Recruiting parents to work for free at community-driven sports clubs
This blog entry is out of topic, but is valuable enough for me to share. Maybe it will be useful for those finding it through google?
Tonight I got some insight into how to recruit people (parents) into joining a cause. I am involved with the local sports club and tonight we had an annual experience sharing meeting. One of our most challenging tasks is to recruit new parents to work for free. I will describe this process, along with some tricks that matters.
When new parents sign up their kids for sports, typically football or handball, they see a well-oiled organization in action; there are invitations, there are leaders. What they might not realize is that the sports club is community driven; that they are expected to volunteer to do all the tasks required for the team that their kid just joined. The challenge is getting this message across to the parents, in a manner they will embrace. So how should the club do it?
A. Meet most of the parents; Have a short meeting right after a training to catch them before they go away. Or postpone training until meeting is done. Alternatively, use a break in a team event (christmas show etc) to have a meeting.
B. Be direct and explain how the club requires parents to step up to help, or else there will be no more training.
C. Tell them what tasks need to be done. Divide the tasks into groups. Ask them to sign up on a group. Tell them it is okay nobody can do everything, if many can do a little each. Focus on small tasks, do not use rolenames as people usually don't see themselves as one filling those roles, but they are able to see how they can help, once this is listed and they see how everyone else is putting their name on the list.
Was this helpful to you googlers?
Tonight I got some insight into how to recruit people (parents) into joining a cause. I am involved with the local sports club and tonight we had an annual experience sharing meeting. One of our most challenging tasks is to recruit new parents to work for free. I will describe this process, along with some tricks that matters.
When new parents sign up their kids for sports, typically football or handball, they see a well-oiled organization in action; there are invitations, there are leaders. What they might not realize is that the sports club is community driven; that they are expected to volunteer to do all the tasks required for the team that their kid just joined. The challenge is getting this message across to the parents, in a manner they will embrace. So how should the club do it?
A. Meet most of the parents; Have a short meeting right after a training to catch them before they go away. Or postpone training until meeting is done. Alternatively, use a break in a team event (christmas show etc) to have a meeting.
B. Be direct and explain how the club requires parents to step up to help, or else there will be no more training.
C. Tell them what tasks need to be done. Divide the tasks into groups. Ask them to sign up on a group. Tell them it is okay nobody can do everything, if many can do a little each. Focus on small tasks, do not use rolenames as people usually don't see themselves as one filling those roles, but they are able to see how they can help, once this is listed and they see how everyone else is putting their name on the list.
Was this helpful to you googlers?