There is a statement that has been around for quite awhile, for which I’m not sure where it originally came, but it states, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” It’s possible that this statement doesn’t necessarily apply to all leadership situations, but I know for certain that it applies in the arena of leading volunteers, which I have done for decades.
Leading a team of volunteers is a different type of leadership experience because the motivating forces are usually very different than when leading people who receive compensation for their efforts and based on results. Leading volunteers requires the one up front to motivate the team through a commitment to the valued and shared mission, goals larger than any one person could accomplish by themselves, and positive relationships between the leader and the team which is greatly influenced by whether or not the team members feel that their leader cares for them personally. This may sound like an easy task, but in reality when the pressure is on and the task is at hand, it’s easy to fall short in making sure that everyone feels that they matter to the team and especially to the leader. Of all the leadership characteristics I’ve had to develop, this is certainly one of the most elusive for me, because I am a driven-by-the-mission and task-oriented leader. I have always cared deeply for the people I led, but I’ve had to learn how to express it, especially during the high pressure moments of the project at hand.
I could write volumes on how I learned this, and probably will someday, (it’s most trial and error, mainly error!) however, here are a couple of pieces of advice to anyone who is entrusted with leading volunteers; make sure that your speed is only as fast as the team can keep up with you, always stop and listen to what’s going on in the lives or your team members, do unexpected things that make people feel that you value them and respect their time, and always, always say thank you, giving them the credit for the team’s accomplishments. If you do these things, you’ll have a head start. The statement above is true. It really doesn’t matter how good you are at your job if your team doesn’t know, for certain, that you care about them.
Lead well.