Equipped to Serve

Preparing volunteers to serve with confidence & integrity.

Leadership

The Trainer’s Leadership Roles – Part One

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Have you ever thought about the importance of leadership in your role as a trainer?

There are ten leadership responsibilities important for trainers to exhibit throughout any training activity.

Today I will explore the first role and will look at the other roles in the coming weeks.

Role #1: Setting and Maintaining an Agenda, Keeping time, and Controlling Distractions

It is your responsibility as a trainer to set the agenda for learning and to begin and conclude your exercises and activities appropriately.

Set an Agenda:

  • Write and commit to your learning objectives
  • Structure your lesson plans
  • Plan your modes of delivery (lecture, discussion, experiential activities, etc.
  • Practice and time your exercises
  • Evaluate both the training time and your delivery post-training

Consider Time

  • Remember attention spans are relatively short.
  • Shift your methodology at least once every half hour
  • When possible, schedule a skill practice session or experiential exercise as often as time will allow.

Schedule Regular Breaks

If you have a lengthy lecture or discussion planned, schedule frequent short breaks. If you have a balanced presentation of discussion lecture, practice, and experiential exercises, fewer breaks are needed.

Keeping the Training on Track

A good trainer keeps the training on track. Be aware of the following potential external and internal distractions.

  • Seating – Is it comfortable? Arrange seating to minimize outdoor distractions.
  • Lighting – Can everyone see? Is it too dim or too bright?
  • Temperature – Is the room too warm or too cold?
  • Sightline – can everyone easily see you, your charts and, other visual aids?
  • Cell Phones – Ask trainees to turn their phones off or to silent. Ask trainees to step out of the training room if they must take a call.
  • Breaks – Schedule breaks at least once every 90 minutes.

Keeping Yourself on Track

Be careful of the amount of time that stories, jokes, and examples take up during the training. Any stories or examples you want to share must be considered in the overall timing of the training.

Be aware of time when answering questions. If someone asks a question that will be answered later in the training, let them know so you can use the time for relevant questions on the topic at hand.

Keep a constant check on yourself and the timing you have set aside for each element of your training. Set an alarm or timer on your phone.

Check yourself to see if you have accomplished all your objectives. If you strayed, where did you stray? How did you lose track of time? How can you keep yourself accountable the next time you teach this training or section of the training?

It Matters How You Talk About What You Do.

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Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

“There is power in a communication style that values relationship. It matters.”

I worked towards my Master’s degree while I was director of the Pregnancy Center in Baltimore. At the beginning of most classes we sat in a large circle and everyone introduced themselves. Most classmates introduced themselves by sharing where they worked and their job title. During these classes, I would often by-pass that description. I would tell people a little about myself, that I liked art, I had an undergrad degree in fine art and that it had been a while since I was in a higher education environment but I was excited to be in the class.

I often was hard on myself for not just coming out and saying where I worked and what I did. But the experience taught me how to be thoughtful about what I shared about my work and how and when I shared it.

In my particular course of study, there was often a lot of group work. In one particular class the professor broke us into small groups to work on a rather lengthy project. It turned out to be one of those times that the connection of the group went far beyond the class assignment. It was one of the most diverse groups I worked with in Graduate School and one of my fondest memories.

During one of our meetings someone said, “Hey Cyndi, you never said what you did when you introduced yourself.” This happened during one of our first meetings together so we did not know a lot about one another at that time. So I said, “I work with a non-profit agency that helps women faced with the decisions of an unplanned pregnancy.” As you can imagine, there were follow up questions. I answered the questions truthfully but also focused on what our agency does provide.  I told them that we do not provide abortions but would rather offer support and services that could eventually make abortion rare or unnecessary. I tried to use language that explained what we do provide at Pregnancy Centers without using labels or buzz words that might cause my classmates to stereotype me based on their assumptions. I also told them I am often fearful that, based how Pregnancy Centers are sometimes perceived, people will judge me harshly.

I was so nervous sharing this and feared their reaction. Instead, the opposite happened and others in the group began to reveal more of their story. One woman told us she was an ex-nun and shared similar feelings about not sharing that information because she feared people would pidgeon-hole or stereotype her. One of the guys shared he was gay and one-by-one the participants in the group began to share more intimately about their story and what they also feared. It was an amazing moment that bonded us together long after the class ended. After that, never once in that group of people, did I feel judged or diminished because of what I did or what I believed. We respected our differences because our relationship mattered more than agreeing or being right.

That is why I love the quote that is at the top of this post. Being pro-life does not always have to be adversarial. If we truly believe that relationship matters more than being “right,” it will affect how we talk about what we do and why we do it.

Your volunteers are advocates for the ministry. How they talk about the Center, what you do, how you do it, and the language they use are important. They are social media influencers and advocates not only in their church community but to their wider social circles, which may not always be pro-life. It is important to give them the vision, the language and skills to share the work of the ministry.

Part of the foundations of the Equipped to Serve training is identifying what speaking the truth in love looks like and how we can build relationship without compromising our beliefs. The skills learned in the training provide the mindset and the language to engage others in vulnerable conversations. As leaders we can lead the way both in training volunteers and well as role-modeling that our conversations and communication style values relationship.

Because it does truly matter.

Leaders Provide Vision to See What Ought to Be Done

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Vision

It’s a word we hear often.  It is important in an organization to have a vision. It is even more important to know the, who, what, when, how and especially the why of that vision. Hopefully it will drive the way your organization makes decisions.

Within the larger vision of an organization there can be smaller visions that will help achieve the larger vision. Every volunteer program should have a vision that will help the organization realize its larger stated vision.

For example the organization’s vision might be to make abortion rare in your sphere of influence such as your town, city, county, etc. Defining the why, how, when and who will give direction to staff and board members when making decisions in almost every aspect of the ministry.  

For those of you who are responsible for the volunteer program in your Centers, it would help you to have your own vision for the program. It should be a vision that will support and uphold the organization’s vision and not be in competition with it.

Here are a few examples of volunteer program vision statements:

  • Our volunteers will treat each client with compassion & dignity.
  • Our volunteers will serve clients with integrity.
  • Our volunteers will be the hands and feet of Jesus to the clients God sends to the Center.
  • Our volunteers will seek first to understand and then to be understood.
  • Our volunteers will treat people with opposing views on abortion with love and respect.

Many of these volunteer program visions would contribute to the larger vision of making abortion rare in your community. They would be complimentary visions that would focus the work of volunteers and their staff supervisors in helpful ways.

These are only examples but the important part, once you have chosen your vision, is to answer the following questions:

  • Why does this support the larger organization’s vision?  Be very specific and descriptive here so everyone can understand their part in reaching the large vision.
  • What does this vision statement actually mean? Make sure everyone knows what the statement means. Define words. Write out a detailed description of what the vision statement means.
  • Who is responsible to work towards this vision? Clear answers here provide great job descriptions and a sense of who is responsible for what. Everyone can’t do everything.
  • How will this be accomplished? What training, support, supervision, etc. will be provided so volunteers can achieve this vision?
  • When are volunteers responsible for working towards this vision? When they are with clients? When they are speaking to others about their work at the Center?

Of course we are always praying towards our vision but we also must be actively involved in working towards the vision as well. Being very clear about your vision is helpful in your prayer time where you are asking for the Lord’s help in your own transformation and your responsibility in helping to achieve the vision.

How is having a vision for your volunteer program helpful?

  • Volunteers will know what they are working towards and how they will be held accountable.
  • There is clarity about how you are going to work to try and achieve that vision.
  • If the vision is stated during the volunteer interview process, people will clearly know what they are saying yes to or have the opportunity to opt out.
  • A clearly defined vision clarifies people’s roles and responsibilities in the organization.
  • The vision can unite all volunteers no matter what role they are filling in the organization.
  • A vision can clarify performance evaluation criteria across all volunteer job descriptions.

So, what is the vision for your volunteer program?

I would be happy to help you define the vision or help answer some of the questions I have listed in this article. Call or email me if I can be of help to you.

cyndi@equippedtoserve.com