pre-assignments - lions clubs international · pre-assignments . congratulations on ... web site....

Emerging Lions Leadership Institute

Pre-Assignments

2017-2018

Emerging Lions Leadership Institute Pre-Assignments

Congratulations on being selected to attend the Emerging Lions Leadership Institute!

On this page you will find a summary of each of the four pre-assignments that should be completed prior to attending the institute. These pre-assignments are critical to your learning and comprehension of the material covered during these sessions. For your personal use, a checklist is included below to ensure completion of all assignments.

If you have any questions, please contact the Leadership Division at [email protected] or call (630) 468-6924. We look forward to seeing you at the institute!

Lions: Past, Present, and Future (pages 2-5) This pre-assignment is designed to review Lions history and fundamentals, and will take approximately 90 minutes to complete.

I have completed this portion of the pre-assignment.

Supporting Lions Teams (pages 6-11) This pre-assignment consists of a case study to be read prior to the session.


Lions Mentoring Program (page 12) This pre-assignment directs learners to the LCIF web site, where they review either the Basic OR Advanced Mentoring Program Guide to complete a comparison chart. Information gathered during this assignment will serve as a basis for class discussion and group activity.


Conducting Effective Meetings (pages 13-16) This pre-assignment requires completion of a Meeting Evaluation form with the help of several club members prior to attending the institute.


LCIF (pages 17-18) This pre-assignment directs learners to the LCIF Web site, where they will research assigned topics. Information gathered during this assignment will serve as a basis for a group discussion and a subsequent presentation at the institute.


Lions: Past, Present, and Future Pre-Assignment

This pre-assignment is designed to review Lions history and fundamentals. The pre-assignment is an integral part of your institute preparation, and will take approximately 90 minutes to complete. Please follow the directions.

1. Review the “All About Lions” presentation located in the Leadership Resource Center on the LCIWeb site. To access the presentation, click on the link below or copy and paste the link into yourInternet browser: http://members.lionsclubs.org/EN/resources/leadership-resource-center/training-resources/presentations.php

2. Complete the “Lions Historical Timeline” on page 3 of this pre-assignment. Try to do it withoutyour notes!

3. Complete the activity, “If It Never Happened…,” on page 4 of this pre-assignment.

4. Gather 1 or 2 pictures of your club’s most successful projects and bring them to the institute touse during this session. Please bring a hard copy of your pictures to this session. Pictures may notbe returned, so bring copies that you are willing to donate to your group’s activity.

Sample: The Gardena Lions Club made 22 Christmas food baskets for needy families in their hometown of Gardena, California, USA.

5. Complete the “Focusing on the Future” activity on page 5 of this pre-assignment.

http://members.lionsclubs.org/EN/resources/leadership-resource-center/training-resources/presentations.php



Traveling Through History: A Lions Historical Timeline

Pre-Assignment Match the significant historical events below to the appropriate year on the timeline by placing the appropriate letter on the line beneath the year the event occurred.

1. LCIF is established2. The association welcomes its one millionth member3. Helen Keller asks Lions to be “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness,”

establishing LCI’s commitment to providing sight/vision services for people worldwide4. Lions launch the Centennial Service Challenge, a global initiative to serve 100 million people

around the world5. LCI announces new service framework with an emphasis on diabetes6. First Lions Club is founded by Melvin Jones7. First International Peace Poster contest8. Lions clubs becomes an international organization with the chartering of the first club in

Canada9. LCIF partners with The Carter Center led by former US President and Lion Jimmy Carter to

combat river blindness in Africa and Latin America10.“We Serve” is established as the motto for Lions Clubs International11. Women are included as members.

1917

1920

1925

1954

1968

1973

1987

1989

1999

2014

2017

If It Never Happened… Pre-Assignment

1. Choose one historical event from Lions history. This event can be significant on aninternational, local, and/or personal level.

2. Now assume that this event has been erased from history-it never happened.3. Answer the questions below.

YEAR: ______________ EVENT: ___________________________________

Imagine… If this event had never happened, how would LCI be different today? How would it have affected your community? The global community?

Reflect… Now reflect on your own club’s history and try to list as many major events as you can along with dates (do your best to estimate if you’re not sure). How does this fit into the larger Lions timeline? Use another sheet of paper if needed.

Focusing on the Future Pre-Assignment

Carefully consider the questions below, and bring your answers with you to the institute.

What historical highlights do you hope to be able to share in 5 years about…

Yourself?

Your Club?

Your District?

Lions Club International?

Supporting Teams Pre-Assignment

EVALUATING YOUR TEAM It is easy to say that a team’s effectiveness is judged by its ability to perform the task for which it has been organized. For example, if a club is working toward establishing a fund for disadvantaged children in the community, and the committee is making progress, then it seems safe to say that the team is effective.

However, a team’s true effectiveness depends not only on the task it is completing, but also on the working relationships that impact productivity and cooperation. More often than not, it is the less visible factors that prevent team members from being their most motivated and productive, and which keep the team from reaching its highest level of efficiency.

In the article “Team Building: Developing a Productive Team,” former University of Nebraska Professor Arnold Bateman suggests a number of criteria for evaluating team effectiveness:

Goals When people are part of the goal-setting process, they have a greater commitment to the accomplishment of those goals. In assessing your Lions teams, ask yourself if goals were discussed and agreed upon by members.

Participation Have you ever been a part of a group, but felt you were underutilized or that your role was thought of as less important than other team members? How did you feel? How well did you perform?

Feedback People need to know how they are doing and what they can do to improve. Feedback should be given frequently and always with a desire to help the other person.

Decisions When decisions are made, they usually impact some or all of the team members. People are more enthusiastic and motivated when they take part in making those decisions.

Leadership Leadership in a team is not always “formal” leadership. As tasks change, different skills and resources arise and new leaders can and should emerge. Do your Lions teams allow members to demonstrate their leadership?

Conflict Resolution Team members should be allowed to express negative feelings and different points of view. It can be more damaging to avoid conflict than to confront it.

Resource Recognition Lions are a diverse group of dedicated and talented people. Are their individual skills, knowledge, and experiences identified, recognized, and used?

Risk Taking Jawaharlal Nehru said, “The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.”

Supporting Teams

Pre-Assignment

DIRECTIONS:

Your training experience will include a session on teamwork and how you, as a Lions leader, can best support the teams you lead.

Please read the case study on the following pages before you attend the training. The case study depicts a short-term project in a typical Lions club. It is presented as a summary of some of the discussions that took place between team members. It only provides some highlights of how people interacted as they worked to accomplish their task, and is not intended to present all of the details of how to complete a project.

Be sure to consider the ways in which the criterion of team effectiveness (goals, participation, feedback, decisions, leadership, conflict resolution, resource recognition, and risk taking) applies to this case study. This case study provides the basis for an activity at the institute, and your familiarity with the characters and details is necessary for your participation in the Supporting Lions Teams session.

Case Study: Metropolis Nursing Home Visit PROJECT: For years, a number of schools, businesses, and service associations in the town of Metropolis have taken turns visiting and entertaining the residents of a local nursing home facility. The local Lions club has participated in the past, and is scheduled to visit the residents on Saturday, June 3. The club president has asked his VP, Mei Chen, to undertake the planning and coordination of this year’s project.

TEAM MEMBERS: Mei has asked four club members to assist her. They are:

• Carlos Garcia –He is a past club president who has been involved in this project severaltimes in the last ten years.

• Sophia DiCarlo – She is a new member who has not worked on a Lions project before. Sheworks during the day, is married, and has two children ages 2 and 6.

• Brenda Hoffman --She is an experienced Lion who owns a bakery in town. Her aunt is aresident of the home.

• Sanjay Lal --He is a long-time club member. He has led and worked on many club projectteams.

SUMMARY OF DISCUSSIONS/MEETINGS:

May 1 Mei called the four other prospective team members and asked them to “volunteer”their services. She alerted them that they only had 4 weeks to work on the project, so they needed to let her know right away if they could participate. She informed them that she would like to have a project kickoff meeting on Thursday of that week.

• Carlos said he would enjoy being involved again, but that he wasunavailable on that Thursday.

• Sophia said her husband has been traveling on his job a lot lately, and herfamily demands will restrict her time for the next few months. She would dowhat she could and would be at the meeting.

• Brenda said to “count her in.”

• Sanjay informed her that he would be on vacation in June, but Mei saidthat wouldn’t be a problem. He also reminded her that Louise Valenzuela,another club member, worked at the nursing home for several years beforeretiring, and that Mei might want to contact her.

Mei chose to go ahead with the meeting on Thursday.

May 4 Meeting (4 wks out)

The kickoff meeting took place on Thursday without Carlos.

Mei announced that she had planned for the visit to include some refreshments likecake and cookies, a group sing-along with piano accompaniment followed by a movie and popcorn in the recreation center, and a small gift for each of the 50 residents. She said the club had budgeted $350 for the event.

Brenda said that her aunt and many of the other residents love to play card games andrecommended that this be considered.

Sanjay felt that there might be too much going on for the time allotted.

Mei stated that she would suggest card-playing for the visit next year.

Mei assigned responsibilities to each team member:• Sophia – gifts for residents• Brenda – refreshments• Sanjay – songs and song sheets for the sing-along• Carlos – movie and popcorn and the necessary equipment

Sanjay suggested the team have an informal meeting of some sort every week. Heasked what time and day would be best for everyone. Sophia said her husband was always home from his work travels by Friday, so Friday evening would be a good time for her. The rest of the group agreed that they would meet the next three Friday evenings for a short meeting and rotate the meeting at members’ homes.

Mei told Sanjay that she called Louise, but there was no answer.

May 5 Mei called Carlos to tell him his assignment. He said that they had tried a movie oncebefore, but many of the older residents became disinterested and/or fell asleep. He mentioned that they have had success with card games, though.

Mei thanked him for his input, but said the team had already made the decision andthey had to move forward. Carlos said he would do what he could for the team.

May 11 Carlos called Brenda to tell her he was unhappy with some of the group’s decisions.He wondered why no one had talked to him first. He also told her that he had a lot of evening commitments. He really didn’t know Sophia, but he resented scheduling everything to make it convenient for one member.


At the meeting, Brenda reported on the refreshments planned. Her bakery woulddonate the pastries at no charge, and juice and milk would also be purchased with club funds.

Sophia said she had not had time to work on gift ideas yet, since her children had beensick all week. She would have something to report next week.

Sanjay presented a list of song suggestions and he polled the team. Several songswere chosen, and he said he would get sheet music and song sheets. He asked if anyone knew someone who might volunteer to play the piano.

Carlos said that he really wasn’t a movie fan, and asked for help in picking somethingout. He also volunteered to play the piano, since he had done so professionally when he was younger.

May 15 Sanjay called Sophia at home to tell her he would be happy to help her if she neededany assistance in selecting and purchasing gifts. She thanked him for the offer.

Mei called Sophia later in the day and expressed disappointment that she had notmade any progress, while some of the other team members had accomplished much of their assignment.

May 16 Brenda called Carlos with some ideas on a few movies that were short and lively, andthat older people might find amusing. She recommended a website that streamed older movies and short subjects, and would probably have these available.

Carlos thanked her and said he would check into these movies. He again reminded herthat he thought the movie idea was not a good one, and shared that he had a number of card games planned in case he couldn’t get the movies.


At the meeting, Brenda reported that everything was set for refreshments and thatshe would deliver them and set up a refreshment table herself on the day of the visit.

Sanjay thanked Carlos for offering his piano playing services, and said that all of thematerials would be ready by next week for the sing-along.

Sophia confessed that she was stuck for gift ideas, but was hesitant to ask for helpuntil now. Now she was afraid she would not find anything.

Sanjay said he had purchased small gifts that would fit the budget several times beforeon projects, and that he was sure that he could help her come up with something appropriate for this group. Carlos said that he had not been able to find any of the movies that Brenda hadrecommended to him, but that he would continue to look. Mei reminded him that time was short, and she was concerned. He said not to worry.

May 22 Brenda called Carlos and said that she sensed tension at the meeting. Was thereanything she could do to prevent a problem? Carlos admitted that he was still upset about the way things were organized, but that since the meeting took place he realized that only the nursing home residents would suffer if he didn’t fulfill his task.

He said that he searched that morning, and that he found one of her movie recommendations. Several reviews on the website indicated it was a great movie for all ages.

May 23 Sophia called Sanjay and seemed very upset. She said that she felt bad about failingon her first opportunity as a Lion to serve her community. She said she thought she should drop out of the project.

Sanjay encouraged her to continue. He said he had found a suitable gift for theresidents and that he could place the order and pick it up. He told her that she was still an important part of making the visit a nice experience for the nursing home residents, reminded her that he would not be there to work with them, and said her contribution of time on that day would help contribute to the project’s success.

May 26 Meeting (1 wk out)

At this last meeting, each member was able to report that things were in place for the visit, and that expenses remained within the budget.

Sophia thanked Sanjay and the rest of the team for their support, and said that shehad learned a lot about teamwork in the last month.

Carlos apologized if it seemed that he was trying to weaken the team, but that it tookhim a little time to suppress his individualism and be a part of the team.

Mei thanked everyone for their efforts, and provided the logistics for the day of thevisit.

Lions Mentoring Program Pre-Assignment

This pre-assignment will introduce you to the Lions Mentoring Program, which was created to help every member achieve the goal of better serving his or her community. This program of personal development helps members realize the potential that their unique skills and knowledge offer. To complete this assignment, you will need to access either the basic or advanced version of the Lions Mentoring Program Guide.

You can find the Basic Mentoring Guide at: http://www.lionsclubs.org/resources/EN/pdfs/mtr11.pdf

You can find the Advanced Mentoring Guide at: http://www.lionsclubs.org/resources/EN/pdfs/mtr12.pdf

Follow the instructions below to complete this pre-assignment.

1. Both the Basic Mentoring Guide and the Advanced Mentoring Guide begin by describing thedifference between the two programs.

2. You can find a description of the Basic Mentoring Program and the Advanced MentoringProgram on page 5 of both Guides.

3. List the characteristics of each level for both Basic and Advanced Mentoring Programs in thechart below.

Please Note: Since the content in this section is the same in both Guides, it doesn’t matter which you use to complete this assignment).

BASIC ADVANCED Level 1:

RESPONSIBILITY Level 2:

RELATIONSHIPS Level 1: RESULTS

Level 2: REPLICATION

http://www.lionsclubs.org/resources/EN/pdfs/mtr11.pdf




Conducting Effective MeetingsPre-Assignment

In this pre-assignment, you will use the Meeting Evaluation Checklist that follows to conduct a meeting evaluation with several members of your club prior to attending the institute.

Please complete the form yourself, and ask two or more club members to complete it as well. Several copies of the form are included for your use.

Bring your completed forms with you to the institute.

The meeting evaluation will help you understand some of your club’s meeting strengths and weaknesses and will provide the basis for a group discussion at the institute.

Meeting Evaluation Checklist Please indicate how well each statement describes your own Lions club meetings by checking () the box that best applies.

Never

1

Sometimes

2

Often

3

Always

4 1. I receive a copy of the agenda prior to

meetings and have enough time/informationto prepare for the meeting.

2. Our meetings start and end on time.

3. The goals of each meeting are clearlyexplained.

4. Expectations (ground rules) for meetings areestablished and upheld by the group.

5. The meeting leader follows the agenda.

6. Our meetings involve discussion anddecision-making as well as presentinginformation.

7. My participation contributes to the outcomesof the meetings.

8. Decisions and action items are explicit andclear.

9. Our meetings adhere to specified timerequirements.

10. Conflicts are openly expressed andeffectively managed.

11. New members and guests are greetedwarmly and made to feel welcome.

12. Speakers are given enough time to completetheir presentations.

13. Recognition is a regular part of our meetings.

14. Our meetings are time well-spent.

15. I like attending our club meetings.

LCIF Scavenger Hunt Pre-Assignment

This pre-assignment is designed to provide an overview of Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF). The assignment should take 60 minutes to complete. Follow the instructions below.

Group Assignment When you received your letter of acceptance to the institute you were assigned a number indicating one of five study topics for this assignment. At the institute, you will meet with several other participants who share your assigned topic, and your group will discuss the information you discovered. Collectively, you will prepare a short, 5-10 minute presentation on the topic for the entire institute class.

LCIF Topic Directions 1. Select the topic that corresponds to the number you were assigned.2. Go to the LCIF Web site as directed, read about the topic, and gather any information you

believe would be interesting and useful to your fellow Lions. You may wish to consider some ofthe questions below as you do your research, but you are not limited to these suggestions.

3. Take notes for your own use. You will not be required to submit any individual work, but areexpected to contribute to the discussion and to the presentation that will be delivered at theinstitute.

Topic #1: LCIF Organization You may wish to begin your research by accessing the “About Us” page on LCIF’s Web site at http://www.lcif.org and clicking on “About LCIF.”

When was LCIF founded?What are some key achievements?Who comprises the LCIF Board of Trustees, and what is the Board’s function?What are the responsibilities of each committee?With whom does LCIF partner to accomplish its mission?What are the roles of the LCIF multiple district and district coordinators?

Topic #2: Sight You may wish to begin your research by accessing the “LCIF Sight Programs” and “Publications” on LCIF’s website at http://www.lcif.org and clicking on the following links:

• For “LCIF Sight Programs”: About LCIF>LCIF Programs>Preserving Sight• For “Publications”: About LCIF>Resources>Publications

How does LCIF provide support in preventing blindness and restoring sight aroundthe world? What is the SightFirst program?With whom does LCIF partner in preserving and restoring sight?

As you read, consider…


http://www.lcif.org/EN/about-us/index.php

http://www.lcif.org/EN/our-programs/sight/index.php

http://www.lcif.org/EN/lions-center/materials/publications.php

http://www.lcif.org/

Topic #3: Supporting Youth You may wish to begin your research by accessing the “Youth Programs” and “Publications” pages on LCIF’s website at http://www.lcif.org and clicking on the following links:

For “Youth Programs”: About LCIF>LCIF Programs>Supporting Youth For “Publications”: About LCIF>Resources>Publications

What is Lions Quest?What are some examples of Lions Quest’s success?What type of funding is available to assist clubs in implementing Lions Quest?

Topic #4: Disaster Relief You may wish to begin your research by accessing the “Disaster Relief” page and the “Disaster Relief” information on our “Publications” webpage on LCIF’s website at http://www.lcif.org and clicking on the following links: For “Disaster Relief”: About LCIF>LCIF Programs>Providing Disaster Relief For “Publications”: About LCIF>Resources>Publications>Providing Disaster Relief

What types of grants are available to provide disaster relief?What are some examples of disaster relief provided by Lions with the support ofLCIF? Who can apply for an emergency grant?

Topic #5: Humanitarian Efforts You may wish to begin your research by accessing the “Humanitarian Efforts” and “Publications” webpages on LCIF’s website at http://www.lcif.org and clicking on the following links: For “Humanitarian Efforts”: About LCIF>LCIF Programs>Meeting Humanitarian Needs For “Publications”: About LCIF>Resources>Publications

What are some examples of humanitarian projects that Lions have undertakenwith support from LCIF? What is the Opening Eyes program?What is the Affordable Hearing Aid program?How do Lions and LCIF combat measles?




http://www.lcif.org/EN/our-programs/youth.php



http://www.lcif.org/EN/our-programs/disaster/index.php



http://www.lcif.org/EN/our-programs/humanitarian-efforts/index.php



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