Leadership Essentials: Creating Unity

Every team looks a little different. It requires different skills, different activities, and different priorities. Within a single team, every volunteer offers a different talent and view on how things should work. As leaders, we must create unity with our team, across teams, and with staff.

I have often read the verses in Ephesians and 1 Corinthians regarding the unity of the body. I often thought about these verses in relation to the entire church, but after a few years of leading volunteers I soon learned that it relates to how a team operates as well. Each person brings forth a unique set of skills combined with life experience. Each person has passions and fears. Each person lives life in a different way.

As a leader of volunteers, we must strive to find ways to bring people with different backgrounds and skills together. We must learn how to unite them.

We must learn to unite our volunteers by enabling each one to contribute in some meaningful way. This may require adjusting expectations or activities to allow for greater participation.

We must learn to unite our volunteers by building relationships with each one of them and within the entire group. Each volunteer must know that they are valued by each team member and this can only be done through building relationships.

We must learn to unite our volunteers by encouraging each one to use their own skills and experience to contribute to the team. We’ll talk more about this next time.

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