It is that time of year when you start planning for the next semester. Obviously, part of your planning will be setting goals for your fraternity. Below are some characteristics your goals should have:
The goals should fulfill the brotherhood’s wants, not the wants of the leadership team. For example, maybe the leadership team wants to have ten service events because it will make the fraternity look good. If the brotherhood doesn’t want to do that many, you may achieve the goal but not accomplish anything in the process.
A good goal normally overcomes one of the problems of the fraternity. For example, maybe brothers are having trouble paying their dues. A solution to this problem would be to have a couple fundraisers which could lower the cost of dues. It will make the fraternity stronger if you continually focus on eliminating problems.
Of course, there has to be a recruitment goal. This is the lifeblood of the fraternity, and has to remain in focus. Think about the barriers your fraternity has in recruitment. What is the reason why guys turn bids down? Turn those issues into goals, and your recruitment will improve.
Finally, don’t forget to make having fun be a goal. It is easy to lose sight of this will all the constraints on a fraternity leader’s time. This is vitally important to keep the morale of the brothers high, and to keep the leadership team motivated.
If you can do those things, the brothers will eagerly want to get behind the goals of the leadership team. They’ll get behind them because it is what they want, and also because they are the ones who will ultimately benefit.
Putting together solid, clean goals before the semester starts is a critical precursor for a successful semester.