I’m sure you’ve heard of the scientific studies on “The Power of Positivity.” Are you cringing just a little just reading that phrase? It probably calls to mind the image of a motivational speaker or the cover of a self-help book. But I challenge you to keep reading. Positive thinking really is a powerful tool in your tech arsenal. Positive thinking is a surprisingly important part of building a healthy volunteer culture.
Positive Thinking: Expect Great Things from Your Volunteers and Believe that They are Capable
If you expect great things from your volunteers and they know you believe in them, you will get great things. Raise the level of your expectations and you will get better results. If you’re settling for mediocre you will always get mediocre (or worse) and you’ll never get great.
Yes … for some volunteers “great things” might mean simply showing up on time and remembering to wear shoes. That’s still a win.
It will, obviously, take more than just positive thinking to raise the quality of a team’s work. It will take patience, loads of communication, and training. Make sure you can clearly articulate your goals and then start training your team for a new normal. For instance, if transitions between worship and the message have been a disaster, paint a picture for your team explaining what you want to see. Map out exactly what you’d like each person to do (even if it’s more complicated than they’ve ever successfully executed before) and help them see what a big difference their efforts will provide. Be ready to provide training and support. It won’t happen immediately, but your team will get there.
The last part of my statement, “believe in them,” is important. Set them up for success by giving them training. If a volunteer is serving in the wrong spot, find them a different volunteer position. Communicate what you want to see. But at some point, they will need to try it on their own. They will need to try and fly (so to speak). And they need to know that you think they can do it. Sometimes this means believing in them as people more than believing in their skills. There’s a difference. Believing in them as people ties into remembering that we are all children of God and we all have value and worth.
Positive Thinking: Be an Encourager and a Cheerleader for Your Team
The TV show “Brain Games” has an episode on positive thinking, and in that episode they have volunteers shooting baskets from a free-throw line. They first had all of their volunteers make 10 attempts at a basket. They then took all of the folks who missed every single shot, put a blindfold on them so they couldn’t see, and had them try again. The catch? This time they had onlookers who cheered them on. In reality, they missed every shot with the blindfolds on BUT they believed they made the baskets. When they were asked to try more free-throws without a blindfold, they were all smiles (here’s the BIG DEAL) and this time they actually successfully sank free-throws. For some of the participants they were now getting 40%-50% of the shots when before the cheering section they missed every single shot.
Throughout the Bible we are called to be encouragers.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up…”
Catch your team when they’re doing good. Tell them when you like their work. Be specific in your praise so you don’t sound insincere. You will still have training to do and issues to address because, hey, we all make mistakes. Pick your timing when it comes to talking to a volunteer about a problem so that you aren’t critical in the heat of the moment unless you absolutely need to do so.
You’ll find that as you seek the good in your team, there will be more good to see. And the more your team hears you sincerely praising good work, the more your team will seek your praise.
Just One More Thing
You are a buffer between your team and outside criticism. Let’s say your lighting volunteer makes a big mistake one day…maybe he drops all of the lights on stage in the middle of the message and can’t figure out how to bring them back up … and your pastor comes up to you and your team after service demanding to know what happened. You never, ever throw that volunteer under the bus in front of the team. Don’t allow outsiders to scold or criticize one of your volunteers. Apologize to the pastor for your team’s mistake. You can then pull the lighting volunteer aside to set expectations and figure out what training is needed (or if a new volunteer position should be considered). You can explain what happened to the pastor privately. Your team needs to know that you have their back.
If you want a healthy team, “Be somebody who makes everybody feel like a somebody.” Be their cheerleader. Be their encourager.
Positive thinking is a little change in how you look at the world. But it has the potential for huge impact.
