I’m about tired of talking to people who sign up for serving opportunities with organizations (Churches, non-profits, clubs, etc.) and they end up getting “burned” and give up on serving all together.  Ok now that I got that out of the way.

How do you avoid getting burned by a serving opportunity?

1. Look at what you’re signing up for - don’t just go off someones recommendation of x,y,or z opportunity.  YOU go look at what you’re signing up for!
2. Get specific – ask all the questions you really want to know like “do you really expect me to be here early or is showing up when we start fine?” or “so what I hear you saying is you want me to do all of that as part of this serving opportunity?”  There is NOTHING wrong with asking a bunch of specific questions about what you’re getting yourself in to, that’s not rude or inconsiderate…it’s smart and healthy.
3. Trust your gut – there are times when your nervous uncomfortable gut reaction to an opportunity is to be trusted.  Then there are times when you’re just being a little scary-cat afraid to come out of your comfort zone.  Figure out which one you’re feeling and then execute the appropriate response.
4. Choose wisely - there are all sorts of things you could give your time, talent, energy, & resources to.  Choose the wisest places to invest those.

What responsibility does the organization have?

1. Tell people what they’re looking into – Be honest
2. Tell people what they’re signing up for – Be honest
3. Then tell them again! – Make sure it’s clear and their questions are answered.
4. …and again! (Sometimes we can be so eager to fill a serving roll that we don’t want to “scare” people off by telling them WHAT THEY’RE GOING TO FIND OUT ANYWAY…be honest with people!)

NOTE:

• This doesn’t protect people from figuring out a given serving opportunity is not for them or that it’s just not a good fit….but it DOES protect people from feeling like they were “tricked” into believing what they were signing up for was NOT AT ALL what they actually signed up for.
• If people know all the details and still sign-up let them be grown-ups and live with that decision.  (Sometimes the tendency can be to try to protect people SO MUCH that we don’t “let them get their lumps” (that’s what we called it in my hood growing up) and that’s not healthy in the long-run.

One of the most unspoken truths on most teams is that there are times when it doesn’t matter what your job description is, the team needs you, and you should be available to help the team do whatever the team needs done.

In most ‘corporate america’ jobs the vibe is “you do your job & I’ll do mine” and most of the time that’s ok but we all know there are seasons in every area of employment where you need help and you wish there was more of a “lets do whatever it takes to get the job done right” attitude.

I think one of the most important functions of a team is having a “whatever it takes” attitude!  This doesn’t mean that you do other peoples job but it does mean you’ll be willing to help out if necessary.

This attitude does a handful of things:

1. Pushes everyone to keep the over-arching vision in front of them.
2. Helps force silos out of the organization and prevents them from starting.
3. Helps cover gaps if people can’t be around. (This is sustaining my staff at this current time as I’ve been out of the office for a bit with my fathers health issues.)
4. Building overall organizational camaraderie.

If we/you fail to have this attitude these things could creep in:

1. Guarding of territory – I don’t have to help you with yours as long as “mine” is right.
2. Not playing well in the sandbox – Somebody or some department is going to get the leftovers (staff, facility, budget)
3. Negative attitudes towards collaborators
4. Some people get consistently overworked – It’s usually the hardest workers

I’m sure there are lots more on both sides.  Feel free to add them in the comments.