I.C.E. Session: Organization Membership

This post was originally going to be about defining your role as a leader now that you’ve started taking steps toward defining yourself (see previous post), but that’ll have to sit on the  back burner.

Last night, I attended the first I.C.E. session of the semester with one of my fellow exec board members, Adriana.

I sense confusion. Time for definitions, dear reader!

Alrighty, the Center for Student Activities and Involvement has launched a student organization traning and enhancement series called Operation: F.I.R.E & I.C.E (oooooo, ahhhhhhh). The F.I.R.E sessions are mandatory for all student organization presidents and treasurers because they outline important processes leaders need to be aware of, such as organization registration and event permit submission (FYI: the last session for student government-funded orgnaizations is Sept. 20, and the last session for non SG-funded organizations is Sept. 27. You can find out more here.). Each F.I.R.E. session covers the same information.

The I.C.E. sessions aren’t mandatory, and each one has a different focus. As I said, the first one was about organization membership.

OK, it just so happened that it was only me, Adriana, a Gator Smiles member, and a Singer-Songwriter member, but the four of us had some good conversation about our organizations with Sarah Cunningham, assistant director for Student Activities and Involvement, and Matt Betz, CSAI graduate assistant, who both led the session.

Here are some points and tips made in the session about recruitment:

1. Define who you are looking for.

• Who is your captive audience? Does your organization appeal to specific members? Are there specific qualities you are looking for? Do you want someone who is super involved and can use their experience to better your organization, or someone who is passionate and willing to learn?
• In the group discussion that followed, organization members said if you know who you are looking for, you can target those people effectively by contacting other organizations or academic departments that align with those interests.

2. Decide when and how you will have recruitment.

• Recruiting requires all your members to be engaged
• Need to promote recruitment at all of your events
• Plan specific events with the goal of recruiting new members
• Your leaders are representing your organization at all times and can be your greatest recruitment tool

3. Once you have new members, have a plan for what you will do with them

• Have some kind of new member orientation
• Set clear member expectations
• Define and explain your organization structure
• Make contact information available
• Have ways in which new members can immediately contribute to the organization

4. Be aware of the GRAPE priniple

GRAPE is an acronym that represents the five biggest reasons students join organizations:

• Growth
• Begins after recruitment and before new member orientation.
• Have opportunities to increase members’ skills, competencies and personal skill development opportunities, and to become more competent, experienced, and confident
• Students are looking for opportunities that are organized and will get them immediate results

• Recognition
• Gain respect from others they admire, receive recognition and praise for a job well  done, receive feedback on their impact on the organization
• How do you reward your members?
• How do you celebrate success?

• Achievement
• Have the opportunity for members to solve problems, see the results of their efforts, be given meaningful responsibilities and see their work actualized
• How is the skill development of your members or their leaning considered?
• How can a member leave the organization better than they found it?

• Participation
• Develope a calendar that will allow for maximum participation, give opportunities to have a voice in the decision making process, and have clear expectation of your members
• How do you develop a sense of team?
• One person may be in charge of events, but there needs to be a way for everyone to contribute
• How does someone advance in the leadership positions in your organization?

• Enjoyment
• Have fun, work as part of a team, develope memories, feel part of something bigger than yourself
• What are the reasons members return week after week or year after year?
• Is there a mentoring program that helps build social networks in the group?
• What social activities does your organization provide to its members

5. Have good retention practices

• Celebrations
• Recognize members for a job well-done
• Make meetings fun–consider having themes or optional socials after the meeting
• Immediately give new members opportunities to contribute to the organization
• Immediately set clear expectations of new members
• Develope a sense of team

Overall, the session was good and organized. However, it would have been better if more organizations were present because we learned the most from hearing the experiences of other groups.

The next I.C.E. session will focus on budget and will be on Oct. 7 at 5pm in the Reitz Union auditorium.

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