Give Them A Pickle

Many years ago we hosted Robert “Bob” Farrell who founded Farrel’s Ice Cream parlors in Portland, Oregon in 1963. Farrell related a story of an employee who alienated a frequent customer by charging him for an extra pickle. It wasn’t a matter of the extra seventy-five cents on the bill; the customer probably reduced the usual tip by a buck. It was a matter of not understanding the importance of excellent customer service to get excellent customer relations. Here is an entertaining video of Farrell on that topic.

What causes our internal customers (members) to commit their time, treasure and talent to doing things for those external customers who are the beneficiaries of what the internal customers do? The best clue to that answer might be found with a psychologist by the name of Abraham Maslow who postulated that people, in general, work to fulfill their highest unfilled need. He spent many years explaining what those needs were and how they could be ranked to determine what was the ‘highest unfilled need.’ In other words, everyone has different motivating factors depending on their circumstances.

Applying what Maslow believed to Rotary we can see that not every one of our internal customers has the same reasons for being a member. And it is important is to note that the reason people join and stay in Rotary probably changes over time. A young person may join because they see Rotary as a great networking opportunity. There is nothing wrong with that; that is if you keep in mind that Paul Harris started Rotary with that idea in the first place.

Some see Rotary as a place to go once a week and have a meal and conversation with friends. There are others who see their membership as a way of bolstering their self-esteem by being a part of a special organization in their community and the world. There is no doubt that there are many more reasons why people joined Rotary.

Whatever the motivation to join Rotary; we often witness the transformation of a member into a Rotarian by a single or series of Rotary moments. That would coincide with what Abraham Maslow called ‘self-actualization.’  Once our Rotary leaders figure out who our internal customers are they can readily see what they want. Hopefully those who meet the need for networking, social relations and self-esteem will eventually want that highest unfilled need of self-actualization. The challenge of Rotary leadership is identifying where our members are and moving them to the highest level. Let’s all make sure there is a ‘pickle’ for all who follow us.

Think about this idea. I have met a lot of former members of Rotary and very few former Rotarians.