Subject:  12 ways to motivate church volunteers |
Author:
MarkM
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Date Posted: 01:06:00 01/06/05 Thu
How do we motivate the volunteers under our care?
In order to lead volunteers effectively, I believe we must try to understand what makes them tick. I encourage you to look at the following checklist of motivating factors for volunteers in the church on at least three levels.
First, read through the checklist and see if these motivational factors are true in your own life and volunteerism. As you read through the motivational factors, think about both positive and negative examples in your own experience.
Second, think about people who are currently serving as volunteers in your church and ministry. What specific motivating factors are at work in your ministry when volunteers are serving? What motivating factors are missing? What role do the missing motivating factors play in the current motivation level of the volunteers in your ministry?
Lastly, think of those individuals in your church who attend but have not yet crossed the line to volunteer their services. Could it be that prayer (see Luke 10:2) and addressing one or more of the following motivational factors would make it easier for the uninvolved to join the volunteer army of God in your church?
Checklist of motivating factors for volunteers in your church
#1 The spiritual gift factor
Do volunteers in your church really understand their spiritual gifts?
If you are going to foster an ethos of service, you must start by helping people understand and discover how God has wired them up spiritually. A general understanding of spiritual gifts is essential but not the essential issue; it’s helping volunteers understand their spiritual giftedness and how their giftedness fits into your ministry.
God has given each person in the body of Christ at least one primary spiritual function/gift. Frankly, I believe that teachers should primarily teach. Leaders should primarily lead. Helpers should primarily help. Administrators should primarily administrate. You get the idea.
Why do I believe this? Because of I Peter 4:10-11 (look it up), and because many of us know from painful personal experience that it is no fun to serve where you are not gifted. I’d rather eat nails than crunch the numbers of the church’s financial books, though I bet that information would be fairly interesting.
Sure, we are all responsible to teach, lead, evangelize, help, administrate, etc. on some level. However, when we are using our primary gifting to serve God, we tend to be motivated because our God-designed giftedness is being used for His Kingdom.
When we are not plugging our primary gift into our means of service, then we are not so motivated.
#2 The passion factor
Are volunteers serving in an area in which they have a God-given passion?
It is possible to be passionate about something that you are not gifted to do, but more often a person’s God-given giftedness goes hand in hand with his or her passion. Show me a person who is serving in an area in which he/she is not gifted and passionate and I’ll show you a high maintenance volunteer.
You, as a leader, will constantly have to pump these folks up because they are not serving in an area in which they are passionate.
#3 The clarity factor
Do volunteers know exactly what you want from them?
As leaders of volunteers, we make an awful lot of assumptions about the volunteers under our charge. We assume they know exactly what we want them to do.
Don’t assume -- even with those volunteers who have served you long and faithfully. It is a huge relief to a volunteer when you tell them exactly what you expect them to do. Spell it out clearly and on paper at least once a year.
Walk your volunteers through your specific expectations step by step. If you don’t take the time to clarify exactly what you want from volunteers not only will you frustrate your current volunteers but you will add one more barrier to getting new volunteers for your ministry.
#4 The feedback factor
Are volunteers given feedback about their service?
In "The One Minute Manager," Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson write, "The number one motivator of people is feedback on results."
Are you giving feedback to your volunteers about their service? Do you know how to give feedback in a positive manner-both praises and reprimands?
"The One Minute Manager" is a fast read and a must read for anyone who oversees the performance of others, whether they be employees or volunteers, because the authors show managers how to set one-minute goals, do one-minute praises, and do one-minute reprimands-all necessary skills for effective leadership and management.
I remember my first year as a teacher in a public high school. At the end of the year, I walked into the principal’s office and said, "I need some feedback!" I wanted to know how I was doing-the good and the bad. I found that working without feedback, neither praise nor correction, was scary and frustrating.
Volunteers want feedback too. Answer these questions with honest, specific examples:
When was the last time you verbally or in writing praised a volunteer for specific excellent work?
When was the last time you skillfully and lovingly pointed out an area of improvement?
Perhaps your first step is to buy and read "The One Minute Manager." I can highly recommend it whether you are a CEO of domestic affairs (i.e., a stay-at-home mom) or a CEO of a major corporation.
#5 The equipment factor
Are volunteers equipped with tools and training to minister well?
It’s a real drag to be asked to do something you can do well, but not to have the proper tools to do it well.
When I was a waiter working my way through college a few years ago, one of the tasks I enjoyed doing was vacuuming the carpet at the end of my shift. However, whenever the vacuum was not working properly (which was regularly), I hated that task. Why? Without the appropriate equipment, a relatively banal and easy task took longer and the job was never really done well. Not having the correct tools and training takes the motivational wind out of a volunteer’s service sail.
#6 The modeling factor
Do volunteers have living models to follow?
Motivational leadership pundit, John C. Maxwell, states that the No. 1 motivational principle is what people see. People do what people see.
Without a living model of what you expect from volunteers, all the talk, teaching, training manuals, and videos are for naught.
Listen closely leader. You need to be the first living model of service you expect from your volunteers. The speed of the leader is the speed of the team.
If you expect the volunteers in your church to serve God in a motivated fashion, you must be the first living model you want your volunteers to follow.
#7 The freedom factor
Are volunteers free to choose, explore, and discover their best service fit?
According to educational expert, William Glasser, one of our most basic needs as human beings is the freedom to choose.
Think about a time you had to do something you were not particularly excited about doing. You probably felt trapped. Your motivation to do some task was totally eclipsed by your motivation to get out of it.
When people feel trapped in their volunteer service, their one desire is to get out from under the tyranny. I’ve been at church board meetings where the leaders sat around asking each other, "How many more years do you have left to be on the deacon board?" It was like they were in ecclesiastical prison, marking their days until they were free.
Often it is at this point that some well-meaning but not-so-wise leaders will seek to manipulate volunteers to continue to serve. Sometimes we even put a little spiritual guilt on wavering volunteers.
Again, I ask you to read closely: Guilt is the worst way to motivate anyone to do anything. Let the Holy Spirit convict-and you stay out of the guilt business.
Jesus said, "Whoever wants to follow me, pick up the cross and get going" (Allison paraphrase). Jesus threw out "whoever" challenges, but he did not succumb to manipulating people via guilt.
Take a page out of Jesus’ motivational handbook. Challenge folks to get involved at high levels, but stay away from manipulating people through "spiritual" guilt. Guilt tactics will eventually discourage anyone under your "care."
Understand clearly that when people are free to choose and move on to other areas of service, one of two things will happen, and both will be to your advantage.
First, some volunteers will leave your ministry. This is not bad if they were not gifted or passionate about their volunteerism in your ministry and if they move on to serve in other areas of ministry to discover their best fit.
Second, others will continue to volunteer and serve with you because they choose to do it. These are great people to have in your volunteer army.
#8 The efficacy factor
Do volunteers really understand the big picture: How what they are doing is contributing to the overall success of the mission and vision of the church?
Studies of effective public educators have found that successful teachers often share a common belief that they are making a difference in students’ lives. Education experts call this "teacher efficacy." I believe the church needs to cultivate "volunteer efficacy."
When volunteers in the church, regardless of where they are serving, really understand how their service makes a significant contribution to the accomplishment of the church’s overall mission and vision, then they tend to be motivated to serve. To say it another way, volunteers who understand the big picture and their role in seeing that picture realized are motivated volunteers.
Why? They are making a difference. They have volunteer efficacy.
On the other hand, if volunteers feel like they are simply filling a slot in the cogs of the ecclesiastical machinery known as your church, they will tend to be unmotivated.
#9 The gratitude factor
Are stellar volunteers recognized, publicly appreciated, and championed for their outstanding and sacrificial service?
Legendary leadership expert, Max Dupree, astutely notes that the last job of the leader is to say thank you. If you oversee volunteers and are not skilled at consistently saying thank you (verbally and in writing), you will not oversee many volunteers for long.
A very wise youth pastor friend of mine understands that without his volunteer workforce, his youth ministry would not be the dynamic life-changing force it currently is. So what does Bruce do to keep his volunteer team focused and motivated? He intentionally plans times of public recognition, thanks, and encouragement for those volunteers.
Bruce asked me to speak at a mini-retreat he planned for all the volunteer workers in his youth ministry. He rented a Victorian mansion and from Friday night until Saturday lunchtime, Bruce honored, rewarded, thanked, encouraged, and yes, motivated those who labor with him throughout the year.
We had a blast. The food was tremendous. And we stayed up late into the night laughing and playing games … like students! The whole thing ended at Bruce’s church. There all the volunteer youth workers were honored with a great meal cooked and hosted by the students in his youth ministry.
After the retreat and lunch by the students, one of the adult volunteers commented to Bruce, "When people in this church find out how well you treat us, you’ll have people lining up at your office door to volunteer to serve in the youth ministry."
Exactly the point I am trying to make. There is a connection between appreciation and motivation for volunteers in the church.
Most volunteers don’t serve to be loved, appreciated and thanked. However, volunteers tend to flock where they are loved, appreciated and thanked.
Don’t be like some leaders who neglect volunteers and take them for granted. These leaders then mount a soapbox to preach a sermon on commitment. Look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are doing a good job of publicly recognizing, appreciating and thanking those stellar volunteers who work along side you.
The volunteers in Bruce’s ministry had their already high motivation level bumped up a notch that fun weekend. They were treated like kings and queens, which leads me to the next point.
#10 The fun factor
Are volunteers having fun volunteering and serving in the church?
In some churches having fun is the same as sinning. This ought not be. To have fun, according to behavioral scientist Dr. William Glasser, is one of our most basic needs in life.
Furthermore, Arthur Costa, an education expert who has identified 16 signs of intelligent behavior, lists a sense of humor as No. 8. If having a sense of humor is a sign of intelligence, I must be a genius!
For years I spoke mostly to students. My approach has always been to use humor to teach the truth of God’s Word. As a "commudian" (part communicator and part comedian), I know that the shortest distance between two people is humor.
As God has expanded my ministry to training and mentoring adults, I have come to realize they like to learn and laugh too. I know that volunteering is not one big laughing festival, but from time to time a little fun should be involved.
Someone said that laughter is one of the telltale signs of the health of an organization. Furthermore, the authors of the book, "Fish: A Remarkable Way to Improve Morale and Boost Results," would argue that one of the keys to service motivation is play.
As the authors say, "Work made fun gets done." When is the last time you had a good laugh with the volunteers in your ministry or church?
Start by laughing at yourself. Then invite the volunteers to laugh along with you!
#11 The relationship factor
Are volunteers experiencing a sense of community with other volunteers?
There is something about serving alongside others that tends to make people bond. That is community.
Community is the natural byproduct of laboring in service with other. Since one of our most basic, God-given needs is to belong, it stands to reason that those volunteers who work together and experience genuine community with each other will most likely be motivated volunteers.
This is the relationship factor of motivation. Show me a volunteer who serves in relational isolation, and I’ll show you a short-term volunteer.
Are the volunteers who work in your church and ministry experiencing community with other volunteers? Why or why not? Is working in your ministry more like a family or a business? What, specifically, can you do to create an environment of community among the volunteers under your care?
#12 The prayer factor
Are you praying by name for the volunteers in your ministry or church?
When you are trying to find volunteers, pray (Luke 10:2). When you are seeking to motivate volunteers to high levels of service for God’s Kingdom, pray.
I don’t understand how, through prayer, God often moves in someone’s heart to serve Him. I just know that prayer moves the heart of God to move the heart of people.
And note well that motivating volunteers is truly a heart issue. When someone’s heart is in something, they are motivated. You can use the first 11 motivating factors to motivate volunteers, but ultimately motivation is a heart thing-and thus, a God thing. Therefore, it is a prayer thing.
Who are your key volunteers? Name them. If you could put together a dream team of volunteers to work in your ministry, who from your church would be on that team? List them.
Why not stop right now and invest a few moments in prayer to God for some of your key and potential volunteers?
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