Purpose Driven Reflection: A Message to the Fraternity/Sorority Life Consultants

We have reached that time of year again friends. It’s that time of year when fraternity and sorority life consultants have finally been announced to the world. It’s the time of year when consultants from across the country have been blessed with an opportunity of a lifetime. It’s that time of year, when the reality sets for consultants that this is my profession for the next year.

For the new consultants, they are excited! They have finally been hired, have started their intensive training, have maybe gone to a National or regional conference and are starting to receive their travel schedules. For the returning consultants, they are energized. They have returned from their exotic vacations that lasted approximately four days and finally are gearing up for round two of their consultant experience.

As a former two-year consultant, I could not be more excited for all of you. Having lived out of a suitcase, driven across the country, started a new chapter and been to over 35 chapters, I can surely relate to the experiences you are about to encounter or experience once again as a returner. Thus, as a fraternity/sorority advisor who meets frequently with consultants now, I felt it was important to provide three pieces of advice as you embark on your consultant journey.

Stay Grounded

I view consultants as the best of the best in the fraternal world. You were selected in an ultra-competitive application process. You were the go-getters in college. You were the Greek students who held multiple positions. You were the students who went to every fraternity/sorority life conference and wanted to go back each year. You lived and breathed fraternity and sorority life.

However, as you hit the road as a consultant I’d urge you to stay grounded in your newfound position. What I mean by staying grounded is to remember that just because you were selected as a consultant doesn’t make you better than everyone else. If you haven’t been taught this already, I’ll be the first to tell you that not everyone will like you on all your visits. There will be chapters that won’t want you there. Most of all, there will be chapter leaders that don’t want to hear about how you did it at your undergraduate institution and feel it can work at their institution. Thus, you need to stay grounded in your endeavors.

As you approach the chapters that don’t want you to be there, talk to them on THEIR level. Show them that you have a personality and that you are not a perfect little angel. They will respect your honesty and more than likely open up to you more. When talking to the students, make sure you use multiple examples of ways they can improve…not just YOUR undergraduate experience. The reality is that some ideas may not work at one school that it did at another so make sure you come with various ideas and thoughts. Finally, be able to confront those chapters that don’t seem to like you. Find out why! Most of the time I’d say it’s because the previous consultant didn’t do anything or treated them badly. To fix that, a simple line you could say could be, “hey, I feel like there is some tension in our relationship.” Or if you sense the chapter is having issues with you, you could say, “I get the sense that the chapter isn’t excited for me to be here, can you help me understand why?” You would be amazed at how letting the students speak their mind and not always being told what to do from “Nationalz” will go a long way in building a strong rapport with the chapter.

Stay Passionate

The next bit of advice I’d provide is to stay passionate. As I mentioned above, you are going to face some opposition in some of your visits. However, you are also going to visit some amazing chapters that want you to stay forever and in some cases, say that because of you, they want to be a consultant. Regardless of the visit you have, stay passionate in your role as a consultant.

One observation I’ve seen over the years with consultants is that they start off really, really strong. Yet, as the year progresses, their excitement levels drop dramatically and their energy levels slip heavily. So, how will you stay passionate? Will it be reading your Ritual? Will it be taking on the challenge of working with a difficult chapter? Will it be talking to a fellow consultant? Will it be talking to your family or significant other? Whatever it is, you need to have a way to light your fire.

Always remember that more than likely, in three days you get to start over. What I mean is that if you are having a bad visit, a positive visit might be right around the corner. Don’t take a bad visits “baggage” to the next chapter because that is rude and not fair to the new chapter. So, find a way to ignite that passion back in you when you hit a little rut.

Stay Professional

My final piece of advice is to stay professional. You are going to see some amazing colleges, meet some amazing students, and visit some beautiful parts of the United States. Each circumstance will provide a level of temptation at times to take your consultant cap off. Well, let me just say that regardless of what you think, someone is always watching you. It could be the students, it could be an alumnus, or it could be us…the Greek advisors.

In my opinion, you lose all credibility with me if I find out you went out drinking with the students or if you felt the need to hook up with someone. As I stated above, you are the best of the best to me. In most of the undergraduate student’s eyes, you personify the National representation of your organization. If you are a member of XYZ organization, then the students see you as the best XYZ member. Thus, if you say one thing and do another, you have lost credibility. If you set a meeting up with the Greek Advisor and don’t show up or aren’t on time, that tells us something about your professionalism. Always remember that for some chapters, this may be their ONLY interaction with the National organization for the year. As the old saying goes, “actions speak louder than words.”

For additional tips, I’d encourage you to check out a previous blog I wrote: http://purposedrivenreflection.blogspot.com/2010/06/fraternitysorority-consultants-tips-to.html

In conclusion, if you can follow these three pieces of advice, I think you will be a very successful consultant. I believe in a consultant’s impact and I know that consultants aren’t always praised for your efforts. So with that said I want to say that I appreciate you all and wish you the best of luck. Safe travels and enjoy the journey!!!

P.S.

Take pictures!!! The picture to begin this blog entry was me sitting in a dunk tank to help a chapter raise money. The pictures below are from my traveling days.