Association leaders can only do so much for an association. For a group to survive and thrive, its members have to be willing to step up and contribute as well. The most enjoyable associations to be a part of are those in which everyone is active within the association, having ownership in the organization.
Sometimes it’s hard to be innovative when it comes to the level of involvement of your officials, but there are plenty of ways for your members to contribute. You just need to promote those opportunities and encourage your officials to take advantage of them
Step 1 — Set up committees or posts. You may be in charge, but you shouldn’t have to do all the work. Set up committees to take care of recruitment or fundraising, for example. Many members don’t have the leadership skills or interest in being on the association board of directors, but they would be interested in working on a committee to move the association forward.
Step 2 — Promote elections. What good are elections if no one is around to vote? Make sure you schedule elections during a meeting in which attendance will be high. Some groups attach elections to their end-of-the year banquet to make sure more members can take part. Another way to get more members to weigh in is by allowing members to vote online.
Step 3 — Provide mentoring opportunities. Any good association will utilize the skills and knowledge of its most experienced people for the benefit of the whole group. Enlist your veteran officials to serve as mentors. They will likely acquire a sense of pride from being trusted with the future of the novice officials, and the rookie enthusiasm may revitalize them as well
Step 4 — Run effective meetings. Many seasoned officials in your association could make great speakers for a training session at your association meeting. Give select members opportunities to serve in that role and your meetings and association will benefit. And even if members are in the seats and not up front, they can be involved if you let them. Make sure your training sessions are interactive. Give members the chance to weigh in with their opinions on video plays, for example.
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