Our
facilitation team at Dyad recently had the opportunity to visit the University
of Maryland for two days of data-driven workshops. These workshops involve
sending surveys to student groups in advance of the visit, and then
facilitating chapter discussions around brother/sisterhood, using the data to
help us understand each chapter’s unique strengths and weaknesses. These
conversations are often very illuminating, as chapter members diagnose the
reasons for their challenges and begin developing strategies aimed at addressing
those deficiencies.
As
this was our second year doing this project at Maryland, we were also able to
help chapters understand how their brother/sisterhood had changed over the last
year. One of the sorority chapters on campus, Alpha Xi Delta, saw tremendous
gains over the past year – on a five point scale, both the Belonging sisterhood
and Support and Encouragement sisterhood increased by between .2 and .3,
incredible jumps from the previous year. The chapter also saw gains on measures
of organizational commitment and identification, including almost a 1 point
jump on overall satisfaction with the sorority experience. After facilitating
our workshop this year with the chapter, it became obvious that the chapter had
made some significant changes over the last year.
We
asked their chapter president, Laura, if she would be willing to share her thoughts
on some of the changes the chapter made in the last year that caused the
drastic improvement in their sisterhood, and this is what she shared with us:
As
a newly initiated member of my sorority at the University of Maryland last
year, filling out the “Sisterhood Survey” facilitated by Dyad Strategies
through our campus Panhellenic Council, I was optimistic about my chapter and
our bonds of sisterhood. I had made
close friends in my first semester within the chapter and wasn’t aware of any
dysfunction or issues on a chapter-wide level.
I knew that the seniors were distant and that there was occasional drama
between cliques, but I assumed this behavior was just a normal part of being in
a sorority. When Gentry came to a chapter meeting to review our results, my
eyes were truly opened to some of the serious issues we were facing as a
chapter.
I
remember being told that so many components of our sisterhood-- from feeling a
sense of belonging to accountability among sisters—was not where it needed to
be. Compared to other chapters on campus
and nationally, our chapter showed serious signs of conflict. Among many of the issues discussed were a
desire to be “top tier,” unsafe drinking habits, and an obvious disconnect
between pledge classes. These issues
went deep, influencing many aspects of our sisterhood. Throughout the meeting and subsequent
discussion, many members were teary-eyed or crying. It was clear that as a chapter, we were not
genuinely happy with the sisterhood that we were a part of.
The
consultation was a wake-up call. It
proved that our next executive board would need to make drastic changes to our
current system, and that each and every member would need to consider what role
they could play to be a part of working towards that change. During our executive board transitions last
year, the outgoing officers shared their hopes for what they thought our
sisterhood could become. They shared advice
and ideas for making those improvements.
At our first executive board meeting, we broke down which ideas we felt
would work, and which practices from the past executive board term should be
abandoned. We ultimately decided to
start at the roots of our sisterhood-- the new member process. All members of the executive board, and even
other general chapter members, dedicated so much effort and time to making the
new members’ experiences a positive one, doing everything imaginable to help
get them socially integrated into the chapter.
Changes
to our big-little process played a large role in our transition; members from
the sophomore pledge class went above and beyond in their efforts getting to
know the new members. People went on
group dates so that they could meet and get to know even more women and were
not afraid to invite people they had never spoken to previously. This really
helped make sure that freshmen had a chance to get to know all of the
sophomores and not just a few. I recall
one night where there were about forty of us, a mix of new and old members,
that had taken over the back half of the Applebee’s on Route 1. It was a great way to get to know everyone in
the new pledge class, and I think the closeness that was formed between members
has transcended to many other aspects of our sisterhood. In addition, our
seniors this year also focused on getting to know our new members, and those
mentoring relationships really helped the new members feel welcomed and valued
in the chapter.
Along
with focusing on an improved new member process, we rolled out a new
accountability system. Judicial matters,
that had once been handled by the executive board and a chapter vote, now are
handled by an Honor Board system. The
new process allows us to hold more women accountable and set clear expectations
for everyone. This has led to a
sisterhood where everyone places a high priority on acting in a way that is
beneficial to the chapter. As our
relationships with one another have become stronger, sisters are more willing
to hold each other accountable and expect a lot from one another. It has also helped us to focus less on comparing ourselves to other sororities and, instead, to focus on the sisterhood and the relationships we have with one another.
Our
second consultation with Gentry last week was a complete 180 from our past
experience. We were nervous to see the
results because we had spent the last year working so hard to change the
chapter culture surrounding our sisterhood. When our new scores were projected
on the wall with a comparison to our previous scores, a sense of pride and
relief washed over many of us. We were
all optimistic about the change that had occurred over the last year, but
seeing the quantifiable results really validated all of our hard work. The following discussion focused on why we
all felt this improvement occurred-- new members shared their positive
experiences and older members discussed their renewed commitment to the
chapter. It was overall a much more
uplifting and positive experience than the prior year. I hope that as a chapter we will continue
moving on this path and our sisterhood will make even greater strides in the
future. The consultations have been such
an eye-opening and learning experience for our chapter, helping us focus on
real, tangible ways we can improve our sisterhood. This will be something we
look forward to each year.
For
more information about our campus cultural assessments (based on our award-winning
research) and our Assessment + Programming chapter workshop option, visit our website.
