The Recruiting and Retention Challenge 13 Nov 2010 Maryland Wing Civil Air Patrol Major Doug Barth, CAP Group II PAO/RRO Fort McHenry Squadron RRO

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

3 Objective To discuss the challenges in Recruiting and Retention Program To identify what is working and what is not To share best practices

4 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

5 Who is R&R Everybody! Command Staff Professional Development PAO Trainers AEO Operations Every unit member And the RRO

6 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

7 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

8 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

9 R&R Lifecycle Access Engage RecruitRetain

10 R&R Lifecycle R&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

11 R&R Lifecycle Access Engage RecruitRetain Assessment

12 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. 13

14 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 – _SG_3DCDBF4C28276.pdf Demographics for Cadets – TCL S2 – anac__Slides_PPT3_9577B19AE9A7A.ppt How to Increase Cadet Retention – 484A051B3469F.pdf 15