Orange ’11 Breakout: How to Motivate your Leaders

The 9:30 session I went to was the “How to Motivate your Leaders” by Kendra Fleming. She is the North Point Children’s Ministry Director.

This was a fascinating workshop. As I am the new Family Minister at New Life, I am learning so much about Children’s Ministry (I have a youth ministry background). So to hear Kendra speak and how passionate she was about this was a real treat. Here are my notes from her workshop.

At North Point, they mobilize and give a lot of power to volunteers. Every Children’s Ministry staff is in the thick of it with the volunteers. They are involved in the ministry, they don’t just lead and look at the volunteers doing it.

It was encouraging to see that they struggle with volunteers as much as any other church does.

She said that there are 2 Parts to serving

1. Something motivates volunteers to serve to start with.
2. Something that motivates them to stick for the long haul

Everyone is motivated differently. As Children’s Ministry leaders we have to find the way each volunteer is motivated.

There are 7 Laws of Attraction:

Law 1: We are initially attracted to things that are visually appealing

• It’s shallow approach, but we like what we see and like how things look
• Visual appeal can be achieved many ways to attract people to your environments (what is your branding, how is your logo, is it clean, neat). When they serve in a place that is visually appealing the volunteer leaders share it with pride
• Paint a picture of what should be and could be. Cast an appealing vision to the volunteer. (Book recommendation by Kendra: “Making Vision Stick”). Our vision should include a solution to a problem that cannot go unsolved. A compelling reason why our solution will work. A specific explanation of how they can be part of this solution

If this isn’t something you are good at, find someone who is. Or find a different way to communicated it.

Law 2: We are naturally attracted to excellence

• No one wants to pour time, energy and talents into something that is mediocre
• Many times when it comes to being a part of a winning organization, people will do whatever is needed just to be on the team.

If it is not excellent, revamp it or kill it! Be committed to progressive excellence!

Determine what is excellent for you. It is determined by budget, time, space, talent, volunteer help. Put your time and energy into what you deem excellent.

Law 3: We are increasingly attracted to things that are celebrated!

• Celebration is a huge motivating factor in their program. It’s not manipulative but it is a genuine celebration to what is happening.
• The more something is celebrated, the more valuable it is perceived to be.
• The more valuable it is perceived to be, the more people are attracted to it
• 3 intangible benefits of celebrating wins: 1. It refocuses everyone on what a win looks like. 2. It refuels those who are weary. 3. It reenergizes individuals to tell others about what they’re involved in.

Get away with your team and decide in advance how you will celebrate. It could be personal stationary or something else. Whatever it is, celebrate and appreciate them. “The words of a leader has the most impact”.

Celebrate wins often! It is a variety of many different things.

Law 4: We are relationally attracted to dynamic communities

• Dynamic leaders are attracted by dynamic leadership communities
• We often ask ourselves, “Is what’s happening among our team worth exporting?”
• An equally important question is, “Do people want to experience what we are experiencing among our team?”

Prioritize growing community among leaders. They are drawn to a place where they fell valued and invested into.

Law 5: We are selfishly attracted to things that involve personal benefit

• The most commonly asked questions when evaluating a new opportunity is, “what’s in it for me?”
• This is a great question to ask as a team. If people choose to volunteer their time with us, what’s in it for them?
• In every volunteer opportunity, there is a way to add value for the people you are trying to attract to your team.
• Our job is to help people connect their investment of time, effort and energy to that thing of real value that they will receive in return.

People want connections and friendship. That is motivating

Develop a system to reward your volunteers. Reward your teen leaders and appreciate what they have done for you.

Law 6: We are helplessly attracted to things that are fun

• We say that fun is one of our unofficial core values. Excellence, creativity, alignment, and strategy are all important, but if there’s no fun, it’s no fun. And eventually, where there’s no fun, there’s no one.
• As a general rule of thumb, if you’re not having much fun leading and creating an environment, the people serving with you aren’t having much fun either.

Create margin for fun

Law 7: We are ultimately attracted to leaders and organizations with integrity.

• No one expects perfection, but what he or she does expect is integrity. Integrity is a commendable effort on our parts to maintain alignment btw our convictions and our actions.
• When volunteers realize that they are more committed to the mission, strategy or values of the organization than your staff team, they will soon be out the door.

Model your values

Some questions you can ask and discuss with your team:

1. Which of these laws are you breaking yourself against?
2. Which of these laws could you leverage more effectively?

Got a thought on any of this? TAKE A MINUTE and share your thoughts, questions, comments or concerns.