Once You Have People, What’s Next?
Posted on April 26, 2008
I’m still thinking a lot about volunteers. The last post, I discussed my approach to getting new volunteers, now let’s look at how to keep them once you have them.
Every one of the volunteers that serves on my team has other responsibilities such as work and school and of course family. So, the time they devote to the church has to fit between everything else. Don’t miss that point!
Something I have learned in the last year or so is that I need to devote most of my time to casting a vision and managing people. Put simply, casting a vision is just pointing the direction to go. Oftentimes, I will share the desired end result, so we know the goal and we know where we are today, all that’s left is to work out the details in between.
But back to the people side of things, the key to keeping people plugged in is to show appreciation and don’t take anyone for granted. There are about 10 people directly involved in the Tech Arts Ministry at my church, plus a number of other people that we interact with, such as the worship pastor and other musicians. My job is to make sure everyone, both within my ministry and otherwise, are happy with what’s going on and has what they need to do what they do.
It’s really all about relationships.
If I take anyone for granted, that definitely hurts the relationship, so to be an effective leader, I need to show appreciation to people constantly. It’s not just empty words either, it’s true appreciation for serving along side me.
Another challenge in the church tech world is that most everything we do is behind the scenes and unnoticed. We are not on stage or at the door, we are keeping things running smooth, whether it’s computer related or website related or in the sound booth on Sunday morning.
For some, they don’t do well not being in the spotlight and in that case, this kind of ministry may not be for them. I need to do a better job of appreciating my team, I know. They are awesome and I definitely could not do the things we do on my own.
If you are in a ministry leadership role, don’t be afraid to sincerely let your people know how much you appreciate them.
What are some tangible ways that you show your people appreciation?
NEXT: Our Tech Arts Ministry blog and other resources
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3 Responses to “Once You Have People, What’s Next?”
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As I said in my previous comment, it’s all about relationships and then you go and post about it .
Priro to divesting myself of all leadership responsibilities I was chief usher at our church for 10yrs and let me tell you – ushering gets less notice than tech does so I feel your concern.
My approach to appreciating my team was to gather tham all and feed them occasionally. Other things I did would include free breath mints (including trying to remember that one was a diabetic so suger free would be better), books to help their individual walks – and this is where knowing them helps – along with the usual thanks.
However, I made sure I went out of my way to thank all my volunteers each time they served and if they went above and beyond I’d letthe pastor know and get him to appreciate them as well.
During my tenure our senior pastor changed (all I’ll say is that it was messy) but thankfully the new guy is someone who spots and appreciates service in all its forms and in particular those that tend to ‘get lost’ in the busyness of church.
Great post. I recently took over leadership of the sound team at our church. Everyone on my team (including myself) work full-time outside of church and serve on the sound team as needed.
You are right about it boiling down to relationships and that is challenging. Trying to find time to serve at the church AND form relationships with each other is turning out to be harder than I anticipated.
Your blog is one of those I have set up in Google Reader – just so I don’t miss anything.
Excellent post. I’ve been volunteering in “Tech Arts Ministry” for about 20 years. Things have certainly changed from the days of simply “running sound”. Volunteers are vital and ensuring they feel valued is equally important. Our church is a smaller church so everyone, including me, has a “pay the bills” job outside of our ministry. Ensuring positions are filled each week, scheduling regular maintenance and equipment work, scheduling special events are all a concern.
I try to encourage all of our volunteers on a regular basis – especially our younger Youth volunteers. Also, while I’m responsible for everything, I make sure that specific volunteers are recognized for the special work/donations of time they do.
Thanks again for blogging about something so near and dear to my heart.