By Tim Sloan
This could be a short article. How do you know when your membership is turning on you? When are things starting to go bad? If you run your organization like some are today, you might not have any idea. And it’s hard to take any action, regardless of what the truth may be. So, there’s nothing to talk about. Didn’t I indicate it could be a short article?
If you’re a relative greybeard like me, you will remember the days when having meetings was a staple of your group’s existence: If people wanted procedural information, they went to a meeting; it sure beat mailing a letter to the state. If somebody wanted a rule interpretation, “Roger” was always at the meeting. If you were screwing up as a leader, somebody would tell you face-to-face or you’d see the attendance dropping. You might get wind that someone was “calling around” to boost somebody as your opponent in the next election. In the good ol’ days, you didn’t have to go looking for trouble: It climbed in the window.
Today, in an era when many groups transact much of their business and training electronically, you might not have even met a number of your members. So, if you don’t even know them, how can you tell what they’re thinking? If they want info today, they email the state office or check your website. If they want a rules interpretation, they hit the Internet. Conversely, if you send out a missive, you’re not even sure if people ever see the content, if it was electronic. Hopefully, nobody’s added you to their spam filter, but how do you know people have picked out your message in a timely fashion? You don’t, really, if your strategy is still to leave the window slightly open.
In today’s leadership world, you can’t wait for them. You have to develop a strategy to check with your people affirmatively. How? Do you have your crewmembers on your cell phone’s speed dial? Probably. Do you have all your membership on your speed dial? Probably not. Why not put them on and call the odd one at random when you have some time? I live in Iowa and, if you’re like me, you have a lot of time when you’re driving to games to call someone; they’re probably on the road somewhere, too, right about then and equally as bored. What do you say? Begin with, “Hi, [insert name]. How’s it going?” [Wait for response.]
OK, you may think that’s at least a little bit icky and maybe even paranoid, in the extreme. I used to think so, too. Then I started going to a place for dinner a lot on Saturday night. The food’s great, the service prompt, the atmosphere pleasant, the bill reasonable — yet the manager always stops by to confirm that. “Is something not supposed to be OK?” I used to think. Then, one night, we went to the place and never saw the manager: “Where’s the manager?” I was wondering/worrying by dessert. I had no information to impart, but it occurred to me that he’d figured out something I needed to learn: The best way to succeed in today’s faceless world is to be a face.
As hard as it may be to accept, a quick scan of the editorial pages and your favorite news sites suggests that people are growing accustomed to being nobody; their opinion doesn’t really matter. Within your association, the sentiment may well be the same. They might think the rules presentations are incompetent and the scheduling app clumsy. Hey, your executive members might believe they’re better off standing outside the window because that’s where you’re always looking when they try to tell you something. Against that sort of ennui, they might all just drift away and leave you wondering where everyone went. Or they might hang around and give you the 3,000-yard stare. They just won’t give you fair warning, like they used to. Why should you be any different?
Er, … because you are? As a leader, don’t fall into the trap of being benign. Don’t throw something over the fence (or out the kitchen door) and figure your work is complete. Relentlessly follow up. Let them know you’re interested in the result. Go looking for trouble and not searching for praise. If you send that important mass email, ask them to acknowledge receipt. It’s a useful exercise to observe how and when the responses come back, if they do. If you bump into “Lorraine” at Sam’s Club, take 30 extra seconds and emote. It’s amazing, with the kinds of organizations we run, how no amount of platitudes can outweigh the fact they were offered. You might even learn the salmon was a little gamey tonight.
Your people need to know they mean something to you.
Tim Sloan, Davenport, Iowa, is a high school football, basketball and volleyball official, and a former college football and soccer official.
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