Volunteer Culture: How to Lead a Ladder-Climber
This is the third in a four-part series on the types of people we find on our volunteer teams. Missed the first part? Get started here.
Defining the Ladder-Climber
In the first post of this series, I defined Ladder-Climbers as the people who are motivated not just by the work of the ministry, but by leading in the ministry. They may get bored quickly by just performing tasks, but they get endless energy from leading people.
Now, I feel that this category deserves a caveat. I am using the term Ladder-Climber in the most charitable sense. I’m not talking about people who are ambitious for ambition’s sake. I’m not referring to those who simply want power or authority. We must remember that there will always be people who want to hold a title before they’re willing to hold a towel. (We also have to root out that mindset and eliminate it from our own souls.) For those, we want to disciple them, lead them in humility, and help them pursue humility…and maybe even obscurity…for a time.
(By the way, two great books on this topic are Rescuing Ambition by Dave Harvey and The Way of the Dragon or The Way of the Lamb by Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel (see the “Top Ten Quotes” post here). If you struggle with humility for yourself or with those you lead, these are gold.)
But back to the charitable side of the Ladder-Climber: let’s say you have a volunteer who has a healthy sense of humility and ambition but is also clear-eyed on how they’re wired. How can we motivate them, empower them, and equip them?
Motivating the Ladder-Climber
I’ve found that one of the quickest paths to motivation is to ask good questions and then sit back and listen. The reality is, Ladder-Climbers tend to already be motivated. They’re not necessarily waiting on you to motivate them. They have a restlessness in their soul that makes them keep asking the What if…? questions of life.
So grab a cup of coffee and pull up a chair. Ask them what excites them about the overall ministry where they’re currently serving. Ask if they see areas where improvement is needed. Ask them if they had a blank sheet of paper and unlimited time, what would their own service look like in the local church? And then listen. You’ll discover what motivation already lurks deep within, and it’ll give you the answers you need for the next step.
Empowering the Ladder-Climber
Not all Ladder-Climbers will wait on you for permission to move up. If they view you as a babysitter who isn’t leading them well (or worse – if they see you as an inconsistent leader), they might start looking for other places to serve.
So get out in front of them. Armed with the answers they gave you in the exercise above, give them additional responsibilities (don’t forget to toss in the authority to go with it). Begin to replace parts of your role with parts of theirs, and then get out of the way and let them lead.
Equipping the Ladder-Climber
This has the potential to be some of the highest return-on-investment you’ll see in your ministry. I love holding a crown above the Ladder-Climber’s head and inviting them to grow into it. You do this in two ways (but can do ’em both at the same time): investment of time and investment of resources.
Good books and great conversations can do wonders to elevate the Ladder-Climber’s sense of purpose and certainty in the role. Over the years we’ve used smaller gatherings like the Guest Services Collective or the High-Capacity Volunteer Cohort in order to get potential leaders around the table, talking about the things that matter (or should matter) to them. Out of these gatherings, we’ve seen good leaders become great leaders, and often see Ladder-Climbers rise into even higher levels of leadership.
Next up in the series: how to motivate, empower, and equip the Lifer.
