Am I Approaching This the Right Way?

[DeltNick]

I'm overseeing recruitment for my Chapter this year. Our numbers are currently in the teens, with a handful of seniors leaving this year. We have to meet our recruitment goals this year or we are in danger of dissolving.

Past recruitment heads have approached the situation with an attitude of, "this is our fault and we need to fix it, but even if we try our best, the outcome may still be unfavorable." I feel like this sort of motivation, in our situation, is ineffective. There are already some of my brothers who are stricken with a sense of apathy and defeat with regards to the situation we are in, so approaching the topic in that manner doesn't really have an effect on them.

I am trying to get my brothers to see this in a different way -- to view this as an opportunity to recolonize ourselves. The brothers in our chapter are all great -- they're funny, intelligent, helpful, genuine, and they really believe in and live the core values of our Fraternity. However, the problem is that most of our brothers are quite introverted and shy when it comes to meeting new people. Almost everyone in the Chapter now was a direct friend of someone who was already in it when they pledged. As a result, nobody on our campus really even knows we exist. It's not like we have a negative perception; we literally have no public perception. I would bet anything that if people understood who we are and what we are about, there would be interest.

So, my approach when it comes to motivating everyone has been, "This is our chance to literally build something from the ground up, since nobody ever really attempted to build on our foundation. It's a way for us to choose our own destiny and determine how we want people to view us." I've already enacted some strategies for getting our name out around campus. I've ordered rush shirts so that every brother has something to wear with our letters on it, I've signed up for a table on the campus walk so that we can hand out flyers, information, and free stuff to any potential new members, and I'm encouraging brothers to travel together and meet new people wherever they go, whether it's the gym, the dining hall, the library, etc.

In the past, parties have been our biggest means of getting our name out. However, my opinion is that parties aren't a very good way to meet new members. Parties should be the things to which you invite people that you have already met, but I feel like it's more difficult to meet new people at a party than it is in the sober light of day. We are in a big city, and there are plenty of things we can do around here as both brotherhood and rush events. I'm encouraging everyone to explore these opportunities and come up with ideas besides the standard parties for events.

So, our recruitment strategy revolves around a central database of names that we are keeping. In this spreadsheet, we jot down the names of any potential new members, as well as their contact information and at least one of their interests. This way, when brothers contact the potential member, they know what his interests are and can center the initial discussion on them. I ask my brothers to set personal goals for themselves each week (i.e. This week I will meet 3 new members, and I will invite each one of them to do something with my brothers and I around campus). It's not a bad system in theory, but like I said, a lot of the brothers are introverted. How can I persuade them to overcome their shyness and meet people?

Another thing; there are a few of my brothers who can be a bit lazy when it comes to stuff like this. Other people see their laziness and it tends to spread through the group. It's like a thought process of, "Well, why should I do it if nobody else is going to?" What is a good way to hold people accountable for their goals and get everyone to pitch in to the effort?

One more thing. At our school, fall rush is for upperclassmen only. The administration doesn't want freshmen considering Greek Life until the spring. Of course, we can still befriend freshmen and invite them to do things with us, we just can't formally invite them to official rush events or officially bid them before spring semester. As such, our primary target for fall semester has to be upperclassmen. Are there any good ways to target this specific demographic that might be more effective?

I'm really new to all of this. A year ago today, I didn't think I would be in a Fraternity. However, I've come to love our group and I don't want us to die out. I'm willing to do anything and everything to keep us around. There are a lot of people on this board who are more knowledgable than I, which is why I humbly come to you all for help and answers.

Sincerely,
DN

[Senusret I]

I don't have any advice for you as I did not join the type of fraternity that you're a member of. I just wanted to tell you that your ideas sound great and you seem like an incredibly well spoken young man. Good luck with your recruitment and I hope you get lots of good advice here.

[DeltNick]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

I don't have any advice for you as I did not join the type of fraternity that you're a member of. I just wanted to tell you that your ideas sound great and you seem like an incredibly well spoken young man. Good luck with your recruitment and I hope you get lots of good advice here.

Much appreciated. I'm confident we will be able to pull ourselves out of this as long as we are on the right path.

[Psi U MC Vito]

First off, I would like to say that I think you have a good head on your shoulders. I can offer a little advice, but ultimately, it depends on your chapter. For those that are really into the fraternity but shy, you can try emphasizing how important rush is and that everybody needs to work hard to ensure the survival of the fraternity. You can also push the rush events as simple brotherhood events. Some of the best times I have ever had was during rush as a brother, because I am spending time with my brothers and sharing that experience with others. And as for getting lazy people to do stuff, the solution is simple. Just bug the crap out of them until they agree to do something. They will go along iwth you just to shut you up and get some peace for themselves.

[DeltNick]

I'd say that most of the introverted guys are really into the Fraternity. I've had great conversations with them in private about our Fraternity, our recruitment strategies, etc. The problem is simply execution. We tend to be great strategists, but we always falter when it comes to execution.

Example: Last spring, there were a lot of events planned for rush; laser tag, bowling, brewery tour, dinner at a nice restaurant, etc. However, most of these events never materialized, and as such, interest during rush dropped off considerably. My pledge class consisted of myself and a person that I had never seen at any events who was apparently a friend of a brother. That person dropped after two weeks, and for a while, I was the only pledge until I convinced one of my friends to pledge with me.

I have really been stressing the idea of brotherhood events. I feel like in order for us to be able to display outward pride in our Fraternity, we need to reestablish the connection between all of the brothers. I want non-members to perceive our Chapter as strong. Not elitist, not arrogant, and not mega-exclusive. I just want everyone to be able to see the strong bond that we have with each other, so that they will want to be a part of it. That is why I encourage brothers to do things together, and wear at least one thing with our letters on it when they do. I want people to look at us and think, "Oh, those guys are in (our Fraternity). They really have a strong bond between their brothers."

Most everyone in the Chapter wants this to succeed. In addition to the brotherhood events, I'm going to encourage some of our more extroverted brothers to work on recruitment with our introverted brothers. Example: if I need two people to oversee a table on the walk, I'll pair an extroverted guy with an introverted guy. I feel like it's always easier to overcome obstacles by working together, but maybe that's just me. In this case, though, I think it can really help.

As for the lazy brothers, there are only a handful of them. Most of their attitudes are centered on the idea that our fate is inevitable, that nothing can work, and that we should just enjoy the time we have while it lasts. Ideally, I would like to convince them that this is not the way to think.

One of the ideas I had was to have a one-on-one conversation with each of my brothers, and ask them what it was that made them join our Fraternity. At one point in time, every brother felt a connection with our Fraternity that was so strong that it caused them to devote their time and efforts to pledging. I want to reinvoke that connection, as I feel it can be a foundation of establishing pride within our Chapter again.

For me, it's easy. I just pledged, so the feeling of pride and happiness at being apart of my Chapter is still fresh. Some of my brothers may have forgotten this feeling along the way, which is why I want to remind them.

[DubaiSis]

I'm going to crash in here. As a woman and an alumna of an eternally small chapter, I'm interested to hear how this works for you. I love the change in mental attitude re: the process and I hope you'll keep posting throughout the year to let us know if you're making progress and the pitfalls along the way.

The idea of "recolonizing" without any of the heartache of actually having to recolonize is a great idea. And I know what you mean about chapter reputation. Which is worse, a bad reputation that will only draw certain kinds of people or no reputation which makes you invisible?

Hopefully you can get at least a couple brothers on board. If you start making progress, the others will probably come along. Good luck and keep posting!

[DeltNick]

The idea of rebranding rather than repairing is something that has never been tried before. It implies open-endedness and really gives our Chapter the opportunity to take our public image in the direction that we see fitting. It really is an exciting endeavor, being able to take something from the ground up and transforming it into a nicely-sized presence on campus.

One of the things I was hoping to do was work with a more established Sorority in organizing events. Find a Sorority that has a good presence on campus and ask them to work with us in organizing events. Co-ed Greek events tend to be wildly popular at my school, so I think this could be a big help. How should I go about finding a Sorority to work with us if I don't really have any contacts in any of the Sororities at my school. Is it as simple as knocking on one's door, sitting down with them, and laying out our event idea to see if they would be keen on participating?

[ASTalumna06]

Two posts to read:

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...d.php?t=100682

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...d.php?t=105943

And the best way to get your brothers to approach and talk to potential members is to pair them up. I know that meeting and talking to someone one-on-one can be intimidating, so give everyone a "recruitment buddy" that they can use when wanting to meet and talk to someone new.

Also... Facebook is your friend! I can't emphasize how useful this can be for introducing your organization to potential members, and for keeping in touch with the ones that you know. Create a group, send mass messages, befriend guys, write short messages on their walls... It's a lot less intimidating and can be very effective.

[DeltNick]

Both of those threads were really helpful. I actually read through them before posting this, and it helped me refine my recruitment strategy. What was said in the second thread really holds true, in my opinion. We can hold all the huge, expensive, flashy events that we want, but if we don't know any of the people there beforehand, it won't make much of a difference.

The Facebook page is a good idea. What should such a page entail? Should it explain that we are in the middle of rebranding ourselves and looking for leaders? I feel like the opportunity to take a leadership role in something almost immediately would entice a lot of people (that's what partly convinced me to join my Chapter). I don't want to come across as too weak, but I do want to make clear all of the opportunities that new members will have to develop their own leadership skills.

The Recruitment "buddy system" is a good idea as well and something that I am planning on implementing. Working in a group is definitely easier when it comes to meeting new people -- and honesty, we should be working together. We are a brotherhood, after all.

With regards to working with a Sorority, does anyone have any opinion or ideas on the best way to organize something like that? There are a few Sorority houses nearby that I was thinking of visiting with some of my brothers in the upcoming week to see if they would be willing to co-host an event with us.

Also, I think one of the things that contributes to our lack of presence on campus is the lack of an official Chapter House. The house that we have now is situated on the far end of campus, and we aren't allowed to display our letters on it because it doesn't meet fire code regulations completely (there's a fire alarm, but no sprinkler system -- it's a house we rent, so we can't do anything about that). Our Fraternity has promised to assist us in finding a new house if we meet our Fall Recruitment goals and show significant progress by the time we have to resign our lease for our current house.

In the interim, I've launched an effort to clean our house up and make it presentable. Over the summer, I had a cleaning service come in and clean the house from top to bottom. I also am currently working with the landlord to have new carpeting, cabinets, and kitchen appliances installed. Hopefully that stuff can be finished by the middle of September. I am hoping that when brothers come back to the house and see the progress that has been made, it will inspire them to get motivated and take part in the building effort.

It may seem like a little thing, but a house is one of the biggest physical representations of a Chapter on campus. If we can take pride in the place that we live, it might facilitate feelings of pride in our Chapter.

Also, getting back to fall recruitment, we need to be targeting upperclassmen primarily, because they are the only ones eligible for fall rush. Does anyone have any strategies that may be particularly useful in recruiting members who may have gone through rush before without pledging and/or may have a negative perception of GLOs, causing them to shy away?

[Gusteau]

First off, good luck to you and your chapter!

In regards to the facebook page, my gut tells me not to talk about rebranding and save that conversation for face to face discussion with potentials. Immediate leadership opportunities are a big draw so I would emphasize them. I can see both sides of the argument, but I personally wouldn't want to see my chapter putting that on facebook.

Its a shame that you have lazy unmotivated brothers, but every chapter does. The best thing you can do is learn the 80-20 rule, accept it, and move on. The 80-20 rule is that in organizations like fraternities 80% of the work is done by 20% of the membership and the other 80% only do 20% of the work. I've see guys get really resentful over this, but it is a fact of life and it would serve you better to keep your hard-workers motivated,

While you can only recruit upperclassmen now, don't discount freshmen. Now is the time to be building meaningfull contact with them. You definitly want to be rushing the upperclassmen harder, but start initiating contact with freshman guys. Without rehashing too much of the other threads, here is the basic structure for dynamic recruitment: 1. Become freinds with guy, 2. Introduce him to your friends (read: brothers), 3. Introduce him to the fraternity (that is, official events), and 4. Invite him to join. You have a lot of time to do this with freshman, so by the time they are asked to join they will already know about you enough and like you.

[itb]

I may be 'old school' here, but I'd consider talking with the chapter's alumni and getting them to help (whether through recommendations/legacies) recruit new members. If you do not have an Alumni Advisor, consider getting one. Using your alumni can be a double benefit; not only do you get potential members predisposed to Greek Life, BUT if they are legacy, it gets the alumni involved (which helps with finances).

[DoctorD]

Check out Phired Up Productions - they are on facebook, as well as http://www.phiredup.com/ - there may be something there that can help. What you are talking about sounds familiar to some of the things that I have seen from them.

[tld221]

Originally Posted by DeltNick

The idea of rebranding rather than repairing is something that has never been tried before. It implies open-endedness and really gives our Chapter the opportunity to take our public image in the direction that we see fitting. It really is an exciting endeavor, being able to take something from the ground up and transforming it into a nicely-sized presence on campus.

One of the things I was hoping to do was work with a more established Sorority in organizing events. Find a Sorority that has a good presence on campus and ask them to work with us in organizing events. Co-ed Greek events tend to be wildly popular at my school, so I think this could be a big help. How should I go about finding a Sorority to work with us if I don't really have any contacts in any of the Sororities at my school. Is it as simple as knocking on one's door, sitting down with them, and laying out our event idea to see if they would be keen on participating?

i like this newbie. well spoken, not defensive, and uses the search function. w00t!

i think pairing up with a sorority is a great idea. I guess it would depend on your campus, but i would work on chapter dynamic first before you branch out to other chapters. you mentioned some of your members are shy/introverted - i imagine this comes to men and women? that may put the pressure on your members. it could be good or bad pressure, dunno.

unless your campus is the type where collaborating/having mixers are key to reputation, wait until youre a confident, cohesive unit.

[DeltNick]

Hey everyone,

I've received a lot of helpful advice from the posts here, so thank you to everyone who has offered an opinion so far. I'm pretty tired at the moment, but I'll leave you all with a quick update just to tell you all how much things are progressing.

We had our first formal Chapter meeting last night, and it went pretty well. We established what our recruitment goals are, and everyone who showed up was really motivated by the opportunity to recolonize ourselves. Eleven guys out of fifteen showed up to the meeting, and they were all open to the idea of doing whatever was necessary to rebrand our Chapter and defend our charter. I know that this isn't even half of the battle, but still, I was expecting a much lower participation rate, so the fact that so many brothers are keen on helping is encouraging to me.

Our rush shirts have been ordered, and we have also signed up for time slots to table on the walk and give any interested men more information about our Fraternity. We will have a sign-up sheet at the table so interested parties can leave their contact information, and there will also be brothers on hand to hand out flyers about the Fraternity, answer any questions, and also give information regarding upcoming events that we are having. Our first event is a back-to-school party that we are working very hard to organize. When we throw parties, they aren't for us; all of the brothers sacrifice their own night to work different shifts maintaining the party and to ensure that everyone else has a good time. We feel that having a really nice (but not crazy, out-of-control) event to start the year is a good way to make a quick but lasting impression with the students.

In addition to the upcoming party, we are also working with a local company that organizes trips for college students (like paintball, trips to other cities, etc.) to help us plan some really nice rush events. We are also working to get our philanthropy and community service efforts improved. There is a national service Fraternity on our campus that we are considering organizing a community service event with. The reasoning for this is two-fold: 1) these people obviously know what it takes to organize a strong community service effort, and 2) everyone in this service Fraternity (well, every male) is eligible for membership in our Chapter as well. These sorts of mutual partnerships with other established organizations should really be beneficial to us.

I've introduced and begun to implement a lot of ideas that simply haven't been done before in our Chapter. This fresh start has a lot of the brothers encouraged and buying into the cause, which makes me really happy. I was really proud to see that everyone was willing to step up to the plate, and I am very encouraged that things will only continue to improve from here (though I understand that it won't be easy and will require a lot of effort from everyone). The meeting last night reminded everyone, myself included, how great our brotherhood is.

I'm too tired to write anymore, but I'll check in again soon. Thanks everyone. Keep posting; I'm reading all of your suggestions.

[DubaiSis]

That's great! It sounded like they just needed to have someone step up to the plate. Please keep your story coming...