RETENTION
What is Retention?
Retention is the process of ensuring that your members or
volunteers remain active with your organization. Retention is not a
particularly formal process. Instead, it focuses on maintaining a
welcome environment, member morale, and organizational
progress.
Why is Retention Important?
Retention is important for a variety of reasons, which includes
having:
* A happy organizational community
* A pool of members who you can count on to help when needed
* A pool of members who could potentially be future leaders
* A strong indicator of organizational success
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retention basics
|| retention strategies || retention issues
Retention
Basics
Levels of Activeness
It is important to acknowledge that members can be active with
your organization at a variety of levels. Some members like to help
with planning programs, some like to attend programs, and some just
like to be on the listserv. Regardless of their level of
activeness, though, retention is critical.
Keys to Strong Retention
* Involvement: Get your members involved with program
planning and implementation. Invite them to help with as many
aspects of your organization and programming as possible. Remember
students generally dislike just sitting at meetings and hearing
others speak. Offer them things that are active.
* Ownership: Let your members participate in decision
making, or at least give them opportunities to openly voice their
needs, interests, and opinions. In addition to decision making,
ownership also includes getting them involved (see above).
* Benefits: Offer benefits or incentives for your members to
be active in your organization. Benefits can be tangible,
intangible, or both. Important benefits include sense of belonging
and community.
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Retention Strategies
Conversations
Having simple conversations with members can go a long way in
terms of creating a welcome environment and ensuring that members
feel comfortable in the organization. Conversations don't
necessarily have to deal with organizational business or issues.
Small-talk and chit-chat are just as good.
Updates
People can generally lose interest in an organization if they
don't know what the organization is doing or what it has planned.
Constant updates, whether through emails, newsletters, websites, or
meetings, are key to maintaining a base-level of interest.
- General meetings:
General meetings are popular ways to disseminate information and update members. However, the drawback with general meetings is that it is a passive activity. In other words, members merely sit and listen to the leadership speak. Although such meetings are good to have once or twice at the beginning of the year, meetings during the rest of the year should focus on getting members involved in some activity. Students' time is valuable so do your best to make their time at a meeting worthwhile and productive.
- Remember:
If things can be said or done via email, then use email instead of reciting information or gathering ideas during a meeting.
Participation Channels
In order to give members ownership of the organization, they
need to have opportunities to participate in decision making and
offer feedback. Channels for such participation need to be made
available to members. Channels may include emails, discussion
boards, chat rooms, or meetings.
- Town-hall meetings:
An increasingly popular participation channel is a town-hall meeting. Unlike a general meeting where the leadership usually does most of the speaking, a town-hall meeting is an open forum where members can voice their questions, concerns, issues, and praise. Town-hall meetings are good ways to gauge the needs, interests, and opinions of members in order to improve the organization.
Organization
Being an organized organization contributes to making your
organization attractive for students to want to be active members.
An organization that is constantly disorganized and does sloppy
work can be unappealing to current and future members.
Social Activities
No matter what type of organization you have, it's always a
good idea to offer periodic social activities so that members can
relax and get to know the leadership and each other better during
informal times. Social activities don't need to be grand in scale
or expensive. Simple, small-scale activities such as dinner
outings, sport activities, shopping, retreats, and short trips are
some ideas.
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Retention Issues
Alienation
It is often easy for the leaders or active members of an
organization to talk with each other and not with members who
aren't as active or who are shy. One negative outcome of this
unwelcoming environment is a feeling of alienation from those who
already know each other. And as a result of this alienation, other
negative outcomes such as discomfort, disenfranchisement, and
resentment may occur.
- Remember:
You can talk to your friends any other time so use time at meetings and programs wisely by helping new or shy members feel welcome.
Conversations
Related to the issue of alienation is the issue of creating
conversation. Simple conversations help create a welcoming and
friendly atmosphere. Do your best to create conversation with
members, especially those you haven't met before or don't see
often. It may feel uncomfortable or weird at first, but its
relatively easy once you get over the initial shyness or
awkwardness.
Communication
Communicating with members is critical for retention because it
is the power by which members stay informed and involved. With
communication, organizational leaders can impart information and
updates to members. In addition, members can use communication
channels such as emails and meetings to voice their opinions,
participate in decision making, and share their ideas.
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