Motivation Ideas

[Nora Charlotte]

Hi Everyone!
I've done a search on this topic and I didn't find anything that answers my question, but if this has been discussed before, please point me in the right direction...

I've decided to run for president of my chapter next semester and I'm looking for ideas from other Greeks to improve motivation in my chapter. It seems that every semester we start off excited and with high goals and expectations, but as the semester moves on we begin to lose steam and no one wants to do anything anymore. I'm trying to come up with ideas to keep everyone's morale up, keep them excited to be sisters and make them willing and wanting to come to events and recruit members.

Does your chapter have programs in place to encourage members to participate and be enthusiastic? If so, can you describe them so that I can get some ideas for programs to propose to my own chapter? Thank you so much in advance for you help and advice!

[Glitter650]

I think the best way to keep morale up is to stress sisterhood. If people feel more bonded, they are more encouraged to come to events.
We have one sisterhood event a month. We also do fun little things like secret sisters who leave notes on your chair at meetings or find some way to leave words of encouragement,we also have warm and fuzzy..(we have a stuffed lion, our chapter mascot) that gets passed at each meeting to a sister who has been doing a good job, or needs a little cheering up. We also have a Ken doll that is given a sister who is having boy trouble. Also a point system to encourage attendence is a good idea if you don't have one in place already. Also make sure the people who are absent from events get calls telling them how much fun the event was and that they were missed !! that almost always makes people want to come to the next event.

[sunnygirl]

Hi Nora Charlotte,

I think a lot of people have been in your place, so don't let it get you down. Personally, why don't you ask your girls what they expect from chapter? What ideas do they have? Although you are going to run for the presidency, it is everyone's chapter. Another idea is a retreat....get away for a little while and have fun coming up with ways to build up your chapter....if planned well, those are so much fun. We plan ours for the middle of each semester.

Lastly, I would plan a philanthropy/community service activity with a popular/motivated/nice fraternity. Not only is it a great way to socialize with a fraternity, but if it is done well, you just garnered your sorority some extra good pr, you have a warm/fuzzy feeling from helping someone else, you met some cute fraternity guys and you had a good time with your girls. If that doesn't make you feel spirited and extra-proud of your sorority, I don't know what will. Good luck.

[bolingbaker]

I can tell you how to motivate a fraternity chapter, but I suspect that what works for men doesn't have the same effect in the context of a sorority (and vice versa). But since you asked, here is the male answer: a successful fraternity chapter runs on momentum and morale. Winning provides those things, whether it's winning rush, or sports, or Homecoming, or academics or sorority philanthropies. Doesn't matter. Wins create momentum and enhance morale. Weak chapters are best motivated differently than strong chapter. A strong leader can literally force a weak chapter into success by driving them with the power of his personality, creating wins, building confidence. That approach is less likely to be successful in a strong chapter. A srong group is best motivated by 'rushing' the leaders individually. If the leader of each aspect of the chapter is sold on the idea that the results (ie. wins) of that element will reflect directly on him, he will make sure that his area is successful. To put it in the context that you described, the individual leaders will make sure that the goals associated with themselves are met. You said your chapter started out with goals, but lost interest. If the success or failure in meeting those goals is tied closely to the individual in charge, and if the chapter president properly motivates those leaders, then effective individuals will ensure that the chapter stays focused. For instance, let's say one of your goals is winning the academic trophy. If you place a strong, ego-driven leader in charge - one who sees the results as a reflection on her personally - she will make sure the chapter is pushed in that direction. Weak chapters and weak leaders try to accomplish things in chapter meeting. Strong chapter leaders know that almost everything that is effective in managing & motivating the chapter is done outside of general meetings.

[33girl]

Make sure that sorority membership hasn't become "all work and no play." If members feel like all they are doing is having meetings, worrying about $$ and numbers, it is hard to keep morale up.

Try to have a weekend or two with no scheduled events and if people aren't gathering naturally, discreetly ask the people who can get along with most of the sisters (every chapter has at least one or two) to get a bunch together "informally" to just go to dinner, go out dancing, whatever. We had a thing that we always watched Days together at the house on Fridays and made a sort of party out of it. It got the weekend off to a good start.

[James]

There were some pretty good ideas presented above.

Bolingbaker probably gave the best framework to think about the whole problem. In terms of getting focused on serious events.

This works for male chapters and there are no doubt parallels for female chapters. But it usually requires a strong Greek system to make it work .. . . i.e. the system gives you several different games to play in any given semester that requires almost total chapter participation.

So for example, if there is only one big thing a year, like Greek Week, or even one big thing a semester then people are only really focused as a team for a few weeks around the event, and only based on the event. So you have a tight sisterhood . . for three weeks a semester. That doesn't solve your problem.

Also, what he said about officers are true. PEople matter! A different person can make a huge differences in results.

But I still haven't helped you lol.

[Nora Charlotte]

Thank you so much to everyone who has replied for your help! It has given me some things to think about and try to develop more before elections. I've set up a meeting with our current president and I'm going to bounce some of the ideas off her to see what she thinks might work.

My biggest concern for next semester is that our school just moved to deferred recruitment, so we're going to have our two biggest events (Formal Recruitment and Greek Week) in the same semester. I think that I am going to try to set our calendar of events very early in the semester and really work to make sure that we spread out the sorority events so that no one gets burned out from being required to be at so many events.

I also want to implement a color-coded attendance system (I've seen the AGD model on here a couple of times) to encourage sisters who don't go to many things to get more involved (and also to give the people who seem to go to everything the option of taking a little bit of a break). We currently use a points system but it doesn't seem to do very much for us attendance wise. I'm a little stuck on what to do as a consequence for not meeting the quota of events in the system, so if anyone has experience with this, I'd greatly appreciate your insight.

Again, thank you so much for the great ideas and advice! We start nominations this week and then elections next week so I'll be sure to let you know what the outcome is!

[Glitter650]

Well as for the point system.. I know my chapter uses it as kinda a guideline for assigning sapphire (big/lil) sis's like if you were below the required % you were last in line to get one, also if you fall behind for a majority of the semester you are taken to Judicial board (our standards/discliplinary board) Also no shows (ie no phone call) are a fine of a dollar.

[LeslieAGD]

Sisterhood Retreats (or just firesides) are excellent ways to lift chapter moral and get everyone thinking about the positives in the chapter. Also, as an AGD, I can tell you that the color calendar works really well.

As for dealing with attendance problems, maybe you could try to find a positive way of dealing with it, as opposed to outright fining. Like, perhaps, the first time someone misses an event without an excuse she just get a warning. If it happens again, she has to put on a fifteen minute chapter program at meeting (could be about attendance, responsibility, sisterhood, etc). If it occurs a third time, that is when you start the fines.

[violets]

Okay as a non-AGD, may I ask what the color-calendar is? Is there another post that explains it? I'm always looking for good organizational ideas.
As for motivating the chapter, 33girl was right on the money when she advised you to make certain that sorority membership hasn't become "all work and no play." Sometimes when chapter morale is low and you've gone through some tough times; low social attendance, a less-than spectacular rush, there is a tendency for those who are still very ative to chastise the chapter at every opportunity. Make sure that you are aware of your language and the language of the officers whom you will be managing. Make certain that everything is introduced in the most postive light. Sometimes young officers get desperate and they start trying to motivate their sisters by saying things like, "Guys, we really need at least 4 more people for the xyz charity softball team. I know it's really boring, but we can't be embarrassed like we were last year." This type of speech is not motivating, and it makes meetings torture.
Also, sisterhood awards like those mentioned above, are really a great tool to make your business meetings more fun and sisterly. Make some awards weekly and some monthly so that there are some "big awards" that sisters can look forward to. Another great thing is a sister spotlight. One sister can call the President and nominate another to be "spotlighted" at a chapter meeting. Three women can then get up and say what makes the sister so special. (**make sure they know they can only talk for 1 minute each or the little talks start sounding more like eulogys).
At any rate, best of luck with your presidency and with reaching your chapter's goals.
violets

[pinkyphimu]

definately look for positive ways to reward people for attending events. for example, if you institue point system based on gaining access to things, people will be more likely to come to things. you could say that people who gain a certain # of points get a discount on formal tickets. if you accumulate a certain number of points per month, you get a "get out of meeting free" card (so when someone is stressing about a big test, she doesn't get in trouble for missing a meeting). at the end of the semester, the entire chapter puts on a special dinner for the 5 (or whatever) people with the highest total points.

in order to discourage people from not participating at all, make a limit of points per month you need to have to participate in social functions. if you don't have x points, you don't go to that social with AAA fraternity....

i would also suggest creating a realistic list of things that are mandatory, things that you are strongly reccommended to go to and things that are optional. depending on the number of members you have, you may be able to hold, for instance, 2 philanthropy events per month. People choose one to go to at the beginning of the month and if they want to go to both they can earn bonus points. that would also help people who may need some points get them!

if you would like more suggestions, please pm me. i create positive reinforcement systems to increase appropriate behavior for a living. i would be more than happy to help you!

[swede]

My sister who is an AGD at U of Hawaii gave me this idea.
I implemented it last spring, and we just had our first auction last night. All the brothers loved the system and now everyone is even more fired up than before about being involved.

I designed and made $1, $5 & $10 bills with the three founders of Pi Kappa Phi on them. I hand out the bucks for bros who participate in events and they are used as a positive incentive program. At the end of each semester hold an auction at which lots of cool items are auctioned off to the bros for their pi kapp bucks.

The Fogarty $1
The Mixson $5
The Kroeg $10

Some ideas for this program are endless, but here is a little list of events and bucks rewards we came up with a while ago:

$1 for doing your cleaning duties.
$1 for participating in an intramural event.
$2 for paying dues on time.
$2 for paying rent on time.
$2 for Wearing letters on letters Day (Mondays)
$2 for attending Chapter meetings.
$2 for attending Associate meetings.
$2 for attending Rush events.
$2 for attending or participating in a Brotherhood event.
$2 for helping out during PUSH week.
$5 for Pi Kapp of the Month
$5 for attending Ritual.
$10 for attending Special Events (STAR, MYLC, National PUSH Events, etc.)
$10 for Receiving a 3.2 gpa or better (Received the following semester)
$20 for attending PKC or Supreme Chapter (Received the Fall Semester)

As for people wondering if bros will cheat and counterfeit them I did not have that problem happen. It takes a bit of work to make the Pi Kapp Bucks. Three fit to a page, but there is still a bit of space on the page so they have to be cut out. I cut them out nicely, so if someone showed up with a ton of sloppy Pi Kapp Bucks that would be one indicator.

The bros who actually show up to events and participate are pretty much trustworthy. I know sort of how much $$$ everyone might have earned. There are a couple bros who go to everything, so they are kind of the measuring stick when the auction comes around. If they have "x" amount of Pi Kapp Bucks, and then some punk ass who never shows up to anything comes along with close to the same amount or more I will know something is up.

Another idea to prevent counterfeiting would be to stamp each one with a unique stamp. That way you would validate each one.

But I highly encourage the program. It does take work, but it is worth it in the end because it gets the bros excited about making it to events.

Like I said, we just did our first Pi Kapp Bucks Auction last night. It went awesome! It was a ton of fun. All the bros had a great time, and everyone got some cool items.

I bought about $375 worth of stuff. About a $100 of pi kappa phi items, and then the rest from Wal-Mart. An alumni donated $100 to go towards the auction, and the rest came from the chapter budget.

If anyone wants more info from me, just let me know. I think the system worked great!

[swede]

I misliked the $10 Pi Kapp buck in the post above.
the correct link is:
http://www.nuphi.net/images/pkb10.jpg

[UKDaisy]

This is such a great topic. I am in a service sorority and sometimes its really hard to get the girls going. Thanks for the topic and the great ideas!!!!!