The Recruiting and Retention Challenge

13 Nov 2010

Maryland Wing Civil Air Patrol

Major Doug Barth, CAPGroup II PAO/RROFort McHenry Squadron RRO

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Welcome

• Agenda– Objective– Some background numbers– The R&R life cycle– Challenges– Best practices– Wrap up

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Objective

• To discuss the challenges in Recruiting and Retention Program

• To identify what is working and what is not• To share best practices

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Recruiting and Retention

• A strong R&R program is a direct reflection of the overall quality of an organization– People want to join a successful organization– People stay when the feel they are contributing

to that success• R&R is a 24/7 effort• R&R spans and engages all aspects of an

organization

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Who is R&R

Everybody! • Command Staff• Professional Development• PAO• Trainers• AEO• Operations• Every unit member

• And the RRO

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Recruiting and Retention

• R&R is not just about numbers

But….

• That is the major metric by which it is measured– Unit strength– New members– Losses

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Some numbers

• MDWG Group I, II, III strength– Sept 2009 – 1289(1)

– Sept 2010 – 1379(2)

• FY2010 New members – 461(2)

• Net Growth - 90• Which means – Groups“lost” 371members in FY2010

– Transfer out of MDWG– Transfer to Wing Staff– Non-renewal

(1) Sept 2009 Wing Balanced Scorecard(2) E-services membership reports

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Challenges

• To increase strength, need to recruit more new members than you lose..

• 1:1 recruiting is “maintenance” mode• To increase strength is two fold

– Increase number of new members– Increase retention rate

• Identify best practices from recruiting thru retention to meet these two objectives

• And that is why we are here today

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R&R Lifecycle

Access

Engage

RecruitRetain

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R&R LifecycleR&R can be viewed as a 4 phase program• Access

– identify and understand potential sources of new members

• Recruit – “sell” the program – features and benefits

• Engage– Integrating the member into to the organization– Becomes a successful member of the organization

• Retain– Member sees value in their efforts and personnel

growth/satisfaction

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R&R Lifecycle

Access

Engage

RecruitRetain

Assessment

Assessment

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Best Practices

• What works?

• What does not work?

NSC 2007 – Retention Study • Retention is significantly impacted due to ineffective leadership.• Poor membership retention is a symptom of an ineffective program.• Many cadets do not renew due to lack of meaningful activities and a lack of

strong local leadership.• Lack of leadership is due to a shortage of trained and experienced leaders

available at the squadron level.• Wings should be the primary equipping agency for training squadron leaders.• Many members do not “see themselves” within the organization – they do not

establish a sense of personal belonging within CAP.• Existing negatives may be overcome by generating a positive experience

through enhanced leadership and curriculum.• Meaningful criteria for appointment of senior leaders, accountability for

maintaining high standards of conduct and performance, and an active, mission-oriented, professional development program should be established.

• A formal mentoring system should be required.• An interactive e-Learning service should be created to help standardize

training.

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Wrap up

• R&R is a 24/7 effort• Reflection of the strength and quality of

the organization• While numbers are the metric..it is the

person who is important• Bottom line is developing our members

and meeting our mission goals

Resources

• Unit Commanders Course– http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/

Recruiting_and_Retention_SG_3DCDBF4C28276.pdf

• Demographics for Cadets – TCL S2– http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/

S2_Electronic_Almanac__Slides_PPT3_9577B19AE9A7A.ppt

• How to Increase Cadet Retention– http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/

Retention__Policy_484A051B3469F.pdf

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