CR-049 · A 90-day try-out

A club plan for Board Listening Hour

Use this as a starting point. Cross out what does not fit, add what is missing and make it your club's own.

Where this idea came from

Playbook entry: CR-049 · Board Listening Hour
Theme: Theme 6: Club Renewal · Subtheme 4: Leadership & Governance Renewal
Source material: New Club Renewal index draft plus an internally authored detailed-guide draft

Initiative-specific development wave

How this draft was developed

These sources support general principles for whole-club renewal, accessibility, privacy, safety, systems or responsible governance; they are not an endorsement of Board Listening Hour, a finding that it suits any club or approval of its local design.

Primary references consulted

Learning & Reference - learn by role (Rotary International - My Rotary)
Used for: Rotary's current Learning & Reference hub identifies president and committee roles, links role resources and provides access to role-based learning and training materials.
Governance for good: A guide for Responsible People (Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission)
Used for: Good governance requires understood roles, authorised decision processes, checks and balances, appropriate delegations, written decisions and oversight of finances and operations.
Managing conflicts of interest (Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission)
Used for: Actual, potential and perceived conflicts should be disclosed, recorded and managed by impartial decision-makers under the organisation's governing documents and applicable law.
Keeping charity records (Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission)
Used for: Appropriate financial and operational records support governance, decision-making, financial management, risk management and public trust, subject to the organisation's actual obligations.

Candidate District material

No candidate local guide was used for this version. The current initiative identity and the attributed primary references remain separate.

Theme 6 source-assurance wave

What has been checked

4 current primary pages used by this guide were reopened on 9 August 2026.
4 attributed source claim(s) were mapped to their bounded use in this initiative.
Candidate District material remains separate and does not establish this result.

See each source's scope and limit

Learning & Reference - learn by role
Supports: The availability of current Rotary role resources and learning pathways for renewal leadership and capability development.
Does not establish: The duties, delegation, eligibility, appointment method, authority or training completion of a particular person in a particular club.
Governance for good: A guide for Responsible People
Supports: Good-governance principles for renewal decisions, roles, delegation, records, accountability, financial oversight and organisational purpose.
Does not establish: That a Rotary club is an ACNC-registered charity, that ACNC duties apply or that a renewal decision complies with the club's governing documents.
Managing conflicts of interest
Supports: Conflict identification, disclosure, recording and impartial management principles for renewal decisions and resource allocation.
Does not establish: That a conflict exists, has been adequately managed or is governed by a particular law, constitution or policy in the club's circumstances.
Keeping charity records
Supports: The governance value of accurate financial, operational and renewal-decision records and proportionate retention controls.
Does not establish: That a Rotary club is an ACNC-registered charity or that an ACNC retention period or record category applies to that club.

What still needs a person to confirm

Confirm the club's governing documents, bylaws, membership rules, decision authority, financial position and reserved decisions before changing its operating model.
Confirm which incorporated-association, charity, work health and safety, privacy, safeguarding and other duties apply to the club and this renewal design.
Test the need, accessibility, belonging, workload and alternative participation routes with current, former and prospective members rather than inferring support from the guide.
Confirm every local fact, starting point, measure, cost, owner, community need, capability claim and stopping condition before the club decides to proceed.
Resolve any candidate District-source provenance and approval decision without treating the candidate as controlled authority.

The source-verification release gate remains closed.

Checks still on hold

The controlled current Theme 6 catalogue establishes the code, title and renewal framing; the delivery content remains an internally authored draft pending full-corpus human review.
The connected Drive refresh returned an internal error on 9 August 2026. No unseen file was inferred or promoted; the 7 August intake, duplicate decisions, quarantines, rights boundaries and public-write permission hold remain in force and no sharing was changed.
Before local delivery, the club must approve the decision, participant choices, access arrangements, privacy and records plan, role boundaries, referral or escalation routes, resource limit and the specific control for this boundary: governance changes must follow the club's constitution, bylaws, delegations, conflict rules and applicable law.
Formal human review has not started. Board Listening Hour remains an internal initiative-specific draft until all 1,000 initiatives reach the Full-Corpus Review Build and every source, editorial, local-suitability, accessibility and governance gate is resolved.

Still an internal draft: source interpretation, local suitability, accessibility, governance and editorial approval remain open checks.

1. Is this worth trying here?

What we hope will change: Help the club give members a regular, structured route to raise issues and hear how the board is responding.

What is happening in our club or community now?What is the smallest useful version we could try? What will we leave out?

Board contactPerson leading the workPerson checking what happened

2. Our 90-day try-out

What our club will do for Board Listening Hour
Step	What we will do	Who could lead it	Our date	How we will know it is done
1	Write the decision brief for Board Listening Hour: define which decision, role, handover or board process will be clarified through authorised change, the starting evidence, people affected, local authority, resource limit, success signals and stop conditions.	Club board sponsor and renewal lead	Week one	An approved decision and boundary brief
2	Invite members with varied experiences and affected community partners where appropriate, show what is open or fixed, make access practical and record trade-offs and minority views. Apply this specifically to Board Listening Hour and record which relevant experiences or users are still missing.	Club board sponsor and renewal lead with the access and privacy contacts	Weeks one and two	A participant, access and information-handling plan
3	Build and test a facilitated conversation with a published influence boundary and balanced participation for Board Listening Hour; complete the Board Listening Hour Facilitation and Influence Run Sheet, rehearse the boundary wording and confirm who may decide, refer, pause, recover or close the work.	Facilitator and workstream owner	Before the trial	A tested facilitation and influence run sheet and delivery pack
4	Use a time-bounded change with named authority, capacity and stop conditions; compare evidence with the starting point and make unfinished work, unintended effects and resource pressure visible. Capture only the evidence needed to judge whether Board Listening Hour advances renewed leadership and governance.	Facilitator and workstream owner	Weeks three to eight	A controlled activity and evidence record
5	Compare the evidence with the starting point, validate meaning with affected participants or users, record gaps and unintended effects and prepare a de-identified themes record and response register showing how participant input affected the decision without overstating what the trial proves.	Facilitator and workstream owner with an independent reviewer	Within seven days of the trial	A de-identified themes record and response register showing how participant input affected the decision
6	Make and record the authorised continue, adapt, refer, scale or stop decision for Board Listening Hour; explain the reason, complete every action, close unnecessary records and schedule the 90-day follow-up.	Club board and evidence reviewer	By day 90	A published participant response, closed action register and next-step decision

3. Checks before we start

Things our club needs to check
Question	What it means for us	Who will check	Done?
Confirm current constitutional, District, Rotary, legal and insurance requirements before changing governance arrangements.
Record decisions and conflicts of interest, and do not let a temporary renewal group displace the authority of the club board or members.
The club proceeds with Board Listening Hour without respecting this boundary: governance changes must follow the club's constitution, bylaws, delegations, conflict rules and applicable law. — Put the boundary in the brief and participant information, give the delivery lead stop authority and move any excluded matter to its responsible process.
Renewal becomes a long list of projects without a shared diagnosis or trade-offs. — Link each change to the agreed health picture, select one priority and record what will pause, stop or wait.
Consultation raises expectations beyond the authority or resources available. — Publish the decision boundary, resource ceiling and timetable and explain every accepted, deferred or declined proposal.
The same small group carries the renewal work and becomes less sustainable. — Use workload gates, role pairing, staged delivery and a stop decision when capacity is not real.
The controlled current Theme 6 catalogue establishes the code, title and renewal framing; the delivery content remains an internally authored draft pending full-corpus human review.
The connected Drive refresh returned an internal error on 9 August 2026. No unseen file was inferred or promoted; the 7 August intake, duplicate decisions, quarantines, rights boundaries and public-write permission hold remain in force and no sharing was changed.
Before local delivery, the club must approve the decision, participant choices, access arrangements, privacy and records plan, role boundaries, referral or escalation routes, resource limit and the specific control for this boundary: governance changes must follow the club's constitution, bylaws, delegations, conflict rules and applicable law.
Formal human review has not started. Board Listening Hour remains an internal initiative-specific draft until all 1,000 initiatives reach the Full-Corpus Review Build and every source, editorial, local-suitability, accessibility and governance gate is resolved.

4. What changed?

What we will keep an eye on
What matters	Where we are now	What we hope to see	How we will check	Who
Review Board Listening Hour after 90 days. Look for whether authority, ownership and succession are clearer and decisions are made and followed through more reliably, and write down one decision the evidence supports.
Board Listening Hour produces a de-identified themes record and response register showing how participant input affected the decision by the promised decision date, with evidence limitations, participation gaps and unintended effects stated.
People affected can explain the purpose, their choices, the boundary and how to raise an access, privacy, safety or governance concern.
The trial shows whether renewed leadership and governance improved from the recorded starting point without shifting hidden workload, risk or exclusion elsewhere.
Every accepted action has an owner, due date and completion evidence, and the club records a reasoned continue, adapt, refer, scale or stop decision.

After 30 days

Is it reaching the right people? Is anything unsafe, unfair or harder than expected?

After 60 days

Make one useful change based on what people have told you.

After 90 days

Compare with where you started. Decide whether to change it, continue it or stop.

Made for this initiative

Tailored supporting documents

These working documents use the decisions, safeguards and evidence needs of this initiative. Complete them with the people affected and keep the agreed version with the club's project record.

Board Listening Hour Renewal Decision Brief

Connect the initiative to the agreed diagnosis, decision and capacity.

Open supporting document

Board Listening Hour Member and Stakeholder Participation Plan

Reach the experiences needed for a credible renewal decision.

Open supporting document

Board Listening Hour Current-State and Starting-Point Record

Create an honest baseline before the change begins.

Open supporting document

Board Listening Hour 90-Day Renewal Run Sheet

Sequence one bounded change without overloading the club.

Open supporting document

Board Listening Hour Trade-Off and Stop-Doing Register

Make the capacity released for renewal explicit.

Open supporting document

Board Listening Hour Risk, Dependency and Escalation Register

Keep governance, people, money and partner risks visible.

Open supporting document

Board Listening Hour Renewal Evidence and Decision Record

Close the cycle with evidence, learning and an authorised next step.

Open supporting document

Board Listening Hour Leadership & Governance Renewal Delivery Check

Test whether Board Listening Hour genuinely advances renewed leadership and governance within the subtheme boundary.

Open supporting document

Board Listening Hour Facilitation and Influence Run Sheet

Make the question, participation method, influence and response visible.

Open supporting document

Board Listening Hour Evidence, Decision and Close-Out Record

Bring the evidence, limitations, participant response and final decision for Board Listening Hour into one accountable record.

Open supporting document

Before your club says yes

Does the idea fit?

Talk with the people it is meant to serve and check that the need is real.

We have checked this

Who can say yes?

Name the person or group that can approve the work, spending and any safety arrangements.

We have checked this

Are people protected?

Check privacy, consent and safety. Collect only the information you genuinely need.

We have checked this

Can everyone take part?

Check the language, format, place, technology and cost for barriers.

We have checked this

Are the facts and permissions right?

Check names, claims, images, quotations, partner references and Rotary branding.

We have checked this

How will we learn?

Note where things stand now, check in at 30, 60 and 90 days, and decide what to do next.

We have checked this

Worksheets for your club

Open them online, print them or change them to suit the way your club works.

Role map

Use this worksheet to decide who will do each job, who can step in and what needs to be handed over.

Open worksheet

Decision log

Use this worksheet to note where things stand and choose a few useful signs that will help the club decide what to do next.

Open worksheet

Safety and approval check

Use this worksheet to notice problems early, make the idea safer and know who needs to say yes or help.

Open worksheet