At the turn
of the century, Rotary International (RI) membership had been hovering around
1.2 million for five years. Several
major market areas were experiencing a decline.
Some RI leaders dreamed of increasing membership to the 1.5 million
mark. Since then, year after year, different
recruiting and net gain initiatives have proliferated. In 2010, leaders targeted 1.3 million Rotarians
by July 1, 2015. Many dedicated Rotarians
compiled and implemented regional membership plans, all approved by the RI
board of directors (board) and implemented in 2012 and 2013. Today, membership is
still hovering around 1.2 million.
RI's
membership initiatives have not succeeded simply because they did not, in
action or resource allocation, have PRIORITY.
Without PRIORITY, there is not, nor
will there ever be, any sense of urgency, particularly with those that are
continually asked to develop membership - clubs and existing Rotarians. If there ever was an applicable cliché it had
to be, and still is, "Bad planning
on your part doesn't constitute urgency on my part." The board has, for two decades, prioritized RI
programs over membership even though RI's own Code of Policies says, ". . . activities and programs addressing membership must remain the association's highest priority." Intellectual inbreeding and complacency caused
RI to forget its true purpose, the business it is in, and its internal and
external target audiences. If RI wants
to survive the 21st century, it must change priorities, and this change must start
with its leaders - all of them!
Change
takes consistent, long-term leadership. For this change to succeed, RI
must assemble an international GUIDING
COALITION capable of and committed to leading the change. Establishing such an influential group will
be virtually impossible if membership development doesn't have the
association's highest priority; a priority that is communicated by words and
demonstrated by deeds and resource allocation.
The coalition's initial duties would be to delineate RI's purpose, the
business it is in, identify its target audiences and create an attainable
vision. Without these elements, planning
will be for naught, as previous membership initiatives have effectively
demonstrated.
A VISION is necessary, but the vision must be considered attainable
by everyone involved - including member clubs.
Had all regional membership development plans been approved in 2012, it would have taken an annual membership growth rate of about 3.6% to reach the 1.3 million vision. This rate does not sound unreasonable until analysts
(or even rank amateurs) examine historical rates. RI's prior fifteen-year annual
growth rate had been teetering at 0%. North America , RI's major market, was experiencing a
decade long decline averaging roughly 1.3% per year. During the last half of the previous century,
RI's annual growth rate had been between 1.5 and 2%. What actions and resources did the 1.3 million
dreamers believe RI and its member clubs could or would commit in order to improve
RI's overall annual growth rate from 0% to 3.6%? To convert a major market's negative 1.3% rate
to a positive 3.6% rate? In one year! Get real!
Until
membership is considered urgent enough to receive top priority in words, deeds,
and resources, any efforts dedicated to returning to a steady, long term growth
rate will be wasted. Only when RI establishes membership as its top priority, a
guiding coalition is in place, and critical business decisions are made can reasonable
visions be established and regional plans revised. In the meantime, all communications in words
and actions must be based on the fundamental that developing its source of
funding - its customers - will forever remain RI's top priority.
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