LEADERSHIP FOR GROWTH.
Rev. Bob Tousey
How often do we feel frustrated because your chapter’s grows is non existent. I remember when I became a chapter President in 1997 our chapter was losing members. This was of particular concern because we were a relatively new chapter having been chartered just 2 years before. Working with a team made up of board members and committed members we not only stopped the membership losses but we doubled our size in a nine month period. This article will present seven (7) leadership steps your team can take to grow your chapter.
THE FIRST STEP IS TO CREATE YOUR VISION.
The first step is to follow the advice of Leadership expert Steven Covey, in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. “Begin with the end in mind.” In other words, you must have a vision of what you want to accomplish.
In my workshop on chapter growth I have participants break up into teams and make a collage of what they want their chapter to look like in one year. The objective is to provide the chapter with a visual reminder of their goal.
A visual reminder such as a collage can keep the team focused. The collage can be set up at every board, planning, and general membership meeting. I recommend that at each meeting the team is asked what progress they have made towards achieving their vision since the last meeting. This also provides some accountability as each member of the team will know that they will have to report on their progress at each meeting.
The important thing to remember when creating your vision is that it must be your vision and not anyone else's.
This article will not tell you what your vision should be. As long as it is consistent with our mission and relevant to the single parents in your community it is a good vision
THE SECOND STEP IS MAKE SURE THAT YOUR VISION IS RELEVANT TO THE SINGLE PARENTS IN YOUR COMMUNITY AND THE MISSION OF PARENTS WITHOUT PARTNERS.
Once the vision is created you begin the second step and that is to sit back with other members of your team and ask yourselves two questions. One, is this vision relevant to the mission statement of Parents Without Partners? This question is important because if the vision is not consistent with the mission of Parents Without Partners you are likely to confuse people as to what your chapter and Parents Without Partners stands for.
The mission of Parents Without Partners is to provide single parents and their children with an opportunity for enhancing personal growth, self-confidence and sensitivity towards others by offering an environment for support, friendship and the exchange of parenting techniques.
The second question will be -- is the vision relevant to the needs of single parents in your community? This is why as a leader you must know the single parents in your community. Remember it is the mission of Parents Without Partners to serve all single parent families in the community not just our current membership. You must never forget that you must reach out to the community through open educational programs and other activities. Because Parents Without Partners is an educational organization you are allowed to have an unlimited amount of open educational activities each month. These activities can be presented with the assistance of local professionals and other organizations in your area. If the educational programs are relevant to single parent families in your community this effort alone can help increase membership dramatically.
Your charter with Parents Without Partners International also requires your chapter to be active in the community so your chapter can participate in community carnivals, fairs and parades.
It is also worthy to note that each chapter is permitted to hold one open family activity each month. This can be another way to reach out to single parent families in the community and introduce them to the great activities your chapter offers.
THE THIRD STEP IS TO MAKE A COMMITMENT.
You and your team must make a commitment to making the vision a reality. Identify manageable tasks or goals which must be accomplished in order to successfully achieve the vision.
In order to ensure the successful completion of each task you must have a strong leadership team. Each task should have a team member who is responsible for the successful completion of the task. These members can be referred to as project leaders.
Project leaders should be encouraged to follow the same process of identifying the steps necessary to complete their task and recruiting others to help. You will notice throughout this article a recurring theme, you are constantly recruiting people to take on a small project. This gives each new person a stake in the success of the overall mission. The key is to make sure each task has a leader responsible for its completion.
THE FOURTH STEP IS TAKE A RISK.
As discussed earlier in this article you can not do this alone. You are going to need to reach out to others both inside and outside the organization to make the vision a reality.
The fear of rejection can be a challenge. So take some deep breaths and say a prayer before you begin this step. Recruiting will require personal communication. You will need to chat with these folks in person. An email or a note in the newsletter asking for volunteers usually does not do it.
When you meet with a prospective team member respect their time. Know what you are going to ask them to accomplish. Let them know what will be expected of them. Make sure you are not asking for too much. Most people are willing to do something but they are afraid of being “stuck” with a larger task that might interfere with other responsibilities. Make a commitment to yourself and to them that this will not happen.
THE FIFTH SET IS TO SHAKE ANY UNECESSARY RULES AND BARRIERS.
Know what is necessary in order to meet the mission of Parents Without Partners, which is to support single parents and their children. Also, know that it is important not to jeopardize Parent’s Without Partners’ tax exempt status. We are a non profit educational organization dedicated to serving single parents.
An example of an unnecessary barrier would be a policy of not asking new members to participate in leadership. New members with motivation and skill should be seized upon and encouraged. Other barriers can be locking your team into meeting dates because “we have always met on Thursday nights.” If another date and time works, go for it. Change the day. Don’t be locked into a set meeting format if something else works better for your group. Internet chat rooms can be a good way to hold a team meeting if the team members have young children, just make sure you have someone responsible for taking notes.
Details like notes can easily be forgotten when trying a new format but it is an important detail. The notes from the meeting should be used to create a check list of tasks which were identified during the meeting and the team member assuming responsibility for the accomplishment of the task. The idea of immediately assigning a team member to be responsible for the task is important for the success of the overall project.
NUMBER SIX IS BREAK THE ROUTINE.
This is another way to say be flexible and creative. If your dances are having decreased attendance and you hear younger members talk about babysitting being an issue – maybe you could provide babysitting at the dance.
My chapter had a challenge getting teenagers to come to events. We started a monthly midnight bowling one Saturday a month. Parents and teenagers (and they could a bring friend) would meet at a local bowling alley for midnight bowl. It was a lot of fun and one of our most successful activities. By the way, it did raise the eyebrows of our regional council when they saw a family and youth event at midnight. We invited them out one night so they could see it was legit. Don’t be afraid to try something new.
NUMBER SEVEN KEEP YOUR FAITH IN ACCOMPLISHING YOUR GOAL.
Support all the members of your team and encourage them when the going gets rough.
It is important to remember the goal is quality. You don’t need to double the size of your chapter in nine months. You don’t have to grow to a specific number. Just grow but make it quality growth. Remember 20 are better than 7 and 7 is better than 1. If you focus on quality and take tiny achievable steps in the area of growth your vision will be achieved.
Once you get the vision accomplished or well on the way to being accomplished is your leadership over? No ! Remember, you still must guide the group and remind them of the vision and the mission. But remember your job is to guide not direct or control. Here are some other jobs for you and your successors. Another key to leadership success is to identify and begin training your replacement as soon as possible into your term. There should never be a leadership void and what would happen if you met Mr. or Mrs. Right or something else happened to cause you to take a break from leadership. Here are the other maintance steps to keep the chapter vibrant.
Help the team to see the relevancy and importance of our mission to single parent families and most of all the kids.
Value each person as a unique and special individual. Value the input they have. Do not put down their ideas. If they want to try something new that is consistent with the mission let them try it and support them.
Accept each person right where they are. Do not try to rush them to a level they are not ready for. But be ready to help them grow at their pace.
When you are doing this remember you can not do it alone. Accept help. Begin to train your replacement. Never start a project without having a leader for the project and that leader should not be you. Your job is to guide and bring it together. If you are a chapter president or project leader and you begin to commit to lead or perform individual tasks you are going to become over committed and lose your focus. Also, by having others take responsibility for small tasks it develops their leadership skills and makes everything easier for everyone. It is also a great way to train your replacement.
Good luck with creating and implementing your vision.
Professionals often are required by their firms to do a certain amount of pro bono work in the community so remember you may be doing them a favor by asking them to serve as an advisor or a member of your leadership team.
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