There is an analogy when dealing with groups that if your group was all in the same boat, and each person had a paddle, would they all be rowing in the same direction? If not, your boat would be spinning in circles or not moving at all.

Why is your group rowing in different directions?

There can be many reasons, but one of them might be related to the tools a group chooses to use to manage themselves. Read on to learn more.

Everyone wants to help, however that help should be done in a way that the group can use, and not just the one person doing the work. Why? Because that person may not always be around to help.

A great example of this is the simple act of managing a list of all the members in a group. This might seem trivial at first, and it might be, but imagine that a person starts working on this, they use a spreadsheet or database that they are familiar with and no one else in the group has any experience with. The list grows to hundreds, when someone wants to send an email to all the members they need to get a copy of the list… now there are 2 copies, do they stay in sync? Does the third party email system sell your mailing list? Then someone wants to send out letters for membership renewals.. that generates another list… are you sending out mail with stamps? you need a mailing list, getting checks in the mail? How does the group manage which members have paid and which ones are late and which ones did not renew at all?

Now what happens when the person managing the membership list retires or leaves?

While having someone who is willing to manage your list of members is great, having them do that using their own tools is problematic, and does not really benefit the group.

Using a dedicated system like Middletwin, all group admins can access the membership list. Emails can be sent from Middletwin, so no need to generate copies of the list for another system or risk a third party selling your membership list. You can link your bank account and members can sign up and renew their membership online using a credit card. No stamps, no mailings. One of the best parts of using a dedicated system is that it can be easily transferred to another person when necessary. Its documented, and there is help and training available if you need it.

Get your group rowing in the same direction, get your group Middletwin. It’s never to late.