Our overall mission as a society - to create a clan society that is the familial home for Watsons the world over - is spelled out on Our Mission page, together with details of the supporting strategic pillars and our underlying values. We have defined a short-term strategy as a first step to realising our overall mission, which will be underpinned by strategic pillars of its own and built upon the same values.
The nearly 300 members of the Facebook group were canvassed for their thoughts on how they would like to see the Clan Watson Society evolve, if at all. There was a clear majority in favour of reestablishing the Watsons as a clan in the long-term and a fruitful discussion on how the membership view the short- to mid-term picture.
It was agreed that the society should continue as it is for now, with work continuing to build the website, a few of us researching various aspects of Watson history and the Facebook group and website slowly accumulating members. In parallel, we will look to work with the Buchanans and then the Forbses to develop the Watsons as a sept of both of their clan societies, which will enable us to use their resources to reach more Watsons that we can on our own as well as giving their organisations a more complete offering on at least one of their septs.
The ultimate aim is to continue to grow the number of members in the society to the point that we can start to arrange some of our own representation at events and to consider the appointment of a clan commander, assuming no hereditary chief is discovered. To be ready for a larger society, it will be necessary to start to prepare to put some structures and policies in place to ensure everything runs smoothly once we reach a certain size.
In order to achieve these aims, a short-term growth strategy has been devised, which is comprised of the following three pillars: Continue to Build; Collaborate; Prepare for The Future.
Under this pillar, we as a society will continue with our current activities, slowly building up our numbers through organic growth, continuing to collaborate on research, promoting discussion through the Facebook group and developing the content of the website.
Work with the Buchanans and then the Forbeses on developing their offerings for the septs, taking advantage of their extended reach to engage with more Watsons to the mutual benefit of all our societies.
The ambition level is to ensure that their websites have a landing area for interested Watsons (and, ultimately, each of their other septs) that contains factual information in line with our research and provides enough info for people to get a decent understanding of Watson history and how it ties in with that of the parent organisation. The bulk of our material will remain on the Clan Watson website and people will be directed there for more information or to ask detailed questions, partly to avoid diluting the offering related to the parent society and partly so that we retain control over the fruits of our labour.
We will also look into providing Watson representatives to support their clan tents at highland events should people be available and the host tents have enough space (our first Clan Watson Ambassador has already volunteered 😊).
As our numbers grow, management of the society will require a more formalised structure. This pillar is about determining what structure is required as the group grows and formalising it, the roles within it and the key processes necessary to ensure it functions. Whatever structure is put in place will need to be able to evolve as our numbers, reach and range of activities grows.
We will shortly put together a page covering volunteering for the society that will give more details on the various volunteer roles available. In the meantime, a summary list is provided below. If any of the below voluntary roles is of interest, please contact us!
If you are planning on attending any clan gatherings, please consider volunteering to act as a clan ambassador. The role will involve supporting the Buchanans and/or the Forbeses by acting as a focal point for the Watson sept. You will be expected to be conversant with the basics of Clan Watson history and the association with the parent clan, and to be familiar with aims and resources of both the parent clan society and the Clan Watson Society. A briefing pack is under development that will contain a summary of the key points and printed material will hopefully be made available in the host clan's tent.
If you're gifted in graphic design, product design, drawing or writing, drop us a line. We'd love to smarten up the website, develop more merchandise and increase both the frequency of and amount of content in our newsletter The Sprouting Oak.
The reason the society was created in the first place was to provide a place where people could collaborate on Watson-themed research rather than struggle on alone. The more research we do, the more Watson clusters we stumble upon and the more mysteries we uncover. Many of these end up on the to-do pile. If you are already doing your own research or would like to help with ours, drop us a line!
We have this website and the Facebook group and have recently set up a (currently inactive) Instagram account. If you're a social media darling we'd love to hear from you to help us kick start things!
