David may be the earliest empowered volunteer in history!

From oral tradition in early human history we learn in the Old Testament of the Bible that David slew Goliath with a sling and a stone.

David might just be the earliest historical Biblical example of an empowered volunteer!

He certainly could be considered one of the most famous. While today we are not fighting for our lives in a fraternal, civic, or veteran’s nonprofit volunteer group, the same principles apply. Someone has to have the courage to step up and embrace empowerment as the Biblical David did.

How can you be empowered? This is a concept for an individual within an organization. It needs to be coordinated with others rather than one person just suddenly claiming to be empowered and taking off like a rocket. The concept is easy to grasp.

For the newly empowered volunteer recruiter some form of commitment should be obtained from his or her group leadership and it should be specific on what is expected from your supporting group members. This is a basic rule of sales. Be specific on what support you need. For instance, if you can bring in five qualified candidates in the next two months to a group meeting you expect your support staff to conduct the candidates through the presentation and initiation. Detail instructions on who is to do what and when, and obtain each persons agreement on the mission goals in advance, preferably in writing set out as a plan.

It is important to obtain firm commitments in advance for support and it is best to secure backup help as well.  If you are successful in bringing in a candidate you must make a first impression that is professional and robust. This takes a commitment from more individuals than just the newly empowered volunteer recruiter.

A word of warning here is in order. Volunteer empowerment is not meant to be some form of “Lone Ranger” mentality.

As a reminder, the Lone Ranger had Tonto! As an empowered volunteer you will absolutely need your group leadership to support the effort your recruiting yields. If you have sloppy or lazy support from your group the impression on your candidates will be less than either they or you deserve.

An empowered volunteer recruiter either plans against failure or by default they fail to plan, often with dire consequences.

If you want to succeed, plan every detail of your recruiting approach using the results you obtained from your SWOT as well as lessons learned from the past, which seem to still be valid. Test every assumption to ensure validity before making it a recommended initiative.

We will in future posts review many groups and provide an overview of their main issues from a SWOT perspective. An opportunity for cross training between profiled groups exists here.

Lions Club

Ideas for the Lions or the Elks might just work for the Optimists or the Jaycees or the Odd Fellows. Veterans groups might find something of interest in the review of the Freemasons or the Kiwanis sections. An idea, which works for the Shriners Units might also find an application with the individual Moose Lodge. Perhaps the Toastmasters will gleam an idea from reading about the Navy League.

If you are deciding to take on the role of empowered volunteer for your local group of Toastmasters as an example, there may very well be some nuggets of wisdom in the section on Kiwanis which might trigger another related idea in your mind and become beneficial in your quest to increase your membership.

My suggestion is not to limit yourself to just comparable groups for your ideas. Be open to ideas from all sources and evaluate all ideas with a fresh attitude, even if they have been tried before. Past recruiting efforts you might hear about could have been attempted by people who were filled with negative attitudes. These resulting efforts might then have led to negative results, stemming from halfhearted attempts by inept or even disinterested individuals.

Beware of the too often found negative members in the group who say to you that they have already tried everything in the past and absolutely nothing can be done now that is going to work.

Negativity breeds more negativity. Perhaps these folks would benefit from reading The Power of Positive Thinking, by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale? He was also a Freemason by the way as well as a man of God. His book became a best seller in his time.

While it is nice to notice folks of reputation and esteemed moral values in an organization’s past, the saying “a ship doesn’t sail today on yesterday’s wind” applies. Simply because some US Presidents were members of an organization in the past is not enough justification for a prospect today to sign up, in most instances.

This concept is justified mainly in an analogy, “birds of a feather flock together”. Who would not like to belong to a group, which once had Ben Franklin in it? Perhaps a few would find an objection to old Ben, however why a member should join today is the point you will address rather than a history of famous past members. For the most part, mention the past as a secondary issue in support of your position in the here and now.

Tell prospects why they will benefit individually, why their efforts will make a difference in the bigger picture, and why they should give up whatever it is that they will have to give up in order to become a productive member of the new group. Keep in mind not only the new members benefits from the group as a whole, but the health benefits gained and shown by studies to increase their life potential.

Empowered volunteers should look at the world as fun, happy, and waiting for them to take it all in.

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