How would it be, if every time you ran a programme for your group you had full attendance from all your members and leaders? The planning would be so much more straight forward and you would no longer have those unfinished crafts or surplus materials. Frustrating as it might be to have such problems, there are more important reasons why we’d like full attendance. Leaders and members get to know and trust each other and belong together. Members receive more Bible teaching and spiritual food and have less holes in their understanding. What stands out to me about Rally (or similar) camps is the strength of the ongoing bond between leaders and members. They already have a strong confidence in and a respect for each other, and the teaching has a foundation in place that will continue to be built upon after camp.

 The excuses for missed attendance can be many and varied. Last term one of our girls went to Australia for two weeks with her Mum to visit her brother. Her disappointed school teacher commented to me: “she needs to be at school”. She came back enthusiastically to our group but had missed out on two programmes. Other reasons might be sport, school productions, school trips, sickness, accident, forgetfulness and other excuses beyond the imagination. “Truth is stranger than fiction” they say. Some may be totally unavoidable, others could be avoided if you really want to. Really, I suppose, it is sometimes a matter of priorities. We’d like our programmes to be high priority with our members and for some it will be, but others could benefit from some encouragement.

 Here are a couple of ways to promote better attendance:

COMMITMENT

We might like our members to be committed to coming to our programmes but here is the way it works. In an earlier Leader Magazine (#1, 2006), there is an article by Chris Graham entitled “Money in the Bank”. He says,“Don’t demand commitment from those on your team – give it! Commitment is not yours to take and certainly not yours to demand – it is only yours to give. However one of the greatest by-products of commitment given is high levels of commitment returned. If you     want a committed team, then be committed to them.”   

Practically, how does this look? It looks like a leader who is there every time (if at all possible) and is well prepared. Your programme will show that you know where the members are at and can teach them good material (physical, educational, spiritual) in a fun and interesting way. Such a leader will be prepared to go the extra distance, perhaps with training, camps, fundraising etc. My predecessor always rang every girl/family the previous night to remind them of the programme the next day (it is held fortnightly) and asked me to do this in the term before I took over as leader. Yes, it is an extra chore when I am often busy. This certainly reduces the “I didn’t know it was on” or “I forgot”(although one Mum I rang still forgot the next day much to her daughters’ disgust). It often also gives you other useful bits of information – family happenings, questions, forewarned absences.

 VALUE ATTENDANCE

In our culture today, there is the attitude of just doing what you feel like. Perhaps it was always there, but it seems to be more prevalent. So it’s… “Just because my group’s programme is on, doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll go. I might just be lazy, I might play, watch TV, do something else”. As leaders, we can encourage our members to be at each programme by showing we value them being there. Tell them often that you are glad they came, praise and admire those who achieve high, and especially full, attendance. Perhaps you might have a visible record of attendance, or a small prize (competitive or not) each term or year to recognise good attendance. Or perhaps a small treat for making it to 10 programmes.

There are awards available through the Rally system for attendance (available from Rally Supplies)….

Gold Stars:    

These are given to any member who achieves full attendance for a year. The gold star is sewn onto the sash or armband. On presenting these, I say it is difficult to achieve a gold star and these girls have done impressively well.

Chevrons:

Chevrons denote how many years a member has been attending Rally. They do not require full attendance. So they are promoting “keeping on” as an achievement. And some Rally members have achieved Rally attendance for a remarkable number of years. And these are the ones who often go on to be cadet leaders and assistant leaders. See the Rally Supplies column inside the back cover for further details on chevrons.

Having said all this, leaders “can’t win them all”, but can certainly influence their members positively.

PS - This is far from being the last word on the topic. Why not share your thoughts with us all by way of a letter to the Editor?