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Fighting Apathy in your OrganizationMotivating and working with the different thirds of your organization.

+ Sarah is very well known on campus, mainly through her

involvement in your organization. With elections coming up, she is rumored to be running for President or a Vice President position and you know that she is more than capable of doing an amazing job. Sarah shows up to all of you events with enthusiasm and supports the other chapters on campus as well. Last year when you raised $5,000 for the philanthropy, you could tell that Sarah was super proud of the accomplishments on Facebook and helped raise a lot of the money, but got frustrated when some of your other members didn’t show as much passion for the event. She even says that she hasn’t done as well in some of her classes because of her dedication to your organization and the other 5 that she is also involved in on campus.

Can you picture a member similar to Sarah in your own organization?

+ Bobbie is a member of your fraternal organization, and

as a leader, he is your worst nightmare. Bobbie lives off campus and is always throwing raging parties and inviting students over to drink underage. He has been cited multiple times for drinking violations as he himself is underage and is now on probation within the fraternity and the college. At your chapter meetings he always speaks up and complains about something that the leaders of the organization have done wrong, but never gives any suggestions as to how to fix it. His GPA is a 2.2, and you’re on good authority that he will not graduate on time with all of the class he skips. He rarely shows up to events unless it’s a mixer with the “hottest sorority on campus.”

Can you picture a member similar to Bobbie in your own organization?

+ Michael is a member of your organization, and he loves

being part of the fraternity. He shows up to all of the mandatory events and really does view his brothers as his best friends. He is well-liked in the chapter, but his brothers don’t really view him as a prominent leader in the organization. He has held smaller assistant roles before, but has not pursued an exec position. Michael has often struggled with his financial and time commitments and constantly worries about all of the different things that he has to juggle and complete in school and outside of class. His girlfriend also complains about the amount of time that he spends involved in the fraternity, but he loves the time that he devotes to it and doesn’t want to change that.

Can you think of a member like Michael in your own chapter?

+Top Third Members- Sarah Take on leadership roles

Volunteer to help with anything and everything that needs to be done

Tend to like public recognition, but don’t devote themselves to your organization for that reason

Often their identity is defined by their involvement in your organization

Involved in organizations outside of campus and hold leadership roles

School can sometime be put on the back burner for these members

Get frustrated with the bottom-third members for their “lack of motivation and involvement” in the chapter

+Bottom Third Members- Bobbie Less likely to care or personally sacrifice for the

organization

May behave badly at an event, avoid paying dues, criticize your chapter in public, blow off commitments

Create drama!

They make the top third members crazy.

You may not even really know who these members are because of their lack of commitment to your chapter

Come to the party but don’t put in the work on the committees

Terrible attitudes, criticize everything but don’t try and find a solution.

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So, where do the other members

in your organization fall?

+Middle third members- Michael They care about your organization, and they have a

positive attitude and want to contribute.

Difference between top and middle thirds: middle third members will find a way to contribute to the organization in a way the fits their lives and other demands.

Your org. is a priority for them, but not the top one.

Fly under the radar- typically will not volunteer so they are not seen as leaders, but they also won’t criticize or speak up like bottom third members do.

Happy to contribute, but seen as the supportive player rather than the MVP.

Enjoy certain aspects of your organization more than other aspects, and will make choices as to which events to be at and which they feel they don’t have to attend.

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Why are the middle

members of the organization important?

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They are a third of your organization members

Can be utilized to help your organization grow

Can be misunderstood, often.

They might have ideas that you may not have ever even thought of.

+Working with middle third members

Evaluate your approach to working with these members What type of communication do they respond best to? Do they work differently than I do? How is their role in this organization different than mine?

Ask for their opinion! These members won’t likely volunteer for something and

may shut down if they think that is why you’re approaching them.

Ask for their honest opinion on what they would improve or do differently in the chapter

Stick to a schedule/inform members of times, dates and other information of that nature.

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“If you could make everyone into top-third members, this would be easy. Of course, that’s impossible. You’re going to have folks in all three places. You can spend your time wishing everyone would join you in the top third, or you can start strategically dealing with people where they are.” (Sullivan, 2012, 20).

+Group evaluation/sharing

Identify some characteristics of middle-third members in your chapter.

Identify some ways chapter leaders tend to communicate with members when they become frustrated by the “apathy” of your organization. What are some strengths of these communication

methods? What are some shortcomings of these communication

methods?

Identify three ways in which you as the new officers can better communicate with all members in your chapter, not just with like-minded top-third members.

+So what do we do with this information?

What if a member of exec isn’t in the top-third?

What if one of our most prominent members is actually in the bottom third?

How do we have those conversations?

+Communicating Effectively

Email etiquette

+ "Tie yourself down to whatever chair you're sitting in, because this email is going to be a rough f**king ride.”

"For those of you that have your heads stuck under rocks, which apparently is the majority of this chapter, we have been F**KING UP”

"I've been getting texts on texts about people LITERALLY being so f**king AWKWARD and so f**king BORING.”

"I do not give a flying f**k, and Sigma Nu does not give a flying f**k, about how much you f**king love to talk to your sisters.”

"Newsflash you stupid c*cks: FRATS DON'T LIKE BORING SORORITIES.”

"ARE YOU F**KING STUPID?!! I don't give a SH*T about sportsmanship, YOU CHEER FOR OUR GODDAMN TEAM AND NOT THE OTHER ONE, HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN TO A SPORTS GAME?”

"I pity you because I don't know how you got this far in life, and with that in mind don't f**king show up unless you're going to stop being a goddamn c*ck block for our chapter.”

"I swear to f**king God if I see anyone being a goddamn boner at tonight's event, I will tell you to leave even if you're sober.”

"And for those of you who are offended at this email, I would apologize but I really don't give a f**k."

+Communicating Effectively

Judgment (emotion)- what type of communication is best in this situation?

Be transparent

Active listening- listen to the members of your organization

Provide feedback and ask for feedback!

Learn how to communicate not only with the other leaders in your chapter, but also with the middle and bottow-third members as well!

+“So, what about the bottom third? Do we just ignore them and let them get away with contributing less to the organization?”

+

Basically… yes. As a leader, your job is to advance the mission of your

organization and leave it better than you found it.

Understand who your bottom-third members are and realize that they are bottom-third members for various reasons.

Have minimum requirements and hold those members to that. Make sure if they aren’t fulfilling them that you hold them

accountable and set a precedent for the chapter. Don’t waste your energy trying to get them to be “on your

side” As leaders you must hold all members to these standards

and you cannot be afraid to administer the consequences when necessary.

+Remember…

Your organization is made up of different types of people who joined your organization for a variety of reasons.

Not everyone is going to be a top third leader.

Identifying the different members in your chapter and where they fall can save you a lot of headache and disappointment down the road.

Create a plan that will help remind you of how to work with the middle and bottom third members.

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Comments, questions, concerns?

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