As successful business people and professionals, Rotarians would immediately recognize these warning signs and take immediate action to address them.

Now, consider this scenario: Over the past three years, your Rotary club has inducted 10 new members only to see 4 of them leave. For the past month, two of your most active members have missed the weekly meeting, and the club secretary's repeated voicemail messages to them have gone unanswered. And this year, because too few club members volunteered, your club's most important scholarship fundraiser barely brought in enough money to cover operating expenses.

Surprisingly, many Rotarians aren't as quick to recognize these alarming parallels in their clubs. Or if they do, they fail to identify the underlying causes — or worse — ignore the symptoms altogether.

So how can club leaders and members apply their business and professional expertise to membership challenges facing the club? Perhaps, it's time to start thinking of Rotary clubs a little more like businesses.

Bringing a business mind-set to membership

When busy professionals and business persons choose to accept the invitation of club membership other important aspects of their lives are reprioritized to make room for Rotary. It, therefore, somehow feels like it should be more organic and require less effort than maintaining a growing business or profession. Rotary is supposed to be work mixed with fun and fellowship, not just work. And, it certainly can be, and should be. It simply requires the commitment of the club leadership together with the whole club membership.

Just like a business, a Rotary club has a vision, a mission, and a product. It has income and expenses and administrative tasks. Every year, club members elect a board of directors who are accountable to the club's stakeholders: fellow club members and the many beneficiaries of the club's service activities.

And just as businesses conduct strategic planning sessions, gap analyses, and 360-degree evaluations, Rotary clubs should develop plans for change that will not only prevent further disrepair but also increase the strength of the club. One way to do this is by organizing a club assembly solely dedicated to club assessment.

An assessment-focused club assembly

To prepare for the assembly, begin by asking club members to volunteer for organizational roles and tasks. You'll need individuals to moderate the meeting and plan the day's agenda. Other volunteers can arrange for an off-site location, meals, and meeting supplies. Encourage board members to shake off their yoke of responsibility for the day and think of themselves once again as non-elected club members.

On the day of the assembly, the moderator should begin by underscoring the importance of an objective and thorough assessment of club operations and member satisfaction. This should be followed by an overview of the day's agenda:

Activity 1: Select club characteristics for evaluation — Many clubs have chosen from these characteristics:

• Weekly Programs

• Project Selection and Execution

• Recruitment Procedures

• Pre-induction Orientation

• New Member Orientation

• Continuing Member Education

• Leadership Development Cycle

Activity 2: Select task force members to evaluate each characteristic — Moderator asks for volunteers to task force groups to evaluate each of the chosen characteristics.

Activity 3: Develop assessment evaluation plans — Moderator instructs task force groups to consider how the following, and more, impact the club characteristic they are evaluating:

• Weekly programs

• Speakers

• Service projects

• Fellowship events

• Average club member age

• Male-to-female ratio

• Classifications

• Cost of membership

• Time commitments for meetings and service projects

• Organization of club and meetings

• Perceived value of service projects

• Communication

• Recruitment

The moderator should remind club members to be as objective as possible in their evaluations, and remind them that the purpose of the club assessment is to work together to identify opportunities to make the club more relevant to its members and the community.

Activity 4: Review of fact finding methods — Moderator highlights strategies such as:

• Question-and-answer sessions. Suggest that task force groups take the program at an upcoming meeting and facilitate a question-and-answer session from the club members to each other and to the Board members.

• Surveys. By allowing respondents express their opinions confidentially, surveys can provide detail that may not be accessible in a more public forum. Suggest to task force groups that they survey current and resigned members, and consider surveying or interviewing individuals proposed for membership but who declined the invitation. The feedback may be difficult to hear, but the insight gained from their responses may provide the invaluable piece of evidence that turns a club from average to outstanding.

• Focus groups. Someone who's been in the club for less than 3 years will likely have a very different perspective from a 15-year veteran. Suggest to the task force groups that they should look at the club characteristic from different member perspectives by conducting informal focus groups with these members, away from the club setting. This allows them an opportunity to voice their opinions in a supportive environment.

Activity 5: Develop a structure for reporting progress to the entire membership — Some task force groups may be able to complete their evaluation in a few weeks, others may need a few months. To keep interest and commitment high, the moderator should ask for a schedule from each group showing the dates of upcoming club meetings during which they will report their progress.

After the assembly

Once the evaluations are complete, and the task forces have presented their findings, solutions should be encouraged from the entire membership and implemented.

In the workplace, the best results are accomplished with the assistance of many hands and minds. The same is true for maintaining a healthy, vibrant club. Getting all members of the club involved in its care spreads the burden of responsibility over many shoulders and many minds, and has proven to improve membership retention. It also makes the work of the club fun.

By bringing a business mind-set to their clubs, and by using some of the same evaluation and survival strategies, Rotarians can position their clubs to attract the best potential members, retain experienced members, and remain relevant to the needs of all members and the community they serve.

Club assessment resources

For additional club assessment strategies, take a look at chapter 1 and appendices 1-4 of the Membership Development Resource Guide (417-EN). This RI publication includes activities such as the Membership Satisfaction Questionnaire and the Planning Guide for Effective Rotary Clubs. It can be ordered for US$3 or downloaded for free at www.rotary.org.

Also, go to Membership at www.rotary.org for these membership resources:

• Retention Model

• Termination Profile

• Club Inventory

• Membership Development Best Practices Exchange