"Leading Ideas: When Volunteers Aren't Working Out | 10 Leadership Lessons from Nehemiah" from Lewis Center for Church Leadership from The Wesley Theological Seminary of Washington, D.C., United States for Wednesday, February 8, 2017-------
When Volunteers Aren't Working Out by Lory Beth HuffmanChurches often put up with ineffective volunteers because they don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, says Lory Beth Huffman, a pastor in Western North Carolina. She describes how to help volunteers succeed, but also how to remove a dysfunctional volunteer with grace and honesty when necessary for the sake of fruitfulness in God's Kingdom.
One of the hardest dilemmas we face in leading a church well is handling volunteers who are not fruitful in their leadership or service position. What do you do when you have the wrong people on the bus? Maybe they are just in the wrong position. It’s a tough situation to face, especially when they are volunteers. And often, churches are the worst at facing volunteer dysfunction. Why is that?
Churches are supposed to be places that model grace and tolerance. Because of that, churches often put up with behavior that is detrimental to fruitful ministry because people don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Pastors are very often conflict avoidant. How many times have I heard, “That is just so-and-so”? “Everyone knows he is just grumpy. His heart means well.” But that is not a reason to enable or allow hurtful behavior to continue.
Fruitfulness in God’s Kingdom should always be the driving motivation behind these difficult decisions and actions.
Sometimes your discernment on a possible leader is wrong. It happens. And then we must decide how to handle this situation. Oftentimes we avoid dealing with a difficult volunteer because we are afraid they might leave the church. Sometimes we think we can just ride out the damage and then put the pieces back together again after they leave the position. But what message does that send to the other fruitful volunteers?
Here are some suggestions for removing volunteers who aren’t working out. These steps will help with officially nominated positions that persons are asked to fulfill as well as service positions people are invited to fill or maybe they just volunteered to serve.
Training and Expectations
Part of successful volunteer management is creating the best possible environments for volunteers to succeed. Make sure you have a process in place for your official leadership that includes job descriptions, basic training, setting expectations, and, when possible, create a volunteer covenant that people sign that states group norms and expectations. When volunteers are trained and prepared for what is being asked of them, odds are better that they will succeed or self select out when they realize it is not a good fit.
Coaching and Tooling
Although this takes time, it is an important step to help volunteers who are struggling to try and right the situation. Sometimes patience and an investment of someone’s time to model, share best practices, redirect negative behaviors and help people understand that what they are doing is not fruitful or maybe not even acceptable, depending on the situation, allows people to grow and positively change.
Action Plan and Documentation
Just like with an employee, if you have a volunteer in a nominated leadership position who is not working out despite your best efforts at training and coaching, then intervention becomes necessary. Start with an action plan that lays out some goals for behavior modification over the next couple of months. This can be formal or informal, but it is important to communicate the behavior changes that are needed in order for the person to continue in their seat on the bus. Give them a chance to self correct or self select back out. And always document! Keep a record of specific incidents that show unacceptable behavior or less than ideal execution of their role. However, make sure you are not dependent on hearsay, and do the research to make sure your information is accurate. Document all attempts at coaching, retooling and setting an action plan of behavior changes.
Shifting Positions
Sometimes the easiest step to take is to find another position they can fill or a better suited role they can take on. Instead of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, you move them to another service opportunity.
Removing a Volunteer
When all of the other options have been exhausted, and a volunteer is still causing disruption or dysfunction, then the last resort is removing a volunteer. This is difficult work that most churches will avoid. If you have done the above to no avail, then you have the information you need to have the tough conversation. Here are some tips to remember when removing a volunteer:
- Speak with grace and truth. Convey love and concern for the person first and foremost. But speak with truth and name the issues that led to this conversation. Honestly but lovingly discuss the behaviors that have caused this difficult decision.
- Use examples from your documentation and remind them of the attempts at retooling or redirection that have not rectified the situation. If you have confronted the person along the way when there have been unacceptable incidents, then this should come as no surprise. If you have not addressed previous concerns, then this conversation is much more difficult and will more than likely end in a bad outcome.
- Be prepared for a range of emotional reactions. Some people will be relieved because they know it hasn’t been working out. Others may be calm in the moment and react strongly later after they have processed it. Others may become volatile during the conversation and direct their anger at you.
- Always have someone else present for this conversation. They don’t have to speak but having an observer helps verify how the situation was handled.
- Some helpful phrases to use might include: “Things have not changed since we last met so I need to ask you to step away from this ministry.” Or “You’re not working out in this ministry and here’s why.” “I care about you but I also care about this ministry. For that reason, the best thing for you and us is to find another place of service for you.”
Please note that if a moral breakdown occurs or a non-negotiable rule is broken, sometimes there is no luxury to take all of these steps, and immediate action is necessary for removal of a volunteer. These are the exceptions, but it is imperative that leaders be prepared to act decisively if needed. Be able to discern the difference.
This is never easy work but, in actuality, it is much more difficult to work around volunteer dysfunction than to address it head on. Bathe these difficult situations with prayer. Trust that if fruitful ministry is the heart of why you are acting, then God will find a way to bless the situation or calm the reactionary storm. Creating a consistently and intentionally healthy and supportive environment will pay off. And there is nothing better than getting the right people in the right seats on the bus and seeing God’s Kingdom thrive through volunteers serving out of their passion and giftedness.
Related Resources
- Volunteer-Savvy Leadership by Jake McGlothin
- Ten Hints for Leading Volunteers by Jill Fox
- Increasing Active Engagement Video Tool Kit
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Ten Leadership Lessons from Nehemiah by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.Examining the biblical account of Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, Lovett H. Weems, Jr., sees a compelling example of how a leader should function. Nehemiah defined the reality of the situation, named a vision, and then engaged the people to accomplish it.The prophet Nehemiah provides modern day leaders a wonderful model of leadership. Upon learning of the distress of his people, Nehemiah receives permission from the king he was serving to go help them. Despite obstacles and opposition, he discerns a challenging vision and leads the people in accomplishing it.
While Nehemiah was the leader who first articulated the vision, the people confirmed the vision and committed themselves to the task. The gifts of all were required to achieve the vision. Accomplishing the vision was not easy. Divisions and hard feelings, combined with outside opposition, made faithfulness very difficult. Yet, Nehemiah and the people persevered faithfully, though not perfectly.
The prophet Nehemiah provides modern day leaders a wonderful model of leadership. Despite obstacles and opposition, he discerns a challenging vision and leads the people in accomplishing it.
Below are some lessons we might learn from Nehemiah’s leadership example.
1. God’s leader responds to a call
God has always called leaders. Leaders must hear God’s calling to lead and respond to that call. Nehemiah understands his leadership as a calling from God (Nehemiah 2:12b). Nehemiah listened and came to see the need (1:1-4).
2. God’s leader cares for the people and their situation
Nehemiah listened to the voice of the people. He showed care for their situation. Nehemiah identified with the people. He thought in terms of “we” and “us” (2:17, 20). He came to understand and identify with “the trouble we are in” (2:17).
3. God’s leader helps define the reality of the situation
When Nehemiah said, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned,” he was not describing his personal agenda but assessing the common situation faced by all the people. Unless the reality can be described honestly, progress is impossible. “Nothing is more limiting to a group,” says Peter Senge, “than the inability to talk about the truth.”
4. God’s direction and vision are sought by the leader and people
Nehemiah was always asking God to provide a vision for him. He understood that a true vision must come from God. It must be a God-inspired and God-revealed vision. Only such a vision is worthy of leadership. The vision must be “what God has put into my heart” (2:12). The vision emerged in the midst of a devastating situation. It would have been easier to give up in despair, but God’s leader always seeks God’s vision, even in difficult times.
5. Prayer is essential to know God’s will
Prayer is the fundamental act for people of God. God’s leaders and God’s people must be in the right place to hear God’s voice. God can speak to us at any time, but if we are not turning our hearts toward God to seek God’s guidance, it is more difficult for God’s vision to reach our hearts. The prophet Habakkuk climbed into the tower believing that God had a vision for him and his people. Habakkuk was willing to wait for the vision, but knew that he needed to put himself in a position to receive it.
6. God’s vision is simple
God’s vision tends to be very simple. People build complicated systems, but God’s will is often extremely simple. For Nehemiah and his people the vision was captured in three words: “rebuild the wall.” There were many needs, hopes, and dreams of the people, but God’s vision for the immediate future was captured in rebuilding the wall. Without this vision, the other needs could not be met.
7. God’s leader builds a team
Nehemiah gained the trust of the people. This permitted him to build a team that could make the vision happen. People shared responsibility to accomplish the goal. No one person, not even Nehemiah, could accomplish this vision alone. Nehemiah began with a few, then he expanded the team to include virtually everyone. The people committed themselves to the “common good” (2:18b). The talents of the people were named and used (chapter 3). Different people worked on different sections of the wall. People were assigned to work closest to their homes.
But even God’s people get tired. They felt the task was taking too much time and was too difficult. There were internal disputes. Someone has said, “Everything looks like failure in the middle.” But Nehemiah was able to find ways to alleviate their concerns without losing the vision.
8. God’s leader keeps the real purpose before the people
It is easy for people to forget the purpose behind the vision even as they work to fulfill it. The vision was to rebuild the wall, but the wall was not the important part of the vision. The wall was a means to a larger purpose. What Nehemiah and his people were really about was reclaiming their identity as people of faith. What was at stake was not just a wall but indeed their very faith (Chapter 8; 12:27). Nehemiah had to make sure the people were reminded of their ancient faith. Because their task was tied to a larger purpose, they put their hearts into their work and were able to complete the task in 52 days (6:15-16). What an amazing feat this was.
9. God’s leader is not discouraged by adversity
As they rebuilt the wall, they were ridiculed and mocked. Their enemies did everything possible to discourage them. They threatened to tell untrue stories about Nehemiah. Nehemiah listened but persisted. Nehemiah knew he was “doing a great work” (6:3) and could not come down from the wall to debate with the enemies. Nehemiah persisted even when adversity came. God’s people cannot give up when adversity comes.
10. God always has another vision
When people work so hard to accomplish a great goal, the temptation is to want to stop and rest. God’s people should stop and celebrate victories, just as Nehemiah and his people did; but God is never finished with us. After we give thanks to God for bringing us to a new place on our journey, then we must turn again to God in prayer asking, “What, now, is your will for us?” It is time for revisioning.
We are always on a journey with God. We rest for a brief time, but we do not stop. We keep seeking the new land that God is calling us to reach. God always has something else for us to do. We cannot become what God wants us to be by remaining what we are.
Related Resources:
- Discovering God’s Future for Your Church Video Tool Kit
- Church Leadership: Vision, Team, Culture, Integrity, Revised Edition by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
- Jesus as Transformational Leader by Natasha LeShawn Gadson
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The Right Question
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
In an interview with Tony Morgan, Pastor Stephen DeFur of Cokesbury United Methodist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, tells about the questions his church asks, beyond attendance and financial issues, in order to monitor vitality. These additional questions to monitor vitality can be divided into three groups: (1) actions by current participants, (2) life changes by participants, and (3) reaching new people. Questions related to "actions by current participants" are below. The other two sets of questions will come in the following two issues of Leading Ideas. (TonyMorganLive.com, March 29, 2016)
- Are people taking next steps?
- Are we seeing adults professing their faith in Jesus?
- Are they then taking that decision public and getting baptized?
- Are people getting connected in small groups?
- Are we seeing increasing numbers of people finding ways to give their lives away through service?
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Learn to Increase Active EngagementWhat can you do when 20 percent of your congregation does 80 percent of the learning, serving, and leading? The Increasing Active Engagement Tool Kit includes videos, narrated presentations, outlines of key points, and supplementary materials to help you get and keep people involved and engaged.Learn more and watch introductory videos now.
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Quotable Leadership
When it comes to leadership it is not about the leader's personality; it is all about how that individual behaves as a leader.[Carolyn Wang]
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Metrics Should Be a Tool for Learning, Not JudgingThe current focus on setting numerical goals for ministry and reporting results is not new, though now greatly expanded. In the past, virtually all goals churches set related to money. Today the same attention is being given to people categories, but the concept is the same. Lovett H. Weems, Jr., explains the advantages and pitfalls in "To the Point: Metrics: A Tool for Learning, Not Judging."To the Point: Metrics: A Tool for Learning, Not JudgingThe current focus on setting numerical goals for ministry and reporting results is not new, though now greatly expanded. In the past, virtually all goals churches set related to money. The clearest example is the annual budget: it is a goal the church works all year to achieve, monitors closely, and reports regularly on progress. Usually no one gives more attention to monitoring and achieving those goals than the pastor. The same attention now is being given to people categories, but the concept is the same.
This expansion of goals, monitoring, and reporting, however, could easily miss the point as we often have done with finances. Any time conversations turn to setting goals, many think it is a way to set a standard on which they will be judged. Judging should not be the primary use for such metrics. The most important benefit of defining numerical goals is that goals become the opportunity to shape planning your church already needs.
Progress comes when we have a goal toward which we are moving. “Come up with the ending before you figure out the middle,” says Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats. It does not help to talk about “what we should do” until we have a clear definition of what we want our activities to accomplish. Setting goals does not suggest they will capture all we hope to achieve. The Spirit works in amazing ways to do more than any statistics can reflect, but usually the Spirit accomplishes those unexpected signs and wonders when we are generating our own holy energy through prayer and hard work.
But What about Reporting?
Report honestly but never think reporting is the true purpose of your efforts. The numbers may show you reached your goals. They are just as likely to show that you missed them. Remember that most churches do not achieve 100 percent of their budget goals each year; but that does not keep them from setting new budget goals next year, working hard to achieve them, monitoring results diligently, and reporting them.
The real benefit of results you report comes from what you learned from them. Perhaps you set a goal to reach 60 children in Sunday School and fell short. But if you learned that teachers need more training, the time needs changing, and age groupings are too broad, your “failure” may be the beginning of fruitfulness that will benefit children for years to come.
“But won’t we be judged negatively for coming up short on the goal?” you may ask. If you identify what you have learned (showing you are paying attention), name the changes made from those learnings (showing you intend to improve), and illustrate that progress has been made despite falling short of the original goal (showing you are acting on the right learnings), I cannot imagine anyone judging your church negatively. Whenever numbers are reviewed, always include learnings thus far, changes made or planned, and progress from any changes.
Fruitfulness is God’s Alternative to Success
Success is not a biblical concept; fruitfulness is. Fruitfulness always holds within it passion for faithfulness, for no lasting fruitfulness is possible without faithfulness. But fruitfulness also captures a comparable passion for repeated biblical mandates to bear fruit. Fruitfulness is vastly different from success. Goals help fruitfulness, but fruitfulness does not require attainment of all our goals. Fruitfulness is not about personal or congregational glory but the advancement of God’s reign. Church leaders care about results because results are ways to go beyond doing good ministry to active participation in God’s hope for all to experience the abundant life revealed in Jesus Christ.
Lovett H. Weems, Jr., is professor of church leadership and director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary and co-author with Tom Berlin of Bearing Fruit: Ministry with Real Results (Abingdon, 2011).
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Apply Now for Doctor of Ministry in Church Leadership at WesleyWesley Theological Seminary and the Lewis Center together offer a Doctor of Ministry in Church Leadership Excellence. With this track, clergy will receive the enhanced knowledge, skills, and motivation to increase congregational and denominational service, vitality, and growth. The next cohort begins in May 2017 in Washington, DC. Applications are due February 15.Learn more and apply today.
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Editors: Dr. Ann A. Michel and Dr. Lovett H. Weems, Jr.
Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
Connect with the Lewis Center:
Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Wesley Theological Seminary
4500 Massachusetts Avenue NorthWest
Washington, D.C. 20016, United States
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Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary
Connect with the Lewis Center:
Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Wesley Theological Seminary
4500 Massachusetts Avenue NorthWest
Washington, D.C. 20016, United States
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