Bigs and retention revisted August 21, 2007
Posted by Oats in Fraternal Families, Kappa Kappa Psi, Membership Education, Retention & Attrition.add a comment
Hi everyone!
first off – glad to be here, long time reader, first time poster…uh. umm…hmm, that doesn’t seem right.
second – holy cow! it takes me like 4 days to catch up, so bear with me.
The speed at which our bloggidy blog is moving is almost downright torrential and I find it hard to find time to comment – so I’d like to revisit the bigs and retention discussion that may have passed by.
Following Euclid and Jennai here…(and I promise this’ll be a quick post – and might touch points that have been mentioned that I just haven’t caught up with yet).
I’m having a hard time with the idea of the responsibility for retention resting on the VP and the President’s shoulders. I mean, I’m not a firm believer in the mentality that the chapter is as strong as it’s executive leadership. In some instances and chapters, that may be the case, but I’ve never been a part of that.
Retention really, in my opinion, relies on a few aspects: Membership (quality), education (pre- and post), and I suppose an argument could be made in the realm of executive branch.
Membership: It’s pretty simple really – you get those that really soak in the brotherhood, what it means to serve, enjoy themselves, wear their letters with pride. And you get those (as I believe it was mentioned) “pin and runners.” The one’s that put effort into the brotherhood are usually the ones that stick around. The brother’s that half-ass it through everything, will probably find something better (be it schoolwork, sports, significant other) to take their time away from the chapter. I won’t even talk about those that barely make it into the education process…The point I’m trying to make is, you find people that want to be there and part of the group (not just a part of something) and the retention will happen…it doesn’t mean though, you don’t have to do anything – which leads me to
education: Your pre-membership and post-membership education programs, (and I’m going to lump this in there as well) along with your rituals MUST be not only informative (duh) but interactive, fun, and most of all, I believe, (re)affirming. I don’t want to spend a great amount of time on it, but these ideals we’re taught and have been taught and are being taught over and over and over again are the reasons we decided to join, one of the reasons we decided to stay, and one of the reasons we’re still talking about it today.
Now, if you’re President and your VP are responsible for the membership and education (yes, most VP’s from what I can remember are), then okay, maybe it is imperative you have strong brothers in place. But if it is your chapters responsibility, then maybe a brother’s decision to stay is decided by what the chapter as a whole does.
Speaking from a personal note here: in my years of involvement with my chapter, I don’t think we always had the strongest brother leading. Sometimes, and more often than not, our strongest brothers were not officers – but they did participate. I think we were able to recognize, in some ways, what would be best for our chapter in the sense that, in some years, the face in office was better than the person in office.
shifting gears…(boy i hope all that made some kind of sense)
bigs/littles/family trees…
As long as you’re doing it, and as long as it works for your chapter – continue whichever method is being used. Arguements can be made for revealing early, arguements can be made for later – personally, i’m a fan of right after 2nd degree…for no other reason than that’s when I was told and that’s when I told my little’s…well, I didn’t tell them, but they found out then.
i go for now – I’ll return to the cupboard for now and try to catch up…
Family Ties August 21, 2007
Posted by Turf Herder in Brotherhood, Fraternal Families, Kappa Kappa Psi.1 comment so far
One of my favorite things about being in a fraternity is the Family aspect – Big Brothers and Little Brothers, lines, family trees. It’s the list-o-holic and casual historian in me; I just love drawing out family trees, seeing how the generations spread out, stepping back into the past through a branching line of Brothers. I love the process of pairing Big Brothers and Little Brothers, trying to make the best possible matches so that both parties will grow and learn. It is just such an utterly fascinating process to me.
I never have come up with a good answer as to when Big Brothers ought to be revealed, or how they ought to be paired. I come up with one plan that seems good to me, and then I get persuaded that another way might be just as good or better. Thinking about it, it seems like there’s a fairly limited number of ways to go about the entire process.
Step One: Partnering Up
Method A: Random Drawing. I’m sure some chapters must pair up their Bigs/Littles via random lottery. My kneejerk reaction is that this can’t be a particularly good way to go about it – after all, shouldn’t some thought go into personality conflict, chemistry, etc.? Then again, through this method, no one has to be last pick, no one is responsible for a poor partnering.
Method B: VP Choice. The VP sits down with a list of Bigs and Littles and decides who would make good pairings. This method – using input from the Big Brothers – was a favorite when I was VP, but not so much when I wasn’t. I guess if you have a VP you know you can trust, it’s great – but if you’re on bad terms with your VP, not so much?
Method C: Big Brother Choice. Big Brothers are ranked in some way, and then get to pick their Little Brother, kind of like picking teams for kickball. You can rank by lottery or by a set of criteria. This leaves the responsibility of a good (or bad) choice up to the Big, but also may create a morale problem for the last one to choose – and the last one chosen, should word ever get out (which it is bound to do). It occurs to me that if each Big chose in a private conference with the VP, only the last few people would know who the last choice was, rather than the whole chapter.
Method D: Collaborative Choice. The Little Brothers get to weigh in on who they prefer, the Big Brothers get to weigh in on who they prefer, and then somehow – through something like Method B or Method C – you try to come up with pairings that reflect those preferences. Good because the Littles get some say in their fate, but hurtful to anyone who discovers that no one wants them for a Big.
Method E: Little Brother Choice. Does anyone do this? I’d be interested to hear how that works if so.
Method F: ??? What am I missing? Does anyone know of a different way this is done?
Step Two: When to Reveal
Method A: Immediate. As soon as Bigs/Littles are assigned, the Bigs go to their Littles, introduce themselves, and welcome them into the family. It’s an immediate partnership so they can skip the “secret Santa” part and get straight to the mentoring.
Method B: Whenever You Want. The Big can choose to reveal immediately, or can withhold identity up until Third Degree. Seems like this might be messy, and that people might get ID’ed out of a process of elimination…
Method C: By Second Degree. The chapter sets an arbitrary date – maybe Second Degree – for a “Reveal Ceremony” wherein each Little is formally and publicly introduced to her Big Brother and welcomed into the family. This can be fun (popping balloons with slips of paper inside) or solemn (candle lightings). This allows time for “secret Santa” and time for mentoring before Third.
Method D: At Third Degree. Each Big Brother pins his Little Brother and reveals himself.
Method E: ??? What am I missing? Does anyone know of a different way this is done?
I think one important thing to acknowledge is that the Big Brother/Little Brother relationship is hopefully something that will be very valuable to both members, but that it’s essentially arbitrary. When I think about the Brothers who felt like Big Brothers to me throughout my early years in KKPsi, I’m afraid I don’t think much about my real Big. There are four people who come to mind, one of whom was in Louisiana, and two of the others were in the WD but different states than I. I liked my Big a lot, but we didn’t really bond. It’s important for the chapter to understand that they are all their Brothers’ keepers, and that each of them – active, conditional, alumni – are in a position where they may be a practical “Big Brother” for a new member. We can’t anticipate where chemistry is going to spark…
Big Brothers/Fathers August 20, 2007
Posted by Jennai Ell in Fraternal Families, Kappa Kappa Psi.add a comment
Ok – I’m gonna follow Euclid’s Dog on this one.
I remember that some chapters tell their prospectives the identity of their big brother/father, often immediately following first degree. I know of at least one (SDSU) that didn’t reveal it until after third.
I’m actually kind of torn on which is better. I mean, sure, revealing identities early gives you a particular friendly face or family tree to lean on when you need a little moral support. But having big brothers/fathers revealed so late means that ANY ONE of them could be the person. So you can theorethically get support from any/all of them.
Family traditions can really be upheld either way…and I can see how not revealing identities might actually help more, in that if a prospective had an issue with their big brother, someone else could step in, as a sort of surrogate. Whereas if the announcement was made early and a problem arose, it’d be a much more difficult situation.
Dunno, I guess I can just see pros and cons in either instance.
Plan and Pay Attention August 18, 2007
Posted by Euclid's Dog in Brotherhood, Fraternal Families, Kappa Kappa Psi, Recruitment, Retention & Attrition.add a comment
Hello hornstothebox.
How can a VP motivate and help the chapter to do a better job of recruiting and retaining members?
In my mind, recruitment/retention problems only really spring up when the President and Vice President just kind of stumble through the year. If they have a plan and are actively thinking about such things, they rarely become a problem. I don’t know if that’s because the plans are good or if, because they’re thinking about it, they notice the small stuff before it festers. I’ve also found that people, including chapters, can be motivated simply by telling them what you want them to do, why, and periodically telling them that they did a good job.
I would imagine that for most chapters recruitment starts at band camp. So, if I were VP, I’d have a pre-band camp meeting where we decided what to wear each day, developed ideas for posters or other recruitment paperwork, and tried to generate good ideas from the rest of the chapter. Once band camp started I’d meet with the chapter for 5 minutes after camp each day. I’d ask for names of people they thought would be good brothers. I’d remind them what we were wearing tomorrow, and I’d tell them they did a really good job today and to keep up the good work.
During rush I’d try to create events that the chapter already likes to do. Your chapter like BBQ’s, then hold a rush BBQ. If the actives want to be there they will be (and they’ll be happy about it). After each event, meet with the actives, make sure that you’re inviting the people you’re after, ask if new people should be added to the list, and tell them it went well.
Retention. Retention is hard for a VP to orchestrate. In fact, beyond that first prospective year, I’d say retention was more of a President’s job. If the President keeps meetings moving along and schedules enough fun chapter activities most won’t want to quit (if they leave school or have time commitment problems there’s not much YOU can do about that).
Retention for prospectives involves making them feel wanted. If your education meetings aren’t during chapter meetings, have actives show up (even if they’re not doing anything). Have their big brothers send them a note a week (or maybe a small gift, like a candy bar). Reveal big brothers early! Seriously a big brother, family traditions, etc… can go a long way towards making a prospective feel like they’re part of the chapter. Make sure prospectives feel like they’re accomplishing something. Have them organize and implement a class service project, fundraiser, social event, etc…
To sum up, the VP should have a plan for recruitment and everyone should know what that plan is. The actives should feel as if they have a role to play in forming that plan as well as implementation and they should be thanked for their efforts frequently. For prospective retention, do whatever you can to make prospectives feel like they’re part of the chapter. For active retention, do whatever you can to make sure the chapter is an enjoyable group to be part of.
