of being missed.
• Make a list of anything that is not tactical and postpone discussion of anything on that list until your strategic meetings.

Keys to Success:

• Set the agenda only AFTER everybody has a put forward their initial reports.
• Delegate strategic discussions to the Monthly Strategic Meeting.
• If the issue can't wait, delegate it to an ad-hoc strategic meeting. But don't let it but into your tactical meeting time.

3 120-240 minute Monthly Strategic Meeting: discuss, analyze, brainstorm, and decide on critical issues that will affect the organization's long term success.

Keys to success:

• Limit the meeting to discussing at most 2 topics.
• Prepare beforehand with research and thought experiments.
• The facilitator needs to draw out ideological conflict: Ie the differences in opinion that people have, so that it can all be aired so that as much information as possible is available to the people making decisions.

4 1-2 day Quarterly off-site reviews: review your strategy, industry trends, the 'competitie landscape', your key personel, and your team development.

Keys to success:

• Get out of your normal environment.
• Focus on work: limit social activities.
• Don't over structure the schedule.
• Don't try to do to much all at once.

The end:

I'm one book down out of about 200. We'll see how many I can get through during the year that I am club secretary. If anything that I read applies to Rotaract, I'll be sure to write about it.

The Rotaract Club of Jumeirah officially supports the UAE Red Crescent’s aid in Somalia

The Rotaract Club of Jumeirah, a volunteer service club organization sponsored by the Rotary Club of Jumeirah Dubai decided to support the activities of the UAE Red Crescent in Somalia, by a series of fund raising events.

With a need of $1.6 billion in the next 12 months to provide aid to the region said Jacques Diouf, Director, Food and Agriculture Organisation; the Rotaract Club of Jumeirah decided to act and support the UAE Red Crescent by arranging for a series of fund raising events in Dubai.

A charity iftar has been organised and gathered people from the community sympathizing for the cause. The ‘Flea Market’ also saw volunteers from the Rotaract Club of Jumeirah joining forces, to raise awareness as well as funds that would help people in Somalia, who are facing the outcome of droughts leading to famine, and malnutrition.

The famine in the Horn of Africa has already killed tens of thousands of people and risks leaving a generation of physically mentally stunted children, the UN World Food Program said.

What do you think is each individual responsibilities when it comes to humanitarian crises? What could be the role of the GCC at a larger scale to avoid the worse in Somalia?

Looking forward to your comments.