L-105 · A 90-day try-out

A club plan for Leadership Development Circles

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
L-105 · Leadership Development Circles
Theme
Theme 4: Leadership, Culture & Club Experience · Subtheme 7: Mentoring Future Leaders
Source material
Current playbook index title and category plus an internally authored detailed-guide draft

Initiative-specific development wave

How this draft was developed

These sources support general principles for leadership, culture and club experience, accessibility, privacy, safety, systems or responsible governance; they are not an endorsement of Leadership Development Circles, a finding that it suits any club or approval of its local design.

Primary references consulted

  • Engage emerging leaders (Rotary International)
    Used for: Rotary encourages clubs to assess club health, ask members what they want, take suggestions seriously, support leadership and provide relevant service and learning experiences.
  • Enhancing Belonging and Engagement at Rotary (Rotary International)
    Used for: Rotary identifies belonging, respect, accessibility and equitable access to opportunities, networks and support as central to participation and thriving.
  • 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.
  • Chapter 3: APP 3 Collection of solicited personal information (Office of the Australian Information Commissioner)
    Used for: Personal-information collection should be lawful, fair, proportionate and minimised, with additional controls for sensitive information; each club must confirm how privacy law applies to it.

Candidate District material

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

Theme 4 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
  • Engage Emerging Leaders
    Supports: Member-centred discovery, mentoring, feedback, emerging-leader support and club-health review principles.
    Does not establish: That a person is ready for office, should be selected, has consented to a role or can exercise authority outside the club's rules.
  • Enhancing Belonging and Engagement at Rotary
    Supports: Belonging, accessibility, respectful participation and equitable access principles for leadership and club experience.
    Does not establish: That a particular leadership pathway, meeting, selection process or club culture is inclusive without testing with affected people.
  • Governance for good: A guide for Responsible People
    Supports: Good-governance principles for roles, delegation, decision processes, 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 proposed delegation or decision complies with the club's governing documents.
  • Chapter 3: APP 3 Collection of solicited personal information
    Supports: Data-minimisation, collection-purpose, proportionality and consent safeguards where the Privacy Act and APP 3 apply.
    Does not establish: Whether a particular Rotary club is an APP entity or whether a proposed leadership survey, assessment or record is lawful in its actual circumstances.

What still needs a person to confirm

  • Confirm the club's governing documents, election or appointment method, role authority, delegation, budget and reserved decisions before assigning leadership responsibility.
  • Confirm which incorporated-association, charity, work health and safety, privacy, safeguarding and other duties apply to the club and this local design.
  • Test accessibility, workload, belonging and alternative participation routes with affected members rather than inferring suitability from the guide.
  • Confirm every local fact, starting point, measure, cost, owner, capability claim and learning need 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

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: Use Leadership Development Circles to give future leaders trusted guidance while keeping ownership of decisions with the person in the role.

2. Our 90-day try-out

What our club will do for Leadership Development Circles
StepWhat we will doWho could lead itOur dateHow we will know it is done
1Write the decision brief for Leadership Development Circles: define which capability, experience and bounded support a mentoring relationship will develop, the starting evidence, people affected, local authority, resource limit, success signals and stop conditions.Board sponsor and leadership-development leadWeek oneAn approved decision and boundary brief
2Publish the capability and decision need, invite interest fairly, ask about access and workload, declare conflicts and separate development from any formal appointment. Apply this specifically to Leadership Development Circles and record which relevant experiences or users are still missing.Board sponsor and leadership-development lead with the access and privacy contactsWeeks one and twoA participant, access and information-handling plan
3Build and test a facilitated conversation with a published influence boundary and balanced participation for Leadership Development Circles; complete the Leadership Development Circles Facilitation and Influence Run Sheet, rehearse the boundary wording and confirm who may decide, refer, pause, recover or close the work.Facilitator, mentor or role supervisorBefore the trialA tested facilitation and influence run sheet and delivery pack
4Use real but bounded practice, observation, reflection and specific feedback; protect confidential information and keep every reserved decision with the authorised office-holder. Capture only the evidence needed to judge whether Leadership Development Circles advances ethical mentoring of future leaders.Facilitator, mentor or role supervisorWeeks three to eightA controlled activity and evidence record
5Compare 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, mentor or role supervisor with an independent reviewerWithin seven days of the trialA de-identified themes record and response register showing how participant input affected the decision
6Make and record the authorised continue, adapt, refer, scale or stop decision for Leadership Development Circles; explain the reason, complete every action, close unnecessary records and schedule the 90-day follow-up.Authorised office-holder and handover recipientBy day 90A published participant response, closed action register and next-step decision

3. Checks before we start

Things our club needs to check
QuestionWhat it means for usWho will checkDone?
Check the idea with the people affected and confirm its purpose, owner and practical limits before putting it into use.
Confirm who may decide, how conflicts and decisions will be recorded, and what support a new leader can call on.
The club proceeds with Leadership Development Circles without respecting this boundary: mentors may advise and reflect but cannot promise appointment, exercise the learner's authority or seek unnecessary private information. — Put the boundary in the brief and participant information, give the delivery lead stop authority and move any excluded matter to its responsible process.
Selection reproduces an inner circle or creates an implied appointment. — Publish the pathway and criteria, invite broadly, declare conflicts and state that formal appointments remain separate.
A learner, mentor or committee exercises authority it does not hold. — Use a written role and delegation, decision checkpoints and an accountable office-holder.
Development creates hidden workload or unnecessary access to confidential information. — Set workload and access limits, provide supervision and use a safe exit and handover.
The current Theme 4 index establishes the code and title. No authoritative detailed Leadership source has been located, so this is explicitly an internally authored, source-referenced draft.
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: mentors may advise and reflect but cannot promise appointment, exercise the learner's authority or seek unnecessary private information.
Formal human review has not started. Leadership Development Circles 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 mattersWhere we are nowWhat we hope to seeHow we will checkWho
After 90 days, review Leadership Development Circles. Look for regular mentoring conversations, goals chosen by the learner and growing confidence in independent judgement.
Leadership Development Circles 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 ethical mentoring of future leaders 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.

01

Leadership Development Circles Capability and Outcome Brief

Define the capability, real work, authority and evidence required.

Open supporting document
02

Leadership Development Circles Expression of Interest and Conflict Form

Support fair participation and transparent conflict management.

Open supporting document
03

Leadership Development Circles Role, Authority and Confidentiality Agreement

Keep learning work within approved boundaries.

Open supporting document
04

Leadership Development Circles Learning and Practice Plan

Turn the capability goal into deliberate work and feedback.

Open supporting document
05

Leadership Development Circles Observation and Feedback Record

Capture behaviour and impact without personality judgement.

Open supporting document
06

Leadership Development Circles Decision and Governance Check

Protect formal authority, conflicts and required approvals.

Open supporting document
07

Leadership Development Circles Handover and Continuity Pack

Transfer work, learning, access and open decisions.

Open supporting document
08

Leadership Development Circles Mentoring Future Leaders Delivery Check

Test whether Leadership Development Circles genuinely advances ethical mentoring of future leaders within the subtheme boundary.

Open supporting document
09

Leadership Development Circles Facilitation and Influence Run Sheet

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

Open supporting document
10

Leadership Development Circles Evidence, Decision and Close-Out Record

Bring the evidence, limitations, participant response and final decision for Leadership Development Circles 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.

Who can say yes?

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

Are people protected?

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

Can everyone take part?

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

Are the facts and permissions right?

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

How will we learn?

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

Worksheets for your club

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

01

Conversation guide

Use this worksheet to hold a respectful conversation, hear different views and tell people what happens next.

Open worksheet
02

People and opportunities matching sheet

Use this worksheet to help people choose roles or opportunities that suit them without asking for more personal information than the club needs.

Open worksheet
03

Check-in log

Use this worksheet to hear what people experienced and decide what to change next.

Open worksheet
04

Review template

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