I know this looks like I’m getting all my material from the Ham Radio Help Group mailling list, but the advice in my last post and the advice in this post is such good advice I couldn’t pass it up……..Dan
On the HamRadioHelpGroup mailing list, a ham asked:
I am having a problem getting anyone in my local group motivated to do anything at all.
Richards, K8JHR, replied:
This often happens to charity and service clubs. You must determine what is missing from the mix – or what has been
added to the mix – that is driving members away – and then effectuate some measures of damage control to fix the problem.Over the years, I have been a national level officer in several service clubs. I have witnessed several local chapters get back on track by conducting careful and tactful “exit interviews” with the more outgoing former members. Successful interviews are non-threatening, easy discussions which do not put the former member on the spot or cause him to get defensive. You just want to know why he quit and, hopefully, what would have made him stay active. I am not being critical – I just want to underscore the need for deft salesmanship on this matter. Especially if you
intend the interview subject to renew interest or participation in the future.Clubs are often surprised by the various reasons for quitting proffered by former members, which range from taking a job with incompatible time constraints, to the lack of alcohol at meetings, to insufficient involvement or failure to relate to the club “mission,” to serious illness, boredom, to disgust over some other particularly obnoxious member, to… whatever they say is the reason they quit.
Often it is something might not have anticipated. Most often it is the result of disjoining members from the club mission – the failure to connect the member with the mission or club activities so that he wants to continue membership and continue to pursue or manifest club objectives. Other times it is a failure to schedule the right number of fun activities that are of interest to members, mixing enough play with the work.
In any case, your goal is to initiate a casual, on-on-one, non-threatening dialog to learn reasons Member X or Member Y quit participating. Just for emphasis, and not to be critical, I reiterate the need for low key, easy-going discussion which does not put the former member on the defensive. I say this because this is very difficult to accomplish, even for a tactful and sensitive person.
Each situation is different, and you may get what seem like totally incompatible answers from each individual member. Or you may identify a trend or a common theme, and be able to address that in the future as you renew interest in the mission. Be open to the notion of multiple causation – several disjointed and apparently unrelated factors may be working against your cause and you may need a shotgun style repair to get back on track.
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