Episode 663: Membership Committees Are Critical /第663集 會員委員會是關鍵

 第663集 會員委員會是關鍵

你知道你的BNI分會的會員委員會是做什麼的，為什麼它很重要嗎？ Misner博士分享了一些會員委員會的職責，然後他和Priscilla討論了在會員委員會服務的感受。

從BNI成立之初，分會層面的挑戰確實需要由分會來處理，而不是由Misner博士個人來處理。該分會的成員總是比委員會以外的任何人更了解情況。

• 報告有關開放類別和BNI政策的分會
• 為分會提供質量保證
• 審核新的會員資格申請和轉讓申請
• 管理分類類別
• 指導成員參與
• 解決會員之間的投訴和糾紛
• 執行出勤政策
• 實施非歧視政策
• 實施無騷擾政策

如果您對另一個會員有疑問，請先與該會員交談，然後再與會員委員會討論。 在談論別人之前，請務必先與他們交談。

如果你是你們分會的會員委員會成員，請記住要像 Mandela而不是Attila一樣應用這些規則。

避免與其他成員發生小糾紛。 請記住，BNI的目的是生成引薦並互惠互利。

本集由Ivan's Inner Circle贊助。今天就成為創始會員吧

第663集完整版

Priscilla:

大家好，歡迎回到BNI官方播客。我是Priscilla Rice，我現在從加州伯克利的Live Oak錄音室為您播報。我今天在電話中加入的是BNI的創始人和首席願景官Ivan-Misner.博士。你好，你在哪裡？

Ivan:

我喜歡你能問我在哪裡？我是說，我已經躲起來好幾個月了，好幾個月。就像大家一樣。沒有離開太遠。所以沒人需要擔心我不常出門旅行。

我前往我在Galveston的公寓，走上一點路很好。所以謝謝，我希望在不遠的將來， 你能問我這個問題 一大堆。

Priscilla:

是啊，我也是。好了，你今天有什麼要給我們的？

Ivan:

所以今天，我想談談會員委員會。會員委員會真的非常非常重要。在該組織的早期，我們發現在分會一級有一些挑戰，我真的覺得需要由會員來處理，而不是由我來處理，因為你知道，我的意思是，當BNI只有20、30、40個分會時，就有一個問題。

人們不斷來找我，說，我們跟這個傢伙做什麼？  我們如何處理這個試圖進入的女人，而這個分類卻被某人擋住了？ 他們會來找我，那沒有用。

我的意思是，那沒用。 首先，它不可擴展。 但更重要的是，我們從一開始就真正感到必須承擔地方責任。 並且由於這影響到分會，因此需要參與該分會。 因此，我們知道會員必須參與其中，他們對局勢的了解可能比我更了解。

因此，在此過程的非常早期，我們看到有必要為每個組創建一個會員委員會。 這些角色多年來不斷發展。 Priscilla，我想做的是介紹會員委員會負責的一些事情。 然後，如果您願意，我們也許可以聊一點。

Priscilla:
Okay.

Ivan:

所以每週做的定期會員委員會報告只是他們的職責之一。而且不一定要每週都做，但應該定期向分會匯報，解決諸如現在開放的類別，組織中的各種政策，以及為什麼它們很重要。

順便說一句，這真的很重要–每當會員委員會討論政策時，不要只談論如何做，也要談論為什麼。 為什麼這項政策很重要？ 而且，如果您在會員委員會中，卻不知道，請與您的當地董事交談或與執行董事交談，或詢問資深人士的問題，因為他們知道製定政策的原因。人們在不明白為什麼之前，不會關心怎麼做。所以，會員委員會應該在定期的會員委員會報告中談論一些為什麼，他們應該談論關於給予引薦的技巧，以及這些種類的東西。但這只是會員委員會工作的開始。

他們真正負責的是分會的質量保障。他們要盡最大的努力，確保提供的引薦是合法的，而且人們要對引薦進行跟踪。這兩點都很重要，但有時卻不會發生。你要確保引薦的人是合法的，得到引薦的人，事實上也會跟進引薦。

如果你有一個問題，你知道， 我幾乎可以聽到會員說， "哦，是的，我已經有了這個問題 會員委員會沒有做任何事情。" 好吧。我們正在處理與很多人。每當你和人打交道的時候，總會遇到挑戰。所以，首先，最重要的是與有挑戰的人談話。如果你得到了一個不合法的介紹，或者你認識的人沒有跟進，直接和他談。如果這樣還不能解決問題，那就冷靜地，不要在那裡發火，冷靜地去找會員委員會，讓他們知道發生了什麼事，問他們你能做什麼來幫助他們解決這個問題。所以在你跟個人談完之後，再跟會員委員會談，給會員委員會解決這個問題的時間。

我們要確保所提供的引薦是合法的。每個人不一定要變成銷售，但必須是合法的引薦。而且我們一定要確保大家對引薦人進行跟踪。記住一點，不要先談論人，再去找會員委員會。千萬不要在分會裡到處談論這個人，談論他們做錯了什麼。但會員委員會是可以談的，在你和他們談完之後。

會員委員會做的其他事情是審查新會員申請和批准會員申請。這是很重要的一項工作。他們必須確認聯繫信息，審查申請書中的細節，審查分類要求，有時還要與候選人進一步面談。有時，他們可能會與贊助成員交談。當然，正如我所說，他們可能會與該候選人面談，這些是他們在審查申請時要做的一些事情。他們還涉及一般的分類類別。

看看BNI播客這里關於分類cowboys的一集，搜索一下 "cowboys"。你就可以找到更多關於他們應該做的分類。他們要處理成員轉入小組的問題，他們要對成員的參與進行必要的指導，還有一個很大的問題就是處理成員之間的投訴和糾紛，不管是什麼。這是一個重要的問題。

會員委員會要做的事情很多，我只是給你重點介紹一下。他們執行出勤政策，執行BNI的非歧視政策。這是非常重要的，執行和解決BNI的非騷擾政策。這些都是重要的政策，你應該讓你的副主席給你看這些聲明，因為我們在每個國家都有非常明確的聲明，關於BNI的非騷擾和非歧視要求。我們希望BNI是多元化的，我們以書面形式這樣說，而且多年來一直這樣做。

因此，在此做個總結，會員們經常看到的是BNI的冰山一角，而在每個團體中，有很多幕後的工作要讓BNI發揮作用。而會員委員會就是其中一個非常重要的元素。我知道我以前說過：沒有規則的曲棍球就是冰上拳擊。而沒有規則的BNI則是一個社交俱樂部。

規則很重要。但記住，會員委員會，記住，應用規則更像Mandela而不是 Attila。不要在規則的運用上做一個法西斯主義者。強硬的愛，向人們展示你的關心，並確保會員們明白為什麼。而我想做這個播客，只是為了讓大家了解會員委員會是多麼的重要。它絕對會決定一個分會的成敗。

所以，我得到了幾個結束語，但Priscilla，我想我們可以在結束前聊一分鐘。 您是否曾經經歷過會員委員會在您的分會中非常重要？

Priscilla:

是。 我的意思是，我完全同意您的意見，它為整章奠定了基調。 我曾在會員委員會任職，你知道，我不知道我是否可以這樣說，但是我真的不喜歡它，因為我不喜歡處理人們的這些小抱怨。 彼此之間。 那是一個艱難的時期，我們有一個困難的成員。

Ivan:

很高興您提出來，因為現在很難處理瑣碎的投訴。 現在將其乘以270,000。 有時候，這就是我的世界。 但是在分會級別，是的，您知道，我們認為我們已經完成了高中，但仍有一部分高中還在。 您知道的是，有時當一群人聚在一起時會發生瑣事。

Priscilla :

然後我就更不喜歡它了，當有一個原因 真正做一些事情的人 因為我覺得對不起他們 或者我有一個厭惡它。我知道我在委員會是錯誤的人。

Ivan :

謝謝你的服務，我很感激。我們應該像感謝軍人一樣感謝會員委員會的人，感謝你的服務，因為這是一項艱苦的工作，需要有人有一定的耐心。我建議你不要在會員委員會呆很久，很久。這是很好的循環，得到休息。但是，當你和人打交道的時候，會有很多挑戰。

這是我的建議。我覺得人們只是太快對對方發火了。兩件事情。一，保持你的眼睛專注。 BNI的目的是為了獲得引薦人，所有發生的瘋狂小事 ，你可以把這些放在一邊 ，專注於我們引薦人的使命上。

第二個很關鍵。給予對方寬容。人都會犯錯，給他們一些寬容。如果事情嚴重了，你當然要把它交給會員委員會。但會員委員會上的小氣有時會讓會員委員會難以承受。我明白這一點。所以，如果你聽到了這些，那就請你認識到，你的會員委員會不得不處理很多困難的事情。你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Priscilla:

任何積極的事嗎？

Ivan:

積極的事。是的

Priscilla:

嗯，沒有。但我認為它為整個會議定下了基調。而且它制定了重要的規則。我的意思是，我知道我們不應該制定規則，但是... ...

Ivan:

是的，它沒有製定會員委員會的規則，但是它們會正確執行和應用規則。 

Priscilla:

您知道，這為分會營造了一定的氛圍，會員委員會邀請的人員可以像您所說的那樣，確實可以改變分會的整體氣氛。

Ivan:

是的，他們可以，好的和壞的。如果會員委員會太嚴格了，而且沒有表現出他們關心的樣子，它可能會在一個分會中製造負面情緒，你必須把它拉回來一點。記住，Mandela不是Attila。然而如果太過寬鬆，就會..你知道，這只是社交。而這兩種情況都不太行得通。

我們的時間差不多了，副主席和會員委員會在組織中扮演著一個艱難而又非常重要的角色。我本來打算在你說之前就這麼說的，Priscilla。他們確實有一個困難的角色，在你的下一次會議上，我希望你能感謝會員委員會對分會的貢獻。

做這些角色並不容易，但他們可以在你的分會中發揮很大的作用。給他們一些工作上的榮譽。他們應得的。我很想聽你對一個好的會員委員會可以為一個分會做什麼的意見。讓我們把注意力集中在一個好的會員委員會可以為一個分會做什麼，這就是诶在這裡BNI播客的評論。交給你了，Priscilla。

Priscilla:

嗯，好的，謝謝你，Dr. Misner。本次播客的贊助商是Ivan的內心世界。去看看www.IvansInnerCircle.com 上的精彩內容。Ivan集合了各種有趣的話題，讓你了解並參與其中。所以非常感謝您的收聽。我是Priscilla Rice，我們期待著您下週再次加入我們，參加另一集的BNI官方播客。

Episode 663: Membership Committees Are Critical

July 8, 2020 by Ivan Misner 3 Comments

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Synopsis

Do you know what your BNI chapter’s Membership Committee does and why it’s important? Dr. Misner shares some of the responsibilities of membership committees before he and Priscilla discuss what it’s like to serve on the membership committee.

From the early days of BNI, there were challenges at the chapter level that really needed to be handled by the chapter–not by Dr. Misner personally. Members of that chapter would always understand the situation better than anyone outside the committee would.

• Report to the chapter about open categories and BNI policies
• Provide Quality Assurance for the chapter
• Review new membership applications and transfer applications
• Manage classification categories
• Coach members on their participation
• Address complaints and disputes between members
• Enforce attendance policy
• Enforce non-discrimination policy
• Enforce no-harassment policy

If you have a problem with another member, talk to that member before you talk to the Membership Committee. Always talk to people before you talk about them.

If you are on your chapter’s Membership Committee, remember to apply the rules more like Mandela than Attila.

Avoid petty disputes with fellow members. Remember that the purpose of BNI is to generate referrals and give each other grace.

This episode is sponsored by Ivan’s Inner Circle. Become a founding member today!

Complete Transcript of Episode 663

Priscilla:
Hello, everybody and welcome back to The Official BNI podcast. I’m Priscilla Rice and I’m coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. And I’m joined on the phone today by the Founder and the Chief Visionary Officer of BNI Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan, how are you and where are you?

Ivan:
I love that you were able to ask where am I? Well, I mean, I’ve been holed up for months, many months. Just like everybody. Didn’t get away too far. So nobody needs to worry I’m not out and about traveling much. I headed to my condo in Galveston. So I’m on the ocean at my own condo in Galveston, but it was good to get on the road for a little bit. So thanks, and I hope in the not too distant future, you’ll able to ask me that question a whole lot more.

Priscilla:
Yeah, me too. Okay, so what do you have for us today?

Ivan:
So today, I want to talk about membership committees. And membership committees are really, really important. And in the early days of the organization, we found that there were challenges at the chapter level that I really felt needed to be handled by the members, and not by me, because you know, I mean, when BNI just had 20, 30, 40 chapters, there was a problem.

People kept coming to me and saying, what do we do with this guy? What do we do with this person? What do we do with this woman, trying to get in and that classification is, you know, being blocked by somebody? and they would come to me and that didn’t work. I mean, that didn’t work. First of all, it’s not scalable. But more importantly, we really felt from the very beginning that there had to be local responsibility. And because this is affecting a chapter, that chapter needs to be engaged in it. So we knew that the members had to be involved, and that they understood the situation probably better than I would.

So very, very early in the process, we saw the need to create a membership committee for each and every group. And the roles evolved over the years. And Priscilla, what I’d like to do is cover some of the things that the membership committee is responsible for. And then maybe we can chat about it a little bit if you’d like.

Priscilla:
Okay.

Ivan:
So the regular membership committee report that’s done every week is only one of their responsibilities. And it doesn’t have to be done every week, but should be done regularly to report to the chapter, addressing things like the categories that are now open, various policies in the organization and why they’re important. By the way, that’s really important – whenever a membership committee talks about a policy, don’t just talk about the how, talk about the why. Why is this policy important? And if you’re on the membership committee and you don’t know, talk to your local director or talk to your executive director or ask questions of senior people, because they know why the policies were created. People don’t care about how until they understand why. So the membership committee should be talking about some of the whys, they should be talking about tips on giving referrals, and those kinds of things in their regular membership committee reports. But that’s just the beginning of what the membership committee does.

They are really responsible for the quality assurance for the chapter. They want to do their best to make sure that referrals that are given out are legitimate, and that the people are following up on referrals. Both of those are important and sometimes don’t happen. You want to make sure referrals are legitimate and people who get referrals, in fact, follow up on them.

If you’re having a problem, you know, I can almost hear members going, “Oh, yeah, I’ve had that problem membership committee didn’t do anything.” Well, alright. We’re dealing with a lot of people. And whenever you’re dealing with people, there are always challenges. So first and foremost, talk to the person that you’re having a challenge with. If you’ve gotten a referral that’s not legitimate or you know somebody that’s not following up, talk to the person directly. If that doesn’t solve the problem, then calmly, don’t go there in a rage, calmly go to the membership committee and let them know what’s going on and ask them what you can do to help them resolve this. So after you’ve talked to the individual, talk to the membership committee and give the membership committee time to address the issue.

We want to make sure that referrals that are given are legitimate. Every one doesn’t have to turn into a sale, but it has to be a legitimate referral. And we definitely want to make sure people follow up on the referrals. Remember one thing, don’t talk about people first – talk to people, and then go to the membership committee. Never go around the chapter talking about the person and what they did wrong. But the membership committee is okay to talk to, after you talk to them.

Other things that the membership committee does is review new member applications and approve membership requests. That’s an important one. They have to confirm the contact information, review details in the application, review the classification request, sometimes interviewing the candidate further. Sometimes they may talk to the sponsoring member. And of course, they may, you know, as I said, interview that candidate and like, these are some of the things that they do in reviewing applications. They also address general classification categories.

Take a look at the episode here on the BNI Podcast about classification cowboys, do a search on “cowboys”. And you can find out more about what they should be doing with classifications. They have to deal with transferring members into the group, they have to coach members as necessary regarding their participation, and a big one is addressing complaints and disputes between members, whatever they may be. That’s an important one.

See, there’s a lot that the membership committee has to do; I’m just giving you the highlights. They enforce the attendance policy, enforce the non discrimination policy of BNI. That’s very important, enforce and address the no harassment policy in BNI. These are important policies and you should ask your vice president to show you those statements, because we have very clear statements in each country, about the non harassment and non discrimination requirements in BNI. We want BNI to be diverse, and we say so in writing and have for many years.

So just sort of wrapping up here, members often see the tip of the iceberg in BNI, and there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes to make BNI work in each group. And the membership committee is one of those really important elements. I know I’ve said this before: hockey without rules would be boxing on ice. BNI without rules would be a social club. The rules are important. But remember, membership committees, remember, apply the rules more like Mandela than Attila. Don’t be a fascist in the way that the rules are applied. Tough love, show people that you care, and make sure that members understand the why. And I wanted to do this podcast just to get everyone a sense of how incredibly important a membership committee is. It will absolutely make or break a chapter.

So I got a couple of closing comments, but Priscilla, I thought we might chat for a minute before I close. Have you ever experienced that the membership committee is very important in your chapter?

Priscilla:
Yes. I mean, I totally agree with you that it sets the tone for the entire chapter. I served on the membership committee, you know, a while ago, and I don’t know if it’s okay for me to say this, but I didn’t really enjoy it because I didn’t like dealing with these petty complaints that people had about each other. It was a difficult time, we had a difficult member.

Ivan:
I’m glad you brought that up because it is difficult dealing with petty complaints now. Now multiply that by 270,000. That’s sort of my world sometimes. But at the chapter level, yeah, you know, we think we completed high school, but there’s a piece of high school that’s still out there. And that’s, you know, sometimes the pettiness that takes place when you get a whole group of people together.

Priscilla :
And then I liked it even less when there was, like, a reason to really do something about somebody because I felt sorry for them or I had an aversion to it. I knew I was the wrong person on the committee.

Ivan :
Thank you for your service, I appreciate it. We should be thanking membership committee people like we thank people for military service, thank you for your service, because it is hard work and it takes somebody with some patience. And I recommend that you don’t stay on the membership committee for a long, long time. It’s good to cycle off and get a break. But yeah, when you’re dealing with people, there are a lot of challenges.

Here’s my advice. I think people just get too mad at each other too quickly. Two things. One, keep your eye on the ball. The purpose of BNI is to get referrals, and all the little crazy things that happen, you can put those aside and focus on our mission of referrals. The second one is critical. Give each other grace. People make mistakes; give them some grace. If it gets serious, you certainly want to take it to the membership committee. But the pettiness that can take place on membership sometimes is overwhelming for a membership committee. And I get that. So if you’ve heard this, then recognize that your membership committee has had to deal with a lot of difficult things. Anything else you want to add?

Priscilla:
Anything positive?

Ivan:
Think positive. Yeah.

Priscilla:
Well, no. I do think it sets the tone, though, for the whole meeting. And it makes important rules. I mean, I know we’re not supposed to create rules, but –

Ivan:
Yeah, the membership committee it doesn’t make rules, but they implement and apply the rules, right. Yeah.

Priscilla:
You know, it creates a certain atmosphere for the chapter and the people that are invited in by the membership committee can, like you said, it can really change the whole tone of a chapter.

Ivan:
Yeah, they can, for good and for bad. If the membership committee is too strict, and doesn’t act like they care, it can create negativity in a chapter and you’ve got to pull it back a little bit. Remember, Mandela not Attila. And yet if it’s too lax, it’s just, you know, it’s just social. And neither of those work very well.

We’re about out of time, the VP and the membership committee have a difficult and really important role in the organization. I had planned on saying that even before you said what you said, Priscilla. They really do have a difficult role and at your next meeting, I would love for you to thank the membership committee for their contribution to the chapter. It’s not easy to do those roles, but they can make a big difference in your group. Give them some accolades for their work. They deserve it. I’d love to hear your comments about what a good membership committee can do for a chapter. Let’s focus on what a good membership committee can do for a chapter in your comments here at the BNI Podcast. Over to you, Priscilla.

Priscilla:
Okay, well thank you Dr. Misner. The sponsor for this podcast is Ivan’s Inner Circle. Go check out the great content available at www.IvansInnerCircle.com. Ivan’s assembled a variety of interesting topics for you to learn about and participate in. So thank you so much for listening. This is Priscilla Rice and we look forward to having you join us again next week for another exciting episode of The Official BNI Podcast

https://www.bnipodcast.com/2020/07/08/episode-663-membership-committees-are-critical/