Empowering the “Sneezers”
I got into a minor accident which has rendered my vehicle temporarily inoperable.
This has prevented me from scoping out meetup points for The Los Angeles Hikers and Photographers Meetup Group which I’ve organized over the past year. The group has built some momentum over time, growing in size after each hike and I didn’t want to allow the accident to slow that momentum down.
After reading Seth Godin’s article “Ignore your Critics”, I asked myself:
“What can I do so that the group can continue its hikes and grow as a group without continually relying on my lead?”
It was simple.
Seth’s article asked us to “delight these people”.
So, I empowered them.
I emailed the group asking if there was anyone interested in an Assistant Organizer position so that way the responsibility of organizing or finding hiking locations never had to continuously fall on a single member of the group. Since hiking locations around Los Angeles are at times hard to get to, having Assitant Organizers in those locations makes it easier from the to get to and describe the Meetup point and location. It’s no coincidence that the people who wanted to become Assistant Organizers were not only delighted to do so but were among the most active and passionate members of the group.
In this case, I believe, what delighted the “sneezers” most, was the opportunity for them to become an active part in the growth of the group.