7. How are we apathetic about our
apathetic about our community matter?
Answers
→How do we change the attitude of apathy in our community?
Talk to your Members
Whether you’re a new community just getting started or an established community trying to revive itself, it all starts with engaging our membership. Now, we all know getting quorum for an annual meeting is hard enough so think outside the box and utilize the other mediums at your fingertips. Do you have a community website where a survey can be posted or email blast capability? Do a large group of your neighbors participate in a social media site such as NextDoor or Facebook where a survey can be done? When people see that you are interested in their input about their community, they will respond, especially when you make it convenient.
*Important note, be sure to explain clearly the Board’s plan once the data is collected and communicate a reasonable timeframe of when the owners can expect follow up.
Record your Responses
The worst thing you can do is ask for input and have members think you did nothing with it so record your response. Not all responses will be helpful or even positive, as we all know every community has at least one of “those” neighbors, but take note of the suggestions that are reasonable and make sense. Be sure to thank people for taking the time to respond, which may sound simple, but this one gesture can go a long way in reinforcing to a person that they have been heard.
Decision Time
Here comes your big role as the Leader and where you can really “get it right”. The Board now must decide what suggestions/project/events they are going to focus on for the community and what type of committee this would fall under. Once the Committees are decided upon, the Board should type up a brief committee charter which will explain how they will enhance the community, layout their format on submitting requests to the Board and what they can expect from the Board in return. Remember - In order for any group of volunteers to be successful, they must fully understand their purpose, limitations and goals because when they don’t you will lose them just as fast as they sign up.
Time to Follow Up
Now it’s time to follow up with your membership, and hopefully you’ve done this within a reasonable time frame of 2-3 weeks of the survey results so as not to lose momentum. Use the same mediums to communicate and possibly even a printed mail out. This will be from the Board thanking each person for their participation, explaining the time and effort the Board has put into reviewing all the responses, analyzing the requests for feasibility purposes, etc. – and yes they do need to know the efforts the Board has put into this project, this all part of gaining volunteers as people will mirror their leaders. A brief description of each committee should be given as well as a listing of the pre-approved projects currently under each one plus a call for volunteers.
Almost, but you’re not done yet….
So if this works as it should, you now should help your committees set up their first meeting, select a Chair person(s) and explain this will be the POC for the Board and find out if they have any questions before sending them forth to prosper.
If, on the other hand, you still don’t have enough volunteers, now is the time to put on your PR and Marketing hats. As leaders, your job isn’t over yet and you need to give this one last try by pulling out the names of those people that shared the same suggestions that are being focused on and communicate with them directly. Ask them to be on or even chair the committee explaining to them how wonderful their idea was and how the community needs passionate and creative individuals like them. Make them feel important, everyone wants that, as a leader one of your jobs is to encourage and now is that time.
Appreciate and Recognize
Whether it’s a simple certificate of thanks at your Annual Meeting or an Annual Committee Member dinner you put on, appreciate and recognize all of your volunteers as they are just like the rest of us who need that validation to keep going.