This question was submitted by one of our readers. If you have a question you want me to answer go here to submit it: Fraternity Advice.
Question:
What should we do when members and officers aren’t committed to their fraternity responsibilities? The minority sees that “dead weight” needs to be trimmed, but every time the idea is proposed, everyone starts attacking!
Answer:
I understand how frustrating this situation is for you. It is very difficult for guys like you and I who are super dedicated to their fraternity to realize why other brothers don’t seem to care about it as much.
We have to realize that the fraternity just isn’t as important to some brothers as it is to others. This is unfortunate, but is true for all membership organizations.
Be mindful though that it is probably equally frustrating for the ‘dead weight’ brothers in your fraternity. The last thing they want is to get their balls busted all the time for not being active enough. They will slowly start drifting farther away from the fraternity because of this.
To solve this problem, your fraternity needs to establish minimum standards for what is expected out of a brother in your chapter.
Once those standards are established, leave the brothers alone that meet them. If the brothers don’t meet them, then expel them from your fraternity.
It is imperative that your brotherhood agrees to leave the brothers alone that meet the minimum standards. This will be very difficult to do. However, the effort and energy of your brothers is much better focused on improving the fraternity.
TJ Sullivan does a great job explaining this situation in his book – Motivating the Middle.
This would be a great resource for fraternity leaders who have this problem.
Good luck.
This question was submitted by one of our readers. If you have a question you want me to answer go here to submit it: Fraternity Advice.