Us and Them (5)

In the last Newsletter, I looked at the implications of recruiting from different age groups. In this one, I consider another aspect of people that we might wish to recruit, and how it relates to the sort of ringers that you might get from recruiting them.

Motivation

What sort of motivation do you want to stimulate (or appeal to if it already exists) to persuade people to take up ringing? People can be motivated by many things, and what motivates them will influence their approach to learning, to the way they fit in with the band, to the way they progress, and to their likelihood of dropping out. How you set about your recruiting could influence the sort of motivation in those who respond to your invitation.

Support – As a nation, we tend to side with the underdog, and feel a need to support institutions that are under threat. Some people may take up ringing because they perceive it is dying out, and they want to help stop that, at least in their village. They are more likely to respond to last ditch appeals than to routine recruiting. They are more likely to feel good about being in a group that joins a struggling band than just being another ringer in a moderately healthy band. If you are lucky they might ‘catch the bug’ after learning to ring, but just as likely they might not, in which case they might not want to put a lot more time and effort into ringing once they have ‘done their bit’ and averted disaster, especially if some other noble cause comes along and they divert their attention and effort to saving something else.

Social – Some people are mainly motivated by being part of a group – any group. Ringing is a team activity, and once such people become an accepted part of the team, they may find that just belonging to the group fulfils their needs, without any desire to progress, or even to perform well. In that case, they will be happy just to turn up and meet their friends. A minority of such social ringers will tag along with various group activities, even if they have little interest in them, but only so as not to let down their friends, not because they are motivated by the activities themselves. A majority of social ringers in the band may limit its aspirations.

Heritage – Ringing has a strong heritage, and it can provide a significant part of its appeal. Most people are aware of the superficial aspect – that bells hang in heritage buildings, and that the sound they make is ‘timeless’ – but anyone with a real feeling for heritage may respond very strongly when they become aware of the cultural heritage of the Exercise, and the history of how ringing, bells and bell hanging have developed. That interest might not be enough to persuade someone to learn to ring, but it might help tip the balance in someone who is unsure. Likewise it won’t guarantee the ability to become skilled, but it could certainly help to form a bond with ‘ringing’ rather than just the social and physical aspects of what goes on in the local tower, so it might help to provide you with a committed and enthusiastic member.

Novelty – Some people are motivated by doing new things. Ringing is a great draw for such people, because it is unlike almost everything else they will have ever done. That novelty can be a powerful aid to recruitment, but having exploited it, you then need to work hard to replace the initial curiosity with more durable motivations based on performance, and involvement with the band.  Otherwise, when the novelty wears off, your recruits may lose interest, and move on to pastures new in seek of more novelty.

Performance – Some people are motivated to perform. Whatever they do, they expect to do it well, and they are willing to put in the effort needed to achieve that end. They are highly desirable recruits, and they bring great promise, but they also bring expectations. They will accept that they begin at the bottom, but after a reasonable period they will expect to reap the reward of performing well. They will expect to be well taught. They will expect to be given opportunities to make progress. They will expect the rest of the band to share their enthusiasm for good performance. If you can nurture them, you they should develop rapidly and help to motivate others to do the same. But if your training, your organisation, and the ethos of your band doesn’t meet their expectations, then don’t expect them to hang around, because you will have failed to meet their needs.

Performance is a fitting note on which to end, since as ringers, we are all performers, and I hope we aspire to be good performers. In the next article I will discuss the aptitude of recruits, ie their ability to develop the required performance skills.

Article originally printed in the Summer 2011 Sonning Deanery Branch Newsletter, 

  John Harrison, June 2011