What's happening to Rotary International's (R.I.) sphere of
influence? From some insider viewpoints,
it's expanding; from most target audience viewpoints, and retention and attraction rates, it's retracting. For R.I.'s sphere of influence to expand, its
actions (and its future) depends on how effective R.I. is at serving the ever-changing
needs of its target audiences, its customers - present and future clubs and Rotarians. To do this, it must look at itself from their viewpoint, examine and understand their realities, needs, and values, then make decisions and take actions accordingly.
A comment that sometimes resonates from R.I. associates, particularly
when referencing membership, is "That's
a club responsibility." Nonsense. Membership is the responsibility of EVERY R.I. ASSOCIATE AND ALL ROTARIANS, but
it will be only when membership is top priority for all
leaders and in all actions, including the successfully eradication of polio. There
is no question that clubs should do whatever they can locally to advance the Object
of Rotary. But R.I. should do everything
it can to serve clubs because creating Rotarians is its number one priority.
For example, many clubs concentrate on developing acquaintances
as an opportunity for service. That's
wonderful because Retention and Growth (R&G) rates are the only truly objective
measure of influential Rotary clubs.
From the clubs' viewpoint, all information necessary to maintain and
publish R&G rates for clubs, districts, and zones is given to R.I. by club
secretaries, so shouldn't R.I. consider serving clubs by maintaining and
publishing R&G rates?
What about R.I. offering professional assistance and
furnishing, upon club or district request, detailed population information
identifying underserved areas and demographics.
The twentieth century method was to perform classification studies
utilizing telephone book Yellow Pages or the like.
Today, much more detailed information is available but to obtain it
involves cost and training. From the
club's viewpoint, it is backward thinking to believe that districts and clubs,
with their frequent leadership changes, should each annually pay for and learn
to use these modern services. R.I. should also consider offering specialized new club location and start-up services better than the services offered to Zone Rotary Foundation Coordinators and by Major Gift Advisers.
R.I. should encourage and welcome creative ideas on how to better serve clubs and Rotarians. The ideas presented above would deliver
value and yield important information that would affect current R.I. actions
and decisions and impact R.I.'s future.
Imagine the potential impact today if previous leaders had known how many Rotarians were actually walking out; who their customers were; and the business it is, and wants to be, in.
"How can we
deliver more and better value to our Rotarians?" is a question
effective clubs ask themselves. R.I. leaders
should continually ask themselves the same question because R.I.'s sphere of influence
can only be measured by how many Rotarians the association's clubs retain and
attract.
Red text indicates a link to previous Rotatorials.
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