There’s a group or club for just about everything. There are groups formed to drive a particular political agenda, to perform civic activities, to play sports, to advocate a cause, to further research and understanding of a particular interest or to even to make money through investment clubs. Clubs don’t just form and operate on their own – often they need leaders to both start and to drive the club agendas forward. There are tens of millions of groups in the US alone. That’s a lot of leaders needed. But, leaders come from all walks of life and nearly everyone has the potential within them to be an effective leader. All it requires is some interest, effort and a little direction.
Why Do it?
Being one of the leaders of a club, group or organization can be one of the most rewarding activities you’ll ever do. It’s a great chance for you to improve your leadership skills while simultaneously working towards a goal that you likely feel very passionate about. Vclubshop There are an endless source of great resources that describe how to be a great leader in general – this article is not going to duplicate those works. In this article, we’ll discuss what practical tips there are to help you specifically be an effective club/group leader and a few ideas to get you started on your way.
Poor leadership?
Not everybody can strive to be a great leader – however being a good leader is important for the success of your club. Poor leadership can often result in the death of your club. Some results of poorly run clubs include:
o disconnection – members don’t feel they know what’s going on, what activities they can participate in or know how to even help. Some feel powerless to help affect change.
o exclusion – members don’t feel a part of the group/club either Vclubshop in decision-making or activities. Many groups by necessity need to be run by a vocal minority, however if people aren’t being heard, the majority end up leaving
o failure – poorly run meetings, activities and events mean you aren’t accomplishing your goals. People don’t want to be in an inefficient environment – many are there with limited free time – they don’t want to see it wasted.
o lack of purpose – every group has a purpose – it’s just not necessarily well articulated. Sometimes a goal is known but it is not well communicated to the members. Without a common goal, you end up wasting time with diversions.
The leader has the opportunity to not only prevent these club-killers from occurring but really lead and inspire the group to accomplish their goals.
Why can it be hard?
For some, being a group leader comes naturally and Vclubshop requires seemingly little effort. For many, it can be a chore and can be awkward and uncomfortable. Being a good group leader takes some investment in time. Most leaders have only their spare time to devote sandwiched between family, work and many other obligations. Since you can’t increase the amount of spare time you have without some cost (e.g. less sleep, less time with family, etc.), you have to use your time as efficiently as possible.
Clearly as you become better at something, you do it more efficiently and better each time. Most group leaders have never had the opportunity to serve as a leader in their past lives – so they are in new territory. Someone nominated to manage fundraising or help market the club or help drive membership may have never had the experience of doing it before. Also, just because someone has been nominated to be treasurer in a club, doesn’t mean that he/she are good at math and at managing money and budgets. They do have to have the skills and interest to be good at it though.