Tag Archives: bad behavior

Rotary@105: Making Rotary Sexy

20 Monday Sep 2010

Posted by in Branding, Business, Club Leadership, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, History, Human Resources, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, Passionate People, Public Relations, Relationships, Rotary, Rotary@105, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser - Rotary Public Relations Chair - District 5190

In 2008, Rotary International did a focus group study to discover the perception of non-Rotarians about our organization. It was an eye opener. In order to avoid a conditioned or biased response to the questions the participants of the study were unaware of who funded the study . While no cities in the United States of America were included in the focus group study, it is the best information we have to date about the Public Image (what other people think) of Rotary.  At the risk of airing dirty laundry, here’s what we learned:

Study Finding:
People are very cautious about ‘volunteering’

“In most cases individuals are inclined to volunteer, however they are very intent on maintaining enough ‘personal’ time, and they do not consider humanitarian efforts or volunteering as something for which they would give up their ‘personal’ time.”

What may look like fun to some may be scary to others

This is important to note because most Rotarians often remark that ‘giving back’ and ‘service’ is one of the reasons they belong to Rotary, and we tend to readily share with prospective members that volunteering is one of the positive aspects of joining a club. However, this seems to be something we LEARN AFTER we become Rotarians. By approaching potential members with an emphasis on volunteering, we may be dissuading, not persuading them.

We have to remember that all Rotarians usually pick the volunteer activities in which they participate based on their passion for the need. While ‘Service Above Self’ is our motto, the magic of Rotary is that most clubs offer a wide variety of projects and programs, which allow the individual member to choose how and where to invest their time, money, and/or energy. This makes volunteerism a rewarding experience, rather than an obligation. My experience is that every successful new project or program has had a single member who was passionate about the need and was able to excite the other members to join in. The great feeling we have about volunteering is something we learn by experiencing.
Study Finding:
Mistrust of Large Organizations

“An issue that came up in all three regions was the mistrust or skepticism towards large organizational structures …. Respondents also noted that there is a tendency to view smaller organizations as more effective in getting things accomplished at the local level.”

This finding is what caused me to start using the phrase, “All Public Relations is local.” A big billboard about Rotary International will not be as effective as a one license plate holder driving around town on the back of a member’s car. The face of Rotary is and always been the face of our members and those who benefit from our projects and programs at the local level. This is not to minimize the value of our regional and international involvement, but when talking to someone who might be interested in Rotary, they want to know about the club, not the mega-organization.

Study Finding:
Rotary’s Public Image

How Rotary is perceived: “business men, elite, secretive, older, wealthy, largely based on formal rules, inflexible, not sure that women are allowed into local clubs, associated with Free Masons, not ‘trendy’, not ‘sexy’.”

Every time I have presented these findings to Rotarians I have had some uncomfortable laughter, some squirming in the seats, and/or a small gasp. Deep down we know that these perceptions are valid. While we often become blind to the Public Image of our club, by visiting another Rotary club that is more than ten years old we often see how someone could have the perceptions listed above.
I have observed members in some clubs behaving in ways that would not normally be acceptable in a public environment. Professionalism sometimes gives way to fraternity-type behavior with rude jokes, harsh ribbing, and political references that are inappropriate in a business setting. Last year I listened to a speech by a prominent Past District Governor who began by making an offensive political-laced joke about our nation’s President and his wife. All of these behaviors are contrary to Rotary’s mission and our organization’s Constitution.
The challenge is to:  1) accept that we have a Public Image problem, 2) identify the behaviors and actions by clubs and their members that reinforce a negative Public Image, 3) educate the members, 4) perform a Public Image makeover. This process may begin with the Board of Directors, but progress will only be achieved with the acceptance and cooperation of every member regardless of position.
We have one uniting goal in the next 24 months, and that is to make Rotary ‘sexy’ again. Rotary was ‘sexy’ when Paul Harris and three other people created our organization 105 years ago. Within five years cities around the nation were falling all over themselves to start a Rotary club in their community. The unique combination of an emphasis on ethical business practices, friendship, and reaching out to others was the fire that made Rotary’s lamp so bright. It’s time we fueled that fire again.

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Rogue Flight Attendant shows his arrogance, Airlines dislike for customers

16 Monday Aug 2010

Posted by in Business, Communication, Crisis Management, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Government Regulation, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Rotary, Travel, Violence in the Workplace

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Last week Steven Slater was anointed as the working person’s hero by CNN and based on Internet response it would seem that most admire this jetBlue flight attendant and his dramatic act of quitting his job over the intercom, grabbing two beers, opening the plane door, inflating the emergency escape slide, and leaping into history. His behavior was allegedly in response to a passenger that refused to listen to his order to sit down as the plane taxied to the gate, and it has somehow elevated Slater to fame and offers of mega-financial deals.

Yet, the facts indicate that he is anything but heroic, and more accurately described as an arrogant, customer-loathing, self-obsessed man who betrayed the passengers on his plane and showed how control-obsessed some flight attendants have become in putting their petty desires over customer service.

Steven Slater - It's all about him

First, the facts of the alleged incident that supposedly drove him to his tantrum are in dispute. He claims that while the plane was taxiing to the gate a passenger stood up to get his bag and that while confronting the passenger the bag came down and hit him in the head. Yet, passengers claim the injury to his head was there earlier in the flight and no one can validate his fight with a passenger. By his own admission, Slater said he has thought about doing this act for 20 years.

Also, when Slater opened the starboard door and blew the slide, the plane was at the gate with the jetway in place. If the port side external door was not open, it could have been easily opened and he could have exited without the big show that took a plane out of service….but it wouldn’t have been as dramatic.

I do not doubt that there was some incident, but it seems that the facts according to Steven Slater don’t quite match the story. If a passenger stood up and began getting his bags before the plane had made a complete stop then that passenger was certainly in the wrong, but here is the catch, flight attendants have almost unlimited authority and if there was a major issue Slater only had to report the incident and the passenger would be spending some quality time with the New York Police. The passenger has no such power over the flight attendants, so why would Steven Slater portray himself as some beaten down victim at the mercy of a passenger?

Note that Steven Slater’s drama not only disrupted and punished the passengers on his flight, but his act also affected the passengers waiting to board that plane when it left New York. The plane had to be taken out of service leaving hundreds of people stranded. Slater’s co-workers were left to clean up his mess and he is a hero? To whom? What possible positive example does this petty, childish, little boy set for anyone? That bad behavior is rewarded?

Of course there are problem passengers. I have witnessed people who are rude, offensive, and ignorant of everyone around them. I will not defend these people, but I will say that most passengers are well-behaved even when they are dealing with a ground staff or flight crew that has belittled and/or humiliated them.

What I see more often on planes is not rude passengers, but rude flight crews that revel in power over their customers. No where in the business world do employees hold more power than flight attendants have over their passengers. Bizarre rules that have no meaning are enforced beyond common sense.

My favorite rule is turning off all electronic devices. Most Southwest flight attendants use the phrase, “..anything with an on/off switch must be completely turned off.” The rationale is that electronic devices will interfere with the plane’s ‘sensitive’ avionics, which is not true. Every urban area is blanketed with cell phone towers, microwave towers, and millions of electronic devices that transmit electromagnetic signals. Below 10,000 feet are electromagnetic waves that are far more powerful than anything a passenger can carry on a plane. If there were a danger of electronic interference it is more likely to come from external signals, rather than internal signals. In addition, the FAA and the airlines have yet to re-create an avionics problem that they could trace back to a mobile phone or an passenger’s electronic device. However, every airline enforces these rules even though they are only FAA advisories, NOT requirements.

The mix of petty rules and petty flight attendants, along with airlines that see passengers as the evil that they must deal with in order to gain a better dividend for their investor has created an abusive situation in the skies and on the ground. It’s not an excuse but passengers are reacting to the way they are being treated. I don’t condone bad behavior by passengers, but I’ll be damned if some drama queen* should be glorified for being the worst customer representative in an industry that hates their customer but still wants their money.

(*I know Steven Slater is openly gay and I am not slamming gays with the ‘drama queen’ remark. In theatre, and in life, there are drama queens, both male and female, and if the shoe fits…)

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