Chapter Structures: Maximizing Attraction,

Engagement and Retention

Done By: Kalyani (Uvic) David (UofT) Kyla (Mcmaster) Evan (MUN) Ashley (Umanitoba) George (SFU) Yasaman (Regina) Jad (Concordia) Marie-Pier (Sherbrooke)

AER Definition

Attract: Initial connection

Engage: Increased interest and connection

Retain: Self motivated and long-term commitment

Attraction – First Contact

School Out-reach in High-School (MUN exec members recruited since high-school)

Club days kiosk Class Announcements Invite people to fun first-week activities! Make sure your chapter is visible on

campus

Attraction - Action Strategies

Ice breaker events such as: Rock for Change (Local bands perform

as an EWB event and instigates people to join- UVic, UNB)

Invites to retreats in the Fall right after FROSH (Waterloo, UNB, McGill)

Organizing first time meetings- make it fun and fresh so new members associate that with EWB!

Classroom take-overs (Laval)- word to mouth, face to face conversations: recruiting people from your own discipline.

Attraction - Action Strategies

Introduce JF Programs, people who apply get involved! Presentations from previous JF experiences attracts people (combined with a fun activity like a barbeque)

Know who you are attracting (faculty members, students)

Attraction - Action Strategies

Try to find a charismatic person to attract students and make them feel comfortable.

Make sure to mention that EWB is about personal development, and not JUST Engineering

Be friendly! Don’t scare them away! Have high energy and be motivated!

Attraction - Action Strategies

New member! Bring a friend!

We have attracted people now, will they stay interested?

Attraction - Action Strategies

Engagement – How?

Early chapter retreats

Waterloo, McGill, Calgary, UNB, MUN, UBC, SFU, McMaster Well organized and planned retreat to connect new and old

members and solidify culture of the chapter Great energy booster and source of motivation Sometimes attendance is the major issue. Generally those who

attended stayed engaged, those who did not slipped away

Introduce year plan and see if there are new ideas

Speed-dating Guelph and Waterloo Big first meeting, new members free to talk to

program areas that interest them Get them signed up right away, they leave having a

task to accomplish within the next couple of weeks Waterloo’s executive had one on one’s with the

members who signed up for their program area to build stronger connections to the chapter and create a team

Engagement – How?

Keep in mind people who don’t want a defined task or responsibility right away

Some encourage that members speak to every program area to learn about each and understand which they are or are not interested

Engagement – How?

Engage quickly in activities:

UNB, USask, MUN, UMan, Ureg and more! Events that easy to volunteer at Bbq, coffee club, bridging the gap, steak nights,

potlucks, pumpkin drops, kegger Things that you have run before, require little or no

new innovation, therefore low stress Can include retreat

Naked bbqs!?!?! How can EWB stand out during this early flurry of campus activity?

Engagement – Activities

Working meetings

MUN Engages all members who want to work Can see and hear other teams working, can

contribute Feel like part of the full team Cuts down on time commitment outside of

scheduled meetings, reduces stress Motivating, exciting

Engagement – Work Meetings

Celebrate afterwards

Use working meetings to explore new possibilities, new events etc.

How else can meetings be varied?

Engagement – Work Meetings

One on one for new members UReg, Waterloo, SFU, UOIT, U of T Team Leaders/VPs meet the members of their team

personally to discuss the work they will be doing as well as chapter “basics”

Focus on getting to know them and making them feel comfortable

Don’t intimidate, leave open space Can be hard to organize, especially with a lot of people

Waterloo distributes their coaching throughout the various levels of their chapter

Engagement – 1 On 1’s

Exec culture of inclusion Western Talk to new members at the end of meetings Invite them out (to events, dinner, hiking, naked bbqs,

etc) Demonstrate that their views are valued and sought

Self awareness of how you are communicating. Try not to speak down to new members

Make all conversations accessible. Create an environment where there are no stupid questions

Include them in your year plan

Engagement – Inclusion

EWB Orientation Program (UofT) Was run right after Frosh week activities Stretched over a month, people come by and they

figured out what they want to do A lot of commitment to come out to a session every

week, people are looking for a quick volunteer commitment

A lot of resources needed Learning: Find a way to condense the information you

want people to learn, and find a way to emphasize they should learn about all activities before settling down into something

Engagement – Orientation

List of Retention Strategies

National Conference Giving members a voice Member appreciation Encourage leadership roles

Retention - National Conference (All chapters)

Sending new chapter members to conference

Pros: High success rate Where the members get in contact with the overall

organization, where they see the vision/mission/values

Cons: Limits the number of experienced member

delegates Cost

Retention - Giving members a voice (UofT, SFU, others)

Encouraging new members to voice their own ideas and opinions during meetings without being shot down

Shows that they are able to contribute to the organization

Pros:Member feels welcome to the chapterThey are more inclined to continue going to

meetings

Retention – Member Appreciation (SFU, Laval, UfA)

SFU hosted monthly potlucks Laval gave positive feedback to volunteers after every

session UofA gave awards for accomplishments of new

members (not too serious) Pros

Members feel good Chapter bonding Higher chance of retaining

Cons Might exclude other members

Retention - Encourage Leadership Roles (MUN, McMaster)

Take new members, place them into leadership positions (in charge of a project)

ProsMembers feel important, that they

contribute greatly to the organization Cons

Failure is possible, in case of MUN and Mac, they both over pushed in some cases

Retention - General Tips

Appreciate small things that members do (UofT)

Communicate that the chapter always needs extra help

Believe in your chapter!

What are the different structures of Professional Organizations?

There are 3 different types of Organizational Structures:

a) Functional Organization b) Pure Project Organization

c) Matrix Organization type (hybrid of a & b)

Each has advantages and disadvantages

The Functional Organization

Advantages:

Team Work! The chain of hierarchy is linear and sound People are arranged on the basis of their common interests, therefore they can learn a lot

from each other Individual experts can be utilized by many different projects Specialists in the division can be grouped to share knowledge and experience

Disadvantages:

Usually no individual is given full responsibility for the project There are often several layers of management between the project and the client The organization slow and inflexible Skills and abilities of members are narrowed to one specific area Difficult to find out who is efficient in his work and who isn’t

The Functional Organization

The Pure Project Organization

Advantages:

The project manager has full line authority over the project All members of the project work force are directly responsible to the project manager When the project is removed from the functional division, the lines of communication

are shortened When there are several successive projects of a similar kind, the pure project

organization can maintain a permanent cadre of experts who develop skills in specific technologies

 Disadvantages:

Each project tends to be fully staffed which can lead to duplication of efforts Pure project groups seem to promote inconsistency in the way in which policies and

procedures are carried out

The Pure Project Organization

The Matrix Organization

Advantages:  Makes use of the entire reservoir of talents and technology Better integration and communication between functional departments Balance and effectiveness in resources utilization Higher staff moral and better career progression Individuals can be chosen according to the needs of the project Project managers are directly responsible for completing the project within a specific

deadline and budget. (people are held accountable!)

Disadvantages:  Might have two bosses over the individual Problems for Project managers without strong negotiating skills If teams have a lot of independence, they can be difficult to monitor

The Matrix Organization