Tags: Rotary Club Queensland. Brisbane. Bribie Island.
Rotary’s Pride of Workmanship (PoW) program is a Rotary vocational service project which started in Pennant Hills, Australia in 1975. The program allows managers in local communities to help employees achieve the goal of job satisfaction and publicly recognise them for their efforts. It was Aristotle – some 2400 years ago – who first said “We are what we repeatedly do.
Featured image(above): PDG George Grant, Lisa Wendland and Richard Whetlor
from The Bribie Islander
Excellence then is not an act, but a habit”. Our PoW program provides an ideal medium for organisations who would not normally be in a position to acknowledge and thankworthy employees for this “habit” of excellence. Participating businesses and organisations promote the Pride of Workmanship theme of “do it once – do it well” throughout their organisation and nominate employees worthy of recognition, not only within the organisation, but the wider community.
Nominees for the Pride of Workmanship program are presented with a special plaque, which has their name engraved on it, in recognition of their achievements. This year’s nominations have been sought for some months now via the media and word of mouth and we attracted a record number of 9 nominees. On 2 May 2019, Bribie Rotary held its annual Pride of Workmanship dinner at Pacific Harbour Golf and Country Club. The room was packed with the recipients and their colleagues and family members.
Nominators thanked Rotary for providing them with this opportunity to acknowledge the efforts and contributions of employees who consistently achieve an overall high standard of work performance. These employees also display personal qualities worthy of such a public award. Rewarding these employees in such a public way shows them the high value placed on them by their employers.
It is not just an offhand comment made after work in front of no-one. I feel we all agree with American football coach Bill Walsh (49ers et al) when he said: “Nothing is more effective than sincere, accurate praise, and nothing is lamer than a cookie-cutter compliment”. Master of Ceremonies, Barry Clark, gave an entertaining description of Rotary and our projects and causes. He spoke about how we are known for our End Polio campaign, but perhaps the fact that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation contributes an extra US$2 for every US$1 Rotary raises, isn’t as well known.
Barry also spoke about Bribie Rotary’s very own William (Bill) Peacock OAM, a polio survivor who is now wheelchair bound due to post-polio syndrome. Bill works tirelessly for the End Polio campaign and has recently been appointed as a representative for the World’s Great Meal (WGM) to End Polio. On 22 April 2019, WGM announced that it had raised US$10 million since its inception in 2013.
The very knowledgeable Mr. Clark also told us about other Club projects such as the cervical cancer vaccination of 28,000 girls in PNG, the origin of the word “grog”, famous usage of the word “pride” and other fascinating snippets. Bribie Rotary considers our Pride of Workmanship night to be our flagship event in our yearly calendar. We congratulate and thank all businesses and recipients of this year’s awards.
This Pride of Workmanship “Class of 2019” were: Joanne Allison-Schouw – Bribie Respite & Support Services Wendy Coker – Bribie Island State School Angela Davis – Bribie Island Hotel Malcolm Hogan – First Avenue Tyre and Mechanical Kate Jeffrey – Banksia Beach State School Kirsty Leishman-Winney – Bribie Island State High School Yasmin Pearce – Bribie Island State School Helen Riley – Bribie Island Community Kindergarten Lisa Wendland – The Bribie Islander.
Representatives of the participating businesses and organisations explained the reasons for and achievement behind each recipient’s nomination. Their words will form part of a printed citation (a certificate), including a photo, which will also be given to the employee as further recognition of their Award. It was Mark Twain who said, ”thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered – either by themselves or by others”. Let us hope – in our small way – we have ensured the light has been shone on some who have been discovered.