being an independent person, and taking on positions in the sorority fairly early on while i was a sister meant that i didn't necessarily look to my diamond for a ton of mentor-type influence... but she has an amazing sense of humor, and i really can't see myself with anyone else as a big... same for my little diamond... she and i are a little closer, i rushed her and really encouraged her to join... and she's awesome, but even if i wasn't close with the two of them personally - i know that i could always depend on them as sisters, which is an amazing feeling, and i have so many other close and special friendships with other sisters that i could never feel that i wasn't a special part of my chapter.
now, in adpi, we no longer have bigs and littles, we have diamond sisters... however we do tend to still refer to each other as bigs and littles to differentiate between one another. diamonds are to be randomly assigned according to those who meet the requirements -- grades, financial responsibilities, etc. -- the earlier that diamonds are assigned the better, in fact our e.o. really emphasizes diamond matching on bid day... but it has to be done within that first week or so if not that first day... we try to make matches so that girls have something in common, or know one another through recruitment, or they preffed the new member, or what not... and have a nice fun diamond revealing activity, so that the girls get to know their diamond chain, but the first day, they get to know their pride the best.... they are the group of sisters that runs to the new member's door and picks her up on bid day (along with a violet sister, the specific person who reads the new member her bid card... this is an unofficial position, but does allow a one-on-one relationship to quickly develop within the chapter).
the way that our organization is really trying to get the chapters to use diamond sisters are as a mentor, sponsor for initiation, and another liason to the chapter to welcome new members, but ideally the chapter should place more emphasis on welcoming the new members into a "pride" -like lions-get it?
within the chapter, prides are small groups of sisters, and throughout the new member period should be trying to form a relationship and get to know the new member. the idea is that the while the new member can form a close relationship one on one, a small group of sisters can form a close relationship as well, taking pressure off the diamond sister in case she doesn't have the closest/perfect relationship with her "little" and so that she does not necessarily have to spend loads of money on gifts and things... the chapter buys pride gifts for the new member period and initiation.
plus, if, despite all good intentions, the "big/little" relationship isn't as great as one may hope, the new sisters are less likely to feel alienated from the group/drop out if they have other sisters that they have already become friends with and built a relationship with. our advisor phrased it this way - if new members happen to become best friends/have an amazing friendship, that's just a bonus...
like i said, this is ideally how things are supposed to work, but chapters tend to have traditions built when it comes to diamond chains or 'families'... and finding ways to use prides as well as build relationships between these families is good and what we try to do so that new members have a well-rounded and positive experience as they are welcomed into the sisterhood.