Membership


Garth Arnold


Securing our Future – change is a must! Changing Clubs


In many towns we do not have a club that will be capable of attracting younger members who are still active in business or professions unless those clubs introduce change. In recent years many clubs have changed to reduce formality and cost and to make meetings and activities more relevant for younger potential members. Those clubs have seen their membership grow.


At the RI Assembly 2011 RI Director John Smarge told us to treat our members as customers; to meet their needs and expectations as a way of improving retention. Obviously a club that adopts that philosophy will also attract potential new members as they will be considered potential customers too.


Change is always challenging: Leadership of change calls for a carefully planned approach and will undoubtedly present some challenges. Where to start?


Club Assessment Tool


An excellent publication is the Club Assessment Tool available as a download from http://tiny.cc/nu4id In particular the membership survey and the membership satisfaction survey, completed by all members in confidence, will tell the leadership what may need to change. You may prefer to develop your own simpler questionnaire or to conduct research in a different way but, at least, this document is a useful guide. It is also important to think about possible barriers to membership of your club; how would strangers view the prospect of joining? Why not ask a non Rotarian friend to visit as a potential member and give brutally honest feedback? Are the costs too high? Does it represent good value? Is the programme lively, interesting & worthwhile? Are meetings a good use of time? Could you offer something better, more attractive?


House of Change


The leadership of change will bring challenges and the leader needs to understand how members will react to the suggestions. Consider “The House of change”. A house with only four rooms, that can only be navigated in one direction. Performance inevitably gives way to complacency ‒ “Weʼre fine; we have good projects and our members are happy” but, in truth, the club may be stagnating or drifting imperceptibly backwards; then someone suggests that changes may be needed and some people move to denial ‒ “itʼs not our fault; Itʼs district/ RIBI/RI ‒


certainly not ours”. Sometimes it is difficult to shift people from this stance. As suggestions are tried some will move to confusion ‒ a state where we keep trying things but nothing works and there is a temptation to give up. Finally a solution is found and you breakthrough to performance where membership grows, new ideas are put forward, satisfaction grows because service and enjoyment grow. We must understand that people will move at different rates; not everyone will be in the same room. The trick is to avoid the “Dungeon of despair” from which there is no way back. Members in there are lost.


Barriers ‒ Meeting Times & Venue We all want our Rotary clubs to be the best they can be ‒ engaging, fun and effective. We need them to be attractive to new and younger members. We must recognise that working conditions are changing dramatically and it is not always possible now to take an hour/hour and a half for lunch. Clubs need to react to the changing times; are you one of these clubs! If changes are required to rejuvenate the club then maybe the venue needs reviewed as well; if you meet at lunchtime sometimes meeting in the centre of the town is better rather than on the outskirts. We have to acknowledge that changes must be made if we are to go from strength to strength!


What is Rotary?


A question that came up a lot in our workshops; found the following words on the above website which thought was worth sharing:


A Rotarian is a person who: Vaccinates children they will never meet Restores eyesight for those they will never see


Builds houses they will never live in Educates children they will never know Plants trees they will never sit under Feeds hungry people, regardless of colour, race or politics and Knows real happiness


Rotary is a world‑wide fellowship of business and professional adults who accept the ideal of service as a basis for success and happiness in business and community life. Elevator Pitch!


Many Rotarians seem to struggle with starting a conversation with a friend or stranger about Rotary. Once they get started, however, the words tend to flow more easily. Below is a list of “starters for 10” just to get you going. You can choose


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any one that suits you or combine more than one of them or they may inspire you to develop your own. Whatever you decide to do it is vital that you are ready for the conversation if you are going to be able to deliver a Membership Dividend from every Rotary event or activity. You are in a lift (or anywhere, really) and a stranger says to you:


“I see from your badge that you are in Rotary...


Whatʼs that all about? What does it do for you?”


“Rotary is a group of friends who meet regularly to serve their local community and other people worldwide while having fun together.”


“Rotarians help people in their local community and worldwide while forming long term friendships with the other members of their club by working together.”


“It is the best investment of my time and energy I have ever made.” “We are a group of like‑minded people determined to make the world a better place for those that need it most.” “Rotary changes and saves lives.” “Millions of people are alive today, who would not have been but for Rotary. It is a great organisation, which makes a positive difference to the lives of others ‒ and we enjoy the challenge.” Rotary is the worldʼs premier service organisation. It provides me with friendship, fun and the fulfilment of using my skills to make a positive difference to the lives of a whole range of people. Rotary is the ultimate win win situation. By giving my time, energy and skills I can genuinely make a difference and I get the personal fulfilment that comes from “putting something back”.


Rotary is some of the best fun that you can have with your clothes on. Join Rotary and you are part of a worldwide network of enthusiastic volunteers identifying needs, whether at home or abroad, and finding ways to resolve them through cooperative efforts. You will make many new friends and laugh a lot too. (Felicity Murdin D1170) Where I can enjoy the friendship of like minded people as we use our time, skills and energy in a totally different environment as we work together to help others. It gives me a chance to “put something back” in recognition of the training and opportunities that I have been lucky enough to receive while I also learn from my Rotary friends. (Peter Davey D1100)


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