There are very few Rotary districts that do not stage an annual Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) program every year. I participated in our district RYLA program last weekend and came away with a couple of distinct impressions.
Nowhere in Rotary is there a better example of the difference between our internal customers, Rotary members and our external customers, the student participants. It is easy to see what the students take away from the experience in exchange for their time and participation. To get a small sample of what they have to say, sign into Facebook (yes that is how they communicate) and look for District 5300 RYLA 2013.
Having talked with many young people who have the experience of participating in numerous youth leadership programs, I can assure you they think RYLA is the very best. The reason is simple, at RYLA they get to have the opportunity to meet and talk with successful adults who are not their teachers or their parents.
Our members give their money to stage the event and then many of them give their time and talent to actually make it happen. In return, they get the opportunity to touch the future. The result is a member of our organization who comes away with a full tank of enthusiasm, inspiration and fulfillment. Not a bad trade when you think about it; everyone comes away a winner.
For those who don’t believe our members are our customers, I offer RYLA as a prime example of how we serve the needs of our internal customers as a part of providing major benefits to our external customers. If we don’t take care of those internal customers’ needs, we will not have the resources to provide a great community service like RYLA. If we do a better job at filling the needs for inspiration and fulfillment in our internal customers, more people in the community may want to join our organization. More members would translate into providing more benefits to the community.