My sorority is having a lot of trouble getting our members to come to our required events. I 150% understand that people are busy and don’t necessarily always have time for the sisterhood or the membership enrichment, but it has gotten out of hand where less than 50% of our members show up. In fact it’s around 25% and I think that they just aren’t making it a priority and as a leader in the chapter it’s discouraging and frustrating to get them to want to go and have a good time. I am at a loss of what to do and need some help. Any thoughts?
Answer:
Think of something that is mandatory and fun. Work? Nope. Class? Nope. And now you are trying to make your events mandatory and lump them in with those two losers????
That is your problem and your leadership challenge.
Realize that this is a difficult problem to grasp for people like you and me. We love our fraternity or sorority and do not understand why others don’t feel the same way. It frustrates us. The sooner we realize that everyone is looking for something different out of our organizations, the better equipped we’ll be to solve this problem.
Fortunately, the solution is actually very simple. Have events that your membership wants to attend and is looking forward to having. After all, it is much easier to get people to show up that way than to try to force them to attend events they don’t want to be at.
So how do you do that?
First, you must realize that as a leader your job is to serve your membership. You need to find out what they want out of the organization. Then, you need to provide they type of programs and events that they want.
Second, you need to program smarter. College students have a hundred different commitments on their time. By turning fraternity or sorority into another commitment you will be turning off your members. Plan fewer, but better, events to accomplish this.
Third, eliminate the events your membership dreads. If you are getting poor attendance, then it isn’t worth the chapter’s time and energy. Don’t waste type trying to make a loser work. Your time is too precious. Spend that time on events that your membership wants.
Finally, you need to get your members to have ownership in your programming. If every event is planned by the leadership team, it won’t take long before the membership becomes disinterested. Make it a point to have different brothers or sisters assume the leadership role for the success of different events. By delegating this responsibility, you are developing future leaders while creating a group of individuals that will be highly motivated to making the event a success.
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.