So here's the agenda:
- What are the strengths of your chapter and in what ways does your chapter need to improve?
- What are the strengths of your council and in what ways does your council need to change?
- What are the strengths of our community and in what ways does our community need to change?
These questions beg for a S.W.O.T. analysis, so I will oblige. (For anyone unfamiliar, a S.W.O.T. analysis allows one to break down something into its Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, so that then a plan for success can be created based on those aspects).
I. Chapter
Strengths
If I had to describe my chapter in three words, I would describe it as: On the rise. Currently, we are not exactly at the top of the campus' Fraternity list in any particular area, but we are improving across the board, growing in all areas somewhat equally.
Our strengths lie in our Brothers.
Our recent chapter history, filled with up's, down's, changes in recruitment processes, and changes in chapter facilities, helps to explain why our Brothers are currently very diversely qualified to lead us up the Greek ladder. Because of the many changes that we have experienced in the past couple of years, many classes of new members who have come through have experienced the intake process in different ways. Each brother has a certain attachment to the process that he experienced, and with so many changes, there are many ideas of the ways that we should do things.
Part of our strength comes from the older members of our chapter, who have the experience from which we can draw to maintain chapter traditions that have meaning to us. They are also mentors to the younger members, and can guide us to a more successful future by remembering where we have come from, and keeping us grounded in our close brotherhood.
The younger, more recent initiates of our chapter are very enthusiastic and ready to get involved, not only within the chapter, but also on campus in general. They are ready to try new strategies to help us develop as a whole, and generally want to contribute whatever effort they can to further our cause. They also have a strong sense of the values of the Fraternity.
Strengths: Experience and Enthusiasm!
Weaknesses
This is where change comes in again. Because we have been in a constant state of change, trying to find the best way to run our chapter in various capacities, we are not completely united in our Vision of what the chapter should look like. This lack of a unified vision causes many issues when decisions are made by members of the executive board. Though made with the best intentions, at different times some dissent within the chapter has caused rifts within the Fraternity. An effect of this can be seen in the lack of participation in the newer mechanisms by older members, who do not agree with the new systems in place. Some even seem to have a different mentality altogether of what a member should be here for; this is understandable, as of course, every man joins a Fraternity for different reasons. This is all okay, as long as every man is still acting congruently with the values of the Fraternity and striving to further its interests. Recently, one member expressed his concern to me:
"We've got a lot of people working too hard and a lot of people playing too hard, and not a whole lot in the middle."
This is a somewhat accurate portrait of where we are. There are some people working really hard to make us better, but not taking much time to reap the benefits, and in some cases, not connecting with other members enough because they're putting too much into the front-end. Others are spending a lot of time enjoying the fun aspects of what we have to offer, or complaining a lot about what they do not like without offering many positive alternatives (attitude has a lot to do with it), or simply not showing up. Ideally, I would like to see everyone in the middle. We all should be working hard towards the same end, and should be rewarded with the shared benefits of those efforts -- enjoying success as a chapter and having fun together.
Weakness: Lack of unity.
Opportunities
There are many opportunities for us, as evidenced by the weaknesses that I detailed above. We have the opportunity to unite the chapter, if we can just agree on a common vision. At the beginning of this executive board's term, the various chair positions of the chapter, in conjunction with the executive board, completed a strategic plan, outlining every area of chapter life. For each area, there is now a Goal, an Objective, and a Strategy.
Goals are broad ideas of what we ultimately want to see; objectives are like the "mile markers" that we want to hit on the way to achieving our goals; and the strategies outline the action plans for achieving each objective and, in time, fulfilling the goals.
We created this as a chapter, but I think from an overall perspective, we all became too busy in what we were doing this quarter to actually keep up with how well we were following this plan that we took so much time to create. It is laid out to make us a better chapter, but we spent more of the quarter bickering over inconsequential details than actually putting that same effort into our responsibilities.
Opportunity: We have a map; let's follow it!
Threats
I perceive our threats as being mostly internal. I've already harped on those issues enough, so I'll just summarize with the cliche: "We can only beat ourselves."
II. Council
Strengths
The IFC this year consists of members from a range of chapters, and we have grown pretty close together through spending quite a bit of time with one another at conferences, retreats, and in having class together all quarter. We are very much on the same page when it comes to where we want to take the IFC community, and we have developed goals together that reflect this. Our strengths will be working together and relying on one another as resources, because we have a great deal of experience between us, and anything that we lack, at least one of us knows where we can go to find the answer.
Weaknesses
The weaknesses of our council are that there are only eight of us, and we need to make sure that we are hearing all of the voices of the community. We will be relying heavily on one another as we hold events, give presentations, and do our best to do the most for the IFC community throughout the year. This is not, however, a cop-out. We are all very capable in our respective positions, are surrounded by a community of motivated members who are always willing to help out, and we are already working to make the most of the time we have.
Opportunities
One take-home message from the IFC conference several weeks ago was that we have the opportunity to: Advocate, Collaborate, and Educate.
We can advocate for IFC chapters and the members of IFC chapters by being their voice to the campus. We are in place as representatives of that body, and we must do our best to help the overall cause of the Fraternity at Ohio State.
We have the opportunity to collaborate with other councils, facilitate collaboration between IFC chapters, and even collaborate between other Big Ten schools' Fraternities and Sororities in the upcoming year. These experiences will strengthen relationships in our community as well as provide valuable insight to those involved as to how others might be approaching the problems that many of us share as Fraternity members.
The council has the opportunity to educate through giving presentations, hosting speakers, and holding other such events on relevant topics of interest to the community. Education can extend past Fraternity and Sorority members, to the general campus population, faculty members, and other members of the OSU community, like residence hall staff, who could benefit from a better understanding of what Fraternities and Sororities are really about.
Threats
The threats to the council lie in not gaining the respect of the community. Many chapter members look at the IFC as a group that does not accomplish much or is just in place to discipline its member chapters. This is actually a very common view. We acknowledge this as a threat because it jeopardizes our legitimacy, and it because it is untrue. It is certainly not the fault of chapters or individual members that this is the case; the IFC needs to gain the respect of the community through an excellent year of programming and opportunities for involvement to work for everyone.
III. Community
Strengths
Our strength as a community is that even though we are so diverse (giving us the ability to cater to nearly any individual, based on what type of Fraternal experience he or she seeks), we are still striving for the same things. This gives us strength as a community because it presents the opportunity for us to use our commonalities as a basis for united efforts in whatever we choose. Perhaps our goal is developing men and women who are, and will be, responsible citizens and bettering the college experience. Perhaps it is to raise a certain amount of money for a worthy cause, or maybe it's just as simple as keeping our community clean. Whatever we decide to tackle as a community, we have the common ground to work together.
Weaknesses
We tend to focus, of course, on our own chapters much more than the community. A weakness of our community is in reaching out to chapters for them to understand the importance of each organization's contribution overall. One prominent fraternity on campus that becomes known for being wild on the weekends and consequently gaining a reputation as a place where ambulances and police cars are frequent visitors, and where friends have gotten themselves in trouble, has an impact on the entire community because they are the visible ones, and they will become the image of the fraternity in many people's eyes. As a community, we could do more to promote positive behavior, and make that behavior what is visible. That is what we want to be associated with us.
Opportunities
I see the opportunity for us to change the entire perception of our Fraternal community and make an impact on other Fraternity and Sorority communities -- and the world. Just as the solutions to my own chapter's specific problems are laid out in our own strategic plan, the solutions to the Fraternal community's problems lie in all of our Rituals. The values to which we all subscribe are the values that will lead us to wherever we want to take our community. All of our Rituals in some way or another, and in some order or another, urge us to strive for excellence by being individuals who value scholarship, altruism, and leadership, sharing these and other principles as brothers and sisters -- holding that friendship is the true binding force between us as members of our organizations.
How can we all be this similar and not work together to make things better for all of us?
Threats
The greatest threat that I see to our community is incongruence with our values. See "Opportunities" above. The greatest threat to us is not pursuing these opportunities.
