In this BNI Education Slot, Dave Bundy explains the purpose of the BNI Passport Program and how it supports new members as they begin their BNI journey.

Speaking in his role as Mentor Coordinator, Dave explains that BNI introduced the Passport Program because new members are often faced with a large amount of information all at once. From understanding referrals to learning how to use the BNI app, there is a lot to absorb in the early stages of membership.

https://youtu.be/hpVsa7c2UHU

The Passport Program gives new members a structured way to learn about BNI. It covers ten key sections designed to help them understand how the organisation works and how to get started effectively.

Dave explains that, traditionally, an experienced member would meet with a new member over the first ten weeks, covering one section at a time. However, at BNI Chester, the chapter found that new members were quickly being booked up with one-to-ones, which made it harder to complete the programme consistently.

To solve this, they changed their approach. When a new member joins, Dave spends an hour with them after the meeting to go through all ten points. Because this is still a lot of information to take in, the new member is then assigned a mentor who can offer ongoing help and answer questions as they arise.

Dave also highlights that mentoring should not only be for new members. Even experienced members may be facing business challenges, personal pressures or a lack of results from their membership. For that reason, the chapter gives every member a mentor.

The aim is simple: regular check-ins, support and shared advice to make sure every member is getting the most from BNI.

Dave closes his talk by encouraging members to ask for refreshers whenever needed and to use their mentors as a source of support, whether they have been in BNI for five months or five years.

Full Transcript

00:13
Morning, sales team.

00:15
Today I’ve been asked to do a little bit about the Passport Program.

00:21
As the Mentor Coordinator in the group, it’s my job to go over the Passport Program with all our new members.

00:28
So, what is the Passport Program?

00:35
It was introduced by BNI a few years ago because BNI realised that as soon as you get into BNI, there are lots of things that you need to know all at once that you don’t know.

00:45
So they set up what they call the Passport Program.

00:52
When you become a new member, you get an actual little passport within your welcome pack.

00:59
In that passport are ten different sections about BNI, how it works, and how we can help you to kickstart your journey.

01:06
It’s all things like: what’s a referral, how do I give a referral, how do I get a referral, and then, more importantly, how do I get it on the app?

01:13
That’s one that everyone seems to ask as soon as they’re a new member.

01:17
The idea was, in the first ten weeks, an experienced member will have a one-to-one with that new member and just do a little section on each part about BNI and how it works.

01:33
But we do things a little bit differently in Chester.

01:36
What we realised was, as soon as a new member comes in, everybody jumps on them and goes, “Oh, we’ve got to have a one-to-one.”

01:41
So when the mentors were asking the new member for that one-to-one to do the Passport Program, they were saying, “Oh, I’m booked up for four weeks.”

01:48
So things weren’t happening.

01:53
As I say, we do things a little bit differently now.

01:57
When a new member comes in and they get welcomed into the chapter, at the end of that meeting, I’ll take them off for an hour and go through all of the ten points on the agenda.

02:09
However, that is still quite a lot of information to take in.

02:14
So what we then do is assign that new member with a mentor, and it’s someone that is quite experienced within BNI.

02:18
If they have any problems, or they’re still not sure about things, they can then go to that member and ask more questions.

02:25
“I forgot, how do I do this?” or “Somebody’s given me a referral, but it’s not really what I do. What should I do?”

02:39
So the mentoring part is quite important.

02:45
But also, we’ve realised that you don’t know how people are in their business, even if they’re experienced members.

02:52
One of the core values of BNI is positive attitude.

02:59
Everyone comes along and they’re all happy and, “Oh yeah, things are great,” but are they really?

03:05
Are they having issues at home? Is the business having problems with staff or clients, or whatever?

03:11
So we give everybody in the chapter a mentor.

03:22
The idea of that is, every couple of weeks, a quick phone call: “How’s it going? Can we help?”

03:29
It’s all about helping each other to make sure we’re getting the most out of BNI.

03:36
For all you know, that other person might have been in for a while and they’re flatlining.

03:40
They’re not getting the business that they want, and then the other mentor might just say, “Oh, have you tried this?”

03:50
So it’s important that you do touch base with your mentor every couple of weeks, just to make sure things are going okay.

03:57
Also, everybody is open to have a refresher.

04:06
If I’ve had that one hour with you going over the Passport Program, and a couple of months later there are still things that you would like to know more about, come and see me.

04:15
I’m quite happy to go over it again.

04:24
Sometimes the leaders, people who are getting up and speaking a lot, can seem a little bit overconfident and intimidating.

04:32
Shan runs a great meeting, but you might be a little bit scared to ask Shan.

04:39
He’s a nice guy.

04:41
Well, you can be.

04:43
[laughter]

04:45
Not at all, really. But that persona of being in charge, sometimes people just go, “Ooh.”

04:48
So, as I say, come and see me if you want a refresher on anything, and reach out to your mentors.

04:57
Let’s all make sure that everybody, whether you’ve been in five months or five years, is still getting what we want to get out of BNI.

05:10
Okay. Thanks.