Miss three meetings and you are out!

17/2/08

I’ve heard this often when talking to people about why they wouldn’t join BNI (in fact even members worry about it) and again I can’t understand where these ideas come from.

In all the time that I have been in BNI I don’t remember anyone being asked to leave our chapter for being absent three times, more than three yes, but certainly not just three.

The whole belief structure of BNI is about helping its members to get the most from their membership and if, for some reason, members don’t achieve this, then it is up to the Leadership Team, the Membership Committee and the chapter’s Regional Director to help.

When a member is absent the first thing that happens is that someone from the chapter will call to see if all is ok. If the member is absent again, they will again be called but also receive a letter reminding them of the BNI policy regarding being absent. If absent again, obviously a stronger letter is sent.

So my question is: what is wrong with that? If a member is offered help every time they are absent and then they are again absent, what is that member saying about the offer of help? I would suggest that they don’t care.

But the more important thing is this! I can tell you that a good member never gets to the stage of being asked to leave. Why? Well, first they will always find a substitute and yes, I know emergencies happen, but honestly how many on the actual day of your chapter meeting in a six-month period? And you can always get a substitute if you really want to – we had a member once who had to suddenly fly home to Japan. Do you think he didn’t have a substitute for the next meeting? Of course not. He arranged one by email. We have another great member who unexpectedly had a site meeting the following morning (his BNI day), which he found out about at six in the evening. He made a quick phone call and his fellow members found him a substitute.

And just recently, a member had a major problem at home during the night, but they still had the thought to send a quick text saying sorry that they would miss the meeting. What do you think happened? Because they were a brilliant member and we had a number of visitors at our meeting that morning we asked one of them to substitute for them.

So, you see if you are a good member you would never get to your third absence! And even if you did, the Chapter's Leadership Team and Membership Committee would know that it really must have been out of your control and would, therefore, take that into consideration.

I’ve been in BNI for five years now and the absence rule has never worried me, nor do I think it should worry you.

For your information here is our actual rule.

Rule. 5

Attendance is critical to the group. If a member cannot attend, they may send a substitute (not a member of their own Chapter) to the meeting. This will not count as an absence. A member is allowed three absences in any six month period. More than this and the member is subject to removal by the Chapter's Leadership Team or Membership Committee.