Well the news is out now and it seems I have been elected to the first RSA Fellowship Council for the London Region. Part of me is delighted – “social change” is my goal over the next few years and given that this has been the RSA’s mantra for over 250 years, it seems like a good place to start. But part of me is daunted by the prospect – it’s akin to having to climb Mount Everest to just get started.
The announcement of the RSA Fellowship Council opened a Pandora’s box of issues, some of which were debated by the London City Network and on RSA CEO Matthew Taylor’s blog, but most of which are destined to remain unanswered for a while, including the fact that:
1. Many fellows are confused about what the RSA is all about.
2. Many fellows are not clear about what they get from the RSA (apart from the warm, fuzzy feeling of being an FRSA).
3. Many fellows want to collaborate with other fellows but don’t know how.
4. Many see the RSA as a talking shop about societal progress, others see it as an engineer of change
5. Many confuse the commercial arm of the RSA (John Adam Street House) with the non-for-profit aim of the organisation (its activities).
Well I must admit to being in the same boat as you, if any of you count yourselves among the groups listed above. [If on the other hand, you are one of the clued-up, plugged-in, hands-on RSA Fellows….when can we meet??]
A member for a few years, I hadn’t really done anything with my membership until late last year, when I started visiting the site and reading a little bit more. So here are my top tips for getting the most from your RSA Fellowship
Getting the most from your RSA Fellowship
1. Visit the RSA website: create a login, update your profile and sign up to receive information via email. Make sure your email address is correct.
2. Visit the RSA Blogs – choose one, choose them all. Sign up to have updates delivered to your current email address. Follow the RSA and Mathew Taylor on Twitter; join the RSA Facebook group, join the RSA Linkedin group. Do everything!
3. Check out the RSA City Networks – sign up to your local one. My local is London and I am pleased that work of so many others has made it a really vibrant one.
4. Attend an event – either locally or at RSA John Adam Street. You’ll get more than a warm reception. After the last one I attended, my brain was pinging with ideas, books I wanted to read and searches I wanted to do on Google. It’s like the caffeine-high of a Starbucks macchiato.
5. Listen to and watch past events– the RSA Streaming service is exemplary.
6. Read the RSA Journal – put it in your briefcase, satchel or handbag. You’ll be amazed how fascinating it is, esp. when you’re stuck in the underground with nothing to read.
7. Recommend the RSA to a friend or colleague. Sounds crazy especially if you don’t know what it’s all about. But, it will make you prepare a short elevator pitch in your head before you email or phone a friend.
So do any of the above answer the question about the RSA Fellowship Council and what it’s all about? Well, no!
But it brings to mind Kennedy’s quote “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” overlaid with the visual imagery of Lord Kitchener’s wartime poster ‘Your Country Needs You’ – somehow the two always go together in my brain.
Replace “your country” with the RSA and things start becoming clearer – the RSA is a little bit like a school mums picnic, everyone brings a dish, we all share and everyone has a good time! In formal terms, it means Fellows have to engage with the RSA in order to be rewarded.
So, I hope you’ll join me on the journey to discover what RSA Fellowship and the new Council is all about over the coming months!