Why accept average when excellence is an option?
Without understanding our numbers, it is very easy to become complacent and complacency is widely accepted as the enemy of success.
Two of BNI’s core values are accountability and recognition. To enable us to uphold these core values, we need to exercise transparency. The combined power of accountability, recognition and transparency are highly valuable to our communal goal. That communal goal, of course, is the growth of each other’s businesses through referral marketing.
When we look at our Chapter as a team, we collectively share the same expectations of our teammates that they expect of us in return. These expectations are guided, measured, and assessed by the Membership Committee on behalf of the group. It’s their efforts that shape the culture and the expectations of our team.
For the Membership Committee to be able to undertake this role, transparency is required when looking at where the team is excelling and where improvement is needed. Once the transparent information is analysed, accountability is possible. Recognition is also possible at this point and recognition of excellence is a trait of every high-achieving BNI Chapter.
How do they work?
Once embraced, this transparent approach allows the utilisation of some great tools that BNI Chapters can use. The CATS (Chapter Accountability Tracking System) provides the Membership Committee with specific and accurate statistics on every Chapter member’s contribution to the group. It also displays where they stand regarding the Chapter’s expectations of them and their fellow Chapter members’ contributions in reciprocation. There is also the Member Traffic Lights. With similar information to the CATS, the Member Traffic Lights report displays the information in a simple and easy to digest format. However, the purpose of this report allows you to analyse the commitments you made to yourself and compare it to your personal BNI revenue goals. At a glance, you can assess whether you are exceeding the Power of One which is the minimum activity levels you need to be consistently doing if you want to make money from your membership. These reports all have something in common, they allow us to see where we are kicking goals and where we are off-track. As they say, knowledge is power. This knowledge gives us the power to identify where we can improve and then formulate a plan to do so. Like-wise they give us the power to identify those in our Chapter who deserve some recognition, or support.
Who benefits?
Because successful Chapters are a team, members must support and guide those members who aren’t meeting the group’s expectations. When a member of our chapter lifts, we all lift. Referral marketing, and especially BNI, is about everyone putting in and everyone benefitting. Keeping transparency, accountability, and recognition front of mind, we sow the seeds for faster success through community, as opposed to harder success through single-mindedness. In the interests of avoiding complacency and empowering members to achieve higher levels excellence for themselves and for each other, two new management reports will become available to all members over the coming months. After successful pilots in other regions, the Weekly Alert Report and the Chapter Traffic Lights will be rolled out. Every member will be given access to the Weekly Alert Report which reminds them if their activity levels in any of the main Key Success Factors have dropped to critical levels over recent weeks. By drawing attention to recent activity / inactivity levels, members can more easily focus on achieving the Power of One on a more consistent basis, thereby generating a higher return on investment for themselves and others. There are also a series of key result indicators that have been proven to accurately measure Chapter health, known as the Chapter Traffic Lights. Often members who are personally getting great value from BNI naturally assume that their Chapter is providing excellent value to all members which can lead to complacency. By having the Chapter’s overall health transparent to all members, people are given an opportunity to step up and approach their President to ask how they can help to make a difference for the benefit of the entire Chapter community.