The lifeblood of every technical ministry is the volunteers. Even churches with multi-million dollar budgets rely heavily on their volunteer base. From time to time we will lose volunteers. That's all part of ministry. Maybe they will feel called to a new area of ministry, maybe they have some family obligations, or perhaps they just need some time off.
While you can't prevent volunteers from leaving, there are certain situations that will drive them away unnecessarily. Volunteering should be a rewarding experience, after all this person is donating his/her time and energy to serve the mission of your church.
Here are some tips to help you to keep as many volunteers as possible:
1. Communicate Your Expectations
There is nothing more frustrating than giving your time and energy to a cause but not having a clue about what you are supposed to be doing. Make sure that your volunteers know what is expected of them and they are trained in how to perform those tasks. If you make any equipment changes or updates, make sure you communicate that to your volunteers. For example, I recently had someone run some software updates for one of our systems, but he forgot to let the volunteers know about the changes. Needless to say, they weren't very happy.
2. Don't Over-Schedule Volunteers
It is a good idea to regularly schedule time off for all of your volunteers. Everyone has a different commitment level and it can be easy to overwork a particularly eager volunteer. Even if you are desperate for the help, try to allow them to have a week off here and there. We have probably all seen the volunteer who seems happy serving all them time, and then one day they burn out and totally walk away. We need to help create a ministry that is sustainable not just for the church but also for the volunteer.
3. Have their Back
If you're a technical director, you are in charge and you need to have the backs of your volunteers. If something goes wrong while they are operating the equipment you can certainly talk to them to find out what happened and offer correction if needed, but don't ever throw them under the bus. If someone asks you what happened, just take the blame for it. Don't pass that along to your volunteers. We all make mistakes, but do everything in your power to lessen the impact that this will have on the volunteer. They probably already feel embarrassed, so don't make it any worse. [See related article: The Volunteer's Bodyguard
4. Have Fun
Don't make everything so serious! I'm not sure why we always take things so seriously. It's healthier if we have fun while serving God. There is not need to be somber. Even when things go wrong, just have fun with your volunteers. From time to time, have a volunteer get-together. Do something fun like have a picnic or going to a movie. This will help your volunteers know that you care about them and not just about the skills they bring to the table.
5. Thank Them
You'd be surprised how far those two little words can go...”Thank you.” Offer genuine thanks to your volunteers on a regular basis. Let them know that what they do really matters to you, to your church, and to the Kingdom of God. Every few months grab some funny thank you cards and send them out to your volunteers and if the budget allows for it throw in a Starbucks gift card.
Obviously you can't guarantee that you will be able to keep all of your volunteers, but these ideas will certainly help to retain as many as possible and make it an enjoyable experience for them.
(See related article: Top 5 steps to help ease the transition when you lose a key team member. )
