Retention Central is monitored occasionally by its creator, Jim Henry, who may be contacted by email at jrhjr255@gmail.com.
Monday, May 9, 2011
The Only True Measure of an Effective Club is its ability to Attract and Retain Members!
Why isn’t our worldwide membership increasing?Could our Presidential Citation and Governor’s Award practices be part of the problem? To read an easy to implement solution, click here.
Membership issues - stagnation of absolute number, attraction of 'new' & retention of 'old' - is perhaps the most widely discussed topic within Rotary at all levels from RI to Zone to District to Club. This is no doubt an important parameter but its emphasis seems to be more on Quantity than QUALITY. Even if a club is successful in adding new members and retaining old ones but actual numbers participating actively in the club activities remains unchanged then this whole exercise becomes futile. What is therefore of greater importance, as per me, is to measure the 'value added' by each member towards enhancing the Rotary Objectives of SERVICE. Assuming a club's strength grows from 100 to say 150 but there is no substantive increase in high impact projects or activities, the "per capita" added value goes down substantially. A business organization is critically judged by analysts on the ability of the organization to reduce its non performing assets (NPA) or in other words increase in performance of its Assets. Members are assets of all Clubs. Hence the efforts of the leadership has to focus on enhancing their performance instead of simply adding new (and perhaps non performing) assets. This may sound harsh but for long term survival & to always remain relevant to the society we serve, there are no 'easy' options in today's world.
Why else would a club grow from 100 to 150 if it was not doing what is necessary in their local social fabric to attract and retain members? Members are customers, not employees. They join and they stay because they feel the opportunities and benefits of being a member in a local Rotary club is worth the time, treasure, and/or talent they are expending.
Membership issues - stagnation of absolute number, attraction of 'new' & retention of 'old' - is perhaps the most widely discussed topic within Rotary at all levels from RI to Zone to District to Club.
ReplyDeleteThis is no doubt an important parameter but its emphasis seems to be more on Quantity than QUALITY. Even if a club is successful in adding new members and retaining old ones but actual numbers participating actively in the club activities remains unchanged then this whole exercise becomes futile.
What is therefore of greater importance, as per me, is to measure the 'value added' by each member towards enhancing the Rotary Objectives of SERVICE.
Assuming a club's strength grows from 100 to say 150 but there is no substantive increase in high impact projects or activities, the "per capita" added value goes down substantially.
A business organization is critically judged by analysts on the ability of the organization to reduce its non performing assets (NPA) or in other words increase in performance of its Assets. Members are assets of all Clubs. Hence the efforts of the leadership has to focus on enhancing their performance instead of simply adding new (and perhaps non performing) assets.
This may sound harsh but for long term survival & to always remain relevant to the society we serve, there are no 'easy' options in today's world.
Why else would a club grow from 100 to 150 if it was not doing what is necessary in their local social fabric to attract and retain members? Members are customers, not employees. They join and they stay because they feel the opportunities and benefits of being a member in a local Rotary club is worth the time, treasure, and/or talent they are expending.
ReplyDelete