Tag Archives: church

Who is doing what?

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by Carol

Any time there is a position, whether paid or volunteer, there should be a written job description.  It spells out the expectations and responsibilities.  It should reduce the confusion and miscommunication.  Sometimes, though, it doesn’t.  Why is that?

At times, the written job description does not match the real situation.  But let’s say that the job description is up to date.  The volunteer coordinator and the volunteer literally have the same page of job description.  You have several other possibilities for confusion:

Possibility 1.
There is a difference in interpretation.  A volunteer may be bending over backward to do a job as he or she understood it, while the supervisor expected something totally different.  It’s painful on both sides!

Solution:  Ask what is going on.  Don’t assume, especially when you think you have discussed this before. Explain what you expected and find out why you are getting different results.

Possibility 2.
There are overlapping jobs and job descriptions.  This happens when you have a multitude of volunteers (instead of a few paid staff members, who are more likely to have specific roles and clear lines of supervision). Volunteers will jump in to do far more than their specific job — especially when they are conscientious and don’t want anything to fall through the cracks.  They can step on each other’s toes.

Solution: In ministry, we need to communicate more.  We need to let one another know why we are doing what we are doing.  People who communicate are better equipped to find a way to work in overlapping areas and fill the gaps with a minimum of personal friction.

Possibility 3.
Volunteers are unaware of the job descriptions of other volunteers — or even that other positions exist.  This also crops up when a new program is created without involving or informing a leader whose ministry is caught in the cross-current.

Solution: Keep in mind that job descriptions are not a private matter between an individual volunteer and the supervising leader.  Other people negotiate the terrain — needing to know who does what, who has a role, who needs to be asked, who will have the details.  Job descriptions don’t have to be widely distributed (which probably wouldn’t help anyway).  The information, though, can be distributed it bite-sized chunks that help people create a mental map of all the moving gears in your volunteer apparatus.

Bottom line:  If you notice that communication and information are common elements in the solutions, you are on target.  Church volunteers work together best when they have solid, reliable information.  New things don’t take them by surprise and they don’t have to guess at intentions.

Job descriptions don’t replace communication.  They themselves are a small piece of communication in a much larger mosaic of giving and receiving information.  Use job descriptions as a starting point.  Then get the communication flowing.

What about vacations?

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Sarajevo, Bosnia

Relaxing in old Sarajevo

by Carol

Do volunteers get “time off for good behavior”?  That’s an old term from the prison system.  Sometimes volunteers get locked into a position and feel like they are serving a life sentence.

Experts often recommend that we recruit volunteers for a fixed length of time.  Sunday School teachers, for example, are asked to serve for a calendar year.  But when the end of the year rolls around, do they have an all-or-nothing choice — stay for another 52 weeks or quit?

A good pool of substitute teachers helps somewhat.  But what about offering a refreshing break?

Some ministries in the church have a built-in break for the summer.  Most regular Sunday morning roles, though, do not.  How can you give volunteers (or yourself) some time off?  Here are some possibilities:

1.  Take a good, solid break for the summer, if possible.
I remember being president of an adult choir when the director suggested that we let the choir have the summer off.  We met every other week for a while, which confused us all and never really gave us a break.  The next year, we took the whole summer off.  I was amazed at how energetic and reinvigorated the choir members were when they came back.  And they did come back.

2.  Give your volunteers a vacation.
If you are a grown up, you usually take a week or two (maybe more) for a summer vacation.  The purpose is rest and relaxation, which is why we joke about needing a vacation to recuperate if we travel or stay active the whole time.  Volunteers need rest and relaxation, too, even if they love what they do.  Rotate the team, pull in some substitutes or close the ministry for a couple of weeks so everyone can have a few weeks off.

3.  Scale back the program to take a breather.
Lighten up.  Create a “summer” event that is less intense.  Instead of sessions with a short video, deep discussion, and homework, try a good movie.  Some movies have discussion guides available that take all the stress out of planning.

4.  Ramp up your program to take a break.
Go big or go home?  Sometimes you can pull everyone into the auditorium for a big event.  Small and medium classes are great for interaction and building relationships.  But getting everyone into a big group gives the small-group leaders a break from preparation and allows a few of them to take the day off.

Find the mix of alternatives that work for you and your ministry.

Got ideas?  Post a comment.

Helping Church Volunteers to Thrive

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by Carol

Volunteers and church staff need to remind each other of the deep truths they believe and how that fuels their mission.  Simple enough.

But when holidays, special events, and the week-to-week routine roll around (= 24 / 7 / 365), that’s not as easy as it sounds.

Take Easter, for example.  (Side note:  If you let your events get hijacked by the so-called “Easter” bunny, you’re on your own, folks.)  Your church probably has extra services, more music, more sprucing up, more decorations (though not nearly what we do at Christmas), and more printed/electronic communication to the community.  All of these take a lot of additional time and creative effort.  And all of them can siphon off volunteer hours galore.

You would think that the extra emphasis on the Easter message would help volunteers and staff to appreciate Jesus’ suffering for our sin and His resurrection even more.  Many times, though, the appreciation stays on the surface.  Volunteers get tired and staff get burned out.  I’ve seen exhausted music directors turn cranky and crazy.

A quick prayer at the beginning or end of a rehearsal just doesn’t cut it.  A brief reminder doesn’t penetrate the veneer.  You have to be intentional about focusing minds and hearts on your purpose and where it fits within the overall mission.

It’s never too late to help church volunteers thrive, whether you are a leader or a co-worker.

Try these steps:

1.  Keep it healthy. 
Even Leonardo da Vinci had assistants.  No one needs to work around the clock. No one needs to lift and tote and build until they drop over.  No one even needs to shop ‘til they drop!  Provide healthy snacks, plenty of H2O, and adequate rest.  Recruit a big enough team — and let others help.  Pay attention to the health and safety of the people around you.  Worn out people can’t appreciate the meaning of ministry.

2.  Keep it happy. 
Laugh a lot and have fun.   Even the most serious projects and events should have moments when you enjoy each other’s company.  Yes, our efforts have eternal ramifications, but not every step has life-or-death consequences.  Tempers tend to flare when people get too tired or excessively serious.  Find ways to put a smile on your own face and the face of those around you.  Take your mission seriously, take yourself seriously, and take your joy seriously!

3.  Keep it holy. 
This may seem counter to #2, but it shouldn’t be.  Remember that you are with people who believe in the God who does not tolerate sin.  This is where you set limits on the things you do to provoke laugher or light heartedness.  This is where you take time to remind each other of the profound reasons that you are doing what you do.  This is where you remind yourself that members of God’s family are still growing — they need your patience, your example, and your wise counsel.  You shouldn’t have to think hard about how your activity ties to the reason you are doing it, but you may need to think ahead to communicate the reason.  Take more than a “moment” to think deeply and connect sincerely.  You will find that it is well worth the effort.

Volunteers? Gotta love em’!

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by Carol

Back in college, my favorite Peanuts poster was the one that quotes Lucy:  “I love mankind.  It’s people I can’t stand.”

Sometimes it is easier to love volunteers in general than to love individual volunteers.  There must have been days when it was easier for Jesus to think of giving His life for all of humanity than to be nose to nose with smelly, obstinate fishermen and tax collectors.

But what if you really do love them?  Do they know it?

Two types
Experts in organizational leadership identify leaders in two different camps:  task-oriented and relationship-oriented.  I should be the poster child for the task-oriented types.  I’m not that way all the time — and no one is 100% either one anyway.  Still, I need to take time more often to stop and enjoy the volunteers for the roses they are.  (Do not insert the mental note of “thorns and all” here!)

More than thoughts
I think that the volunteers in our ministry are a GREAT group of people who inspire me by their time commitment and love for the Lord.  But if it doesn’t get beyond my thoughts, it doesn’t help.  Volunteers are not mind readers.  They are behavior readers.

At one point, I thought that I was helping our people to become more effective.  I was working with people, though, who were wise enough (and loving enough) to tell me that I was coming across as critical and disapproving.

I’ll bet that we can all reach back in our memory to examples of leaders who have created negative vibes when they first came to a church.  Leaders may have a lot of experience, be highly trained, and know a lot about their field.  They may be able to quote 1 Corinthians 13 in their sleep.  And yet, we can still fail to let church volunteers know that they are loved.

Something changed
Lately, I have been having a lot of fun enjoying our volunteers.  How did that happen?  I didn’t have to cook up ways to make them feel special.  I’m not flattering them with untrue praise.  I’m not overlooking their flaws.

I probably changed several things, but I know I made these changes:

1. I quit thinking, “They are doing a great job, except…..”  I dropped the “except” and enjoyed the great job for a while!

2. I quit dwelling on the things we needed to change.  Yes, we can improve, but the negatives tended to spill out in my facial expressions and tone of voice before I could catch them.  I have to think about changes at a separate time.

3. I talked with my team about what motivated them.  Literally, we had an evening when I asked them about what church was like (or not like) when they were kids.  I was amazed!  I have a whole new appreciation for these people.

New attitude
It’s easy for Christians to say that we love one another.  We are supposed to.  (And we know that we have to work hard to love people that we don’t even like.)  I’m giving and getting a lot more smiles, though, since I refocused on Philippians 4:8:

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise (NLT).

In fact, I am finding that I don’t just love our volunteers — I am delighted with them.

7 Underestimated Words for Leading Volunteers

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by Carol

In Matthew 5, Jesus repeated the phrases, “You have heard it said that ……, but I tell you……”

You have probably heard that the “seven last words of the church” are, “We’ve never done it that way before.”  But I tell you, maybe the seven most underestimated words for leading volunteers are, “We have always done it that way.”

Neither statement is necessarily true, thank goodness.  Still, they seem contradictory, so let’s take a look.

Some congregations fight against change with every ounce of their strength.  Staff members come and go, but the nucleus of the church holds fast to an old mindset that will not budge.  And yes, in that case, the congregation that refuses to entertain any new thoughts or different ways of doing things will die.  It may be a slow, lingering decline.  The church might even look like it is thriving, but only because it is a sealed-off pocket of ancient rituals in the midst of a landscape of change.

But we have a saying about not throwing the baby out with the bath water.  Think about that picture for a moment.  Who came up with that one?!  I’m trying to picture my grandmother or great grandmother heaving a washtub of soapy water from the back porch — along with the little, pink bundle of joy.

There are things in church that are precious to us.  They tug at our heart strings and define the roles we play and carry the faith to the next generation.

Take Christmas traditions, for example.  Candlelight services probably mean more to those of us that have always lived with electric lights.  We have a core group of Christmas carols that have been carried on for decades (some for centuries).  And most Americans could stage a Christmas pageant, even if they have no personal relationship with the central character.

Traditions, rituals, and things we “have always done” give us a head start with volunteers in the church.  People can imagine where you are going with a concept.  They can see themselves as a part of it.  They can build on last year’s event.  Youngsters can look forward to the day that they will join (or grow into a new role).  Newcomers can get a sense of what holds this group together at the heart level.

Change can be good.  Don’t underestimate tradition and repetition, though.  And don’t be surprised if, when you try to repeat something, you find that it turns out different.  Remember, we serve a God who makes snowflakes.

How many volunteers?

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How many volunteers does it take to change a light bulb?

Okay, seriously. This is not a joke. When you are trying to fill volunteer positions in your Sunday School or recruit volunteers for your Fall Festival, how many volunteers do you need?

You can probably come up with a pretty good estimate. As the deadlines draw near, it is easy to see how many positions are unfilled. At that point, you start to scramble for space in the bulletin (if your church still has one) or make phone calls or call in personal favors. As things get desperate (from your point of view — Ever wonder about God’s sense of humor as He watches this play out?), I have a better question for you:

How many volunteers do you actually have in your church?

I had an epiphany the day the pastor sent me into all of the Sunday morning Bible study classes to recruit volunteers for a Fall Festival. I looked at folks with walkers, young parents lugging diaper bags, people I knew were taking trips, etc., etc. After adjusting for all of the limitations, we didn’t have enough actual human beings to fill all of the volunteer positions we had created!

I’m not saying that people were unwilling. I’m saying that I did not see enough adults (youth included) to fill the slots — people who could be there to lift and tote, or watch kids carefully, or walk at a brisk pace (or toss balls back) for an hour or two, or cook at a grill for three hours.

If I had been looking for Bible study leaders, I would have run into a different set of limitations. Not everyone can be there 50 weeks out of the year or read well enough to plan a lesson or speak in front of even a small audience. For example, teenagers can do a lot of things, but they rarely lead a home group for couples. All of that shrinks your pool of potential volunteers before you ever consider their spiritual maturity or the personality fit.

In community theater groups, we knew that 10% of the tickets that people reserved for our programs would end up not being used. Life happens.  I haven’t seen numbers that involve church volunteers, though.

For every 100 people in your church, how many of them are actually available in your volunteer pool? There may be some guidelines that tell us how to calculate the number.

It’s time to go looking for them — or figure them out. If you know of any, leave us a comment!

Spread the Load! Part 2 of 2

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by Kristi and Carol

What if …. Your usual volunteer pool is shrinking and your responsibilities are growing.

In part 1, we looked at the steps to evaluate your current situation:

TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND THINK: What is stressful to you or other leaders in your organization?

STOP FOR A SECOND AND LOOK CLOSELY: Are the job descriptions in your existing organizational structure up-to-date?

COMPARE REALITY TO WHAT IS ON PAPER: Although capable people are working hard, do their jobs match reality?

Now that you have identified the stress points and have a firm grasp on what your volunteers are actually trying to do, it is time to take action. Read on to see what “Org-C” did.

1. WE ADDED NEW FACES.

It looked like stay-at-home moms re-entering the workforce were depleting the pool of easily accessible volunteers. Older adult volunteers, though, had never previously been asked to take on this volunteer role. They were available to work on these tasks during the week and it gave them an excuse to get together with friends. Even better, they were excited to do something that they were good at.

2. WE ADDED NEW PLACES.

Although many moms couldn’t come during weekdays to do prep-work, some could work from home.

3. WE ADDED NEW POSITIONS.

It may seem counter-intuitive to increase the number of volunteer positions. To keep the supervisors focused on people (the volunteers they supervised), we created new job descriptions related to the computer work. These “extra” volunteers were designated to handle issues at the command center desk while the supervisors were in hallways and classrooms. They cross-trained in many areas and were able to help with tasks beyond the computers.

4. WE ADDED A NEW STATION.

A gathering point a few feet down the hallway became a new check-in station for supervision and dispatching of rotating substitutes. This took the congestion away from the main command center. Handling substitutes seemed to get in the way of the supervisors’ core job, and it could easily be done by volunteers with administrative talents. We sliced off those responsibilities and created a whole new volunteer position. Several volunteers were passionate to fill this role, as it was scheduled just for the first portion of the program day, and if they wanted to, they could finish and leave. In many instances, these volunteers stayed to pitch in and help with other needs that arose.

Spreading the load may seem like a lot more work at the beginning, but purposeful adjustments in this area will have multiple benefits. After new positions were created and the load was more evenly shared at Org-C, the supervisors were more successful in supervising volunteers. Prospective volunteers began observing an organization that was no longer frenetically out of control. Instead, they saw an organization they could successfully join. In case after case, the volunteers who came into the new positions eventually spread their efforts beyond their initial job descriptions. Because they felt fulfilled in the role that fit their key passions, many had enough energy to help in other areas — and had the motivation to do so because they had become loyal to the supervisors and to the program.

BOTTOM LINE: If you can’t recruit more of the volunteers you are looking for, start looking for different volunteers for different positions!

 

Spread the Load! Part 1 of 2

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by Kristi and Carol

What if …

Let’s say that you’re currently looking for a certain type of volunteer. What if you were never able to recruit more of that type? What if — despite your best efforts and most eloquent pleas — prospective volunteers stopped saying “yes” when you asked them to take a role in your organization?

IMG_5211 - cropped

 

 

 

 

 

A few years ago, I (Kristi) consulted with an organization we’ll call “Org-C” — “C” for chaos!!! Their leadership admitted that, to the general public, they appeared to be “running around with our heads cut off” or operating under “controlled chaos.” The challenge was to recruit more volunteers into an existing structure.

We evaluated the system and determined areas of high stress. By expanding the organizational structure, we took pressure off of them. As a result, they gradually came to a place of projecting a calm and efficient leadership presence, and new volunteers joined the team.

How can you do that?

TAKE A DEEP BREATH, AND THINK: What is stressful to you or other leaders in your organization?

In Org-C, it was easy to see the stress points. Three supervisors planned ahead. But on the program day, chaos ensued: regularly scheduled volunteers did not show up; last minute rotating subs did show up, but they hovered around the main command center desk, clogging up an already congested thoroughfare until they were sent to the right location; visitors showed up and needed to be assigned to classrooms; and invariably, some missing supplies would be needed from the back room.

STOP FOR A SECOND, AND LOOK CLOSELY: Are the job descriptions in your existing organizational structure up to date?

In Org-C’s past, when the 3 supervisors started serving, the organization was staffed with many stay-at-home moms. The moms volunteered during the week so that everything was ready. But like many organizations, Org-C felt the changes in society as women went back to work. Often “supplies” were one of the tasks that slipped through the cracks in preparation. The supervisors tried to pick up the slack on program day, in addition to data-entry in the new digital age, and making last-minute assignments for more substitutes in a growing ministry. None of these new responsibilities were in the job description.

COMPARE REALITY TO WHAT IS ON PAPER: Although capable people are working hard, do their jobs match reality?

Once everything was on paper, it didn’t take long to see that the 3 supervisors in Org-C were being stretched beyond their limits. Their main role was to supervise volunteers. With a smaller pool of volunteers, more technology, and an expanding organization, no one had quite understood how the work load of the 3 supervisors had become unmanageable.

The next step? Do something about it.

Come back for Part 2 to see what we tried.

3 Easy Steps to a Good Volunteer Experience

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Jesus Walks on Water

Jesus Walks on Water

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Carol

Sometimes they call me the Puppet Lady.  I’ve been doing puppets since I was in first grade. 

Over the years, I’ve made and performed with many kinds of puppets around the U.S. and in foreign countries.  I’m far from a pro, but I have a lot of experience.

I few weeks ago, I moved my church membership, and now I am up over my eyebrows in puppets again. 

When the pastor saw “puppets” on a list of things I’ve done, he immediately introduced me to a closet full of Muppet-style puppets.  (More on church storage closets in the near future….)  They adopted me at first sight.

I’m just a volunteer.  How did we move from “puppets stuffed in a closet” to full-blown “puppet world” in less than 6 weeks?

1.  Pastor’s vision – The pastor has known me for several years, but he didn’t realize that I had worked with puppets. 

Suddenly, a closet full of little stuffed characters jumped to life in his mind as a ministry with important potential.

Investigating at the cross

Investigating at the cross

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.  Ideal opportunity – The pastor linked me with the VBS director, who immediately latched onto the idea of the puppets telling the daily Bible story.

3.  Connectors – The youth ministry had used the puppets a few times, so the youth pastor’s wife volunteered to help for VBS.  She knows everyone in the church.  We talked about what / who I needed, and she knew people with those interests and abilities.  A few other folks helped connect me, too.  I could not have found the voice actors, puppeteers, and other resources on my own in a church that was so new to me.

In a few short weeks, I have gotten to know a lot of people, they have gotten to know me at my best (and stressed — another story for later), and we have had a great experience together in a ministry I love doing.

Shouldn’t all volunteers have that kind of inaugural experience in a new church or ministry?

Is there a place for all? The challenge of creating volunteer positions for all giftedness! Part 2 of 2

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by Kristi

In Part 1, we looked at a volunteer (Team Member 3) whose team had dissolved. Would he stay? Would he go? Let’s look at the rest of the story.

At times, leaders pressured with the task of recruiting volunteers to fully staff an organization can get blinded by the trappings of “we’ve always done it this way.” That way may not be bad or wrong. Sometimes, though, adjustment may be called for.

New Position
In the case of Team Member 3, we realized that putting him into a new team was not going to be a good solution. At the same time, we identified a stress point for our team and created a new job description that fit him very well.

In many cases, recruiting is a year-round process. Just when you think you are fully staffed, someone gets sick or moves away. Typically, it’s much easier to keep a veteran volunteer than to assimilate a new volunteer. In the case of a reluctant volunteer, helping them get one foot inside the door of your organization may be a key to inviting them to a higher level of commitment.

I am pleased to say that Team Member 3 fully embraced his new volunteer position. In some ways, he’s keeping just one foot in my department while the other foot is starting to drift towards the department where his children are now involved. His current role fills a vital need in the organization I oversee. The newly created position allows him to complete his volunteer task within the first half of the program, and he is then able to go to a Bible Study for adults.

Sure, a couple times a month he is a little bit late, but his fulfillment level is high because he still gets to volunteer in an area of passion without giving up new relationships in the adult class. Additionally, before the time comes for him to fully move to another area of volunteering, my department is capitalizing on his interests and experience within our organization to establish the new position and refine that job description.

New Vision
To help prospective volunteers get a glimpse inside your organization, or to assimilate new volunteers onto your team, evaluate “front doors.” Make sure that there are easy ways for prospective volunteers to get one foot inside the door of your organization. If you are really headed a positive direction and have a successful team for them to join, just a glimpse is likely to show them what they need to see.  It may be a huge part of convincing them to join at a deeper level.

Take-Aways
Here are some ideas for starters:

1) Create new short-term jobs.

2) Have a system of purposefully using ‘substitutes’ along-side veterans.

3) Regularly host preview or open house type of events that showcase your organization.

4) Instead of staffing an event with all tried and true loyalists, invite prospective volunteers into one-time type positions that give them a taste of the organization and start building relationships with other volunteers.

5) Finally, don’t forget to find ways to help outgoing volunteers keep one foot in your organization, such as filling in as a substitute, or transferring their knowledge and interests to a new position.

Moving Forward
Remember, volunteers and volunteer organizations change and grow. Pay attention so that the volunteer positions change and grow along with them!