In my meeting with my mentor yesterday, we got onto the subject of volunteers. I told him that now that I'm in the church world it's a greater test of my leadership abilities because I lead a lot of volunteers. I told him that I feel leading volunteers is more difficult than leading "employees" because they don't 'have to' be there--they're not working for a pay check.
He pushed back and argued that it may be easier to lead a volunteer than an employee because, in his opinion, employees these days aren't committed to the cause. They generally don't care about the company they work for...it's just a job. "Let me do the minimum amount of work, collect my check, go home, and not worry about it any more. He said volunteers, on the other hand, are at least committed to the cause. They see the vision. They're there because they want to be there.
I still don't know if one is more difficult than the other. It's just tough work to lead...period. My challenge is to recruit, train, cast vision for, and multiply volunteers. It's an interesting discussion. We concluded that we each have unique challenges but at the same time there are parallels. In the end, we're both trying to motivate and mobilize people to own the vision and perform at a high level.
Feel free to weigh in. I'm interested in your thoughts.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
what volunteers want (part one of two)
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2 comments:
Hi John,
I've held leadership staff positions in both the business world and the church. I've found that the paycheck is a big motivator in getting things done, particularly in our consumer-driven, debt-ridden culture. Leading volunteers is orders of magnitude more difficult than leading employees if the vision has not been cast properly. A compelling, life-transforming, shared vision is everything when it comes to recruiting and leading volunteers.
Let me tell you, you and Dwight hit the ball out of the park when it comes to vision-casting. My wife and I live in a suburb of Cleveland and have never met you personally, but I have been following your blog for months and have visited New Pointe several times this year. We have caught the vision big time and are dreaming of relocating so we can join New Pointe and volunteer full-time! So whatever your leadership style is, don't change it...you guys are doing great!
Bill, thanks for your thoughts. Very insightful. And thanks for the compliment. Unbelievable that you've caught the vision of NewPointe and want to RELOCATE so you can help us! Unreal! Thanks for checking in.
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