I met with my Kids staff today. We had a very interesting discussion on volunteer recruiting. Interestingly enough, the discussion we had was very similar to what Pudge blogged today.
We were talking about the methods we’ll be recruiting new volunteers over the summer. We’ve got several plans in the oven as we plan to saturate people with the opportunity to plug in.
One of my staff then asked about how we get our existing volunteers to recruit for us. Her thought was that if they are currently serving, they would be the best recruiters. Although we have many volunteers and leaders who LOVE serving in Kids Quest, few volunteers recruit help. We discussed it further and there is a need for training and equipping volunteers who love the ministry to recruit more help.
However, I had a few thoughts. First of all, I’ve talked with my staff from two other churches about getting volunteers to recruit other volunteers. We’ve even talked about great contests where the volunteer who recruited the most would win a big prize. However, I’ve never been anywhere where volunteers were a strong recruiting force. I went on to tell my staff. When I got to a restaurant that I love, I tell a lot of people. When I see a great movie, I tell a lot of people. When I get a new product/gadget that I love, I become quite the evangelist. Very important point here. The volunteers of our children’s ministry do not recruit others to volunteer (or very little happens). What does that say about the quality of our ministry? Ouch!
Let me take a step back. I’m not going to make a blanket statement here. Just because our volunteers do not recruit others naturally does not mean my program stinks. Not at all. There is more to it. However, this does lead me to think about the important elements.
- Are the programs in the ministry exciting and engaging?
- Is it a fun place to be?
- Do our leaders feel connected?
- Do our leaders feel equipped?
- Do our leaders feel loved?
- Do my volunteers have some ownership of the program? (Added byDonna Terrell)
I’m not 100% sure, but I have a feeling that if we get these few things right, we may see our volunteers bring in other volunteers. I know, many don’t think of themselves as volunteer recruiters. However, if I communicated to all my volunteers that I wanted each of them to recruit 2-3 of their friends/peers to the children’s ministry right now, what would they feel?
- Totally stoked that they can invite someone to the awesome opportunity that they’ve been blessed to have!
- Uncomfortable, like their trying to sell their friends something through Amway?
What about you? Does this resonate with anyone? Do your volunteers recruit others? If so, what’s the secret?
Technorati Tags: Volunteers
Very convicting thought. I have always struggled with this challenge as well. I bet it’s a little bit of both them being lazy and them being unhappy with some aspect of their experience.
Yeah, it’s not cheery and happy stuff. Good things to work on though. I believe it’s possible, but I think we’ve got to be doing a lot of things right.We’ll see. We’re going to be investing a lot of effort into this stuff this fall and spring.
Great thoughts Kenny. Quality of product and ownership are huge. One thing that has worked well for me as of late is every week after our service we have a team debrief and one of the questions all my volunteers fill out is “who do you know that isn’t currently serving in Uptown that should be.” In the last 4 weeks I have gotten 3 new volunteers this way.
Instead of equating your spreading the word about a great restaurant or movie as a consumer to other consumers to your volunteers recruiting volunteers, a better analogy would be do the servers at a restaurant try to actively recruit more servers to be hired at the same restaurant. Think about it, you probably have a lot of parents (consumers) telling their friends about your church (restaurant) and your ministry (steak) in particular. The last questions you asked are good, but I would add, “Do my volunteers have some ownership of the program?” Just some thoughts.
Good idea Sam. That’s probably a very good way to just keep the thought in front of leaders/volunteers on a regular basis. Many people probably aren’t going to naturally think “Who do I know that can serve in CM with me?” Or at least they’re not thinking that on a regular basis. However, if we keep that question in front of them on a regular basis, this thought might come to mind the next time the come across “the right person.”
Donna, I think you’re on to something. Although there is an experiential part that I want to develop for people who serve in ministry… one that they’d want to share, it is different from the “consumer” mindset. Good additional question too… I’ll add it to the list.