Most people in ministry would agree that the most difficult part of their job isn’t the material we use, the building we have (or don’t have), or the even the planning and logistics of it all. It’s the volunteers…
Now, to be clear, there is nothing wrong with volunteers. At NewSpring we have some of the best volunteers on the planet (especially in the Majestic CM)! These guys are always willing to go above and beyond and it’s so incredible! What I am trying to say is that the management & organization of a volunteer based ministry can be a HUGE challenge and at times, very difficult.
You would think that there has to be a plan somewhere of how to lead volunteers successfully, right? Some formula or something that would help us map out the best way to lead volunteers (I will get into this a little more tomorrow, but I think one of the biggest problems we have is that we don’t try to lead our volunteers, we try to manage them).
There are actually many resources out there on the best way to lead volunteers, and based on my 4-5 years in working with them I also have a theory. However, before you can begin to look at a theory you have to first identify the problem:
PROBLEM: We forget volunteers are people like us and treat them accordingly!
That may sound like I am being melodramatic, but it’s true! If we aren’t careful we get into a habit of trying to “get” more volunteers and “give” them all a small piece of everything to do. Or we may slip to buying into the myth that “all volunteers should carry the same load and be the same in commitment, passion, and perseverance.” Then, when they can’t do it anymore we (even if just in our head) begin to criticize them for not going “above and beyond.”
This creates a HUGE problem when it begins to happen because at this point we are treating volunteers as “slave labor” rather than people we desire to share life & the ministry with. What’s the solution?
SOLUTION: Treat & lead volunteers as if they are people, not objects or tasks!
Seems simple really simple, eh? However, how often can we say that on of our first thoughts is how the volunteers will react, feel, be affected? And I know, some of you are thinking…”how dare he say that we treat our volunteers that way.”
Please don’t misunderstand me; I am not accusing anyone of “mistreating” their volunteers. I am simply saying that we can’t view our volunteers as another “task” or “item” to check off during our work day. Volunteers have needs too and those needs should be met just like a child’s needs should be met.
I believe we have to always keep in mind that volunteers have families, jobs, and a life outside of their “volunteering” and we have to be sensitive to that. We have to work to make things more accessible for them so they can do what they do even better without making their “volunteer responsibilities” feel like another job.
Volunteers are KEY to a successful church! If a church is growing (as is Biblical) one of the things you learn quick is…staff can’t do it alone. So, we are in a position where we have to find, equip and utilize volunteers…how do we do that? Well, I believe volunteers need three basic things:
Vision & Leadership
Volunteers need to know where the ministry is going and they need to know who their leader is. People want to be a part of something bigger than themselves and they want to know that someone is hearing from God on it all! They need to see someone who leads the forefront of the ministry and casts the vision for the future God has called us to.
Expectation & Accountability
People aren’t frustrated by expectations, but they are frustrated when expectations aren’t made clear. Volunteers need to know their role and be held accountable to that role (as well as their growing relationship with Christ). It’s not that we think “they won’t do it.” Its just that the bottom line is “People do what you inspect, not what you expect.”
Community & Care
This is where I think most of us mess up the most…this is the most important one! Volunteers need to feel a since of community from their volunteer experience. They need to know you care about them, and not feel like you care just about what they can do for you!
All-in-all the BOTTOM LINE is this: Volunteers matter and they should be treated accordingly!
Now, the bigger our volunteer teams get the more a lot of this becomes cloudy…trust me, we have been there (and still are learning through it). This becomes a cloudy situation because most of the time there is still one central staff person trying to do all this for SO MANY volunteers…and it just won’t work.
This is where the KEY part comes in of having “volunteer leaders.” Someone who can take more ownership in the ministry and help lead it with excellence, passion and creativity. We are actually taking all our volunteer leaders through this on Sunday at a leadership training we are having.
Our goal is to EMPOWER our volunteers to succeed and we believe we have a simple plan God has given us will help with that. Matter of fact, I am going to post more on this plan tomorrow, so don’t miss it!
April 18th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Great post. I remember how I felt as a volunteer before I was a paid staff pastor and so I honestly try to show my appreciation often. When having a training time or informational meeting, I give as much notice as possible, I cook them a yummy dinner and if needed get someone to take care of their kids so they can focus on our business. I am a big endorser of being a good steward of people’s time so I keep meetings to a reasonable time frame. I also give people a committment time frame option. I ask for a 6, 9 or 12 month committment. It show people that I don;t expect them to sign on to volunteer until Jesus returns. By giving this option, most anyone will say, “Sure, I can do that for 6 months.” And then they usually sign on for more time.
April 19th, 2007 at 3:28 am
Pudge, you are right on. I’m looking forward to reading tomorrow’s post…. oh it is tomorrow, why am I still up?
You said:
“People aren’t frustrated by expectations, but they are frustrated when expectations aren’t made clear. Volunteers need to know their role and be held accountable to that role (as well as their growing relationship with Christ). It’s not that we think “they won’t do it.” Its just that the bottom line is “People do what you inspect, not what you expect.”
I especially love that last line. Where did you get that? Did you come up with that?
I’m about nine months into a new position. I transfered from one campus to another (we’re multi-site) and it’s been a very slow and steady process of rebuilding. One of the very biggest areas to rebuild the the philosophy of volunteerism. For 6 or 7 years, this campus has been growing at a break-neck speed with a shoe-string volunteer staff. I’ve made many changes to the way we recruit, train and thank our volunteers, and we’ve seen a great return on our investment.
However, I love this quote of “People do what you inspect, not what you expect.” For the most part, the volunteers on my campus have never been held accountable to their volunteer commitments. When they did not show up, there was barely any contact if any at all. When asked what happened to all the new volunteers who just signed up but are already off the schedule again, the response has been, “they just never showed up.” UNACEPTABLE! Not only have we done a disservice to our kids, but a discervice to our volunteers by allowing them to walk away from a commitment without a word. For years, we’ve trained our volunteers that they really aren’t needed. If you don’t show up one Sunday, no one is ever going to say anything about it.
This past week one of my staff was injured and unable to come in to work durring the week or for Sunday. I took on the responsibility. I prepared the service, communicated to the volunteers and got everything ready. On Sunday, 12 of the 35 volunteers did not show up. Now about 4 of them got a hold of me ahead of time… but the rest didn’t. This week I sent an email to 24 or so volunteers who were there… each one personal, thanking them for being there and being faithful. I sent personal emails to the 4 I knew were going to be gone.. thanking them for their faithfulness and for letting me know they would be out. I also sent an email to the other 8 who no-showed. I let them know that they were missed and asked why they were unable to attend. Was everything okay? I let them know that I would also be calling later this week to touch base just to make sure everything was fine. I’ve already gotten emails back. Gratitude for my thank-you’s and explanations for the absense. I really needed these volunteers to know that I was glad they were there, and let them know that I missed them when they weren’t. Just one step toward changing this culture.
Thanks
Kenny Conley
April 20th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
[...] This post is in response both to a series of post from the “Just Pudge” blog (post 1, post 2 and post 3) and in response to the work I’ve been doing to get ready for a staff retreat I’m leading in a week. We’ve covering some foundational basics of our ministry such as mission, vision as well as developing some job descriptions, processes and the like. One of the projects I’ve been working on is actually putting together the organization chart so everyone can visualize where everyone fits into this great ministry. Some of my staff feels overwhelmed and overworked. I have a feeling that this organizational chart will show why… some of the staff are filling slots that should be filled by volunteers in this organization. So in the end, staff is overworked and volunteers are under-developed. I believe in the philosophy that ministry should be given away and our ultimate goal should be to work ourselves out of a job (theoretically… ha!). Ultimately, if my staff decided to all take a vacation on one Sunday (which they are not allowed to do), ministry should go on! So, at my upcoming staff retreat I’ll be sharing what our organization looks like so they can see what is expected as well as how to find and develop volunteers. [...]
April 20th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Hey guys!
Thanks for the great feedback! It’s always a HUGE encouragement!
Lori I agree wholeheartedly with what you are saying…we are stewards of people and we should use their time wisely. When we begin to use people based on our time we have the wrong perspective.
To answer your question Kenny about the line “People don’t do what you expect, they do what you inspect” I unfortunately didn’t think of that myself. It’s actually a line from John Maxwell from one of the books in his “101″ series (Relationship 101, Attitude 101, Equipping 10, & Leadership 101). These are all great (short) reads that are great for staff reads!
thanks again!
pudge