This past spring, Leadership Journal shared the following six steps and five quotes by volunteer management expert Don Simmons on equipping volunteers:
- Training. “If it is important enough to do, it’s important enough to train volunteers in how to do it!”
- Affirmation. “We often forget that people need to know that they matter more than what they do.”
- Feedback. “Authentic, love-based feedback does much to develop servants into strong leaders.”
- Evaluation.
- Recognition. “Recognition acknowledges people for what they do.”
- Reflection. “What did you learn about yourself? People decide in the reflection whether they will do this again and if they will let it change their lives.”
I think this list is great. What strikes me is that there wasn't a comment about evaluation. I would say that evaluating volunteers is probably the most difficult aspect of leading. I would also say that it is one of the most valuable because it helps those who are volunteering to know exactly what we want and what we don't want. Evaluation is part of the feedback and recognition process.
1 comments:
Honest evaluation (including self-evaluation) is critical, diificult, and painful. But there's no getting around it's importance. I think if our congregations (and individual disciples) engaged in more evaluation, we'd be a much stronger Church!
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