Learning To Plant Potatoes
by Governor Tom Ganse

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."
- Chinese Proverb

Let's set aside the fact that my idea of catching fish is having the guy from the seafood department toss them to me, wrapped and ready to go, and look at the wisdom in that statement with a different example: "Give a man a potato and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to grow potatoes and you feed him for a lifetime."

That is basically what your leaders here in the Capital District are trying to do for your clubs, but apparently, we are fighting a Public Relations battle when it comes to our seed potatoes and shovels. You see, that's what all this "strategic planning" discussion is - teaching you how to plant your own crop of potatoes so that you can always have a bountiful harvest. But apparently, many clubs labor under the faulty assumption that asking clubs to formulate strategic plans is somehow a club burden meant to benefit only the District.

Allow me to explain. During my term as Governor, I have repeatedly insisted that District actions must result in benefit, not burden, to the individual members and clubs. Everyone above the club level exists for one reason: to support the individual clubs and members so that they are successful in executing the mission of Kiwanis - "Changing the world one child and one community at a time."

One of the most valuable tools a club or any other organization can use is a strategic plan. It is nothing more than a roadmap that defines your destination, and the path you plan to take to get there. You wouldn't randomly go out to your car, start driving and then decide where you wanted to go, and few people in today's society will dedicate their time to a cause unless they understand exactly how it will be spent and what it is expected to yield. That's why every club needs a reference plan.

Following last August's ratification of the District Strategic Plan by your delegates, the Long Range Planning Committee was tasked to develop several tools, or "potatoes", for you:

• A simple, user-friendly template that clubs could use for their own, unique plans tailored to their own, unique circumstances and communities
• Training materials for Trustees and Lieutenant Governors who were then charged with assisting the clubs in developing those plans
• Training materials for the Leadership Development Committee, which was charged with training the Presidents-elect, and
• Documents accessible for download from the District website, www.capitaldistrictkiwanis.org

I am very proud of the progress Chairman Tom Varner and his committee has made thus far, and I am equally proud of the many clubs that enthusiastically embraced this tool, and the Lieutenant Governors and Trustees who are assisting them every step of the way. Perhaps it should not come as a surprise, but the first clubs to embrace this tool are also the clubs that have shown sustained strength, if not growth over the past several years. To no one's surprise, the most resistance to planning comes from the clubs that continue to sustain net membership losses or who hover around the fifteen-member mark.

There is one other powerful benefit to your club developing its own strategic plan. As you develop your action steps and "inchstones", and identify your requirements, you are creating a list of needed resources. As those requirements get combined at the Division level, Region level and finally at the District level, your Board of Directors now knows where to direct scarce District resources to provide maximum benefit to you and your clubs.

To summarize, the strategic planning initiative is for your club's benefit, not the District's. We have given you a shovel, a sack of seed potatoes, and a master gardener to show you how to grow your own crop. Please don't starve your club into extinction waiting for someone else to plant your potatoes, and please don't use the shovel to hit your Lieutenant Governor over the head.

With a Kiwanis Servant's Heart
Tom Ganse
tganse@earthlink.net