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News & Views

Tips for Growing Your Association

Every Missouri NEA member plays an important role in building something better for public school employees and Missouri children.

The job you do getting to know new employees, inviting them to become a part of the Association and signing them up as members helps to build a stronger local and a stronger MNEA.

The result will be even more successful Association activities and programs because MNEA will have a larger base to communicate with and depend upon to support important initiatives.

The best way to recruit members is one-on-one, face-to-face communication. Work together with your MNEA UniServ director to develop a membership campaign plan. MNEA will provide you with tools, but you are the key to building a stronger, better MNEA.

Why members join

  • Someone asks them.
  • Everyone joins. Friends are members.
  • Concern about local issues.
  • Negotiations and contract maintenance
  • It’s the “right thing to do.”
  • Concern about professional issues
  • Concern about statewide legislative issues
  • Concern about education
  • Desire to be part of positive efforts

Most of us join because of personal contact and conversations in which an Association member shows us how our concerns are best answered through collective action. We join because we’re wanted, because we’re invited, because others around us join. And the issues that most often help cement the membership are issues that affect us locally.

Steps to recruiting a new member

  1. Make contact with the prospective member.
  2. Get to know the prospective member—ask open-ended questions and listen to the answers.
  3. Continue the conversation to learn all you can about the prospect’s interests and concerns.
  4. Try to get the prospect to agree on a position on an issue or concern that can lead to a new membership (or renewal of an existing one).
  5. Show the prospect how membership ties into solving his or her concern.
  6. Then—and not before then—explain the advantages of Association membership, particularly as they relate to the prospect’s concerns.
  7. Finally, attempt to close the membership agreement. You’ll find a membership form at www.mnea.org/membership/signup.htm.

Tips for the Association Representative

  • Maintain an Association bulletin board at each work site. Change items regularly. If you need a bulletin board kit, call your MNEA regional office.
  • Add Association reports and items to "employee bulletins" circulated in larger districts and campuses.
  • Develop a system of volunteers to help with personal contacts and person-to-person distribution of materials.
    Develop a team approach. Thank your volunteers.
  • Use a buddy system. Pair veteran members with new employees (potential members) or with members experiencing difficulties or expressing concerns.
  • Call in the Association president, another officer or the membership coordinator when you need assistance.
  • Most of all—listen. Listen to members and potential members. Find out what their concerns and beliefs are. Only then can you find ways to help them resolve their concerns and solidify their members.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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