elearning

1. +
Fighting Apathy in your
Organization
Motivating and working with the different thirds of
your organization.

2. +
 Sarah is very well known on campus, mainly through her
involvement in your organization. With elections coming
up, she is rumored to be running for President or a Vice
President position and you know that she is more than
capable of doing an amazing job. Sarah shows up to all of
you events with enthusiasm and supports the other
chapters on campus as well. Last year when you raised
$5,000 for the philanthropy, you could tell that Sarah was
super proud of the accomplishments on Facebook and
helped raise a lot of the money, but got frustrated when
some of your other members didn’t show as much passion
for the event. She even says that she hasn’t done as well
in some of her classes because of her dedication to your
organization and the other 5 that she is also involved in on
campus.
 Can you picture a member similar to Sarah in your own
organization?

3. +
 Bobbie is a member of your fraternal organization, and as a
leader, he is your worst nightmare. Bobbie lives off campus and
is always throwing raging parties and inviting students over to
drink underage. He has been cited multiple times for drinking
violations as he himself is underage and is now on probation
within the fraternity and the college. At your chapter meetings
he always speaks up and complains about something that the
leaders of the organization have done wrong, but never gives
any suggestions as to how to fix it. His GPA is a 2.2, and you’re
on good authority that he will not graduate on time with all of
the class he skips. He rarely shows up to events unless it’s a
mixer with the “hottest sorority on campus.”
 Can you picture a member similar to Bobbie in your own
organization?

4. +
 Michael is a member of your organization, and he loves being
part of the fraternity. He shows up to all of the mandatory events
and really does view his brothers as his best friends. He is well-
liked in the chapter, but his brothers don’t really view him as a
prominent leader in the organization. He has held smaller
assistant roles before, but has not pursued an exec position.
Michael has often struggled with his financial and time
commitments and constantly worries about all of the different
things that he has to juggle and complete in school and outside
of class. His girlfriend also complains about the amount of time
that he spends involved in the fraternity, but he loves the time
that he devotes to it and doesn’t want to change that.
 Can you think of a member like Michael in your own chapter?

5. +
Top Third Members- Sarah
 Take on leadership roles
 Volunteer to help with anything and everything that needs to be
done
 Tend to like public recognition, but don’t devote themselves to your
organization for that reason
 Often their identity is defined by their involvement in your
organization
 Involved in organizations outside of campus and hold leadership
roles
 School can sometime be put on the back burner for these
members
 Get frustrated with the bottom-third members for their “lack of
motivation and involvement” in the chapter

6. +
Bottom Third Members- Bobbie
 Less likely to care or personally sacrifice for the organization
 May behave badly at an event, avoid paying dues, criticize your
chapter in public, blow off commitments
 Create drama!
 They make the top third members crazy.
 You may not even really know who these members are
because of their lack of commitment to your chapter
 Come to the party but don’t put in the work on the committees
 Terrible attitudes, criticize everything but don’t try and find a
solution.

7. +
So, where do the
other members in
your organization
fall?

8. +
Middle third members- Michael
 They care about your organization, and they have a positive
attitude and want to contribute.
 Difference between top and middle thirds: middle third
members will find a way to contribute to the organization in a
way the fits their lives and other demands.
 Your org. is a priority for them, but not the top one.
 Fly under the radar- typically will not volunteer so they are not
seen as leaders, but they also won’t criticize or speak up like
bottom third members do.
 Happy to contribute, but seen as the supportive player rather
than the MVP.
 Enjoy certain aspects of your organization more than other
aspects, and will make choices as to which events to be at and
which they feel they don’t have to attend.

9. +
Why are the
middle members
of the
organization
important?

10. +
They are a third of your organization
members
Can be utilized to help your
organization grow
Can be misunderstood, often.
They might have ideas that you may
not have ever even thought of.

11. +
Working with middle third members
 Evaluate your approach to working with these members
 What type of communication do they respond best to?
 Do they work differently than I do?
 How is their role in this organization different than mine?
 Ask for their opinion!
 These members won’t likely volunteer for something and may shut
down if they think that is why you’re approaching them.
 Ask for their honest opinion on what they would improve or do
differently in the chapter
 Stick to a schedule/inform members of times, dates and other
information of that nature.

12. +
“If you could make everyone into
top-third members, this would be easy.
Of course, that’s impossible. You’re
going to have folks in all three places.
You can spend your time wishing
everyone would join you in the top third,
or you can start strategically dealing with
people where they are.” (Sullivan, 2012,
20).

13. +
Group evaluation/sharing
 Identify some characteristics of middle-third members in your
chapter.
 Identify some ways chapter leaders tend to communicate with
members when they become frustrated by the “apathy” of your
organization.
 What are some strengths of these communication methods?
 What are some shortcomings of these communication methods?
 Identify three ways in which you as the new officers can better
communicate with all members in your chapter, not just with
like-minded top-third members.

14. +
So what do we do with this
information?
 What if a member of exec isn’t in the top-third?
 What if one of our most prominent members is actually in the
bottom third?
 How do we have those conversations?

15. +
Communicating Effectively
Email etiquette

16. +  "Tie yourself down to whatever chair you're sitting in, because this email is going to be a
rough f**king ride.”
 "For those of you that have your heads stuck under rocks, which apparently is the majority
of this chapter, we have been F**KING UP”
 "I've been getting texts on texts about people LITERALLY being so f**king AWKWARD and
so f**king BORING.”
 "I do not give a flying f**k, and Sigma Nu does not give a flying f**k, about how much you
f**king love to talk to your sisters.”
 "Newsflash you stupid c*cks: FRATS DON'T LIKE BORING SORORITIES.”
 "ARE YOU F**KING STUPID?!! I don't give a SH*T about sportsmanship, YOU CHEER
FOR OUR GODDAMN TEAM AND NOT THE OTHER ONE, HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN
TO A SPORTS GAME?”
 "I pity you because I don't know how you got this far in life, and with that in mind don't
f**king show up unless you're going to stop being a goddamn c*ck block for our chapter.”
 "I swear to f**king God if I see anyone being a goddamn boner at tonight's event, I will tell
you to leave even if you're sober.”
 "And for those of you who are offended at this email, I would apologize but I really don't
give a f**k."

17. +
Communicating Effectively
 Judgment (emotion)- what type of communication is best in this
situation?
 Be transparent
 Active listening- listen to the members of your organization
 Provide feedback and ask for feedback!
 Learn how to communicate not only with the other leaders in
your chapter, but also with the middle and bottow-third
members as well!

18. +
“So, what about the
bottom third? Do we just
ignore them and let
them get away with
contributing less to the
organization?”

19. +
Basically… yes.
 As a leader, your job is to advance the mission of your
organization and leave it better than you found it.
 Understand who your bottom-third members are and realize
that they are bottom-third members for various reasons.
 Have minimum requirements and hold those members to that.
 Make sure if they aren’t fulfilling them that you hold them
accountable and set a precedent for the chapter.
 Don’t waste your energy trying to get them to be “on your side”
 As leaders you must hold all members to these standards and you
cannot be afraid to administer the consequences when necessary.

20. +
Remember…
 Your organization is made up of different types of
people who joined your organization for a variety of
reasons.
 Not everyone is going to be a top third leader.
 Identifying the different members in your chapter and
where they fall can save you a lot of headache and
disappointment down the road.
 Create a plan that will help remind you of how to
work with the middle and bottom third members.

21. +
Comments, questions,
concerns?

22. +