I brought home a lot of ideas from Convention. I have discussed several at our recent Board meetings. I also promised to share that information on the blog for all of the leaders in our club (that includes everyone)! I hope you gain as much from the following as I did. (Please note: this is my interpretation of the “Charge Into the Future” training session from Convention, 2010. For more information please visit the website for Cynthia D’Amour, Leadership Strategist by clicking here.)

Be A Lazy Leader

I know some of you just gasped at reading that. What? A lazy leader? How will our club ever survive? Well it’s quite simple. Imagine having one person give 110% to Quota. They are busy taking care of all the details, overseeing many things at once, dipping their hands into everything that is going on within the club. Now picture one person who is only giving 60%. She is having fun, she is able to bring more people to the club because she has the time. Her friends and fellow club members see that she is getting things done and is delegating tasks. Each one of us has our own special talents. For instance: don’t ask me to take care of Treasurer’s Reports, that is NOT what I’m good at, but I can manage the blog. I digress, our 60% member has now brought in seven other people, each giving anywhere between 20-40%. Remember the Martyr Leader? She’s stressed out, burnt out and is headed toward a melt-down. She didn’t want to let Quota down and knew that if she didn’t do things, nothing would get done. Let’s look at those eight members whose total percent of “giving” equals 200% (estimated on the low side). See how more people are more effective at being lazy, than one person who is being a martyr?

Okay, now you know how to be lazy, the members will start pouring in right? They will if you know how to approach them. We have to paint a vivid picture of who Quota is. If you want someone to join Quota, do you tell them why you joined? That’s a great way to start the conversation, but even before you get to that point, you should start from the beginning. What are they looking for?

Hot Buttons

• Personal/Professional Development
• Contribution to a greater good
• Community

Let me start by explaining the Hot Buttons. When you’re talking to someone about Quota and you’re trying to get them as excited about it as you are, the best way to do that is to find their hot buttons. What are they interested in. What is important to them. If you are talking to them telling them how much you love Quota because it gives you the chance to serve others, but they are really looking for a social group, then you’ve not only missed their hot button, but you’ve lost their attention. If you start off by asking what they are interested in, then you can hit their hot button because Quota really does relate to all three. Let me explain how.

The first one in that list is Personal/Professional Development. Do you know some companies hold training sessions that cost their employees $200-$300/session? We offer the same development through our speaker’s for our one year’s dues. Did you ever think to look at it that way? I certainly had not. It can be one more persuasive tool when speaking to someone about Quota.

Next is Contribution to a greater good. In other words: Service. That’s what we do in Quota. We help those in need. We provide many service opportunities throughout the year.

Last is Community. Before each meeting we hold a social time. We catch up with each others latest news. We have fun, we laugh and we get together outside of Quota too. Perhaps the person you are talking to wants to meet more people or even network with other business women. That’s what we do and who we are!!!

Great! Now you can find out what the potential Quota member is looking for and tell her how Quota meets her needs. We need to remember to focus on what we are and who we are helping.

One good way to bring in outside people is through our service projects. We have a walk coming up. Have you asked everyone you know to join in a walk around the park? You don’t have to ask everyone for money, but if you ask them to walk then you’ve opened to door of Quota to them. By asking someone from the outside to join us for a service project, they’ll see how much fun we have and they’ll get to know Quota better.

I will leave you with this quote from Cynthia,

“If not you then who? If not now then when?

For our February 18, 2010 meeting, our guest speaker will be Marsha DeHollander, Program Director of Access of West Michigan. Access is a network of congregations, individuals, and the community at large working together to meet needs in Kent County. They want to partner with everyone in Kent County to help eliminate hunger and poverty in our community.

We are asking members to bring a bag of can goods or whatever you can do for aiding them in pantry assistance, emergency meals and development programs for both the Grand Rapids and international communities.

Thank you and looking forward to a wonderful, great year!