BNI 797: A Member With No Profession? - BNI & The Power of One

Summary

BNI & The Power of One: Episode 797 - A Member With No Profession?

Release Date: March 17, 2025
Host: Tim Roberts
Podcast Focus: Success, Increased Referrals, Tips, Strategies, Elevating BNI Membership

Introduction

In Episode 797 of BNI & The Power of One, host Tim Roberts addresses a pressing and sensitive issue submitted by a listener. The episode delves into the complexities of handling BNI membership when a member is unexpectedly let go from their profession. Tim provides comprehensive guidance on BNI policies, ethical considerations, and practical steps to maintain the integrity and effectiveness of a BNI chapter.

Listener Submission: The Issue of Retaining BNI Seats After Job Loss

At the onset of the episode, Tim introduces a listener-submitted question that requires immediate attention. The listener, wishing to remain anonymous, poses a critical scenario:

“Hello, I really need to keep this anonymous. I run into this situation recently. How would you handle a situation where a BNI member is let go from their job in reference to them retaining their seat? Assume the person paid for the seat themselves. How long do they get to stay in the seat if they're unemployed in that profession? What if the person isn't telling anyone they've been let go? Thank you for your guidance.”
— Anonymous Listener [00:31]

This question highlights concerns about maintaining the professional representation within a BNI chapter and the potential repercussions of a member losing their job without notifying the group.

BNI Policies on Membership and Professional Representation

Tim begins by outlining the foundational policies of BNI regarding membership:

Primary Professional Focus: Members are required to represent their primary professional focus, ensuring that each seat is occupied by someone actively engaged in their profession. This requirement has evolved from the previous stipulation of a full-time focus, allowing for flexibility with members who have side jobs.

“Every member should represent their primary professional focus... you need to have one, you need to have a profession.”
— Tim Roberts [05:15]

Policy Updates and Governance: Any changes to BNI policies are overseen by the International Board of Advisors (IBOA), ensuring that modifications are carefully reviewed and implemented.

Ownership of BNI Seats and Time

A central theme of the episode is the distinction between ownership of the seat and ownership of the time associated with that seat:

No Ownership of Seats: Seats are not owned by the individual or the paying entity. Instead, they are tied to the time for which they are paid.

“No one owns the seat, okay? There is no like real ownership of it. But what they do is they own the time.”
— Tim Roberts [08:40]

Payment Responsibility:
- Corporate-Paid Seats: If a company pays for a member's seat and the member leaves, the corporation retains the certificate of credit for the remaining time.
- Personally-Paid Seats: Similarly, if the member personally finances their seat, they hold the certificate of credit, which can be used once they secure a new profession or representation.

“If the corporation or the company paid for the seat, they own the certificate of credit of time. If the member personally paid for the seat, they own the certificate of credit for the time.”
— Tim Roberts [10:05]

Ethical Considerations and Impact on Referrals

Tim emphasizes the ethical implications and the potential damage to professional relationships when a member's employment status changes without notification:

Trust and Credibility: Referring a client to a member who is no longer active in their profession undermines trust and can harm the referrer’s reputation.

“It's super bad. It's a super bad look... you just referred somebody who got fired or got let go or left or whatever the reason is and I didn't know that.”
— Tim Roberts [14:20]

Risk to Chapter Integrity: Such scenarios can lead to a loss of confidence within the chapter, causing strain on relationships and diminishing the overall effectiveness of the network.

Steps to Address the Situation within BNI

Tim provides a step-by-step approach to managing the situation:

Immediate Action:
- Submit to Membership Committee: Report the member’s change in employment status directly to the membership committee.
- Notification to Chapter Director: If resistance is encountered, escalate the issue to the chapter director for appropriate intervention.

“Submit it directly to the membership committee... or go directly to whoever your director of your chapter is.”
— Tim Roberts [12:50]

Freezing and Reassigning Seats:
- Freeze Remaining Time: Utilize the certificate of credit to freeze the member’s remaining time, allowing them to return if they regain their professional standing.
- Reassignment: Open the seat for a new member to ensure the chapter remains fully represented.
Maintaining Transparency and Communication:
- Open Communication: Encourage members to maintain transparency about their professional status to prevent similar issues.
- Support for Affected Members: While enforcing policies, BNI aims to support members facing employment challenges, balancing compassion with organizational integrity.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts

In concluding the episode, Tim reiterates the importance of maintaining professional representation within BNI chapters. He underscores that upholding these standards is essential for preserving trust, ensuring effective referrals, and fostering a supportive yet accountable networking environment.

“There isn't a membership there without something to represent... it's highly unethical to pretend otherwise.”
— Tim Roberts [16:00]

Tim encourages listeners to submit further questions and engage with the community to navigate similar challenges effectively. By addressing issues transparently and adhering to established policies, BNI chapters can continue to thrive and provide valuable networking opportunities for all members.

Key Takeaways

Professional Representation: Ensuring each BNI seat is occupied by an active professional is crucial for maintaining the chapter’s integrity and effectiveness.
Seat and Time Ownership: Understanding the distinction between seat ownership and the ownership of time through certificates of credit helps manage memberships ethically.
Ethical Referrals: Transparent communication regarding a member’s professional status is essential to uphold trust and credibility within the network.
Proactive Management: Addressing changes in membership proactively through the membership committee and chapter directors safeguards the chapter’s functionality and reputation.

For more insights and to submit your questions, visit bnipowerofone.com. Join Tim Roberts in future episodes as he continues to explore strategies for maximizing your BNI membership through the Power of One!

Transcript

A (0:31)

Foreign. Welcome back to BNI and the Power of One. We are back with your show submissions. So topics Questions submitted@bnipowerofone.com you can go there. Please do keep them coming in. It could be anything. It could be B and I related, could be generally business related. For the Business Matters episodes we do your weekly presentation for those episodes, whatever. I continue to appreciate everybody who can continues to do it and have this show be yours. This question came in, I'm going to jump it right to the top of the list. Seems a little bit more urgent. Some of these are topics, a lot of topics are repeat which is going to be completely natural and perfectly fine just because we've been doing it for so long. But sometimes some come in and you're like ah, that's like seems pretty urgent. So we're going to talk about this one. It's been asked to be kept anonymous which again is perfectly fine. And if you ever, you know, fear that if you were to submit a question, you know it would cause issues in your chapter, whatever if people knew who it was perfectly fine. Just say leave anonymous and we will. So the question comes from. Or the question is says hello, I really need to keep this anonymous. Which is perfectly fine. I run into this, I've run into this situation recently. How would you handle a situation where a BNI member is let go from their job in reference to them retaining their seat? Assume the person paid for the seat themselves. How long do they get to stay in the seat if they're unemployed in that profession? What if the person isn't telling anyone they've been let go? Thank you for your guidance. Any guidance you can provide. Okay, so general member policies. In the BNI policies everybody gets in their new member kit. Number two, members should represent their primary professional focus. This used to say their full time focus. I'm trying to see if they keep updating some of these and it's always interesting and just so general reference. Any policy change goes through the bni. What is the iboa, the International Board of Advisors which is members who are on that for review and everything else. They're part of that process. So it's not just some BNI person somewhere saying well this will be fun, let's make them do this. I'm trying to see if there's anything else. It used to say full time but this says should represent their primary professional focus because some people have side jobs or whatever and that's perfectly fine. But the point is you need to have one, you need to have a profession. That you're representing, you need to have a job. If it's, if that's the case. So how would I. Let's just talk about the first part. No matter who pays for the seat, nobody owns the seat, okay? There is no like real ownership of it. But what they do is they own the time. So in this case, let's say the member has been let go from their job with the company they were representing. So they were with ABC Company, they're no longer with ABC Company. Okay? That seat needs to be opened immediately because nobody has that seat right now. The first question is who owns the time remaining? That goes to whoever paid for the seat. So if the company paid for an employee to be there, the company does not own the time. This came up in one of our regions too where we've been running a pile around monthly memberships and the company was paying for the membership and thought they could just keep replacing the person going because they're like, well, we own the seat. No you don't. Nobody owns the seat. It's the member who got approved by the chapter that gets to represent the company there. The company can pay for it and they can own any remaining time. And it's monthly. There is no remaining time. But you pay for a year, six months in person leaves the company. If the corporation or the company paid for the seat, they own the certificate of credit of time. If the member personally paid for the seat, they own the certificate of credit for the time. So this person would have that time. And what needs to be said is, listen, we're going to freeze the time that you have remaining certificate of credit, drop you from the chapter. As soon as you line up another job. As long as the seat's still open, come back, apply and use that certificate of credit. There's no way to hold a seat that doesn't exist if somebody doesn't have a job or own the company to represent that profession. And I think it's highly unethical to pretend otherwise. It's, you know, any policy or anything in place, anything you do in B and I, I always go, you know, what we do for one, we have to be willing to do for all. And we're not going to let somebody else just come in and say, yeah, I want to be a member but I don't have a profession. It's even worse. And pretend that they still do when they don't. And it's not to try to be cold hearted or to say the chapter, maybe the chapter probably wants to help this person, but for the sake of the seat, the sake of the membership. There isn't a membership there without something to represent. And if you're not telling people that that's the case, you're really running some high levels of risk where somebody might refer that person. And when we talk about, when I talk about referrals, meaning I don't know what the profession is, but let's just say they were, they're a life insurance agent just because that's what I did and they're no longer with the company that they were with. But you're not telling me that. And I'm at a, you know, at a meeting with my client and I'm talking about all the reasons they really need to meet with this person to set up some pretty important, important key man life insurance policies and why this is a really big deal and how good this person is and why you should go with this person and not the thousand other companies they could go with. And I said get them all agreeing and I'm going to line you up and I introduce them to Joe Smith. And nobody told me Joe Smith doesn't do that anymore, isn't with the company. That's a problem on a lot of levels Right now I look really bad. I've spent all this work with my client to try to get them over, you know, to get them set up as a referral to Joe Smith. And a pretty touchy, Sorry, I have no idea what the profession is in this, but let's just use this one pretty touchy subject. Takes a long time. It's a lot of work to get the referral. I finally get them to agree, I go to, I go and connect them and now we're all just finding out Joe Smith actually doesn't do that anymore. Which again, what a waste of time. But also looks bad because I just referred somebody who got fired or got let go or left or whatever the reason is and I didn't know that. How did I not know that I'm referring this person? How can I. It is super bad. It's a super bad look and really a high risk look. And then you do that once in the chapter and things can really culturally struggle and fall apart. So how would I go about doing this? I would submit it directly to the membership committee and say we have a member who no longer is in the profession they are currently representing in our chapter, they are no longer with the company they're currently representing in our chapter and you need to do something about it. And if there's any kind of pushback and stuff, I would probably go to my director. You can even do that as a, as a sidestep if you want. Go directly to whoever your director of your chapter is and just say, hey, this is something aware of. Can you help bring this to the leadership team's attention so they can make the right decision and, and do what they need to do? And the answer is it's very simple. It's like there is no profession there, there's no seat there. And I would think that again, the chapter maybe wants to help that person. I get it. The person who knows why they got let go from their job. No matter what it is, it's probably not something they're super happy about. And so they're not, you know, maybe they don't want it to be super public and they don't want to deal with that kind of issue. But at the end of the day there's far more downside than upside and like pretending that it still exists and affects everybody in the group and it sets a really bad precedent. So go directly to your director or directly to your membership committee and you know, just say, hey, we have a member who's no longer with the company they're representing. They're no longer employed at all or representing the product or service they're representing and isn't telling anybody. We gotta, we gotta remove that situation. We gotta fix that situation for this, just for the betterment of everybody, including that person. Because it would also look bad on that person. Right. In my scenario I'm set you up with, you know, Jack Smith and da da, da da. And then I find out Jack Smith's not with that company and I'm going to be like, you didn't tell me, you didn't tell me you were no longer with them. How am I ever going to trust you with anything again? No matter what your next profession or company is. You couldn't even tell me like I just did all this and you made me look like an a hole. It's over, it's over. Like that will be one strain in a relationship that's probably not fixable. So yeah, that's how I would do it. It's a great again where I think one of the things that we're trying to be a little different, we'll talk about whatever this is a touchy one and hopefully not one a lot of us run into, but important to know and, and I appreciate you submitting it and hopefully this is helpful and if you get any follow up, reach out to me. I don't believe this is in one of my regions, so I can my hands are tied a little bit, but besides giving advice. But hopefully this was helpful. And if you got any topics, questions, etc. Go to benipowerofone.com and I'll talk to you soon.