Greek Living Leaders: Working the Supreme Business

 

Fraternities and sororities must operate as a business first, and a socialite second to be able to be successful. I would really like to indicate some key concepts that report the relation between Greek organizations and businesses.

 

Greek organizations: 

• Divide officers into teams to work on specific aspects of the chapter 

• Must operate on a strict budget, fueled solely from member's dues 

• Must market themselves well in order to continue to recruit new members 

• Have mission statements and values to carry their members to and gear their brand 

• Must follow rules from, and report to, their national headquarters 

• Have insurance to cover their organization and its members, as well as many policies and procedures in place for holding events

 

These are just a couple of points that report how Greek organizations are ran as the ultimate business, combining friendship with professionalism and offering members a good opportunity for personal development.

 

As president, I see all sides of owning a Greek organization and must help every officer no matter what team her position is just a part of. My days are filled up with constantly making decisions and weighing the consequences. I have learned to create fair decisions that benefit the higher good, while remaining unbiased in the process. I also answer to everyone's questions and concerns while problem solving when an unplanned event takes place. For instance, we had a tiny crisis with flyers that have been made to advertise an event we were having. When they came in, we noticed the contact email on the flyers was spelled wrong. After some deliberation, we chose to utilize the flyers we'd and made a brand new email with the typo included.

 

A huge section of owning a successful organization works well and professional communication. Our main forum of communication between officers and the advisory board is emailing. I discovered how to properly send and answer emails in an expert manner. My communication skills have improved substantially since being truly a leader of my chapter. I have learned to communicate concisely and format information in the most effective way. I have found providing information in bullet lists is the best way to obtain members to read messages fully. Our officers must hold team meetings and get reports of progress in the various areas on their team. Officers are responsible for organizing their particular meetings and taking minutes to record what was discussed. Greek organizations teach members to effectively and professionally communicate through emailing, holding meetings, and dealing with others.

 

One of the very valuable traits that I am still learning through my presidency, is how to get comfortable with hard conversations. I work closely with this Director of Standards and Ethics to ensure our members are holding themselves to your high ideals and values. When someone is falling behind, it's our job to possess conversations with them about why this really is happening and what we are able to do to be sure it does not happen again. These tough conversations become even tougher when remembering that the members of our chapter may also be our friends and sisters. As a leader of a Greek organization, I am understanding how to have these hard conversations while residing in control of myself and the conversation.

 

Greek life has so much more to provide compared to the social aspect of the organization, and can truly prepare adults to become listed on the professional world.