Hi all, slightly different Teams post, I've just taken over the C2TweetCrew Team and it's pretty dead, only four of us have put metres in for the World Erg Challenge.
Do any other captains have any advice on how to encourage people to re-engage? I've sent a captains email, but who knows if that gets seen or not, there doesn't seem to be read receipts.
Is it worth trying to reinvigorate or should I just look to join a n other team?
Thanks
Team Captains and Engagement
Re: Team Captains and Engagement
Hey David -
You've helped all of us many times, and I'd like to be able to offer some thoughts in return. And ask for something, too.
I guess the short answer on team engagement is that it takes time to grow a team - and it takes pretty much daily exchanges to get the team involved. If you're lucky, other team members will jump in to help the "conversations" expand to be more inclusive of additional people. Your job is to find those people and get them to help you! Concept2 helps all of our teams with fun Challenges that build interest....but it's always the one or two people who say "are we going to have a boat in the Challenge?" that make that Challenge suddenly take off. And sometimes, if you lose that person who is the communicator, the team slides away. There are examples of this on the forum as well. As with social media usage in the business world, graphics and/or photos and regular messaging is your mantra.
We started our team with 14 or so people the first year, and we've grown to an average of 180 plus. The team purpose (reflected in our team name) of erging enough meters (rowing was our only choice!) to get to the Moon was fanciful enough that we pulled in interest that way. Some might say that a large team can't really make everyone feel like they count - but I believe you can find ways to recognize individual efforts, and how they are helping the team be successful. That takes time - yet it gets easier as the years go by! I suspect many team captains will tell you the same thing. I've watched Ariel Toy (as an example) and Greenville Indoor Rowing both spend time to become the juggernauts that they currently are. Ariel is more virtual - and Greenville is a physical location. In each instance, someone has to cajole the team into "playing."
You have access to some amazing "numbers tools" in the position that you hold. You can appeal to those who are very data driven or not, and have a wide view of what kinds of teams are out there. What kind of team do you want to have? What kind of team is/was C2TweetCrew Team ? How are you recruiting? I'd like a section under the Teams heading that is a place where the team captains can give a synopsis of their team, if it is an open team, and what they think its characteristics are. It could easily include a link to this forum, to whatever social media a team might use, or for some lucky ones - a website. This would go a long way to helping people who are looking for a team to join. They often will post "looking for a team" and then it becomes a bidding effort. Often, the time that any of us may spend on trying to recruit this way is just not effectively spent.
Best to you!
Kona2
Luna-Tics Team
You've helped all of us many times, and I'd like to be able to offer some thoughts in return. And ask for something, too.
I guess the short answer on team engagement is that it takes time to grow a team - and it takes pretty much daily exchanges to get the team involved. If you're lucky, other team members will jump in to help the "conversations" expand to be more inclusive of additional people. Your job is to find those people and get them to help you! Concept2 helps all of our teams with fun Challenges that build interest....but it's always the one or two people who say "are we going to have a boat in the Challenge?" that make that Challenge suddenly take off. And sometimes, if you lose that person who is the communicator, the team slides away. There are examples of this on the forum as well. As with social media usage in the business world, graphics and/or photos and regular messaging is your mantra.
We started our team with 14 or so people the first year, and we've grown to an average of 180 plus. The team purpose (reflected in our team name) of erging enough meters (rowing was our only choice!) to get to the Moon was fanciful enough that we pulled in interest that way. Some might say that a large team can't really make everyone feel like they count - but I believe you can find ways to recognize individual efforts, and how they are helping the team be successful. That takes time - yet it gets easier as the years go by! I suspect many team captains will tell you the same thing. I've watched Ariel Toy (as an example) and Greenville Indoor Rowing both spend time to become the juggernauts that they currently are. Ariel is more virtual - and Greenville is a physical location. In each instance, someone has to cajole the team into "playing."
You have access to some amazing "numbers tools" in the position that you hold. You can appeal to those who are very data driven or not, and have a wide view of what kinds of teams are out there. What kind of team do you want to have? What kind of team is/was C2TweetCrew Team ? How are you recruiting? I'd like a section under the Teams heading that is a place where the team captains can give a synopsis of their team, if it is an open team, and what they think its characteristics are. It could easily include a link to this forum, to whatever social media a team might use, or for some lucky ones - a website. This would go a long way to helping people who are looking for a team to join. They often will post "looking for a team" and then it becomes a bidding effort. Often, the time that any of us may spend on trying to recruit this way is just not effectively spent.
Best to you!
Kona2
Luna-Tics Team