Q&A: How Do I Invest in Leaders with Limited Availability?
Q:
Do you have any best practices for investing in and coaching leaders who have limited availability during the week?
[Question submitted during a recent Confab gathering]
A:
Because many church leaders are volunteers, it stands to reason that we are always going to compete against real-world jobs, parenting, hobbies, and other commitments.
Still, that doesn’t mean that investing, coaching, and equipping is off the table. It simply means that we need to get creative on exactly how we do it.
Here are six thoughts on investing in leaders when their time is limited:
1. Don’t assume investment as a part of their job description.
When on-boarding a new leader (or when sitting down with an existing leader for an annual review) make sure they know that ongoing learning is part and parcel of what they’re signing on for. As long as your “ask” is reasonable, there shouldn’t be pushback. But neither should you suddenly start dumping equipping opportunities on them if they are more requirements than opportunities.
[Related post: “I Didn’t Sign Up For This.”]
2. Know their preferred learning style.
Some leaders would be happy to read a book. Others might want a video or a podcast. While you can’t always cater to every leader’s learning whim, you should attempt to meet them where they are when it’s reasonable to do so.
[Related post: What’s Your Preferred Communication Gateway?]
3. Make your equipping predictable.
If you are going to send a Thursday email, make sure it happens on Thursday. If you do a first-of-the-month video training, make sure you hit the first of the month. Don’t keep your team guessing on when you’re going to show up to their inbox or text thread. Be the one constant thing in a world of unpredictability.
4. Don’t discount the “inconvenient” times.
I’ve told you before that a couple of our most successful equipping tools (our Guest Services Collective and High-Capacity Volunteer Cohort) happen at ungodly early-morning times of 6:45 and 6:30, respectively. Do we lose some folks because of the times? Yes. But we also poll the volunteers who have committed to that months-long training, and while they’ll agree it’s convenient, they tell us there are far fewer conflicts than doing it at night or on the weekends.
5. Know your non-negotiable equipping times and terms.
If you have an annual volunteer training weekend that every single team member has to commit to, say that up front. If you want all of your volunteer leads to meet you for breakfast quarterly, let them know when they sign on. There’s nothing wrong with having a standard, and asking someone not to lead until they can meet that standard. However, it’s unfair to the entire team if you make allowances at every turn.
6. Provide a structure for built-in accountability.
Training and equipping does no one any good if no one is taking advantage of the training and equipping, so figure out a way to know it’s happening. If you’re sharing a podcast, ask your leaders to answer one question about the content. If you’re sending an email, give them a chance to interact with one another to continue the learning. And if an equipping tool is simply not being used, figure out how to redeem it or kill it. There’s no reason to waste your time on a “helpful tool” that’s not helping anyone.
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