When your essential mission is quality, it’s sort of nice to garner the recognition of colleagues at the highest level. That’s why members of the St. Joseph/Benton Harbor Section of the American Society for Quality, or ASQ as it is known, are standing tall these days. They just received a letter from the Chief Executive Officer of the national society for having the highest percentage of member retention in the nation.
Jim Bluschke is Chairman of the local ASQ Section #1007 and he was sent a letter by Bill Troy, the CEO out of Milwaukee, citing the accomplishment of the local group.
Troy noted that in August, the St. Joseph/Benton Harbor Section achieved an average retention rate of 90.77-percent and a growth rate of 6.15-percent. He added the sections efforts as a team have led to the honor.
When you take into consideration the fact that the American Society for Quality has approximately 275 Sections in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and Mexico representing more than 70,000 members, it’s a pretty cool deal for the local guys.
In addition to recognition from the CEO, the local Section was asked to provide a few paragraphs on “Retention Rate – 91%: How We Do It.” That commentary was then published nationwide in an e-mail newsletter sent to every ASQ Section on October 28th in the ASQ Friday Fast Facts newsletter.
Here is what Section 1007 Secretary Bruce Ladewski shared nationwide:
We at ASQ Section #1007 are trying to do the “Right Things” by keeping focused on our current members while making every effort to enlist new members. This is done through quality efforts in planning, facilities, soliciting speakers, and treating our members as customers. We attempt to reach out to potential new members using any available forum including radio, social media, newspaper articles, and ASQ representation at local special events.
Our Section makes every effort to seek out speakers who present topics of interest to both our membership and guests. We try to select speakers with diverse topics: manufacturing, service, healthcare, education, measurement, standards, etc. Our speaker selection for the entire year is completed in the early summer months. Our board works together, dividing tasks and making group decisions on speakers. Speakers are not formally confirmed without board agreement …. it's a team effort!
Our meetings have been held at 6:30 PM on the first Thursday of the month from September through the following May for the last forty (40) years! It's important to maintain that consistency from year-to-year. We meet locally at a popular hotel at an ample facility that is clean, well-lit and well ventilated. We work hard to keep our meeting costs affordable (around $20), including a delicious sit down meal. Invites are sent out via e-mail to members and guests, as well as being published in two (2) local newspapers.
Our meetings start out by welcoming visitors, greeting them when they sign in and introducing them at the beginning of our meetings. We then have announcements in slide form communicating topics such as: officers, nominations, new members, certification highlights, library information, board decisions, Region #10 highlights, next month's meeting, and possibly the 'joke of the month' (always clean!), etc. Then we have dinner, and after dinner our featured speaker. We always end the meeting by providing our speaker with an engraved clock or plaque, showing our sincere thanks for their efforts.
In general, our meetings are informal, friendly, and informative, but always conducted with a focus on the 'Quality of our Membership Event!"
