What does it take to have a strong, vibrant relationship between HQ and Chapters? What questions might you ask of chapter staff and volunteers to measure the strength of that relationship?
To answer that, I began with a set of questions from the book, First, Break All theRules (it outlines a study by the Gallup Organization that studied 80,000 managers in 400 companies to identify the characteristics of a great manager). Gallup discovered these twelve questions give an organization the most important information it needs to attract, focus, and keep the most talented employees. They are:
- Do I know what is expected of me at work?
- Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
- At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
- In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
- Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
- Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
- At work, do my opinions count?
- Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?
- Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
- Do I have a best friend at work?
- In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
- This last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
Nine Core Questions
This is a powerful set of questions; using them as a foundation, I have created a set of nine questions that can help you measure the strength of the HQ – Chapter relationship. If your chapter staff and volunteers are able to answer “yes” for most or all of these questions, then congratulations, you have a healthy HQ – Chapter partnership!
- Do I know what is expected of me at the chapter level? Are we in agreement about: a) which activities and functions should be done only by the chapter; and b) those activities and functions that should be done only by HQ?
- Does HQ provide me with the materials and support I need to do my work right?
- Does HQ understand and appreciate the priorities of my chapter?
- In the past three or four months, have I received recognition or praise, from HQ, for doing good work?
- Does the staff at HQ seem to care about me as a person? Even better, do I have a friend at HQ?
- Is there someone at HQ who encourages me, either to take on a new challenge or to learn from a failure?
- Do my opinions count at HQ?
- Does the staff at HQ feel the work of the chapters is important? Do they make me feel important?
- In the last six months, has someone at HQ called to check in and see how we are doing and whether the chapter is meeting its goals?
A final word of advice
 |
| Remember to give your chapters a pat on the back - free of charge! |
No comments:
Post a Comment