Wow, that was fun! I just returned from hanging out with hundreds of church leaders and volunteers at an Orange Tour stop in Pennsylvania. I had the opportunity to lead a breakout on volunteerism and present The Volunteer Project’s vision of volunteer retention trumping volunteer recruitment. Afterwards I was able to chat with John, a ministry leader who attended the breakout. John’s observations are threaded below in italics.

The breakout was focused around this bottom line: Volunteers who thrive, remain, and recruit other volunteers experience the leadership commitments of Significance, Support, Community, and Empowerment.

Significance: The power to produce a desired result or effect. The ability to bring about positive change for clients.

The win is hearing: “I’m making a difference!” or “I love making a difference!”

Stop recruiting and start retaining. Simple (to say, not in practice) and easy to remember and very powerful. As I’ve been reworking things at my church I’ve been trying to switch the language from Desperation to Privilege when it comes to serving. This seems to come from the same wheelhouse. Also fits with the significance point vs. duty point.

Support: To give help or assistance and to provide all that is needed to be successful in the role.

The win is hearing: “I’ve got what I need!” or “I’ve got what I need and I feel valued!”

Community: To experience the feeling of being accepted and valued to by other people. To develop new and meaningful friendships.

The win is hearing: “I belong here!” or “I’ve got friends here!”

I had never thought about the specifics you brought up on the importance of community. I know the importance of community of a team but I didn’t think about people joining for the purpose of having community and making friends. I feel like sometimes I have to convince my volunteers to be in community with each other.

Empowerment: To give power to an individual so they are free to make a difference.

The win is hearing: “I feel empowered to…” or “I’m trusted and have freedom to invest my best.”

Great thoughts on empowerment. I love the idea of having freedom within a strong and clear mission and vision. I was actually just dealing with some of this on Sunday with one of my stronger volunteers in kids ministry. A win I recently had in this category was having my Youth Min small group leaders write out 3 goals for themselves for this semester. There were only 3 rules: they couldn’t be too easy, they couldn’t be too hard, and they had to fit within the Family Ministry vision. As I’ve watched them this semester they have been more motivated to achieve the goals that they set for themselves. It’s given some of them new energy.

A big thank you to our friends at Orange for the opportunity to invest in those who lead volunteers, and to John for taking the time to stop and chat!