Hello PTA people! Are you struggling with setting goals for your PTA? Maybe parents in your school aren't clued up on what exactly you do as a PTA...
So make a grand plan, write it down and then share it with the folks at school to make it clear to everyone what you’re about and how they could help. Now let’s get your Thinking Pants on. Ready? Here’s a four-step plan to get you started:
1. Set Objectives
Look at the Big Picture. What does your PTA want to achieve at a high level? Let’s call these your objectives. Examples include fundraising, increasing a sense of community within the school, building links to the local community, providing more opportunities for the children to expand their horizons beyond the curriculum, better leveraging parents skills… the list goes on. So it’s clear it’s not just about the money! (Refer to your PTA constitution for guidance.)
2. Record goals
Some of you Smartypants will have used SMART goals before, which help you set specific targets so you really know when you’ve achieved what you set out to do. You might find this OTT for your PTA, but putting numbers against things can be useful to measure progress. Use positive language, saying what you will (rather than won’t) do. Be optimistic with a smudge of realism.
3. Plan activities
Ok now you’re ready to create some specific activities that help you achieve your PTA goals, and therefore your objectives. Time to brainstorm… what specifically needs to be done to reach your goals, what are the actual steps you need to take? You can list these as tasks and invite new volunteers take on a small, manageable part of your Masterplan! Mwahahahaha!
4. Review & publish progress
As the year progresses, take regular checkpoints. Some activities may be related to a specific event, so can be addressed in the post-event review (you have those, right?). Others may have termly or annual targets. You geddit.
Recording what you actually achieved will help you refine your PTA goals further going forward and also give you cause to stop and celebrate when you hit the big time. Do remember though, if it all goes a bit off track just remind yourself why you set the goals in the first place and be kind to yourself! You are #volunteers after all!
Join in!
Use the following hashtags on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest to connect with other PTAs on social media:
#PTAgoal: proclaim your goals to the world in 140 characters or less and hashtag it for good measure to inspire other PTAs and volunteers!
#PTApledge: get your volunteers to pledge to do even one thing this year to support the PTA and ask them to commit to it publicly with this hashtag for us all to retweet, repin or share.
#PTAsuccess: just hit a goal or made good progress? Time to shout about it! Can’t fit it into 140 characters? Why not send us your success story as a guest blog piece?
Over to you!
So folks — tweet, post and pin away, and see what others are saying about setting goals. We’re all in this thing together
About PlanSocial
PlanSocial curates resources and educational materials for school parents and their families, focusing on everything from educational support for your children, self-development and career re-entry, to home improvement, family well-being and even where to find the best family holidays.