Lack of Motivation

[SOPi_Jawbreaker]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone else has had problems with people not attending events and not doing whatever their position is? How do you handle it? How do you get people motivated to do stuff?

Right now, the situation with my sorority is that we only have 16 girls and half of them are going to graduate this year while the other half are newly initiated members. Those of us that are graduating this year are getting burnt out and are busy and stressed out with schoolwork and job hunting. A lot of the newly initiated girls are slacking off. Since we don't have many sisters in our chapter right now, we really need everyone to be helping out. However, since these new sisters aren't doing their chair positions, the rest of us have to do their work on top of our own, and we're getting frustrated and discouraged. I'm really worried that we, older girls, are going to graduate and our chapter is going to just fall apart since none of the new girls want to do anything.

We have fines for not attending a minimum number of events, but a lot of people don't pay up. We've tried talking to them, but nothing changes. What else can we do? How can we get these girls to want to actively participate and actively perform their duties as a chair?

[33girl]

If they don't pay fines and don't show up to things, their membership should be terminated. They're dragging you down and you would be better off to get rid of them and find a new group of members that actually want to do the work.

Also, make sure that you're giving the newer sisters room to do things on their own. If they feel like you'll always be there, they won't do it. They need to know if they don't work, there won't be a sorority anymore.

[James]

Fining is an odd thing, it only works on people you shouldn't fine.

Officers that don't do their jobs are usually because their jobs are not written down exactly as they need to do them, with the time they need to be completed, as well as built in reviews of what they are doing.

So most people are winging it. Some people by their intrinsic abilities and experience wing it well. Others not so well. Others don't even know where to start.

If morale is generally low, you have a failure in programming. Your social programming is for some reason not meeting your members needs.

[epsilon99]

If they aren't coming to the meetings they should not be allowed at the social events either.

[LightBulb]

My advice would be to have a slumber party or other sisterhood event.

Watch a chick flick, eat pizza, and most importantly, have a heart to heart. Don't address the new girls personally with issues, but tell them that you are concerned that, being newly initiated, your younger sisters haven't had the chance to learn how to run the business side of a sorority. Tell them it's hard work but definitely worth it. Also, tell them that each older member will write specific directions for each office (ie, when to prepare for rush, how to contact a fraternity to plan a mixer, etc.).

Give them ideas and guidelines for a few events to plan (swaps themes, ideas for sisterhood parties, etc.) and let the younger girls plan these events by themselves. Tell them that you know that they can do it, but they will need to start working extra hard since y'all will graduate soon.

[slayerzbt]

I'm in a fraternity and I'm pretty much struggling with the same issue. I joined in the fall of 2004 as a sophomore and was soon elected to the position of Secretary. Things were going pretty well for a while, but soon our new Exec Board, which I'm on, really started to aggravate me. Most of the other brothers didn't see it, but our E-board started to become a joke. Our Sergent at Arms has not collected a single fine since being appointed. We fine people none the less, but in the end it doesnt seem to matter because theyre not held accountable if they dont pay it. In the fall, we will have about 15 actives. We just lost our house, and are basically without a budget. I try to speak up, but no one seems to listen to me or take me seriously(I'm the quiet type). I think its just a matter of time before the chapter dies.

[Zillini]

In my experience fining doesn't work and especially if you're not enforcing collection. It's brings negativity when you are trying to create sister/brotherhood. It's really unfair too unless everyone in your house is in a similar financial situation. Those fortunate members whose families are well off don't care because daddy will write a check. Then there are those members who are in school on scholarship, loans, working tons of hours, etc. Giving them even a minimal fine might be the straw that broke the camel's back.

We've gone to a positive point system and it works well for us. It's a positive reinforcement system to provide incentives rather than punishments for members to participate in different areas of involvement including the chapter, on campus, and in the community. Mandatory points are earned by participating in day-to-day activities of the chapter such as attending weekly chapter meetings, attending philanthropy events, grades (X number of points times their previous semester's GPA), completing study hall hours, etc. Supplementary points are given to members who benefit the chapter by their extra activities, including sisterhood building activities, serving as an officer, writing Rec Thank You's, being in an honorary society, paying dues on time, working a job, etc.

Each member must have a certain percentage of the total Mandatory points offered in order to attend a social function. By the end of each semester any member who has below a certain percentage may face disciplinary action. (FYI - We've rarely if ever had to do this.) We use point totals to determine who can live in the house and the order for room picking. We also give out awards to some of the highest earners throughout each semester.

Members aren't penalized if they are unable to attend an event because they can make up the points in other ways. But I'll warn you it takes alot of work to keep on top of things. All events/activities must be assigned values and the Exec Committee has to approve the amount. We have a Points Chair who keeps track of the points and posts totals weekly. Someone needs to take attendance at various events (like Panhellenic speakers, SGA rallies, etc.) in order to award points only to those members who actually attend. You have to make sure no one abuses the system by awarding points for something that wasn't actually done.

All in all our members really like this system as opposed to fining and declaring events as mandatory. They feel they can now control their own schedule and it alleviates alot of guilt. It also increases participation dramatically, especially when there's a party coming up.

The biggest plus though is the fairness. Everyone has the same opportunities as everyone else to earn points. Frankly we offer so many ways to earn points that there's no reason why anyone should not be able to attend a social function due to lack of points. It's their own fault then if they can't attend. They know what is required and it's their responsibility to achieve it.

There are a few exceptions where we do still fine. We've made those fines pretty stiff so that even daddy might think twice about cutting a check because his little girl decided to blow it off. Mostly this is for Recruitment, Recruitment Workshop, Initiation, and other activities that are absolutely critical to the chapter.

[TxGirl]

Well said. If have also found that this kind of system - while hard to get started - works better than fining.

If you really want to have a big penalty for something - say recruitment workshop/recruitment - then after so many absences they don't get to go to the big event for the semester. In some chapters this would be formal. That's a pretty big penalty, but if you want to make sure they show up for recruitment stuff - that's a major incentive.

I still prefer to use the system that Zillini discussed. As I said earlier, it's hard to get it started (not quite as hard to maintain but not easy either). But, it is by and far the most fair, the most effective and the best received by chapter members.

[DeltaEtaKP]

I think the biggest thing is to be positive. I served as the chair of a New Member committee as well as a rush night chair and currently as new member educator... I know that when the chapter is feeling positive, people are motivated to help out. In order to do this, get pumped up. Don't lecture. Sing your songs, instill your pride. Make it fun, and people will do it.