Fall is now in full swing! Along with the changing leaves and plummeting Florida temps (Low 80s, right?), clubs are met with challenges each year. Challenges range from cliques, to new club officers, to new professional leadership to branch involvement. The goal of the Blue Ridge Leaders’ School is to train and arm our leaders with skills to tackle these challenges while serving in their home YMCAs the other 51 weeks of the year. In this issue of the BRLSExpress, we are going to tackle home YMCA involvement.
If it has not taken place yet, now is the time to plan how your Leaders’ Club will impact your home YMCA in the year to come. To borrow a concept from Good to Greatby Jim Collins, our clubs need to find their “hedgehog” or their signature form of impact. This is essential for clubs in the early stages of development and those still looking for buy in from branch leadership. The club needs to find a couple of program areas of the branch that they will own and perform better than any other. As exciting as this sounds, make sure to only commit to what your club can own and deliver with excellence. Smaller / newer clubs should start small. Committing to being scorekeepers/clock operators for a division of basketball this winter or linesmen for a soccer age group in the spring are examples of measurable avenues that impact the operations of your YMCA. Clubs can also work with the Aquatics Director to offer support on the deck during swim lessons or with the Afterschool Director to provide a “games day” to a site each week (this is where Feeling Great or Kids in Motion classes pay off).
Verbally committing is the easy part. Once committed, the club needs to train in collaboration with the leadership of that particular area (the Sports, Aquatics, and Afterschool Director for the examples above) allowing the Leaders to shine when they volunteer and to perform their volunteer commitment with excellence, follow through and professionalism. Your training schedule and club calendar (the annual club curriculum) should be based on the club’s commitment to the home YMCA. Mapping out how the club will successfully serve the branch is the foundation for this year’s curriculum. It is your role as the advisor to seek out the commitment of other full-time staff and enlist them in enhancing the lives of the leaders and the programs the club will then support.
In future issues we will build on the foundation of home YMCA service and look to tackle other challenges. Please reach out if there are questions or challenges you would like to share or would like addressed. The only bad question is one not asked. The same goes for solutions. We can all learn from each other. Guest columnists are always welcomed. There is a great deal of awesome Leaders’ Club work taking place; sharing of ideas now, will assist others now.
Looking forward to digging through all the examples of your great teen work.
In Spirit, Mind and Body,
Ryan Graham
ryan.graham@ymcacharlotte.org