Is your organization set up to help your member's grow?

A meaningful community will provide an opportunity for its members to grow in some way. Once you know what you are transforming your members into, you can align your organization in a way so that every program focuses on that transformation.

When organizations don't know what their members are transforming into, they might have all kinds of programs that are not helpful to their members and are taxing for their staff. The book Simple Church points this out for religious organizations, but it can apply to any group.

Do you have a clear path of transformation? To help your members grow, you should have a

well-defined path that is clear to everyone, especially your guides. The areas of growth should be woven into your programs and meetings.

Video games do a great job of growing and engaging their players. As a player, you are the hero of the adventure. At the start of the game, the game teaches the player how to play and gives them a basic skill set. As the game progresses, it gets harder and the player has to get better. If it gets too hard, the player will quit. If it is too easy, the player will get bored and quit, so it needs to progress in a way that will challenge the player and keep them engaged.

Community Colleges have Student Learning Objectives or SLOs. These are skills like critical thinking, communication, professionalism, etc. Students should have these skills when they graduate with their degree.

In what ways are your members growing? Is this aligned with your goal of transformation? How will you track and assess their growth?