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.
Volunteer strategy matters
Yesterday I attended a workshop run by our clubs parent association. In truth it wasn’t so much of a workshop but a briefing as to what added administration clubs will have to undertake over the coming 12 months.
With ever increasing administration comes more pressure on volunteers, making for a more unattractive proposition to present to potential volunteers and as a result the less likely volunteers are to carry on with these further burdens on them.
With this in mind execution of these administrative tasks becomes critical. Of course leadership and peoples kindness will mean that things will get eventually get done, but with the revolution of the web, with everyone having a smart phone in their pocket means that the way you approach your volunteers, the way you structure and frequency of your communication, and the model of your organisation needs to change.
Running your club with the wrong strategy, the strategy focused on the 5 committee members will put you in an uphill battle. The alternative is to think hard about your structure, your resources and the benefits your club could gain from having less pressure on more people through resources and platforms like TIdyClub.com.
Your committee should stretch from 5 to 18. The roles and responsibilities of these people should be well articulated and defined. Through increased transparency everyone know what needs to get done and why they are doing it.
However talking to clubs at the workshop presented what I feel is the predominant issue in clubs. Through clubs not changing their strategy merely because they’re used to the one they have been relying on for the last 20 years is lousy strategy, and must change.
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.
Innovative Wedding Invitation: What Can NFPs learn from this?
This is a remarkable use of new media technologies (primarily HTML5) to create an engaging and innovative communication tool.
From a traditional communications perspective, this webpage does everything incorrectly. In particular, the reader isn’t being spoon-fed the desired action right from the beginning. They’re being made to work for the end goal, which is against all marketing principles.
So how is this invitation so successful?
What Jess and Russ have created here is their story. They’re telling people why they should click and take action, instead of how to click and take action. That’s the whole premise of Simon Sinek’s TED Talk about how great leaders inspire action - they get their followers to believe in the why.
As a charity, the absolute best thing you can do is to instill a belief in the why in your followers. They will follow you and support you as you ask, as long as you can get them to believe in your mission and vision. To trust in your mission and vision.
That’s why Jess and Russ’s invitation is such a success. They’ve told their story to get people to believe in them as a couple, and to support them in the next stage of their life together. Their guest list believe in them, and they will follow and support them.
How can you apply this to a not for profit?
What makes your not for profit stand out? It’s your story - shout it from the rooftops!
We hold a distinct advantage over corporate and other organisations in that our stories are compelling. Our vision and mission talk about creating a better world and delivering positive change. Not about creating larger profits and delivering more investment return.
Make sure you tell your story before you make an ask.
Talk about what inspires your staff members to work at your organisation. Talk about people, situations, landscapes, that your organisation has impacted. Talk about your goals, and how you plan to reach them. And then make the ask.
Players
This incredible memo, purportedly issued to all Major League Baseball teams in 1898 as part of a documented campaign — spearheaded by John Brush — to rid the sport of filthy language, was discovered in 2007 amongst the belongings of the late baseball historian Al Kermish, also a respected collector of memorabilia. Essentially an on-field code of conduct, most amusing is that the memo was in fact so expletive-laden and obscene as to be “unmailable” to its intended audience via the postal service, and so was delivered by hand to each of the League’s 12 clubs and their foul-mouthed players.
A fascinating document.
(It’s worth noting that experts are somewhat divided about the document, with some believing it to be a satirical memo, circulated amongst players at the time in response to what was a very real campaign within the organisation. Either way, very notable. Discussion can be found here, here, and here.)
Transcript follows. Image courtesy of Robert Edward Auctions. Enormous thanks to Jaime Stearns.
Transcript
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS TO PLAYERS.
In a contest between two leading clubs during the championship season of 1897, the stands being crowded with patrons of the game, a gentleman occupying a seat in the front row near the players’ bench, asked one of the visiting players who was going to pitch for them. The player made no reply. He then asked a second time. The gentleman, his wife who sat with him, and others of both sexes, within hearing distance, were outraged upon hearing the player reply in a loud, brutal tone, “Oh, go fuck yourself.”
On being remonstrated with by his fellow-players, who told him there were ladies present, he retorted he didn’t give a damn, that they had no business there anyhow.
This shocking indecency was brought to the attention of the League at the Philadelphia meeting in November, 1897, and a committee was appointed to report upon this baseball crime, define and suggest for it a remedy.
In response to nearly one hundred communications addressed to umpires, managers and club officials, soliciting definite, positive and personal knowledge of obscene and indecent language upon the ball field, the committee received a deluge of information that was so appalling as to be almost beyond belief, showing conclusively and beyond contradiction that there was urgent need for legislative action on the part of the League.
That such brutal language as “You cock-sucking son of a bitch!” “You prick-eating bastard!” “You cunt-lapping dog!” “Kiss my ass, you son of a bitch!” “A dog must have fucked your mother when she made you!” “I fucked your mother, you sister, your wife!” “I’ll make you suck my ass!” “You cock-sucker!” and many other revolting terms are used by a limited number of players to intimidate umpires and opposing players, and are promiscuously used upon the ball field, is vouched for by the almost unanimous assertion of those invited to speak, and who are competent to speak from personal knowledge. Whether it be the language quoted above, or some other indecent and infamous invention of depravity, the League is pledged to remove it from the ball field, whether it necessitates the removal of the offender for a day or for all time. Any indecent or obscene word, sentence, or expression, unfit for print or the human ear, whether mentioned in these instructions or not, is contemplated under the law and within its intent and meaning, and will be dealt with without fear or favor when the fact is established by conclusive proof.
By Order of the Committee.
[UNMAILABLE. Must be forwarded by Express]
Source: lettersofnote.com
