“No $hi+! Of Course Not, You Moron!”: A Lesson on Learning and Leadership

The other day, I met with a wonderful person who in my life wears many hats: former co-worker, former fellow worshipper at a local church, friend, mentor, leader whom I admire, keen analytical, disciple of the leadership principles shared in the book “Engaging the Head, Heart and Hands of a Volunteer,” and by virtue of her multiple book purchases and subsequent consultative coffee sessions, a client of HHHE.

During our cappuccino chat, we discussed the specific ways she is applying the guidance of the book in her faith-based, volunteer-supported environment. I always love hearing these stories! She shared her current focus is strengthening a long-struggling, overworked yet underleveraged, low-engagement volunteer base at the church.

Some Feedback for Me? Oh, Goody!

She also felt compelled to share, in the most caring and gingerly fashion, feedback that had been offered by the lead pastor on the philosophies forwarded in the pages of the book. My book. The one I wrote. My life’s passion work for the last two years. This . . . this I especially wanted to hear.  

A little back story . . . my wife and I used to attend this church a few years ago. She and I got actively involved in serving within the church. Candidly, we found aspects of our service to be fulfilling and meaningful, while other parts less so. Truth be told, several of these volunteer experiences further fueled my eventual decision in 2014 to step out of corporate life for a season to wholly focus on assembling the book.

So, bottom line—I know this pastor. In some ways, he served as an inspiration to me to bring guidance together that would help leaders to more effectively engage volunteers in their organization. Why? Because leaders need help. Even if they do not realize it. They need help. And I just wanted to help. So I wrote the book.

While serving the church, I did lead a few workshops for fellow volunteers on the topic of volunteer engagement. I had done this for a number and variety of volunteer-supported organizations in the years prior to actually writing the book. The messages were consistently well-received. I partnered with the associate pastor to bring this series of three workshops to those who were serving. The lead pastor said or did little to support this initiative at the time, leaving it in the second-in-command’s hands to execute. I noticed this absence of executive leadership support in the moment. I noted it in the back of my mind. Yet, we forged ahead.    

It was interesting to me, as well, that each of the three sessions in the series gathered lower numbers of volunteers as participants. As often happens, sustaining a learning and skill-building initiative in a volunteer-supported organization can be a challenge. The difficulty was increasingly apparent, by my gut, due to the leaders not being totally aligned and lock-step in this movement. The marketing and communication of the initiative were sketchy. The expectation-setting was just not there. There was no talk, despite my urging, to identify desired outcomes. Nor did the leaders seem ready to wholly embrace volunteer engagement as a cultural tenet. It instead felt like this was just another thing. The efforts were not planful. Not at all. The movement rapidly devolved into a stand-alone, flavor-of-the-month “class” or two (or three).

Shades of my corporate life as a frustrated learning leader and talent development professional were so evident in those moments. Same shiz’nit, different environment, different day.  

So, the feedback, let’s get back to that. From my friend and disciple’s account, the executive pastor had apparently gone around to chat with those volunteers who did engage in any of the workshops to assess the impact of the learning. In the days and weeks following the sessions, he had asked specific questions such as, “What has changed for you as a volunteer as a result of going to Barry’s workshops?”

Not surprisingly, their repeated response was “Nothing.”

From this, as the feedback continued to be shared with me, the lead pastor had surmised that the initiative, and therefore my life’s work and the principles of leading and engaging volunteers in which I so deeply believe, were a failure. There was no value to the effort. My stuff was bunk. Crap. Not applicable to what they were trying to achieve.  

My reaction to this feedback? Please see the title to this article.

A Little Grace, and a Whole Lot of Leadership Learning

But that expletive-laden feeling was quickly replaced with grace, peace and forgiveness. I heard Bryan Adam’s dulcet tones serenading me with, “Please forgive him, for he knows not what he do(es).”

A conclusion slapped me alongside the head in that moment in the coffee shop. Or, shall I say, a reminder of something I have learned and relearned in my last year of deeply engaging with leaders of volunteers struck me. Leaders in nonprofit and volunteer-supported organizations are in many ways no different than leaders in corporate life. They likely rose to the role not because of some deep inner calling to serve people with Otherliness. They are often just some fallible human being trying their best to do a job they either fell into or feel entitled to, and are largely blind to what it really takes to turn learning into organizational outcomes.  

Boom. Simple as that. When it comes to supporting learning initiatives that deliver results, most leaders are subject to the exact same model I write about in the section of the book titled “Redirecting the Passion of a Volunteer.” These leaders simply a) Don’t Know, b) Can’t Do or c) Don’t Care.             

Like I said, I want to help. So, please allow me to be succinct. Leaders, it is what you choose to actively do before and after learning occurs that ultimately determines the transfer of learning to performance and subsequent results achieved. Let that sink in a bit.

Your (in this case, the lead pastor) responsibility is even greater than that of the learner (the volunteer) and the learning leader (me) to drive and support outcomes. This church leader, the executive pastor, so clearly does not understand this. And that is OK. For, most leaders, even high-powered, high-paid executives in many successful Fortune 500 companies are also clueless when it comes to this. How do I know this? I spent the last fifteen years of my professional life being maddened by this undeniable truth. I have beat my head against the wall extolling the virtues of the leader’s role in learning for a long time, to little avail.      

OK, But What Can a Leader Do To Turn Learning Into Organizational Outcomes?

So glad you asked! Start by having conversations. Engage in what the book calls a Coaching relationship with your people. That is, conducting regularly scheduled, one-on-one conversations between the leader and the volunteers focused on performance and development.

Leaders must be versed in what is being shared in the learning event or initiative. Better yet, they should actively engage in it as well to demonstrably show their support. A leader’s physical presence and noticeable engagement in learning speaks volumes. Repel the common manager notion that “development is for those who have yet to arrive . . . and gosh darn it, I have already arrived.” Development is for everybody in an organization, not just for the untitled.   

Leaders should discuss with their direct report learners prior to engaging what they will learn, and what their plans are for practice and implementation.

Leaders should also discuss post-learning what was learned, and how they can support the learner as they strive to apply what was learned. These are simple conversations. Or, at least they should be for leaders.  

Leaders can also set the example by modeling the desired performance and behaviors.

Leaders should also have regular check-ins to ensure a shared accountability to ongoing improvement.

Yes, all these recommendations are a solid start.

As leaders do all these things, they actively create a culture where the expectation is that learning is not for naught, not just another thing, not a Baskin-Robbins flavor, but a legitimate methodology for investing in their people and their organization’s future vitality.

Yes, leaders . . . this is on you. And you can do it. You can, and you do, make the difference.

Barry Altland is a writer, speaker, thought leader and published author of the book, “Engaging the Head, Heart and Hands of a Volunteer,” a simple guide for feeding the passion of those who serve.

Barry blends world-class leadership principles from the for-profit world with his own numerous experiences as a volunteer and leader of volunteers to offer a fresh perspective on volunteer engagement.

In his professional life, Barry has cultivated talent strategies in a variety of industries, ranging from the theme parks of Central Florida to agribusiness, supply chain logistics, financial services and healthcare. He has invested fifteen years developing talent and leadership across all levels of organizations. Barry has served as a collaborative partner to teams and leaders to assess performance inhibitors and devise creative solutions that optimize people, passion and performance. Mr. Altland has designed and facilitated hundreds of workshops and interactive learning experiences.    

Barry’s volunteer life spans faith-based service, homeowners association leadership, professional association leadership at the local and national level, working with youth, athletics, education-based volunteerism and social impact organizations. Barry has even designed and led corporate social responsibility strategies in multiple companies.

The result of these experiences is content-rich guidance for leaders of volunteers to help them lead with Otherliness. As leaders embrace Barry’s unique perspective, they develop into leaders better prepared to touch the hearts of volunteers by engaging them . . . one person at a time.

More insights and Mr. Altland’s contact information are available on the HHHE website via https://HHHEngagement.com.