WHY WOULD 100 BUSY EXECUTIVES ATTEND 4 THREE-HOUR VOLUNTEER TRAININGS IN THE SPAN OF ONE WEEK?
That’s the question we asked of the people who attended our trainings in Dubai where we were told to expect a turnout of approximately 50.  These were hard working professionals, many of which have families and demanding schedules.  It wasn’t from boredom or a lack of options.  Dubai is a beautiful city with so much to see and do!  The resounding and repetitive answer that we received was that the trainings were FUN and were impacting their entire lives…who they are at home as a spouse and parent, who they are as a co-worker or supervisor and most importantly, who they are as a follower of Christ.

They came because they wanted to learn how to be more effective in their volunteer role but they stayed for 3 hours and came back for three more trainings in that same week because we were adding value to their whole lives.

It’s so important that we remember that our volunteers are whole people.  They are so much more then the role they fill for our organization.  They are body, soul and spirit.  They’re spouses, parents, business owners, co-workers, friends, and all trying to find their way on their journey to follow Christ!

So, here’s the take-away…before you meet with your volunteers again, besides asking yourself the obvious question, “How can I better equip my them to fill their role in our organization?” try asking yourself the following questions:

“How can I help them to have deeper intimacy with Jesus?”

“How can I help them build and strengthen relationships with family and  fellow believers?” and finally, “How am I equipping them to have more influence with people far from God in their daily lives…co-workers, neighbors and friends?”

And lastly, but so very, very important, “Am I making it FUN?”  Please remember that most of your volunteers already have a job and they probably don’t want another one!  So, make it FUN and add value to their whole lives!  That’s how you retain quality volunteers!  Why would they go anywhere else?  It takes a little time and a lot of intention, but it’s so worth it!!!   That’s how you STOP RECRUITING AND START RETAINING!!!  In the end, it’s a lot less work to keep a volunteer then to continually recruit and train new ones!