This week we have been looking at growing club membership and retaining current members.

One of the most important requirements for a project of this nature to be successful is a cohesive team where every member is aware of the goals and is committed to achieving success.

To work effectively and for one common goal within the club it is very important for all involved to share the same vision. This vision should be clearly defined so that all involved understand the direction in which the club is heading.

The key to achieving this level of commitment is twofold:

1. Training of the team in the overall goals of the club; this is in addition to comprehensive and on-going training in their individual job roles.
2. Leadership; this is the vital grease that keeps the project machine running smoothly and relentlessly towards success.

Finally, there is a need to adopt a culture of continuous improvement at the club.

Continuous Improvement is the simple but highly effective process of breaking your club’s business down into all of its component parts and then breaking those down further to the smallest individual elements so that you can chart your efforts to improve each of these in small incremental steps.

There are 7 key elements to adopting a Continuous Improvement model at your club:

1. Management Commitment – the boss must believe it too!
2. Training the Team – in their roles and the overall vision.
3. Make it Visible – results get results!
4. Measure the Change – if you don’t how will you know what works?
5. Build the Team – this is a dynamic process, make sure you have the skills you need in the team at every stage.
6. Reward the Result – People perform best when rewarded.
7. Never Give Up – Tenacity is the key, the difference between a successful person and a failure is that the successful person never gives up.