Message from the President-Elect

Sharon Ward
2007-2008 National President-Elect
 

Greetings, fellow Progressians.

I am honoured to serve on your National Board this year, in particular, because the board's focus is on membership, and that is a topic dear to my heart. As National President Elect, I have been given the task to spearhead a committee in the Central Region with a goal to increase their membership. Central has a lot of potential and has been recognized as the area that presents the most opportunity for growth. I am in the process of pulling together that committee, and will have more to report in the next Progression.

In the meantime, every club needs to look at their numbers and make a commitment to bring them up, even a small amount. However, please keep in mind that numbers alone, without commitment, are meaningless. We have all seen members come and go. For some, we can do nothing about it. For others, we need to do more, whether it is adequate early communication to make sure that the club and the new members are a good fit, or proper mentoring, to make sure the new members are fully integrated into your group. And let us not ignore the needs of the long-term member, who still has the passion and the commitment, but may be running low on energy, from being over-utilized. In business, we are advised to spend more time on the customers that we have, rather than too much time trying to entice new ones to our fold. It makes sense. Success breeds success, and if you have a successful and fulfilled membership, the new members will come. I recommend that every club assign a sub-position to your Membership committee: that of Membership Retention. I will be expanding upon this area in future articles.

I throw this challenge out to all club presidents: send me an email with all the issues that are preventing you from growing. They may be internal or external. It is possible that other clubs have faced similar issues and may have some creative suggestions.

Take care,
Yours for Progress,

Sharon Ward
National President Elect
Canadian Progress Club