Hey guys, I’m currently facing some difficulty with finding motivation amongst my team members (of which there are 7) for our school’s robotics program. I hold the office of president, and so I’m trying to take on as much leadership as possible.
My friends just don’t seem engaged in the activity, and after about a month-worth of meeting, we haven’t made very much progress with our design or documentation. I’m really struggling with figuring out what I should do at this point.
I’ve spent tens of hours at home working on researching for the robot, but none of the other members have committed more than 30 minutes. They also seem to be in consensus that they don’t want to going forward either.
My situation is quite unique in the fact that out of a school of ~ 2,500 students, there are less than 10 who have joined. We have tried quite a few efforts to grow the team, to minimal success.
Are there any suggestions you have for how I could try to capture their attention? Should I drop the EC altogether and find a better use of my time?
Is this FIRST? I assume it isn’t, since they don’t release the challenge until early January.
I guess I’d ask the team what their goals are for the year, and ask them to volunteer to take on the needed tasks. Also see if you can get everyone to bring one friend to the next meeting, My kid’s quiz bowl team had some success recruiting that way. You might want to have snacks at that meeting, too.
It is VEX ‘In the Zone’. The team seems partially divided. Some still want to try to compete, just lazily by copying a pre-existing design. Others would prefer not to, but are participating because it’s become more of a social gathering for the nerds. We have tried many methods of recruiting, including the one mentioned.
I must have asked over a dozen times for participation amongst the members, and I think I’ve made clear that I’m disappointed with our current situation.
I guess snacks could work, but the school is quite poor and is low on funds, so I’m not sure how we’d gather up the money.
What do they say when you ask for participation? I guess I’d list the tasks that need to be done in a white board or chalkboard, and see if you can get people to put their names next to them. Ask them when they plan to be done. Show how the tasks depend on each other.
Maybe take a vote on whether to use a pre-existing design or a new one. If your tesm isn’t very experienced, maybe a pre-existing design is the way to go, even if it isn’t your preference.
Herding nerds is hard (I do it for a living, I know!).
It’s quite difficult to describe what I mean by them not “wanting to participate”, but we’ve tried assigning tasks and no one follows through with doing them at home. The only other option is to do ALL the work in class, but I doubt we could be very successful with that strategy.
Sometimes people don’t know how to do it, and don’t want to say so. Sometimes they forget. Sometimes they think isn’t cool to look like they care too much, so don’t put in effort. Do you have a faculty advisor? If so, have you talked with them?
I would say trying to get more done in your meetings is probably a good tactic. Have them be more hands on/working sessions if you can. Maybe the tasks will catch fire with a few members that way. Maybe you can have an extra meeting a week or something to get more done.
Thanks for the advice, those are all good suggestions. It seems evident that I’ll probably just have to push harder to get work done during meetings, as opposed to at home. It must be a bit of bias leaking through from my own work style. I usually find it easier to concentrate at home, but I guess I just need to acknowledge their different learning habits.
We have a faculty advisor and I plan on speaking with them shortly. Once more, I appreciate the feedback.
My guess, too, was that they don’t know what to do. Perhaps your goal this year should be teaching how to design a robot. Or even just constructing it based on previous design. Start with small, achievable goals to have them gain confidence and skills. Maybe you have to start with soldering (if that is what you do) or small skills like that.
Or teach them how to program the robot. Or how the gears work.
Thanks for the advice, but the indication that the club members are “confused” isn’t very accurate. I don’t blame you for thinking so, as I never really clarified. However, the trouble seems to have more to do with a lack of motivation, as opposed to competency. We succeeded with building a robot last year, that performed well in regional competitions. Since then, we have just lost our drive I guess.
