Fellow Mensa members: Attend the upcoming online Leadership Development Workshop, “Being Assertive in Dealing with Problem Members”, which is scheduled for October 7th, 2020, at 8 pm CT.
In every group of humans, be it a Mensa group or a church congregation, the ‘difficult member’ issue can be a challenge to group leadership. So, Chicago Area Mensa’s Heather Booton has collected some strategies and tactics that can help; and, she will lead this LDW session. Heather is the WeeM Chair, and she has served on the Board of Chicago Area Mensa for over 10 years. She explained recently in a short conversation: “This program was developed to help the WeeM TeaM have a consistent and documented plan to deal with issues that might arise.”
In addition, Heather was able and kind enough to answer a few short questions with her candid responses:
Q1/ It seems like there is a degree of ‘problem’ among people which is inappropriate. How is ‘problem’ defined for this workshop?
Heather/ I go over a lot of scenarios and encourage people to determine for themselves what behavior they define as problematic and what is acceptable.
Q2/ Values like courtesy and manners seem important to this topic. What other good habits will we discuss?
Heather/ I would say that dealing with problematic behavior consistently and effectively is a good habit that we’ll discuss.
Q3/ Many times we may think that problems can solve themselves if ignored. Why is being ‘active’ here important?
Heather/ Hopefully with the help of the workshop, people will be able to realize that if they take active steps, difficult members are a solvable issue.
Q4/ How should interested Mensa members (who want to sharpen this ‘soft’ skill) register for this LDW?
Heather/ I’m not sure about this. Editor’s note: The link for more information and registration is: https://www.us.mensa.org/attend/calendar/ldw-being-assertive-in-dealing-with-problem-members/
Q5/ What might be a few points that you will want us to take away from this workshop?
Heather/ I think the two most important points are a clear definition of assertive behavior and how to enact it, and having a plan to deal with problem behavior.
RVC-4 Jon Gruebele has made available an earlier version of this LDW (which he presented at the Phoenix AG) as a PowerPoint deck here: https://www.us.mensa.org/lead/leadership-workshops/2019-annual-gathering-ldws/being-assertive-in-dealing-with-problem-members/
