While working with volunteers I’m learning there are better ways to recruit them to commit to a big ask.

A lot of times, leaders in volunteer organizations will make big asks of their volunteers, requesting them to give up valuable time away from their families and personal lives.

In doing so, most leaders make the mistake of always making requests of their volunteers/employees without first painting the picture of why they are being asked to do something.

This evening I was typing an email out to our Saturday night volunteers who will be serving in a couple of weeks. I could have started the email out:

We need to push our rehearsal times up from 2:30pm to 2p for our band. We will also move up our Production Run Through to 3:45pm so we can execute every element in it’s entirety.

While this would have been effective in communicating what changes are taking place, there is still an unanswered question in the minds of the volunteers as to why these adjustments that are costing them more of their time are being made.

The “Why” of what we do is just as, if not more, important than the “What.” Whenever we can remind our volunteers why we do things, we inject the DNA of the organization into them and inspire them to make the commitment to give and sacrifice more time and talent knowing that the end result will produce a shared valued result.

In the email I sent to our team, I put the “why” before the “what” and thanked them for being a part of something special.

We will have a special service focussed on prayer for Sat. 10/24. We are praying that this is a special service for our Westside community and I’m so excited that you will be a part of making this such a special night.

In order to make sure that we do everything we can to prepare for the elements that will be involved in the service we are going to make the following rehearsal and Run Through Scheduling adjustments.

::1 Band Rehearsal will start at 2:00pm

::2 FULL Run Through will start at 3:45pm. This will allow us to rehearse every element in its entirety.

If you have any questions please email your team leader.

Thank you for all your prayers and efforts in making this weekend great!


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