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- Membership is the KEY!!
The “Sticky Little Club Assessment”
By
Mike Laufenberg, TAG Member
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- Membership is the key, not only
to worries about a Club’s Administrative Budget; but increased
membership also means new ideas, new energies and a whole lot
more service hours we can give back to make our communities a
better place to live.
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- So let us suppose that we are
talking to a friend of ours, an acquaintance, or a prospect that
has been referred to us by someone else. Now, this prospect asks,
“What is Kiwanis all about, anyhow?” Well, by now we
should all be able to respond with the “defining statement”
right? You know;
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- “Kiwanis is a global organization
of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one
community at a time.”
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- OK, says our prospect, I understand
all of that, but, what is it that YOUR CLUB does? What do you
expect from me? What do I get out of joining your Kiwanis Club?
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- Well now, that’s a bit
of a different question isn’t it? Well I want to share a
little “tool” your club can use not only to put together
some great answers to these questions, but do a “Club Assessment”
at the same time. Many of you have seen the “Club Assessment”
tool contained in the Maximizing Kiwanis Workshop or the Membership
Development Manual. It is massive, and most likely larger than
most Clubs could get finished in the space of one meeting. It
would probably take several. But there is a more user friendly
tool called the “Sticky Little Club Assessment”. Here’s
how it works;
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- You need several pads of “Post-It
Notes”, by way the generic brand from your local office
supplier store works just as good. You will also need anywhere
from 3 to 6 large poster sheets. You may also want to make sure
you have some additional pens or pencils for the Kiwanian who
never has one when they need it.
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- At the top of each of the large
poster sheets you will write one (1) of the following questions:
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- 1. What major benefit do you
receive from being a member of this club?
2. What unmet need of the members should the Club provide?
3. What is the most important asset of our Kiwanis Club?
4. What is the greatest weakness of our Kiwanis Club?
5. What is the Club’s most important service to our community?
6. What unmet need of the community should our Club provide?
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- Then; put the large poster sheets
up on the wall, and pass out a stack of “Post-It Notes”
to each Kiwanis member and a pen or pencil if they need one.
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- The job of the Kiwanis member
is simple, they need to BRAINSTORM!
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- Remember; in brainstorming EVERYTHING
gets written down, you DO NOT make any judgments, you JUST WRITE
IT DOWN! You should tell the members that you would hope to get
at least 3-5 ideas for each of the 6 questions posed. As the
members finish they put/stick their responses on the appropriate
large poster sheet.
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- THINK OF THE POWER OF THIS EXERCISE!
Can you imagine the amount of information that you will receive
back from your membership! By the way be sure to tell the members
that you do not want their names on their responses, just their
responses, it is anonymous.
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- Now YOU compile the information
and SHARE IT with the membership at the NEXT MEETING! As you
compile the information you accomplish a couple of things; you
now have the answers to the questions all those new prospects
may be asking you, plus you have just completed a Club Assessment
that may lead your Officers and Board into reviewing what you
are currently doing and what you may need to change to MEET THE
NEEDS OF YOUR CLUB MEMBERSHIP.
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- This in turn just might be what
you need to attract new, younger members into your Club. Try
it! It works!
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- I think you will be amazed at
what you hear back from your members, you may discover new service
projects, and you may discover that what you have been doing
“for years” no longer serves a community need.
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- Now, GO GROW!!!
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