Quote:
Originally Posted by NorCalOutlaw
My house is at a cross roads,
Brief Context: I'm a member of a house that has gone from under 40 brothers (when I was a pledge) up to almost 90 in just under 4 years. At the time when I was initiated, we had just officially ceased hazing less than a year or two before that (so about 6 years ago now) and were the work hard play harder types who got good grades, had epic parties, had close relationships with each other, but cared little about awards or campus involvement.
Today, we are the largest greek organization on campus, are winning awards and gaining increased positive attention from are nationals, have the highest campus greek men's GPA, are placing in or winning all campus wide competitions, control the student government and have the respect and approval of university administration.
Sounds pretty good, but the issue is...
Lately participation in events across the board has been consistently worsening (>50% attendance at meetings, >25% participation in other events), and worse than that, increased cliqueishness (sp?... or is that even a word?) and out right divisiveness has become apparent.
While the positive organizational accomplishments are undeniably commendable and important, some of the brothers have taken concern with this lack of fellowship (especially those of us who were around for the "good old days") and worry that this seemingly unsustainable growth rate is causing a larger percentage of brothers to become disinterested and, frankly, not give shit about the house, which could lead to a potential implosion.
To put the issue simply (as one of my brothers recently did), an award from nationals looks good on the wall and makes the administration happy, and it is what we are "supposed to do", but that award isn't going to stand next to you at your wedding or show up to the hospital if you are in need.
So...
I would like advice on how to continue being a "successful" organization and still keep our brotherhood strong.
Also, if anyone has suggestions about how to jumpstart brotherhood devoplment for this situation in general, that would be much welcomed.
Sorry for the long intro, thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for any advice
-D
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OKC, huh?
I know your chapter and school, but I'll keep that to myself.
When an organization grows like that, a mistake it typically makes is that it fails to address that change structurally and organizationally. The lack of buy-in can be attributed (often) to the feeling a lot of brothers will have that they're not a part of the decision making process and are more-less riding in the back of the bus with your executive officers and a few chairs making all the calls. In a word, disenfranchisement.
Structurally, have y'all changed anything about the way decisions are made, meetings are held and activities are planned since you've grown?
A typical 40-man chapter doesn't really need a well-organized, strictly controlled executive council meeting. It doesn't need a well-utilized committee system. Once you get to around 50, you really need to start to implement larger and more active committees, have more and more diverse activities, start to think strategically about communication, etc.
Start to think about ways to give as many people as possible the opportunity to do important things for your chapter. Utilize larger committees with more narrow foci.
The basic idea is this -- a 90-man chapter operates differently from a 40-man chapter. And if you aren't addressing those operational differences, your organization is going to suffer.
Don't expect what I've suggested to cure you overnight. You've got some major issues to address and you probably will (and will be better off) losing a few members. I wouldn't be concerned about that. You guys always do very well at rush and I don't think that's likely to change in the near term.
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