Here’s a can of worms: volunteerism vs. quality. They are not always opposites but let’s be honest, if a church hires someone like a graphic artist it’s because they’re ready to pay for consistent quality not possible with volunteers.
I was hired seven years ago when our then portable church was cresting at 1600 attendees across 3 Sunday morning services. I believe that’s the critical mass at which volunteer dynamics change dramatically. The perceived need for quality in all areas grows because of your greater visibility in the community. You’re able to hire for positions you couldn’t afford when you were half the size. It’s also a phase of ecclesiastical puberty in which you look to larger churches for direction. You try on different personalities like Peter in the Brady Bunch episode, “The Personality Kid.” (Porkchopsh and appleshaushe…) God knows we’ve tried on a little Saddleback, a little Willow, and a little North Point in finding our own groove. It’s natural.
Cornerstone had just rolled out a new website with a custom content management system to make it easy for volunteers to update. It became clear that with a public website, our greater visibility required more in terms of quality and accountability than a volunteer team could provide. I was hired primarily as the webmaster and that allowed me to wear the audio engineer hat as well.
I offer this bit of personal history to preface this: I was not prepared for the bait-and-switch my new job handed me. The bait was being hired to do things I love to do (and do well) like mix a Sunday service. The switch was the responsibility for leadership, training and development of volunteer teams. I felt like a drive-by victim of the Peter Principle, promoted to the level of my incompetence. I failed miserably at team building in the early years and it’s still my weakest suit. The thing is with techs and artists, it’s hard to find a good leader and a good doer under the same batch of skin.
Nowadays, church staff members around the country are being laid off in droves and if you keep up with church-related blogs you’re in touch with the panicked rush back toward volunteerism. I got an email from a tech director at a church in Danville asking how we “do volunteers.” Just this morning at a geeky audio message board I frequent, a guy asked the same question to the world, “how do you train your volunteers?”
Hidden within these questions is a deeper question: “How do we train our volunteers to the level of quality and style we expected from our staff?” Some churches are accustomed to certain standards of excellence, and that’s fine because that same excellence is why many people started attending those churches. Cornerstone is no exception. I think of our excellent children’s ministries who have intentionally pushed back to a more volunteer driven model and are slowly seeing great results. It’s a whole new game and it looks like they’re winning. Many people started coming to church here because of our children’s ministry.
Anyway, I preach to myself a lot. Here’s what it sounds like lately…
In this climate, just doing your thing isn’t an option any more. You must become a good leader no matter what your Strength Finders test results tell you. That means you get to do what you love to do less, other people get to do what you love to do more, and you get to learn that people are more important than your sense of quality and style; all within limits of course. To be blunt, it’s just part of growing up. Step up or step aside.
This year I have consciously applied myself to becoming a better leader and I’ve discovered something I hope is helpful for other folks like me.
One of the greatest laws of the universe is this: If you want what other people have you have to do what they do. It’s that simple. You have to trade your old ideas for ideas that work. The hard part is pushing yourself to try something new. The simplicity lies in just doing what other leaders suggest to do.
Of all the leadership books out there today the one that resonates with me the most is “25 Ways to Win with People” by John Maxwell and Les Parrott. It contains short sections with examples of great leadership principles and action steps that are all based on being a good human being if not a good Christian. I hope to do as many of these things this year as I am able. The beauty is they’re simple enough for me to try.
If you find yourself doing something that feels terribly foreign, like writing personal thank-you cards to team members, remember that it doesn’t equate to insincerity just because it’s not your style. Putting your ego aside is always good practice, especially when it comes to team building and volunteer training. Who knows? Maybe we’ll all become better people for it.
I’d sure appreciate comments from anyone with suggestions for good leadership books – short, simple, and with clear action steps.
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