Rotarians Should Focus For Success!

2018 International Assembly - Click here to view the Who Rotarians Are - People of Action Rebranding address by Brad Howard, Past RI Director and Chairman of the RI Communications Committee.

Rotary International (RI) is rebranding itself to be an association of Rotary Clubs organized and operated by and for People of Action.  For this rebranding initiative to be successful, RI and its member clubs should focus on:

• segmenting membership markets in accordance with RI’s Constitution and
• maintaining accurate measures of success. 

FOCUS ON MARKET SEGMENTATION
2018 International Assembly - Click here to view the Market Segmentation Address by John Smarge, Past RI Director and Aide to President-Elect Barry Rassin.

Market segmentation in its simplest form is identifying the behavior and characteristics of the people who comprise Rotary’s niche market. Those in this niche are, or wish to be, People of Action who want to make life better for themselves, their families, their professions, their communities, and the world – in that order.  Segmenting these groups will make it much easier for RI and clubs to identify, communicate with, and serve existing and potential Rotarians, pinpointing those who might find buying Rotary’s People of Action brand beneficial.

Segmenting cannot be accomplished with focus groups or surveys.  Proper segmentation can only be successful by spending time experiencing clubs’ and Rotarians’ realities.  The methods and importance of market segmentation must be discussed at assemblies, seminars, conferences, and institutes. RI should also consider inviting Rotary Leadership Institute to assist in educating grass roots Rotarians about the rebranding initiative and where market segmentation fits in.

FOCUS ON MEASURING SUCCESS

RI’s rebranding initiative must have an accurate and dependable method to measure its success.  That can only happen if RI serves its member clubs by creating and maintaining an easy-to-understand Index of gauging how many people are renewing their memberships and how many are being attracted into local clubs – their Retention Rates and Attraction Rates. These rates should be combined into a single (RG or RA) Index because it is possible for clubs or districts to sustain or improve their retention rate while losing members, i.e. retain themselves out of existence. (It would not be a surprise to find that some "blended" districts have already done this?) It is also possible for clubs to achieve higher Retention Rates while other clubs offset lower Retention Rates with higher Attraction Rates, resulting in both having identical RG Indexes. It is also possible that should priority be on Attraction Rates that clubs, districts, and zones could again be seduced by Rotary's Recruiting Death Dance of yesteryear. All three data points should be readily available so Rotarians could detect where more effort should be directed.   

The rebranding initiative stands a much better chance of succeeding if RG Indexes would become second nature for RI’s senior Rotary and staff leaders.  This would deliver the perception throughout the Rotary network that Retaining AND Attracting members is more important than achieving Every Rotarian Every Year or Paul Harris Fellow expectations.  This can only happen when leaders focus on how effective clubs, districts, and zones are at delivering the brand promise that RI is an association operated by and for People of Action.

Are Rotary's "Leaders" Leading?

In July 2015, Retention Central asked if Rotary’s leaders were leading or managing?  In the history of organizations, the difference is subtle but significant.  Rotary International’s only purpose is to sustain itself.  It does not exist to reach a specific goal.  Leaders reach for growth – individual and organizational - because growth stimulates and helps achieve goals.  Managers reach for goals.

     We are entering 2018, a new calendar year, halfway through RI’s fiscal year.  It appears that RI’s senior and staff leaders, who I affectionately refer to as young lions and lionesses, have breached the managing mentality, a breach initiated by Past RI Presidents Ravindran and Germ.  They discarded the ‘membership goal by an interim cutoff date’ which fostered the ‘my year’ management mentality.  Rotary leaders up and down the Rotary network prioritized ‘my year’ performances, which severely limited any visions of what the future may hold.  Because of the ‘my year’ mentality, minimum resources were dedicated to what kept RI operating – income from dues paying Rotarians and related metrics. 

     Most of RI's present senior and staff leaders now understand that RI is not in the service business, but is in the member business.  They realize that what is accomplished in the name of Rotary – past, present, and future – is the result of Who Rotarians Were, Are, and Will Be.  This is a major revelation that will have a substantial effect on its future, which is shining brighter.  To stay on course, RI must continually develop and analyze critical metrics because they will reflect the results of attitudes and initiatives that affect its most important income source – Rotary clubs and Rotarians.
   The most important metric, of course, is how many Rotarians are renewing their membership – RI’s Retention Rate.  To improve this critical metric, RI must encourage its administrative districts and their clubs to segment their populations and concentrate on the psychometrics of Who They Attract. To help clubs and districts, RI must continually refine and publish its membership metrics.  While metrics can help identify problem areas, only people can analyze, dissect, and solve problems.  For example, lower than normal Retention Rates dilutes the value of being a Rotarian, degrades Rotary’s public image, and destroys it brand.  At RI, naturally defining what is ‘normal’ means, among other things, the necessity to study regional Retention and Attraction Rates to determine what is ‘normal.’  When clubs and districts drop below 'normal' then people at district and club levels can be alerted, investigate, and hopefully solve the problems they identify.

     With eyes on RI’s future, it is rebranding itself as an organization organized by and for People of Action.  This initiative will be successful only when RI and its leaders demonstrate that they are People of Action who prioritize, recognize, and celebrate results.  All Rotary leaders should be encouraged to adopt this basic leadership philosophy from WALKTHETALK.com:

What gets celebrated,

Gets repeated.

What gets recognized,

Gets reinforced.

What gets reinforced,

Gets Repeated.

 

Considering recent happenings, it appears that RI’s senior Rotary and staff leaders are leading instead of managing; are thinking long-term instead of ‘my year’ or ‘my term.’ To solidify this opinion, improvements in membership development results must be recognized and celebrated as the most important accomplishment of any zone, district, or club.  To accomplish this, RI must serve each entity with simple and understandable meaningful metrics, which should be their Retention and Attraction Rates – their RG Indexes.  

Preparing a Rotary Strategic Plan

The red text is linked to the Rotatorial that discusses the topic.

To create an effective strategic plan, organizations must know the reasons they exist; their Purpose and Objective.  Does Rotary International?  Does your district?  Does your club?

To survive over the long haul, organizations should have a Differentiating Identity.  Does Rotary International?  Does your district?  Does your club?

Successful organizations have healthy Cultures.  Does Rotary International?  Does your district? Does your club?

Successful organizations project a clear Image.  Does Rotary International?  Does your district? Does your club?

And should strategic plans center on Achieving Outcomes or Feeding the Elephant?

Unless something unusual comes up, this will be the last post on Retention Central until 2018.  Enjoy the holiday season while remembering that

Rotary's Image

Rotary and Strategic Plans - Part IV of IV Parts

The image (reputation) of Rotary International (RI) is a fundamental instrument in influencing how Rotarians and non-Rotarians view Rotary. RI's image is a valuable component of its differentiating identity. The image cannot be blurry because it is defined by those who view Rotary from outside of the association.  Rotary's image:

·  attracts groups of people who may be interested in becoming association members,

· stimulates the attention of people who may become members of local clubs,

·     influences RI's image in competitive markets and cooperative endeavors,

·     attracts people to become club, district, zone, and international leaders,

·     arouses the interest of people who may wish to be employees of RI,

·     helps retain employees and member clubs, and/or

·     helps member clubs attract and retain members.

All of these issues are important.   But the single, most critical function that affects RI's image is reflected in how it performs in its core business; chartering and supporting Rotary clubs as they develop Rotarians.

     
RI's People of Action campaign could be a major factor in whether or not RI goes up or down in its core business.  Extreme care must be taken in how the campaign is received in the social fabrics of core supporters because the phrase People of Action can imply that Rotarians are:

·  people who act without thinking,

·  people who act without discussing and/or thinking through the pros and cons,

·  people who are willing to try to solve any major issue that comes along, or

·  judgmental and believe that only Rotarians are People of Action.

       

     RI's strategic plan should consider all of these issues because RI's future depends on (1) RI actually delivering a differentiating identity, (2) when it begins actively promoting the People of Action campaign, and (3) how the campaign is received by its core supporters. RI leaders, communications specialists, and public image coordinators must realize that communication occurs only when those who receive the message understand and believe it.  If RI proves itself capable of delivering a differentiating identity to its member clubs then properly promotes its People of Action campaign, its reputation should soar.  HOWEVER, even if the People of Action campaign projects the desired message throughout the network, but RI fails to deliver its differentiating image to core supporters, its reputation will slide downhill faster than an avalanche.

 

This is the fourth and final segment of Retention Central's Rotatorials on developing a strategic plan.  Perhaps it has helped readers understand that creating or updating a strategic plan for a legacy international organization like RI is an important, time consuming, and complicated task.  If clubs, districts, or zones are creating or updating strategic plans, the same fundamental principles will apply.