Training focuses on recruitment skills, setting up team

Above, MAPE members listened during member recruitment training Saturday morning in Roseville.

More than 100 MAPE members from 34 locals gathered Friday afternoon and all-day Saturday in Roseville to participate in “The Future of MAPE: Recruitment Matters” training.

The training was created to give members and leaders the skills and information needed to customize recruitment efforts based on the individuality of each potential member. This training comes in advance of a U.S. Supreme Court case, Janus v. AFSCME, that will be heard Feb. 26. Mark Janus, an Illinois state employee, is challenging the authority of AFSCME, MAPE and other public-sector employee unions to collect fair-share fees from all employees they represent.

Sarah Sladek, CEO of XYZ University, led Friday’s training session on the various generations found in the workplace. Sladek is a nationally-known expert on helping organizations drive stronger engagement with younger generations. Her presentation and group exercises engaged MAPE members from Baby Boomers to Millennials and generations X to Z. She showed them how they can better communicate, interact and work together.

In the photo on the right, Sarah Sladek of XYZ University talked to MAPE members about the different generations at workplaces nowadays.

Over the past few years, MAPE leaders have made a concerted relational organizing effort to talk one-on-one with all new employees within their first 30-days of state employment as well as those union-represented employees who’ve been with MAPE less than five years and ask them to join the union. During this process leaders realized they needed better ways to connect with younger members who may not be as familiar with unions or labor history.

“I thought it was one of the better trainings put on by MAPE with readily usable information,” said Lynn Butcher, a quality officer for Forensic Services at St. Peter Regional Treatment Center. “I think it’s necessary. MAPE is looking at different ways of communicating with different member generations. People will not engage unless you present them with a message in a way that they are able to interact with.”

Sladek spoke about neurobiology research showing that Generation Z’s brain has developed so if they aren’t offered information visually, they won’t get it. “It was scary and fascinating at the same time,” Butcher added.

In the photo on the right, Ben Gordon of the Industrial Areas Foundation talked to MAPE members about member recruitment techniques.

Sladek encouraged participants to discuss and commit to actions they would take to help MAPE thrive. Member commitments included: Get as many people as possible to MAPE’s contract rally at the Capitol on Feb. 20, join a committee in my local, work with membership to plan a calendar for new employees, invite a Millennial to join instead of my normal pitch and schedule one personal connection meeting per week to build relationships with non-members.

Sladek noted she was impressed by the diversity of the MAPE community by gender, age and ethnicity. She added, “I was inspired by how passionate people are about MAPE. Members are excited, diverse and passionate -- that’s very special. She urged the union to “get young people on board -- or at least listen to them.” She advised MAPE leaders to “think five years out where you want to be.”

Ben Gordon of the Industrial Areas Foundation led Saturday’s member recruitment training. The first half was a how-to course on one-on-one relational organizing. A quick poll of attendees revealed that while the one-on-one training was a refresher for some, it was new to others. Members were encouraged to practice their one-on-one conversation techniques with attendees they hadn’t met before.

Members gathered in their locals to set up their member recruitment teams for this year’s membership drive during the second half of the day. Locals were asked how many members they’d recruited to comprise their recruitment teams, as well as how many members they still need to recruit for their “dream” recruitment teams.

Locals then were asked to commit to the number of new members they plan to sign up during this year’s drive.