Ed Futa, General Secretary of Rotary International

Twitter has recently suffered a serious blow to its image.  People are talking (and tweeting) about how many folks sign up for the social media platform and then fall away in the first few months of membership.

This lack of involvement is a problem for many other organizations, as well.

I recently delivered a keynote speech for Rotary in Nashville.  The talk was on leadership, with an accent on membership retention.

Ed Futa, General Secretary of Rotary International and another speaker at the conference, reminded me that the first year of  membership in Rotary is critical because Rotarians who become actively involved during the first twelve months tend to become valuable members.  These people also remain members longer.

Getting people to become active in the organization is a problem that exists for many employers, too.

Employers all over the country are frustrated when they hire new workers only to have the newbies assimilate slowly or not at all.

It usually goes like this:  A first year-employee doesn’t engage because he is new.  The newbie doesn’t engage during the second year because he made it through the first year without really being involved.

During the third year that employee has developed a full-fledged pattern of non-commitment and in the fourth year, he starts looking for another job because he “doesn’t really fit in.”

Ironically, the solution is to raise expectations of the new person and communicate those expectations in no uncertain terms.

Rotary clubs can insist that new Rotarians attend their annual District conference.  Currently, only President-elects and other club officers are expected to attend the conference.

Employers can make certain types of employee involvement mandatory or a condition of employment.  For example, the employer might tell a job candidate, “You’re hired under the condition that you sign up for one of our work committees within the first 30 days of employment. ”

These types of measures help new people become comfortable faster, which is good for business.