Gamma Iota Sigma
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Managing Your Members"Treat them the way you
would like to be treated, Leadership involves getting things accomplished through your chapter's members. Leaders are not born as leaders, they become leaders through learning experiences. It takes time to learn sensitivity to the group process, awareness to group interaction, and the skills of when and how to appropriately intervene. One of the keys to being a good leader involves learning to communicate effectively. This means learning to listen as well as developing your ability to communicate your thoughts and feelings to members of your team. Your chapter members and officers are people and by far the most important resource you have. If you don't believe it, try running your projects without them! One of your primary objectives as an officer is to acquaint yourself with each member and officer you will be working with on any given project. If you care about the desires and opinions of those you must lead, you are more likely to have an active, productive group. If you don't show concern for your colleagues, how can you expect them to care about you or your chapter's projects? Generally, people join a group in order to fulfill or express certain personal needs. An individual's behavior is primarily a function of his personal motivations. His reason for being an officer, or joining Gamma Iota Sigma, may be: 1. social or professional 2. to fulfill an emotional or ego-related need 3. may or may not be known to the individual So, individuals tend only to join or become active in organizations that mean something to them. They always seek the acceptance of other members. You will find that as your members are allowed to play a more meaningful role in your group decisions, their sense of belonging increases and thus so does their participation and productivity. Everybody wants to feel important and we all like to be recognized for our efforts. Regardless of whether you're the president or a committee chairman, to be effective you must be willing to examine yourself periodically. Effective leadership comes as a result of self-evaluation, and a commitment to build on your strengths and strive toward eliminating your weaknesses. Periodically ask yourself: a. Am I truly concerned about those around me? b. Do I make a regular personal contact with each of them? c. Do I try to make the other officers and members feel important? d. Have I recognized the strengths of each? e. Do I praise when due and offer encouragement to those trying to be helpful? f. Do I keep the other officers aware and informed of the projects I'm responsible for, and seek their input or advice periodically? The following tips are the path to becoming a good leader: 1. Be consistent in your relationship with others. 2. Try "walking a mile in their moccasins." 3. Be enthusiastic! 4. Be loyal. 5. Be fair. 6.
Always maintain a POSITIVE
attitude. |