Whether it be a civic organization, a fitness center, a sports team or a dating site on the internet all successful groups have "Four Fundamental" components, steps that build loyalty and a feeling of "membership." Membership is Retention on steroids!

Membership has its privileges, but it also has its costs!
 
The "Fundament Four" Steps to Building Loyalty through Engaged Team Members:  Where Attraction Begins!
  1. Make it hard to join.
  2. Give discounts and benefits.
  3. Constantly remind everyone they are on a team.
  4. Demand that they pay dues(s).
Let’s talk in detail about the "Fundamental Four" steps to Building Strong Membership for your team.
 
  1. Make it hard to join.                   
"I don’t want to belong to any club that will have people like me as a member." Julius Henry "Groucho"  Marx (1890 – 1977) – Comedian, Actor
Never fall into the "warm body" syndrome. It is a trap from which you will never escape. It is like stepping into a bear trap; you can survive but not without losing a limb! 
 
When you hire a "warm body" you are telling the people already on your team that you do not think very much of THEM! They would rather work short and be treated to a free lunch than feel like they are buying a lazy co-worker’s lunch (and dinner for his or her family) every day through the extra effort they need to apply to carry the dead weight of an additional "warm body."
 
Good people with a strong sense of self and commitment to an improved way of life love a challenge!
 
If you make it more of a challenge to join your team than the other teams in your league (your local competitors) you will create a desire; an attraction to be a member of your team. 
 
The challenge is to do this without arrogance.
 
To do it with humility and joy; to create an atmosphere that it is challenging and worthy to join your team because it is a pleasant and rewarding atmosphere that allows individuals to be themselves so long as they are contributing to the greater good. This is an atmosphere; a culture, that should be protected and preserved.
 
You avoid arrogance by making it about the culture; it is about the TEAM; it is NOT about the individuals! 
 
However, the CULTURE allows and cultivates individuality.
 
You will learn that TEAM is all about: Tolerance, Engagement, Accommodation and Mentoring.
 
But before we talk more about TEAM we have three more “Fundamental Four” steps to teambuilding to talk about!
 
 

Lon Kieffer, author of "Get Out of Bed and Go to Work!", Speaker, Consultant and expert on Workplace Culture Change and Generational Conflicts, gives seminars, keynote and plenary addresses, runs annual sales meetings, and provides Common Sense Consulting at:  www.LonKieffer.com. He can be reached at               888-466-2379        or via e-mail to Lon@LonKieffer.com