Incorporating Less Frequently Available Team Members

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

My mentality is that if they don't want to participate, its their loss. If they don't like the program they would show up everyday. You can't force anyone to like the program. If it is a legitimate excuse like sports or religious activities or something along those lines, go with Eric's advice. Honestly if they don't want to be there, just straight up tell them to not show up at all. I would believe that they are wasting their time going to the meetings. Time is precious; it should never be wasted. Being able to participate in such programs is a privilege not a right.

Sometimes it isn't a question of wanting to be there but a question of being able to get there. I don't know what the economic situation for your team is but around me we have parents who can't afford the gas to get their students to the meetings but once or twice a week. Should I take that out on the students?

The only thing we ask our students is to show up when they say they will, if that is "I can only be here Monday from 4-5" then that is when they are there. Interestingly, this is the same philosophy we use for mentors.

Make sure your consistent students are all up to speed on what is going on and have them work with the less consistent students. Perhaps consider a weekly newsletter (resources permitting) that can be sent to mentors/students/sponsors via the magic of the internets.

[Chris Hibner]

Ken Patton could provide a great response to this. I hope he chimes in.

There were a handful of years on team 65 when I could only show up one or two days a week due to my job at the time and the fact that I was literally hundreds of miles away for days (or sometime weeks) on end. He did a good job of keeping me involved and having me participate in whatever way I could.

Many of these people can provide great insight. We had someone on our team last year that could only show up one day per week. He was valuable in many ways. One big way is that he could provide a grounded opinion on things that we were maybe too involved to see.

It's kind of like the job of a good producer for a great band recording an album. My favorite band of all time is one of the most legendary bands in all of music. They have about 20 studio albums, all of which sold millions of copies. They could have self-produced their own albums for years now if they wanted to, but they refuse to do it. They feel that they can get too attached to their own ideas that they can't tell if it's good or a hair-brained idea. Therefore, they always hire a producer that's not afraid to share a real opinion.

Sometimes these people that can't devote a lot of time are great as "producers" - they can armchair quarterback the ideas and provide some great feedback that the people that are real close to the idea can't quite see for themselves.

Anyway, usually any help is good help. Be open and take what they can give you.

[Darbus]

Thank you all very much for your input. Our issue comes from students who have other commitments, not those who aren't motivated to participate. We also have the problem of show rehearsals running concurrently with build season. We're trying to set up a system so that to-be-completed tasks can be put up on a place such as the forums of the team website, so students can post about their progress on their tasks, see what there is to do, and get a sense of what's been going on if they haven't been to meetings in a bit. Does anyone have any recommendations for the format of such a system?