Have you hugged your tribe today?
We ran across this image today by @gapingvoid (you can buy it here) but made us think about clubs and how the interact with their tribe (community). Most clubs seem to react to their members and supporters rather than getting pro-active and seeing some hug upside.
Clubs already have a massive advantage of having the tribe based on what they do. They’re not like a business who has to work hard to build a tribe. A clubs group of like-minded people is sitting waiting for you.
So give them a hug, send them an SMS, tell them you are looking forward to seeing them, interacting with them and more.
Good things happen when communities and tribes start talking more.
Club Stagnation
Stagnation is common in business, clubs, and any organisation which has a manager or someone giving directions. They’ll produce a winning formula and more than likely then fall into a routine, and stick with it. This is good for the immediate future of a club, and it may well build the foundation for the long term benefit of the club. But unless they step away, no one will understand what is required and how to do it.
Stepping away doesn’t meaning leaving altogether. It may mean you sit on an advisory board to the club, it may mean that you sit in on committee meetings to lend advice when asked, or be there when others fall into potholes, either way you’re still available.
This is important for those that secede you. Those that participate in the club will get the message that this place is so good, that even the ex-President wants to stick around. It facilitates the sort of message you want your club to broadcast in the loudest possible terms.
Convincing persuasion…
Getting your volunteers on board, to help your club achieve things can be tough. Taking a moment to reflect on how you do this can be overly beneficial.
At TidyClub we are strong believers in increasing the level of transparency within your committee and broader member base. Firstly so everyone knows that things are happening in a legitimate fashion, but secondly and just as importantly is to help with on-boarding your members to the mission the club has before it.
Now the question is do you persuade or do you convince…and there is a difference.
Engineers convince. Marketers persuade. Persuasion appeals to the emotions and to fear and to the imagination. Convincing requires a spreadsheet or some other rational device. Now what if you have both?
It is far easier to persuade someone after they are already convinced, when they have the facts before them. But you must have both to make wonderful things happen.
Luckily you have TidyClub!
Support the No answer
Everyone has an opinion about how your club should run, we all come from different backgrounds with different experiences. Just because you hold a committee position or some sort of title does not give you the right to criticise and shoot them down.
In fact, a result of challenging them outright, will cause them to be less likely to support your opinion.
Explain your reasoning regardless of yes or no, it need not be a book, but nurture those that have put their hand up they should be supported regardless of the yes or no answer.
Transparency
Transparency is good business. If the people involved in the club know and understand why the sponsorship drive is so important, or why a club can’t give away free t-shirts, they may be more likely to give you a hand.
A few suggestions to increase the transparency could be;
- Produce an organisational chart, insert the names of those in the positions, and print it out into a poster size document and put it on the wall in your club rooms.
- Give them an idea of costs, by advertising how much insurance costs are, how much the canteen costs to run, or the new equipment is to purchase.
- Start including other non-committee members on committee-like actions, get more people involved. The more involved, albeit in a third party fashion the more awareness there will be of the sheer quantity of effort involved.
