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Question:
I am president of my chapter and myself and the treasurer have been the only members of e-board contributing to the goals that we set at our last e-board meeting. How do I motivate the rest of my e-board during the summer?
Answer:
You have to be realistic on this one. Everyone is not going to be 100% engaged in the summer. It sucks that it has to be that way, but it is just a fact of life.
That is why it is imperative that you have your goals planning meeting before everyone leaves for summer. It sounds like you did your job on that.
Your job as president is to make sure the ship doesn’t sink before you get back to school. You need to make sure your financial obligations (namely the house) are taken care of. You need to make sure rush is planned and that you are ready to hit the ground running when you get back to school in August. You also need to represent the fraternity at your national convention.
As long as those three things are taken care of, pretty much everything else can wait until you get back on campus.
You real question should be how do you motivate guys once you get back.
To do that, you really need to empower your brothers to take ownership of fraternity projects/functions. And a key with that is you need to empower them to do things they actually want to do.
For example, empowering a brother to lead an event when they have no interest or desire do it is going to lead to failure.
However, when a brother has a great idea for an event – empower him to make it a reality. Give him the help and resources he needs to make it a success. And give him all the credit when he pulls it off.
I promise you if you run your fraternity that way your brothers will become much more engaged because they will be doing things they want to do – instead of things they feel like they have to do.
On last thought – be sure to enjoy your down time this last month of summer. I know how stressful it is to be a full-time student and full-time fraternity president. Both are exhausting. Be sure to recharge your batteries so you can have a successful year. Your brothers are counting on your leadership.
To learn more, check out our most in-depth article on being a fraternity president: How To Be a Great Fraternity President