Consistency: The Key to Growth
The terms, “consistency” and “growth” can be applied to many aspects of Grove-building. To narrow the focus I will explore the topic from three perspectives, based on the anthroposophical Head, Heart, and Hands model. Every Grove within Our Druidry necessarily has its own personality and will face individual challenges. My intention is to offer general advice applicable to a variety of circumstances.
Consistency, as it will be used in this article, means a regular and reliable practice. It means follow-through and follow-up.
Grove Growth (Hands): Organizational Consistency
Growing your Grove is likely the first and foremost reason you are reading this article. It can be an uphill battle to establish and enlarge a working congregation. Each guest is potential member, and each experience they have with the Grove colors the way they will represent you to the public (as a member or not) Gaining the trust of your guests and your community is key to establishing a flourishing Grove. Publicizing en event, be it a meeting, ritual, retreat, etc. is making a promise. You are giving your word that the event will occur at a certain time and in a certain place. You are asking potential attendees to trust you and to be there.
Failing to deliver on a promise undermines confidence in you as well as calling into question your credibility. Those potential Grove members may not return, and why should they when their time and effort was not treated with gratitude or respect? However, if your events occur when you say they will, where you say they will, and begin on time, your attendees will feel that the contract was honored. Your reputation for consistency will serve you well in your efforts.
Some areas of which to be particularly mindful:
Meet when you say you will: Think of the virtues of Honor, Integrity and good old Hospitality
The way your Grove conducts and governs itself should be consistent. A Grove that seems to make decisions haphazardly or approaches everything on a case-by-case basis will simply not be attractive to new members and will find growth is slow and difficult.
The terms, “consistency” and “growth” can be applied to many aspects of Grove-building. To narrow the focus I will explore the topic from three perspectives, based on the anthroposophical Head, Heart, and Hands model. Every Grove within Our Druidry necessarily has its own personality and will face individual challenges. My intention is to offer general advice applicable to a variety of circumstances.
Consistency, as it will be used in this article, means a regular and reliable practice. It means follow-through and follow-up.
Grove Growth (Hands): Organizational Consistency
Growing your Grove is likely the first and foremost reason you are reading this article. It can be an uphill battle to establish and enlarge a working congregation. Each guest is potential member, and each experience they have with the Grove colors the way they will represent you to the public (as a member or not) Gaining the trust of your guests and your community is key to establishing a flourishing Grove. Publicizing en event, be it a meeting, ritual, retreat, etc. is making a promise. You are giving your word that the event will occur at a certain time and in a certain place. You are asking potential attendees to trust you and to be there.
Failing to deliver on a promise undermines confidence in you as well as calling into question your credibility. Those potential Grove members may not return, and why should they when their time and effort was not treated with gratitude or respect? However, if your events occur when you say they will, where you say they will, and begin on time, your attendees will feel that the contract was honored. Your reputation for consistency will serve you well in your efforts.
Some areas of which to be particularly mindful:
Meet when you say you will: Think of the virtues of Honor, Integrity and good old Hospitality
- Regular Meeting Day: The odds of finding a day that will fit everyone's schedule are slim. The headache of picking a new day each month will wear you down quickly. A good approach is to decide how often your group wants to meet (once a month, twice a month, once a week, etc) pick a day of the week and stick to it. You may get different folks at each meeting at first, but you will eventually see who is truly interested versus who had nothing better to do. You will get the person who tells you they are really interested but can never come on XX day. Experience tends to show that, should you move your event, you probably still won't see them.
- Cancellations: Sometimes there is nothing for it. Make sure that you have explored every option; can someone else open the space and/or lead the discussion? Can the event be moved to a different location? Can you be late for that conflicting event?
- If you absolutely must cancel, give attendees enough time to get the cancellation notice—no, a note on the door is not sufficient. Give people at least 24 hours notice and post your notices in every place you originally posted the event. Keeping a list of where you advertise events is extremely useful (for promotion in general, as well as for cancellations)
- Regular Meeting Day: The odds of finding a day that will fit everyone's schedule are slim. The headache of picking a new day each month will wear you down quickly. A good approach is to decide how often your group wants to meet (once a month, twice a month, once a week, etc) pick a day of the week and stick to it. You may get different folks at each meeting at first, but you will eventually see who is truly interested versus who had nothing better to do. You will get the person who tells you they are really interested but can never come on XX day. Experience tends to show that, should you move your event, you probably still won't see them.
- Rotating locations: Guests can be confused if events move around. Regular attendance may be hurt if guests have to double check the location before every event. Having one place for ritual and one place for meetings is generally fine, but moving the meetings around to different members' houses or public venues gets confusing. Confused people do not show up. Rotating location also increases the work your potential attendees have to put in to get to you.
- PST: Pagan Standard Time, the bane of our Pagan religions. How many times have you heard Pagan blithely joke about events starting late as if it were nothing? All PST means is that we do not take our time or anyone else's seriously. Be on time, consider Punctuality the 10th Virtue.
- Regular rituals: Observing the 8 High Days is part of the Virtue of Piety, but it is also part of being consistent. A reputation for consistency means people can count on you. ADF is committed to providing regular public rituals and your Grove will be well-served by hopping on that bandwagon early on.
- Protogroves are not required to publicly observe all 8 High Days, but beginning your effort early will allow your members and guests to get used to meeting for ritual every 6-weeks or so. If 8 rituals is too much for your PG in the beginning, pick a few to really focus on and make sure to do those each year. Be the Grove that always (consistently!) has a fantastic Midsummer (as an example). If guests can count on it, they will tell their friends, who will tell their friends, who will tell...see the pattern? Be assured that word will spread twice as fast if you are the Grove that often cancels ritual.
- Protogroves are not required to publicly observe all 8 High Days, but beginning your effort early will allow your members and guests to get used to meeting for ritual every 6-weeks or so. If 8 rituals is too much for your PG in the beginning, pick a few to really focus on and make sure to do those each year. Be the Grove that always (consistently!) has a fantastic Midsummer (as an example). If guests can count on it, they will tell their friends, who will tell their friends, who will tell...see the pattern? Be assured that word will spread twice as fast if you are the Grove that often cancels ritual.
The way your Grove conducts and governs itself should be consistent. A Grove that seems to make decisions haphazardly or approaches everything on a case-by-case basis will simply not be attractive to new members and will find growth is slow and difficult.
- Honeymoon vs. Marriage: Behavior should be consistent with the promissory period once guests become regular attendees. Never take your members/attendees for granted. Express the same appreciation for their attendance regardless of whether they have been coming for a year or it is their first event.
- Decision-making process: Certain, predictable questions arise for every group. How is membership determined? How are officers selected? What if a leader has to step down?
- Bylaws: Drafting Bylaws early on will save you a world of headaches further down the road. Bylaws establish policy and custom for your Grove and are invaluable to a sense of transparency of leadership. People want to know how things will be done and they want to know that everyone will be treated the same way. Better to have your policies clear at the beginning than to have to defend every action or decision later.
- Bylaws: Drafting Bylaws early on will save you a world of headaches further down the road. Bylaws establish policy and custom for your Grove and are invaluable to a sense of transparency of leadership. People want to know how things will be done and they want to know that everyone will be treated the same way. Better to have your policies clear at the beginning than to have to defend every action or decision later.
- CoOR: ADF's Core Order of Ritual is integral to the orthodoxy we practice. By definition, a ritual is an action performed in the way repeatedly, over time. This repetition can be a valuable tool for tribe-building as well as achieving heightened spiritual awareness within ritual. Many Grove chose to write new ritual for the High Days each year. I suggest trying the same liturgy for the first few years. Not only will your members develop a fine understanding of the Core Order, there is a real possibility for developing Grove traditions.
- Values Alignment: This mean a periodic comparison of personal values to organizational values. Ask yourself; How much do they overlap? Are there places where changes can be made so that personal values are more in line with organizational values? If a Grove regularly re-assesses its direction, and what individual members hope to achieve through their involvement, many problems and crises can be averted long before they become debilitating.