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Spring 2012
The Delta Chi Fraternity
Radford Chapter Core Competency Report
Representative: Glen Buickerood
Date of Report: 10/31/12
Leadership Consultant 319-541-0801, GlenB@[Link]
Dates of Visit: 10/21/12 -10/23/12
Dear Brothers,
Thank you for the productive visit. My time in Radford, VA was filled with exciting conversations on the future of the chapter. Visiting a few short days before our philanthropy event Little Miss Radford provided great insight into our internal operations. We have a strong support group in Dr. Burke, Dr. Owen and Mr. Marias. It is crucial we begin utilizing their knowledge for our success. We have realized the need to be better, and it starts with our written programming. Although difficult, establishing a written associate member program is key to recruitment and chapter operations. I am confident we have the motivation and membership to change. Thank you again for your time and commitment to a better Delta Chi at Radford University. In the Bond, Glen Buickerood, Appalachian State 11
Important Dates
12/1 C: ABT List due E: Winter/Spring Quarterly Campus Scene
You cannot expect to remain the same and for your life to be different.
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The Core Competencies Model
What does it take for a fraternity to be successful? What does it take for Delta Chi to be successful on our campus? In trying to answer these questions, we often find ourselves falling back on, Well, it depends. While we acknowledge the uniqueness of each campus culture, weve found that there are eight core areas of fraternity operations that are essential to building a relevant, sustainable organization. These eight areas, or competencies, and the core competencies model will be our vehicle to open discussions regarding the interconnectedness of previous seemingly separate fraternity functions. For example, it only minimally impacts a chapter if they initiate 50% more men than in the previous year only to see half of those men choose to be on inactive status within two years. We have to look at the overall impact of recruitment, new member retention, and the effect of inactive members on the groups strength. These are, in fact, the elements of the Manpower competency. The eight core competencies are: Advising & Governance Alumni Relations Financial Management Housing Involvement Manpower Membership Education Scholarship
You may find that your chapter is exceptional in several competencies, but could use some work in a few. Our staff is here to help with this! The Opportunities for Improvement section included in this report includes action items corresponding with specific core competencies. During a chapter visit, the Leadership Consultant learns from conversations with your members about the chapters current achievement in each of the eight core competencies. He then works with you to develop action items, or opportunities for improvement, to assist the officers and chairmen in elevating their chapters achievements to the next level. Youll also find that were promoting a consistent, clear message across our visitation program, colony development and awards & recognition program. Now youll be able to speak on the same wavelength with other chapters and use the action items from these reports to provide content for your awards packet.
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Opportunities For Improvement
Advising & Governance:
Addresses opportunities for improvement regarding the Alumni Board of Trustees, BB Involvement, Faculty Advisor, by-laws, judicial board, and business meetings.
Action Item: Re-Engage Dr. Burke and Dr. Owen Resources Needed: Effort and communication Who is Involved: Chapter, executive board Deadline: ASAP How: Dr. Burke has been the faculty advisor for the Radford Chapter for 18 years. He has witnessed the highs and the lows. Using his experience with both the university and our organization is key toward our future success. Dr. Owen has experience of his own with the chapter in a variety of roles. Their leadership and understanding of our internal operations leads us to a zero excuse mentality. However, their involvement has taken in a limited role in the chapter. They still conduct a Roberts Rules workshop with the associate members yet it is not implemented in chapter meetings. Dr. Burke and Dr. Owen are limited in time commitment but are more then willing to help in any way possible. My conversation at the chapter meeting acknowledged (with membership agreement) that we have a problem. We not only admitted to the problem, we made a decision to change and improve for the better. Utilize your faculty advisors for this change. Action Item: Hold weekly chapter meetings Resources Needed: Room reservation Who is Involved: Everyone Deadline: Every week, no excuses How: Prior to my arrival, their had not been a chapter meeting held for the past two weeks. Meeting a chapter with that as the precursor is very troubling. Cancelling chapter meetings on short notice (or not having them at all) is a significant issue that is a major warning flag. Each committee has the expectation to always be working on something. Valuable information is announced at each meeting that is pertinent to upcoming happenings that affect the Chapter. If the general membership does not know what is coming up, how can we expect their attendance at mandatory events? The two weeks approaching our large philanthropy event (Little Miss Radford Pageant) are critical for planning a successful event. Many of the conversations held at the chapter meeting I attended (two days before the philanthropy event) were issues that should have been discussed and resolved weeks prior to the event. Action Item: Invite Robert Marias (Greek Advisor) to a chapter meeting Resources Needed: Chapter meeting location and time
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Who is Involved: Chapter and Robert Marias Deadline: Before Dec. 1 How: Robert Marias (greek advisor) is eager to help every greek organization on Radfords campus. An easy way to involve him is invite him to a chapter meeting. He will be given a change to meet the Chapter, and the Chapter will be able to meet him. Many campuses struggle with the definition of the fraternity/sorority life office. Unfortunately, this lack of information leads chapters to think the office is out to get them. This is far from the truth. Robert can provide excellent feedback on many topics to help make us the best chapter we can be. His attendance also opens a forum for questions on the greek community and the direction he wants us to move. You will be surprised to find he has the same vision that we have. If he cannot get a pulse on our strengths and weaknesses, how is he supposed to help? The chapter leadership (A or B) needs to reach out to him at least two weeks before the meeting to ensure he can come. Luckily, we meet once a week every week so there are many opportunities to invite him for that experience. Is the Chapter A the delegate to the Interfraternity Council? Yes
Manpower:
Addresses opportunities for improvement regarding recruitment practices, goal-setting, new and active member retention, and inactive members.
Action Item: Plan a committee chair transition that distributes work effectively Resources Needed: Meeting room, goals for each committee, Committee System BRIEF Who is Involved: All current committee chairs and any brothers/associate members interested in taking on a committee chair next semester Deadline: Before Dec. 7, 2012 How: It is clear many that the expectation is the executive board does 95% of the Chapters work. This mentality leads to a burned out executive board and a lazy (yet vocal) general membership. My conversation at the chapter meeting focused on the need for the rest of the Chapter membership to become more involved. We cannot sustain this idea that those who are at the top do all of the work. We each joined this chapter with the intention to make it better than when we joined. Taking on a committee chair that interests you will help in this distribution of work. A committee transition meeting that allows for brothers and associate members to take on chair positions will help delegate power that would normally overwhelm an executive board. The meeting can potentially be run during a regular chapter meeting. List each committee the Chapter has and ask brothers and associate members who are interested in running them to raise their hands. Once we have a list of prospective chairs, open up conversation on each committee.
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What do we want them to achieve next semester? How can we make this goal a reality? Build these goals around the four acid test: 1. 2. 3. 4. Time Oriented Measurable Worthwhile Realistic
If you write a goal that answers each of those questions, then it is a goal that has the ability to be measured and achieved. Each committee should have at least one goal that passes this test. After the goals have been established for each committee, the B should notify those who are interested in taking on a committee chair to meet with him the following week to discuss the goals and interest. The B has the ability to appoint all committees minus those that are explicitly defined in the bylaws as being elected positions. Appoint those who understand the goal and have the time and ability to complete them. The Committee System BRIEF will help the B build a group of committees that are effective and productive.
Member Education:
Addresses opportunities for improvement regarding educational aspects of the Associate Member program, GreekLifeEDU, risk management education, and on-going education (RLCs, Convention, As Academy, UIFI, etc)
Action Item: FIPG education Resources Needed: FIPG policy Who is Involved: F Deadline: Every Chapter Meeting How: At every Chapter meeting have the "F" read over one point from the FIPG Policy and answer any questions. Over time, this will allow for the Chapter to have a better understanding of the Policy and how it can impact them on an individual level. Action Item: Establish a written Associate Member Program Resources Needed: New Member Education BRIEF, Big Brother BRIEF, Scholarship BRIEF, Scholarship Program Template Who is Involved: AMC, Dr. Burke, Chapter, Greek Advisor (Robert Marias) Deadline: Have written program completed before winter break How: This visit has shown we clearly need to rebuild a foundation for success. The biggest hurdle to jump for this to become a reality is written programming. Every year we reinvent the wheel on many different fronts (A.M. Program, officer transitions, alumni relations, etc.). This constant rebuilding never allows for growth. In order to grow, we need to have certain standards set. An Associate Member Program we are proud of and follow is critical to our future success. The recommended
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length from Delta Chi is eight weeks. There is an example program located in the New Member Education BRIEF. The current AMC and executive board should read this BRIEF and plan a day to meet and develop an A.M. Program we will use for the following semester (and into the future). Plan this meeting well in advance to give Dr. Burke and Dr. Owen plenty of time to adjust their schedules so they can attend if possible. Using the eight-week program we provide as a template, build a program that covers the four basic aspects every strong associate member program stresses: 1. Brotherhood: Find many different ways to assimilate the associates with the brothers. Community service, philanthropy, brotherhood events are all great places to start. Developing a Big Brother program in conjunction with the Associate Member program is a necessity to the brotherhood aspect. Consult the Big Brother BRIEF for an example of how this should be set up. 2. History: A solid understanding of Delta Chi/Greek/Radford history will help build the mindset that we are a part of something bigger. Please remember that this education is not critical to our success as a chapter. Do you need to know the founding fathers by memorization in order to run the fraternity as A? No, but it is always important to know where we came from. 3. Organization: This is the most critical component to the program that many AMCs overlook. We are educating the Associate Members in preparation to take on leadership roles in the chapter. A keen understanding of how we operate (Chapter meetings, committees, socials, etc) is a MUST. Chances are the program prior has not touched on this education at all. Begin changing that culture now in the associate member program so the future classes know how to run the Chapter from the as soon as they are initiated. 4. Scholarship: The scholarship chair and AMC have an obligation to prepare the associate members for success in the classroom. Study hours are passive and ultimately ineffective. Consult the Scholarship Program Template at [Link] (Resources -> Officer and Advisor Notebooks -> Scholarship Chair-> Scholarship Program Template) and set a standard for how many points the associate members will need to complete in order to be in good standing. The program will turn into the ultimate recruitment tool. Passing out the program during recruitment will show legitimacy and the reality that we take our new member education seriously. It answers a plethora of questions any quality potential or parent would ask.
Scholarship:
Addresses opportunities for improvement regarding scholarship programming, by-laws enforcement, and academic performance.
Action Item: Develop an extensive scholarship program that addresses associate member grades and struggling chapter members Resources Needed: Scholarship BRIEF, Scholarship Program Template Who is Involved: Scholarship chair, Chapter, AMC Deadline: Develop the program for the spring semester, implement as much as possible now
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How: The associate members grades from last semester are troubling. Their semester GPA was a 2.43, seventh lowest of eleven chapters. Starting this spring, that GPA would not meet Delta Chi standards for initiation. A few basic things to keep in mind when developing a scholarship program for associate members are: 1. Associate members are in an academically vulnerable position. Their excitement for fraternity and Delta Chi specifically can override academic obligations if the mentality toward academics is not properly stressed in the Associate Member Program. The idea of study hours is only one aspect to an effective scholarship program that will change chapter culture and grades. a. Consider Einsteins definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Changing the mentality of the scholarship program toward something significant will cause the wanted change. 2. The ultimate expectation of the program is simple. Hold weekly meetings with those on academic probation (those under the minimum semester chapter GPA to be in good standing) and associate members. The weekly meeting can address many things, but its ultimate focus should be on the individual success. Open up conversation on classes, note taking, test taking, attendance etc. 3. Utilize the on campus resources that are available to every student at Radford. Invite people from the Student Success Center to give presentations on topics such as Time Management, Note Taking, Study Skills and Organization. Many times high school students do not have the proper skills to adjust from the scholastic requirements at the high school level to a university setting. 4. Ultimately, this is your program. It is time to take our academics to the next level. Please note below the GPA changes made at convention in Pittsburgh this past August. a. As of January 1st, 2013: each Associate Member must have a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or better (on a 4.0 scale), or if he has completed no college work, a cumulative high school GPA of 2.75 or better. b. As of July 1st, 2013: each Chapter shall have a minimum cumulative Chapter GPA at or above the all-mens or all-fraternity GPA of the host institution, whichever is higher. c. As of July 1st, 2013: All elected officers must have a 2.65 cumulative GPA prior to being inducted into his position and must maintain that GPA throughout his term as an officer. The Delta Chi BRIEF System Please take note that all BRIEFs are located on Delta Chis website. Here is where to find them: 1. Go to [Link] 2. Look at the left bar of links, and click on RESOURCES 3. Click on Delta Chi BRIEFs. It will be the first link in the right column 4. Every Delta Chi BRIEF will appear with hot links that will open the BRIEF. The only BRIEF not found on the website is the Pre-Initiation BRIEF. Please email me at GlenB@[Link] if you would like a digital copy.
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Final Thoughts
I am excited to see the continued growth of the Chapter. It is apparent the reputation and organization of the group has made significant strides, but do not settle for mediocrity. It is now important to develop necessary programming to take the Chapter to the next level. Set goals for these action items to make their addition to the Chapter a reality. Keep up the good work. If you dont know where you want to go, you will travel anywhere whenever. In The Bond, Glen Buickerood Appalachian State 11 Leadership Consultant Cell: 319-541-0801 Email: GlenB@[Link]
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