Groups That Reach Out: Why It’s Better When You Help Others
It’s important for group leaders to be committed to helping their members learn to listen to people outside the group. Ideally, members in a group should learn from others, then reach out and share the group’s mission.
Turning the corner from member focus to outreach can sometimes be a difficult step. It’s far easier for people to stay in the comfort of the group rather than actually working with other groups of common goals and interests.
How do you change help members change their focus to one of outreach? Here are some steps:
- See the needs of other people around you
- As a group, learn to listen to other groups
- Expose your group to other peoples’ needs.
- Use examples from your group’s experiences such as articles, media, news events and so on.
- Take surveys of people in your area. This will give the group a glimpse into the hearts and minds of other people.
- Have someone who works with people and groups in other parts of your community come to your group to share about the realities right next store.
- Create Opportunities to Meet Peoples’ Needs and Interests
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- Regardless of where they are on their journeys, people can come together by sharing ideas with others. Set aside time in your next board meeting to talk about new ideas.
- Take into account what your group members are thinking when you plan an activity to help them go from status quo to community outreach. Start with a simple activity to help build early success and confidence in working with others outside of your group.
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- Host a ‘meet and greet’ event as a group and invite friends from other groups.
- Volunteer to partner with a service project in your community.
- Make time to meet with other people in your community who want to help.
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Don’t wait… The sooner you put some effort out there, the closer you get to building sustainable relationships with other groups and, then everyone wins!
You can start by reaching out to us. Let us Help- we have your back!