“The ‘Classic’ Interview”
I wanted to do an article on membership for this month, so I decided to use the opening for my diversity workshops. I have had many requests for copies of this interview, and though it is quite long, I decided to share it with all my readers. It's about membership, retention, and inclusion.
(The president of the Club, Bob, interviews a new member - Jim)
BOB: Jim, welcome to our Kiwanis club. We are so happy to have you. You bring some unique talents, skills, experiences, and new ideas which will contribute to the ongoing success of our club. You have been through the Pre-Induction Orientation, but it is my job as President to assign you to a committee. I have a list here of the job descriptions of all the committee chairs and the contact information for each chair. Right now, I would just like to see what your interests are and get an idea where you might fit in. So what areas are you interested in working?
JIM: I’m real concerned about struggling families and single parent mothers. Many of them are having a rough time and falling through the cracks in our community. What concerns me most is the impact on infants and small children.
BOB: You can’t work with children and families. That’s what the women do in our club. We guys can’t be meddling in on their jobs. The women in our club do the cooking, cleaning, and stuff like that. Is there any other specific community need you have in mind that our club may address?
JIM: As a former member of the city council, I have several areas where I can see a partnership with organizations and Kiwanis. We have a lot of need in building and maintaining our city parks.
BOB: Great Jim, but we can’t be doing things that might take jobs from the union folks. If we go there and clean parks, paint benches, and plant grass and flowers, we’ll put lots of folks out of jobs. Our club just can’t do that. Maybe you have some personal goals as a new club member.
JIM: I’m the President of the company I started and I have lots of experience in finance, marketing, and personnel matters. I would really like to become President of this club within 2-4 years.
BOB: Well Jim, being president of a club this size is a huge task. We have 16 members. You have to pay your dues around here and work your way up. There is a lot to learn about being a Kiwanian, let alone President. It took the club 16 years before they asked me to be President. Our Past President, who served five straight terms, died last year. So I was told I had to take the job.
JIM: Well, how do I get started in my leadership development and Kiwanis education? I love crunching numbers and I have developed a new spread sheet for my company that makes record keeping a snap.
BOB: Jim, old Jackson has been our Secretary/Treasurer for 20 years. He’s old, slow, and has a hearing problem, but he usually gets the numbers right. But you know, he’s a good-old Kiwanian and it would break his heart if we asked him to step down. You understand --- don’t you?
JIM: I suppose??? Well, can I get involved with the fund raising committee? You know I love those Kiwanis burgers your club makes every year at the County Fair, but I have an idea about a minor change to the menu. You see, if you added...
BOB: Hold on right there Jim. Now I know our fund raiser looses more money each year, but Old Hank has been running that project for 30 years. His Father came up with that menu when he was running it 50 years ago. We have always served those dry burgers with stewed spinach and apple sauce. We do not sell very many, but the community expects us to be there. That recipe was brought over on the May Flower by Hank’s Grandfather. So you see Jim, we can’t just up and change the tradition.
JIM: You know President Bob, I just want to get involved and offer some of my talents to this club. You know I do a bulletin for our church. I have a dynamite software program with some out-of-sight graphics. If your club has a weekly bulletin, do you think I might at least help edit it?
BOB: Oh no, no, no! We tried that several years ago and no one would read the darn thing. We were wasting money on stamps, paper, and envelopes. That is a good idea, but we could not get the board to approve it again. You see we tried that before and it did not work.
JIM: Well Bob, I have one more thing that I think would help this club. You know I attended three meetings and I enjoyed the fellowship, lunch, and being around our members, but I think if we had speakers at the meetings, it would be interesting and educational for the members.
BOB: We tried that too about 5 years ago. But we got tired of all those hand-out agencies coming by asking for money. Some of them even wanted to be their agency advocates and join our club. We don’t need those money hungry -“chilliwackers” in our club.
JIM: But, I know lots of interesting leaders in the community who would make great programs, and they just might become great members.
BOB: Most of those folks just put our members to sleep. Our group just likes to have a meeting place to eat and get caught-up on the latest community gossip. But, I tell you what I’ll do - I’ll assign a committee to study it further.
JIM: President Bob, I don’t know quite how to tell you, but I do not think this club is for me. (Jim turns and walks away)
BOB: (Bob calls out to him as he leaves) But Jim, Kiwanis is a great leadership development organization.
Sylvester Neal