Recruiting Volunteers

I read an article by Nelson Searcy and the following is a mix of that article and my own comments...As you dream big dreams, cast big visions and strive for big goals, it becomes necessary to have others join you. Smart leaders invite others to join them by following these five steps: invest, engage, invite, empower, and insure.

The consequences of not asking for help, far outweigh the risk of rejection. Your rejection rate can be reduced by following this process of invitation:

1. Invest: those you have invested in are the ones most likely to join you in achieving your goals.

• Many people have faced rejection because they invited before they invested.
• If you are not consciously investing in people around you today, you will have difficulty finding people to join you tomorrow.
• Make sure you invest in someone relationally (i.e. take them out to eat or have them over, spend six weeks building relationship) before you ask them to join your cause

2. Engage: when looking for someone to join you in a project, ask "Does what I'm doing engage this person on an emotional level?"

• An invitation that ignites the passions of the other person is sure to be accepted.
• Regardless of what we’re asking a person to help with specifically, we are ultimately asking them to help us fulfill our mission of leading people to become mature followers of Jesus. Not everyone will get excited over being asked to help with set up, tear down, nursery, etc. but everyone should be able to get excited that ultimately they are helping others come to faith in Jesus. And THAT is what we need to sell people on.

3. Invite: share your vision, explain what part the person will play in that vision, and ask for a specific commitment for a specific period of time

• General invitations give mediocre results
• You must know what you want, believe it is worthy, believe you can get it, be passionate about it, and be perceived as determined to get it
• After doing the first two steps, don’t fail to actually ASK

4. Empower: once an invitation has been accepted you must empower the person to do his/her part

• You must clearly define what a “win” is for the new recruit and then let them run with it
• The “win” should be written out and clearly explained

5. Insure: do not relinquish the right to follow up with your new recruit

• Remember, that which gets measured gets done
• Remember, people do what you inspect, not what you expect
• You must follow up to insure that the desired results are being achieved
• You must give feedback and instruction when desired results are not being achieved

Your ability to successfully invite others to join you may be the biggest measure of your leadership potential. Choosing to go it alone is a certain formula for failure, but partnering together with like-minded people brings success.