Making Team into a family

[churchtech007]

I'm sure this has been discussed before but after looking through 10 pages of search results I got bored.

I read this blog a few weeks ago (although I can't find it now to link to it) that basically said this, "without investing in volunteers and making feel like they belong as part of a group/family you won't keep them long term".

So, lately my thought process has been....
1. Is it true that without a sense of belonging/family people won't stay long term?
2. If that's true how do we create that?

Don't get me wrong, we have a good team of volunteers, about 8 per service, about 30 total. My problem is I feel like they show up at the scheduled time (for the most part) do their job and leave. No sense of this team being a family. I do my best to be involved in their lives but I see little interaction between them.

Is this important or am I reading too much into this?
If it's important how do we create that?

Jonathan

[Esoteric]

Food. Really. That is the best solution. Nothing builds teamwork and fellowship like food.

Mike

[Paris MkVI]

Mike isn't kidding. There's some humor in that statement, yes - but it is the thing that can bring them all to one place.

Perhaps you might consider overloading your house for a day and having a cookout. Invite the entire team, spouses and kids. Let them know it is a "thank you" event for their faithfulness, excellence and reliability. Whether they can come or not, they will hear the message loud and clear - you see their work, you admire their work ethic, you value them as brothers/sisters in Christ.

When they all come together, they will start to take care of the connecting on their own. As the leader, you just keep the ball in bounds!

Ultimately God made us with two driving forces built into us - we want to be loved (so we will connect to Him) and we want to do something that really matters with our one and only life (His plan and purpose for us). We all hunger to be a part of something greater than ourselves.

In your celebration with them, remind them of how they are not sound techs, camera operators, graphics operators or lighting techs - they are Kingdom Builders! Know any stories of comments where people have connected to your church in part because of media? Let them know!

[tdangelo]

Another comment I would make is that volunteers tend to stay committed to projects that they have ownership in. By ownership I do not mean competing visions, but rather the heart felt belief that their current input and future dreams for the media ministry matter.

[jonack]

I echo everyone's responses and would like to add my own.

1. You have to be charged up about the ministry. If you are dragging on a Sunday morning, then they will respond to that and be dragging. I'm not talking about plastic face excitement and always jumping and laughing, but an honest excitement about what God can do through them.

2. I make sure to use words like: us, we, you and I, when you are serving the church, etc. This helps to reinforce the idea that they are "unpaid" staff.

3. I also think constructive criticism in a one on one setting tells volunteers that they aren't just filling a seat, but that you care about how they are serving. Build it into the culture of your team. Talk about raising the bar, making it smoother, etc. Truthful and honest feedback about what they are doing, and not who they are is what I mean. Make sure to tell them that you want the same back, one on one, between or after services (NEVER during). This helps to get that buy in that others were talking about.

4. Tons of food, spend $20 a weekend for fresh fruit, bagels, GOOD coffee, a hot egg thingy. The fastest way to someone's heart is through their stomach!

[grinner]

Originally Posted by churchtech007

1. Is it true that without a sense of belonging/family people won't stay long term?
2. If that's true how do we create that?

It's absolutely true that people will be temporary if you invite them to be. All ya gotta do to do that is not treat em right.
How do ya do that? Say thank you, tell em great job, and pay them what they are worth.

[Gracetech]

Us techies are for the most part loaners so it's always hard to "start" a family with a bunch of loaners. This is just a rule of thumb and doesn't mean you won't find the occasional social butterfly that enjoys tech.

You have to think about most people that chose to do tech. Most of them are shy and don't like the limelight cast on them so they do something that is in the background. Does this mean we don't need praise? No this means we just don't need praise of 100 people just praise from our peers. I've tried over the years to tighten up the techies and met considerable resistance. Not saying that i haven't really connected with the techies i have worked with it's just that i could not get the techies to connect with each other outside of their duties.

It's my opinion that this largely has to do with the personalities of the techies but also to a degree of the age difference. With youth groups i generally have better success with forming bonds since the techies have more in common. In "Big Church" it's a bit harder since i deal with people that can have 35+ years difference in age. Hopefully an ephiphony will befall me and i will become the wiser. Until the i'll just keep love'n em.

crt

BTW here are a few articles for you...
http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/b...ch_sound_team/
http://churchproduction.com/go.php/blog_entry/11552

[cw4u]

Chad's comments are right on.

For the past two years, I've moved from working with our student ministry to working primarily in our broadcast team. The environment is totally different. Most people on the broadcast team show up on Sunday's and come back the next one. Very rarely do we get together as a whole. Usually just some of the key leaders and myself will go eat a meal together. I'm not saying this is bad...it's just a very unique environment because you have people that range in age from 15-65.

My experience in student led tech teams is that the family element is more or less crucial to it's success. When I was leading in our student ministry, I tried to at least personally contact them in some way every from Wednesday to Wednesday.

Our student tech team and praise band also have activities that they go do every month or so. I think that also helps create a bond on both sides of the aisle so that each team knows the difficulties others are going through in their respective ministry.

When I left our student ministry to work in the broadcast team, I hated leaving what I considered to be my other "family". I really grew attached to my crew that year. Working two services every single Wednesday night allows you to get to know people really well.

Also, I wasn't there to just lead tech. I helped people with their homework, ACT/SAT prep, and just really enjoyed getting to know them beyond their job description at church.

In short, I learned that year that loving on people and getting to know them really helps them to feel appreciated and respected..and that as a leader, you're not just their to ensure they perform their peak with whatever piece of technology is in their hands. It's a well rounded relationship.

[WORDpictures]

Do tech member's family feel welcome into the tech area too or does it have an off-limits feel? The size of church & location of the tech areas are likely a factor for this. The occasional presence of family members who drop by to say "hi" helps to encourage getting to know more about each other & often the spouse may be the talker of the family to stimulate more conversation. One team I worked with would invite spouses to quarterly luncheons, though I don't recall much participation - just because they didn't know anyone. The luncheon meetings did help team members get to know each other better probably because the meetings invited interaction on a topic of discussion instead of the casual chit-chat that was typical of pre-worship service interaction.