As the 2010 Michigan Jaycee Management Development Vice President, I get to write a monthly “Hotline Article” that is targeted at our membership. In my case, it’s targeted at the local Management Vice Presidents that I get to help and support this year. Here’s what I wrote for March”

Following Through … All The Way To Blue Chip

I’ve been spouting off numbers for as long as I can remember. 525,600 is a number that I’ve used since the very beginning of my Jaycee career. 44 is the number that I wore when I played basketball in high school. I now have another number to add to this list of numbers to know. 32. As of the date I write this article (February 24, 2010) 22 chapters have already submitted their initial Blue Chip paperwork and our team has heard from 10 other chapters who will have their information to us in the next five days. That means that 32 chapters are on track to achieve their 2010 Blue Chip! 32 chapters have stepped up to the plate and are saying publicly that “WE ARE GOING TO STAND UP AND BE GREAT THIS YEAR!!!”

Congratulations to all of the chapters that are on their way to achieving Blue Chip in 2010. You are going to enjoy the many successes that we have to gain from this adventure. As you continue to implement the 2010 Blue Chip program, please feel free to let me or anyone on your MIJC Management Development Team know if you have questions or need any help.

Part of submitting the initial Blue Chip required you to create your 2010 Chapter Plan. These plans have been reviewed by the MIJC Board of Directors and you’ll be getting them back with some constructive feedback shortly. All of the plans were well done and set up a great foundation for things this year.

But now that the plans have been written, now is the time that our real work begins. Your chapter plans isn’t what makes the difference between a Good Jaycee chapter and a Great Jaycee chapter. The plan isn’t the thing that is going to recruit the members that you’ll need to Blue Chip. The plan isn’t going to write the CPG’s that are needed to run a good project.

The difference will come from you, from you following through on the things you’ve laid out in your plan. That is the only thing that is going to make the difference for this year.

Webster’s dictionary defines “follow-through” as: “The act of continuing a plan, project, scheme, or the like to its completion.” In other words, follow-through, according to Dr. Roy Pollock (an expert in organizational leadership), is pre-requisite to completing your plan. In the context of leadership and organization development, follow-through means putting into action the outcome of your plan … at least long enough so that you become the plan yield great results.

There’s a “human factor” that is involved with follow-through. Sometimes you don’t feel like making the phone call to a member, handing out that survey, speaking up at a GMM. Sometimes we feel like there’s no point in trying to implement our plan.

But here’s where leadership comes into play. Follow-through is best done when you can see the benefits of following through. It’s best done when you’re willing to take action to make sure that you get things done.

This is something that we, as Jaycees, are really good at. We’re Jaycees because “WE BELIEVE … that service to humanity is the best work of life.” The enthusiasm that we have in our organization makes us stand out as the best young persons organizations in the world. We become leaders through the things that we do. If we don’t follow-through and run the projects that our communities needs, our enthusiasm just goes to waste.

Our organization builds leaders … but not just any type of leader. We’re building a new type of leader – one that follows-through on our plans and promise for the community. We build “transformational leaders”. These are the types of leaders that broaden and elevate the interest of their members. These are people who generate awareness and acceptance of the purposes and the mission of the Jaycees. These are people who stir our members to look beyond their own self-interest and do what’s best of the chapter.

The greatest leaders in the history of mankind have been transformational leaders. They’ve transformed the places and the people they work with into the stuff that betters the quality of life in our world. They’re people like Abraham Lincoln, Jesus of Nazareth, Theodore Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy.

They’re people who attend GMM’s, write CPG’s, work hard at building support for our movement, and help their chapters BLUE CHIP each and every year. They’re people who call themselves Jaycees … because “WE BELIEVE!”

The plans have been written. Our work has just begun. If there’s anything that I can do to help you along the way, please feel free to call me.

In Leadership, Friendship, and Service In the Jaycees –

Dave Worthams
2010 Management Development Vice President
“STAND UP and BE GREAT!”