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HOW MUCH LEADERSHIP IS NEEDED?
finding leadership
HOW MUCH LEADERSHIP IS NEEDED?
By Mr MARC GERMESHAUSEN, RT 11, Austria
FOR OVER 95 YEARS, ROUND TABLE has provided various skillsets for young men. We fulfil various roles on a local, regional, national or international level. This year, we act as an icon for many others to come. We engage ourselves in our movement next to our businesses, work, family, and friends. But how much leadership is needed, and what are the key elements for a great year within Round Table?
If we are thinking of Round Table: What is it for you? For some of us, RT is service, charity, and responsibility towards society. For some, it is fellowship and friendship.
For some, it is meeting old friends for the first time and exploring the globe. Some of us are using it for business opportunities and networking. Round Table means to every tabler worldwide something different. These topics might change during your time at Table, but it binds us together as one world. When talking about leadership, we need to reflect on those various fields as every person, every club, and every association is working differently and focusing on other parts. That is diversity worth celebrating.
During your year in any leadership role within Round
Table, you can contribute and bring in your visions for our movement. You will gain a massive toolbox with new skills, experience, passion, patency, cultural difference, etc. But what is needed to be a good leader and have an excellent performance in your year? In general, we can say that there is no unique way to describe excellent leadership skills. As tablers, there are some key elements we should consider in taking a portfolio. Leadership skills are the abilities people have and how they implement various activities and projects, guiding meetings and how to empower others.
Many books recommend active listening, empathy, the ability to share clear messages and make complex ideas easy to understand for everyone, strategic thinking skills, creativity, the ability to inspire and convince others, flexibility, turning information into action, project planning, etc.
Within Round Table, it is definitely a combination of various skillsets. But it is also a massive team effort. You are only as strong as your team is. This we can actually see right now in the RTI Board as we are #StrongerTogether. Set yourself realistic goals which you and your team can achieve during the year. A club year within RT is gone so fast. If you are running for any chairman/president position, use your vice-year to prepare your roadmap. Talk to people you would like to involve in your team. Be clear for yourself and set a focus and self-development and go directly into team development. Together you can use strategic thinking and act in ethical practice and civic-mindedness. We don’t need to develop the wheel over and over again. Our motto is Adopt. Adapt. Improve. We can use methods from the past, adapt them to current circumstances and improve them where needed. This is the way we as leaders can show new innovations.
We should encourage everybody in our club to take up a leading role in our organization. Leadership skills can be developed, and we are gaining new abilities every day. We can achieve milestones in our community within a wonderful team, where we are all rooted. Let’s show our passion for our movement and be proud to be a Tabler!
A PRACTICAL TOKEN OF LEADERSHIP
A PRACTICAL TOKEN OF LEADERSHIP
By Mr OWAIN RAW-REES, London Old Tablers Society
Worldwide there exists the Round Table Family of Clubs – Round Table, Ladies’ Circle, Club 41, Agora and Tangent with a history dating back to 1927. This article aims to introduce the reader to some the badges of offi ce and jewels or medals, which are bestowed by Round Table.
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THE TERM OF OFFICE for most offi cers is one year, and upon handing over to a successor, the outgoing Offi cer is sometimes presented with a PastOffi cers’ medal. There are various other offi ces and special service which merit such medals or awards. The badges of offi ce and Past-Offi cer’s awards normally bear the emblem or national badge of the respective Association or Club with the plain reverse engraved with the name and year of service of the recipient. John Creasy, the author of, ‘Round Table 1927-1957 The First Twenty-Five Years of the Round Table Movement’ (1953), noted “The cost of President’s and past President’s jewels has often been a stick with which to beat the Executive, although Tables, with jewels to buy for their own Chairmen – not to mention contribution to the Area jewels – accept the need for jewels as a practical token of leadership.”
The oldest item of regalia is the badge of offi ce of Norwich Round Table No. 1 1 . This style of badge with has the Table number in the centre and the founding year of the Table immediately below. The name of the Table is given in the scroll work at the top of the badge. The reverse of the badge notes it was presented in April 1929 by Bernard H. Durrant, the third National President, 1931-32. Past-Chairman medals 2 , with some variations over the years, follow a common format.
The badge of offi ce of the President of RTBI 3 was presented by Louis Marchesi on 16 May 1931. This is similar in style to the badge of Offi ce of Norwich Round Table No.1. Instead of a scrollwork bearing the name of the Table this has been replaced by a suspension bearing an image of Saint George and a dragon.
The senior award of RTBI is that of National Honorary Membership 4 , and to date, only four persons, including Louis Marchesi, the Founder of Round Table, have received this honour. The next senior award is the RTBI National President’s Award 5 , fi rst awarded in 1998, and known as the Marchesi Medal. This can only be awarded at the sole discretion of the current RTBI National President. To date, only twelve persons have been honoured with this award.
The fi rst overseas Table formed in Copenhagen in 1936 and today Round Table fl ourishes in most of Europe, throughout Africa, the Middle East, Asia and in certain parts of the Americas. Round Table International was fi rst formed in 1948 but joined
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WOCO in 1961 and was re-established as a separate organisation in September 1991 in Austria. RTI awards a Past-President’s medal – members of the RTI Executive also receive a similar medal to mark their year of offi ce. In addition to the RTI President’s badge of offi ce, each region Chairman 6 has his own badge of offi ce as follows - European Mediterranean Americas (EMA) Region – now divided into three - Central & Eastern Europe, Northern Europe America and Southern Europe & Mediterranean; African Middle-East Indian-Ocean Region and Asian Pacifi c. Recently the design of the badge of offi ce has been slightly altered.
RTI also awards a Round Tabler of the Year Medal on a regional and International level. In 2017 RTI instituted an Honor Medal 7 to recognise signifi cant contributions to RTI. In accordance with RTI Offi cers Handbook it is noted, “Honor medals are a limited number of medals under the control and purview of the RTI President. The RTI President may allocate certain of these medals to RTI Board Members, but in all instances must give fi nal approval on who this is given to. All recipients of these Honor Medals must be listed on the RTI Honor Roll”. Each RTI President and his Board, during his year of offi ce, may award a limited number Honour Medals.
A summary of the medal in the June 2021 issue of Round Table Southern Africa’s (RTSA) magazine Inkundula notes, “This medal is handed out for extraordinary efforts on behalf of an individual who has had a profound impact not only on their local community but also on the larger Round Table fraternity. There are a limited amount of medals available every year. Most years the total amount has not been handed out”. The article continues, “In practice, anyone nominated by a Board member, gets discussed internally by the Board to determine if the achievement warrants this level of recognition. This unbiased process ensures that only the most worthy candidates receive these medals”.
Most national associations have their own awards. Unlike RTI, RT Deutschland (RTD) does not present jewels or medals for service - instead, since 2004, an “Ehrennadel” or Badge of Honour is awarded. Table Chairmen, Area Chairmen or Council Members receive a Bronze Badge after a year of service; a Silver Badge is awarded after two or more years - usually to such members as Treasurers or IRO’s; and the Gold Badge 8 is awarded to Past National Presidents.
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To date, “Der Goldenen Ehrennadel” - the Gold Badge of Honour , has been awarded nineteen times.
Round Table India (RT India) presents a Distinguished Service Award to past or present Active Tablers who have made outstanding contributions beyond the call of normal duty. The award consists of a framed citation. Also of note is the Louis Marchesi Fellow (LMF) medal 9 of the RT India Round Table Foundation. From the RT India website, “Round Table India Foundation is a Trust formed in April 1980. One of its main aims is to build a corpus and serve the community at large through the Round Tables of India out of the earnings of the corpus. - One of the main sources of funds is ‘Louis Marchesi Fellow’. In 1987 the LMF scheme was established - any individual who contributes, or in whose honour or memory is contributed a fee, becomes an LMF. Originally a silver medal, however, over the years, the medal has been altered in design and currently, bronze, gold and platinum medals are available.
Round Table Arabian Gulf (RTAG) awards Honorary Life Membership – three such awards have been made. RTAG has Service Medal 10 - instituted in 1994 to recognise meritorious service. RTAG also instituted a Jubilee Jewel, as part of a fundraising exercise to commemorate, in 2005, the 25th anniversary of RTAG.
Round Table Southern Africa (RTSA) in earlier years did confer Honorary Life Membership to those who had rendered outstanding and distinguished service however, such an honour was only awarded twice. RTSA awards a Tabler of the Year medal 11 , instituted in 1991, and awarded each year to the individual who is deemed to have contributed in a signifi cant manner to RTSA.
Opposite page - Past-President Sebastian Walter with Badge of Offi ce and Author at RTI Half Yearly Meeting 2020 Luxembourg. The Author, a Past President & Honorary Life Member of RTAG, is currently researching the medals of the Round Table family with a view to publishing a book on the same. He has recently become a member of London Old Tablers Society (LOTS) and is an Honorary Member, for a year, of City of London Round Table No.13.
