PastorHacks

What to do with a frustrated volunteer...

More Than Dodgeball has this post on What to do with a frustrated volunteer... Good stuff.

"Volunteers are as different as two sides of a coin. Some are great…actually if we’re honest; some are more qualified to be the point person than we are! There are also volunteers whom we dream of graduating along with their senior; we wake up with tears in our eyes because it’ll be the greatest “dream come true” moment ever. With that in mind, there will be times in ministry when those who also feel called to ministry (volunteers) don’t quite see eye-to-eye with you. Regardless of what the issue is, it’s important to remember teamwork and Colossians 3:15b, “since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”
Here are 5 ideas to help you AND your volunteer move forward and hopefully closer.
1. Listen to them. Many times the volunteer just wants to be heard. They feel called to ministry. They feel they’re a member of the ministry team and simply want to share their ideas with you. Hopefully with a team of volunteers you’re not the only one God is speaking to!
(A little aside: Avoid email. It’s so difficult to read tone, communicate passion…and…LISTEN through email. There’s nothing like a face-to-face. This always communicates commitment, care, and teamwork.)...

Read the rest here

Do you allow multi-tasking at staff meetings?

WHY???

I'm seriously considering a no-multitasking rule at staff meetings. And if I have to make staff meetings pen and paper only to do it, I just may.

Why?

This is from Tim Ferris' blog. Josh Waitzkin (the subject of the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer) is describing a trip back to hear the last lecture of a favorite college professor...

"A few weeks ago, I returned to the classroom of Dennis Dalton, the most important college professor of my life. From the back of an amphitheater seating several hundred students, I realized how much things had evolved at Columbia and Barnard. The lecture hall was now equipped with a wireless sound system, webcams, video projectors, wireless internet. Students were using computers to record the lecture and to take notes. Heads were buried in screens, the tap tap of hundreds of keyboards like rain on the roof.

On this afternoon, April 16, 2008, Dalton was describing the satyagraha of Mahatma Gandhi, building the discussion around the Amritsar massacre in 1919, when British colonial soldiers opened fire on 10,000 unarmed Indian men, women and children trapped in Jallianwala Bagh Garden. For 39 years, Professor Dalton has been inspiring Columbia and Barnard students with his two semester political theory series that introduces undergrads to the ideas of Gandhi, Thoreau, Mill, Malcolm X, King, Plato, Lao Tzu. His lectures are about themes, connections between disparate minds, the powerful role of the individual in shaping our world.

Dalton is a life changer, and this was one of his last lectures before retirement.

Over the course of a riveting 75-minute discussion of the birth of Gandhian non-violent activism, I found myself becoming increasingly distressed as I watched students cruising Facebook, checking out the NY Times, editing photo collections, texting, reading People Magazine, shopping for jeans, dresses, sweaters, and shoes on Ebay, Urban Outfitters and J. Crew, reorganizing their social calendars, emailing on Gmail and AOL, playing solitaire, doing homework for other classes, chatting on AIM, and buying tickets on Expedia (I made a list because of my disbelief). From my perspective in the back of the room, while Dalton vividly described desperate Indian mothers throwing their children into a deep well to escape the barrage of bullets, I noticed that a girl in front of me was putting her credit card information into Urban Outfitters.com. She had finally found her shoes!"

If you think people couldn't possibly listen and learn to a college professor under those circumstances, why would your staff meeting be any different?

Detention...

That's what I felt like I deserved Wednesday.

I, Chip, Dustin and Chris went to a church planters' lunch... actually, we "hosted" it at the Lucky Lab where we meet on Sundays. About 25-30 local church planters came, I got a few minutes to talk a little bit about what we're doing at evergreen, we got to eat together, meet some folks, and hear from two experienced church planters on "creative staffing."

They had some really good ideas, and I was taking notes... but I just need to learn not to sit next to Dustin. There's something in either him or me that makes it a practical impossibility for me to not give him a hard time.

So- as they were talking about working with staff who have raised support to work with your community (as Dustin has), I was taking notes on my laptop.
They made the point that just because someone comes and offers to work for your community and even brings along support they have raised, doesn't mean you shouldn't do due diligence on that person, just as you would with any other potential "hire."
Good thinking. So I type in big letters
Do background check on Dustin...

Of course, Dustin is reading this over my shoulder.

The next point they made was that when folks are being paid through support (rather than directly from your community), in their words, "Guaranteed" there is going to be some level of conflict with that person.
Hmmm... I thought. So I typed (again, BIG letters)

Throw the first punch with Dustin

Of course, when there is conflict, after trying and trying to work it out, sometimes you just have to ask whether that person is really a good fit for working with you and your community.

Reevaluate Dustin

And sometimes, after that re-evaulation, you just need to face facts- it's not working out.

Fire Dustin

At this point, Dustin and I are laughing so hard, I'm worried about distracting others and actually getting called out from the front.
We were dying.

I also felt badly, though, about giving D-Ball such a hard time...
So when the suggestion was made that we need to be sure we are taking care of our staff, I personalized it with Coach and care for Dustin

We ended with the suggestion that we know each staff person's love language and try to encourage them thusly.
Note to self:
Touch Dustin

Like I say, good material. I just felt kind of bad for having a little too much fun while hearing it.

Thanks, Dustin, for letting me give you such a hard time.
By the way, I think we're going to have to let you go.
Sorry.