Chief of Staff/Extension: A Team-Building Activity to Try

Spring is the season of renewal and growth. Renew your commitment to maintain and grow your Auxiliary’s membership by contacting members who have not paid their dues and by inviting someone new to join. Consider giving members a packet of vegetable or flower seeds to thank them for helping to grow the organization.

Mentor your members by sharing the following sentiments at an Auxiliary meeting or in Auxiliary communications:

• Help each other be right, not wrong.
• Look for ways to make new ideas work, not for reasons they won’t
• If in doubt, check it out. Don’t make negative assumptions about each other.
• Take pride in each other’s victories.
• Speak positively about each other and our organization at every opportunity.
• Maintain a positive attitude no matter what the circumstance.
• Act with initiative as if it all depends on you.
• Do everything with enthusiasm – it’s contagious.
• Whatever you want, give it away. (I.e. a smile, power, knowledge, etc.)
• Don’t lose faith. Never give up. You are never empty. Maybe you have to reach deep, but God gave you more, and when you share, you get back twofold.
• Have fun.

A team-building activity to try at an Auxiliary meeting

• At the beginning of a meeting, distribute a piece of paper to each member with another member’s name on it and instruct them to write a positive thought about that person that will be shared with the group at the end of the meeting.
• The individual may or may not sign their name, it’s their choice.
• Encourage each member to participate so someone won’t be left out of the experience.
• Have the Conductor/Conductress collect the papers, mix them up and then randomly pass out the results.
• Have each member read a positive comment about someone else.
• Watch for smiles to appear on the faces of members when they hear what another member wrote about them!

What does this have to do with Auxiliary business? You could say nothing or everything. There are members from all walks of life in each Auxiliary and this activity shows that no matter what, we all want the best for one another, and that we can participate in a project together that will improve the lives of our veterans and their families.