Change Agents Needed

Great idea!  Keep the lines open good communciations is the key to a powerful organization.

This 46 year member realizes that we must make changes because what we have been doing [or more like not doing] in recent years by and large is not working---more like has stopped working....   But too much unjustified or gambling change too fast is just going to lose members like me.   And for a long time to come if this happens, those/these potentially turned off members are not going to be made up with new members who will stay in Kiwanis long enough to stick.....

What needs to be done is for our leadership to find ways to stop preaching ONLY to the choir [so to speak].   We are really good at that.  But we are not getting to the declining clubs so they can see what they need to try harder to do.  [Too many of them do not even try to do what it takes to improve their condition!]  And what they need to do, besides recruit more, FIRST OFF is conduct meetings which are informative, well agendized, interesting, and FUN.  Such meetings not only prompt absent members to return but they sell the club to prospective members assuming recruiters are getting the prospects there..   Secondly these declining clubs need to engage in projects which are meaningful to both the club membership AND the community plus also recognized by the community..  In other words we need better P.R.....

One addition observation of mine and a few others>>>>>>>>>Clubs that do run superior meetings GENERALLY are the clubs in the division that interclub.    Interclubbing shows clubs what they need to try to do and even sometimes not do.   It also gives them ideas for meeting programs....

The fourth factor [besides better club meetings together with improved recruitment] is get out a club newsletter---best received BEFORE the next club meeting.  This helps with membership retention but not as much as meetings that otherwise busy Kiwanians go out of their way to attend.  I have observed the second thing a declining clubs stop doing next to interclubbing is get out a club bulletin/newsletter.   These do not do much to attract new members but they surely help keep the ones already in the club....  

I bet you will agree with me that clubs that do all these things and receive recognition stay healthy and even grow.   Clubs that do not are the ones declining and too many Lt. Govs. have been neglecting these declining clubs for years.   And if these Lt. Govs. need help form experienced, proven Kiwanis leaders they don't seek it...

So what we need to change is somehow someway find ways to get declining clubs to change their ways.    And it does not help to accomplish this when these clubs do not attend division councils, zone conferences, district conventions, interclub, etc..etc..etc.. which seems to be the case....

Recruiting more and better and building new clubs in iffy communities is not the answer...   Do what it takes to retain members plus recruit and we should turn things around if we keep trying....

MY Kiwanis bio. is available on request  

We are pricing ourselves out of business.  Young professionals trying to get a career started find the costs too great.  For example: the KIF send mailing labels, calendar and requests for donations, plus a donation of $5 per member to the local club for an annual doantion.  No matter how much a member gives, it isn't enough.

Women in Kiwanis see the Legion of Honor as a way to recognize long-time male members while reminding them that they are "newcomers".  Look at the Int. Board--all male. Two women have been Trustees, but defeated in a bid for higher office.  Most attendees at International Conventions are CAucasian males over age 60 who elect Caucasian males over 60.  At our District Convention, the Gov.'s wife holds a tea for the Gov. Elect's wife and invites the wives of Lt. Govs. and Dist. Chairs.  We have female Lt. Govs. and `Chairs whose hsubands do not care about a tea party.  The reasoning is ~"we've always done it"--we need something to entertain the "little ladies" while the "menfolk" take care of Kiwanis buisness.

Kiwanis is a volunteer organization.  Requiring the Pres. and Sec.to sit through a day-long training session implies that they are not intelligent.  Sec. who has served several years find this especially insulting.

Signs of a dying club:  low weekly attendance; few volunteers for clu7b projects.

Nice writing. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.

First consider my comment to Rob Parker about two forums at the Nashville convention as part of this comment.  After reading Rob Parker's "Change Agents Wanted" above, and Dr. Harry Dingwall's above it's interesting.  In my 22 years in Kiwanis, (my profile's available) one thing I have learned,  Kiwanians love to talk.  When I first became a Certified Trainer, training for new officers was two days long and included a wonderful problem-solving model used in busineses.  But I don't think many Kiwanians used it.  I used it once with my club and had excellent results.

Dr.Dingwall's words contain some excellent comments, but apparently few people see them.  You'll notice that most of his comments pertain to clubs with declinning membership, and he's right.  But what if your club has fairly level membership but kind of holds its own?  There are still problems that must be brought to light.  One source for that is the Cub Excellence tool/survey, but if we can't get the Lt. Gov. to get the club Presidents to use that tool, what good is it?  It is not a simple task!  It is not a simple task to be a change agent.  It is not a simple task to solve problems, or more important to run a problem-solving session.  I see LOADS of tools for Kiwanis Clubs, but very little use of them.  But then back 15 years ago when I was a Distinguished Lt. Gov., the same problems existed.  Kind of sounds like a lot of talk and little action.  And that's partly what it is, because there is a lack of concistency from year to year.

Certainly as a retired Corporate Trainer, I know the importance of proper training, and we don't get much of it in Kiwanis.  Too many officers don't attend the training and too many trainers cut the time back because a Lt. Gov. says to.  Yes, some people do attend forums at District and International conventions, which helps, but somehow we must find one solid track and stay on it.

I have recently, (since going to an excellent forum in Nashville), started to learn my way around the KiwanisOne website, joined Facebook, and am now beginning to look around at the mountains of material available to Kiwanis officers and Board members, but who has the time to digest all this?  THAT IS MY QUESTION!