Traditional clubs are looking for what we might call
traditional Lions. These Lions will attend all the meetings, value Lions
traditions, go to conventions and conferences, volunteer for club offices, seek
higher offices, have no problem paying dues, want the club to be a family where
all participate and they will remain Lions for Life. Once you find this “Quality”
Lion, you invite them to join and all is well. This is the way it used to be,
and we would like it to remain that way.
Transactional Lions, on the other hand, may join because
there is a project they want to support or participate in, in other words for a
specific transaction. They may not be interested in meetings, they may not want
to be club officers, they may not be interested in conventions, or club
traditions and they may balk at paying more than the minimum dues. They are
interested in performing a specific service within their community, and when we
fail to provide that service opportunity or we pressure them to do more, or
different things, they may well leave the Lions.
Much discussion about recruiting and retention lately are
about recruiting traditional Lions, and we are seeing how difficult it is to
locate these people. Meanwhile, some are recruiting transactional Lions and
then we are confronted with poor retention when the expectations of the club
and the new Lions are not the same. Might this be referred to as the “Quantity
vs. Quality” issue, or "we do not have a recruiting problem, we have a
retention problem" issue?
Is there a place in Lionism for people who want to serve,
but are “transactional” in nature? Lions that are not dedicated to Lionism for
life, not interested in holding office or attending meetings or conventions,
not cut out for our traditions, but want to serve in our communities? And if
so, are there clubs that can attract and retain these kinds of Lions? Clubs
that do not require so much involvement of their members to operate? Branches
seem to fill this bill, since the parent club manages much of the
administrative overhead, and cyber branches even more so, due to a lesser need
for meetings.
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