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Managing Online Volunteers – Part 1 – Recognize the Undertapped Resource

Posted by dewde on Oct 29, 2009

valuableresource

This is a guest post by Chris Ames

One of the advantages of an online ministry is the inherent asynchronous nature within which it executes. Historically, if you wanted to get something accomplished in a church or non-profit the expected modus operandi would be for the team to be centrally located (or at least available) during a specified block of time on a typical work day to collaborate synchronously with other living, breathing human beings.

And while some of this also translates into the world of online ministry, a good bit does not. I want to focus on that for a moment because it is a game-changer.

Ready to recognize? Read more after the jump.

The Good Bit That Does Not

Instead of a team of physical volunteers changing diapers and nursing a serious goldfish fetish among toddlers from 8-11am on a Sunday morning, online volunteers can often do the rewarding work of ministry at their leisure. They spend that same few hours per week serving others, they just do it in smaller, more convenient chunks. By “more convenient” I mean “more convenient for the volunteer.”

For example, as an online volunteer I can squeeze in twenty minutes before work on Tuesday responding to ministry-related emails from my home. I can monitor and respond to some wall posts on the Facebook Causes or Fan page over my lunch break as I eat at my desk. I can research content for a blog post on my BlackBerry or iPhone while I sit in the waiting room at the dentist. I can catch up on new forum threads and write a few replies while I’m still riding the emotional high that follows another riveting episode of So You Think You Can Dance.

My point is, the nature of most online ministries lends itself to being accomplished within the cracks of everyday life.

Go Go Gadget Volunteer Base!

This knowledge considerably widens the volunteer pool. A massive mob of volunteers exists for you to leverage, if you know how. The first step, of course, is to find them. John wrote about this last week in the article Finding the Right Volunteers for Online Ministry.

But what comes next?

As you may have already assumed, or experienced directly, the convenience afforded by the online ecosystem also comes with a cost. And if, as an online ministry leader, you don’t manage your volunteer staff well… the advantages quickly become disadvantages and work against you.

So What’s Next?

This is the first in a series of articles to help you, the online ministry leader, leverage online volunteers to build and maintain momentum for your ministry or non-profit.

The first step is to recognize that they exist. They are out there, they have the time, and they really do want to help. You’ve started off on the right foot by enlisting the help of the volunteers that are enthusiastic about your cause. But that is just the beginning.

In the end it will be up to you to empower them, and not stand in their way.

Stay tuned.

[Image from Rogile]

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dewde

I'm Chris Ames and I write software for a living. This means I get paid to write words for computers, not people. It can be a bit tedious at times, so I've taken up blogging in order to offset the social deficit. I suppose it's worth noting that I'm living proof Jesus has converted at least one Atheist in a Mega-church environment. So yeah, millions of dollars well spent, Andy. You tricked one of us. Good show.

Leave a Reply

12 Responses to “Managing Online Volunteers – Part 1 – Recognize the Undertapped Resource”

  1. Scott Magdalein
    Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 1:56 pm

    You know where I stand on this, bro. We're making a heavy move toward finding passionate people that want to help with LifeChurch.tv's Digital Missions initiative, in everything from supporting the Church Online experiences to helping with web/software development. Looking forward to the rest of this series.

    Reply
  2. @purecommunity
    Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 2:12 pm

    Great point about ministry within the cracks of everyday life. I have found this to be true of our online ministry. I'm also looking forward to the rest of the series. I hope you elaborate on how the advantages quickly become disadvantages as you mention.

    Reply
    • dewde
      Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 4:11 pm

      LOL dude. Our work with Pure Community is what generated this post! I'm relying heavily on all the stuff we developed for our sites. You could have totally helped me write this post. Or written a better one.

      peace | dewde

      Reply
  3. Tom
    Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 2:51 pm

    "And if, as an online ministry leader, you don’t manage your volunteer staff well… the advantages quickly become disadvantages and work against you."

    Assuming volunteering is defined as the participating in something out of intrinsic motivation for the reward of knowing you're contributing to something worthwhile, I rarely – if ever – have considered volunteers as people needing to be managed.

    Don't read me wrong: I do agree that most teams need *some* form of leadership. But leading volunteers – in the online space, no less – does feel counter-intuitive to me.

    Similar to @purecommunity, I'm eager to see where you take this. So bring it.

    Reply
    • dewde
      Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 4:10 pm

      Excellent points, Tom! Pressure is on…

      peace | dewde

      Reply
    • Adam_S
      Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 5:03 pm

      I understand what you are saying, but there are gatekeepers in any organization and those gatekeepers can choose to work with you, ignore you or active work against you. I have experienced all three and with online experiences it is even easier to walk away and work with someone else.

      Reply
      • Tom
        Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 5:45 pm

        Cool stuff. I've personally not really worked in ministry beyond serving on staff during summer camps back in high school and college.

        I am becoming increasingly interested in the intersection of the web and the church, so I'm digging hearing everyone's (especially though that have been directly involved) thoughts, opinions, and experienced.

        Reply
  4. mtdewkids
    Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 3:41 pm

    This is a great post and I can't wait to see where you go with the series. Without debating the difference between "managing" and "leading", I think that leadership for volunteers in the online space is crucial (just as it is in the offline church space).

    I worked full time at a church for 9 years with responsibility for staff and volunteers. Now that I've been employed outside the church for a few years, I reflect on what I did well and could have done better. So often, I see that churches have "slots" for their volunteers to fill. There are X number of slots for volunteers in the nursery, X number of slots for people to work in the parking lot, etc. This is fine and good and necessary, but the tag line for this post is "recognize the undertapped resource".

    There's lots of great people at our churches (online and off) that could be great contributing volunteers, but they may not fit into one of the "slots" on our clipboard. Perhaps because of their schedule or other life factors or perhaps because all our "slots" are full right now, so they go on our "waiting list".

    To do what is described in this post and create opportunities for volunteers to contribute in incremental ways at their convenience, I think, requires a higher level of leadership from the church staff or volunteer team leader. It is much easier to fill "slots" and check boxes on a list than it is to think creatively about harnessing a much more organic volunteer effort.

    When I was on church staff, I was hired because I was a good "doer". I could accomplish the task and complete projects. I was not hired because I was a great leader. However, a very important part of the job becomes leadership, especially as we talk about recognizing the undertapped volunteer resources.

    Anything that helps churches to provide more volunteer opportunities that are purposeful and enable more people to contribute is great in my opinion. This is a great post and great conversation. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series!

    Reply
    • dewde
      Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 4:13 pm

      I was totally using the words manager and leader interchangeably. You got me. Bad form on my end. I'll try to delineate better in the future articles. Thanks for pointing that out!

      peace | dewde

      Reply
  5. Kyle Reed
    Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 5:23 pm

    This is a good stuff, and I think you are exactly right, can be a game changer in the way we volunteer our time at church. Ministry happens in the cracks of life, not at appointed meeting times that have been scheduled for a week. I love the opportunity to serve at any time needed and that I can be at home, on the road, or at church to do this.
    If only churches started to except the online community.

    Reply

  1. Tweets that mention Managing Online Volunteers – Part 1 – Recognize the Undertapped Resource - ChurchCrunch -- Topsy.com

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by John Saddington and Chris, Kristen Etzel. Kristen Etzel said: Managing Online Volunteers – Part 1 – Recognize the Undertapped Resource http://bit.ly/2k2sw0 – awesome article, @dewde! [...]

  2. Managing Online Volunteers – Part 2 – Immediate Termination - ChurchCrunch

    [...] identified the undertapped resource of the online volunteer, and you’re ready to make it official with the right people for the job. The first thing I [...]