So as an efficacy expert I haven’t written a ton about efficacy in my last few blog posts, but for some reason I had an idea that connected to the first phase of efficacy development over the past few days - Mastery Experience. Let me reintroduce what that entails for you - people feel good when they feel successful with the knowledge they have. One feels as though they have accomplished something positive as more successes take place and the level of efficacy increases.

So as I was contemplating my next blog I began to consider the idea of mastery experience, especially during this time when sorority recruitment is upon us and so many different methods are being utilized across the United States. Let me also preface this by explaining I volunteer for my own NPC organization, which is a smaller, less well-known organization in the grand scheme of sorority life. This makes my job as a recruitment coach a little more challenging, but I’m always up for the challenge because I believe in what we stand for as an organization.

The problem I find most often is hearing from collegians (and some of our alumnae) how we will never catch up to the larger organizations because we aren’t well-known. Our women struggle - I mean…hard core STRUGGLE with this concept. Especially during recruitment, when as much as we have tried to instill a values based, no frills recruitment into our systems, we still often find that “the show must go on!”. Literally! Organizations try to out-do one another as soon as they may hear what a different group may be doing during any round of recruitment. Hey, it happens! We all know it! Our groups tend to try to be something they just aren’t….and probably never will be. They want the “showiness” factor to help them stand out among the crowd and may find themselves reaching for a different set of values or ideals than what was originally intended….

Insert the concept of mission creep - an irresistible force that expands or changes an organization’s primary focus to something that is different than the original mission. I learned about this concept in grad school regarding institutions, but the same, honestly, can apply to sorority life. As organizations we look to compete with one another instead of recruiting the women who will actually share in what our Founders originally intended the goals of our organizations to be - would they be proud of what we are doing in 2020?

Our mission statements and our values are the glue that hold our organizations together, our key purpose. For those organizations on any particular campus that may not be the top recruiting strength chapters, mission creep may become part of their conversations without them even realizing it. This idea can literally sabotage the organization. Our organizations (nationally) have the responsibility to provide appropriate resources to chapters to respond to the growing changes in their environments - especially now in the world we are living in with COVID-19 everywhere we look.

A organization’s reputation is EVERYTHING in sorority life - as much as we may not like it. Sorority recruitment is the time of year when each organization gets the opportunity to share their mission and values with potential new members. If a chapter doesn’t meet quota (as determined by an RFM Specialist and FSA, along with a computerized mathematical formula), the women can feel extremely disappointed and let down, oftentimes leading them to question themselves and their organization within their own campus system. Their level of efficacy can decrease dramatically because of that. If women in a chapter don’t know or are unfamiliar with their organization’s mission and values, how can they work to share them with others and get other women to WANT to be part of that same tradition??? They falter and the very idea of mastery experience goes away. Their relationships with their stakeholders (PNMs, alumnae, national organizations) can be negatively affected:

The process of communicating the mission and values of the organization become more challenging.
Organizational stakeholders may not agree with a change in direction.
Organization donors may questions the use of their financial donations.
It can lead to stretch goals that the organization will literally never be able to achieve.
It can also lead to confusion for staff and volunteers.

Overall mission creep can lead to unwarranted complexity, blur the original intent of our founding, and confuse the organization’s mission. So here is some advice for sorority chapters that may be looking to change some things up without trying to be something they aren’t…

Communicate often and effectively across the chapter at all times - this goes both ways - talk AND listen!
Be strategic as you develop new and innovative goals for your chapter.
Make sure everyone in the chapter knows, understands, and can speak about your mission, values, and goals.
Stay focused! Don’t change who you are just because you want to reach a number during recruitment!
Use your mission and values to guide all decisions and practices.

National organizations and Chapter Advisors play a very large role in making sure that all of this occurs each year. We should be steadfast in our aims and objectives since we have grown up knowing what and believing in what our respective organizations stand for. Our own mastery experiences should have taught us that years ago and we need to pass those thoughts and feelings down to our collegians by offering positive reinforcement (the 3rd developmental phase of efficacy) throughout the recruitment experience and beyond. We have an important job to do and must continue to raise our women up and offer new initiatives and innovative ways to recruit excellent women into the fold. If we do this our sisterhood will continue to be strong and we will hold steadfast in our mission and values for years to come.

I am here to share my thoughts, experiences, and wisdom with you - I am justice. I am friendship. I am truth. If you can appreciate that and what I stand for as an individual then you will understand where I am coming from. You can choose to agree or disagree with me, but I believe in the idea of sorority and what I was taught growing up over the last 20+ years of membership in my own organization. I am a proud sorority woman who chooses to live up to the values of my organization everyday, along with an elite group of women who align their lives and decision making in the best interest of our Fraternity.