Jan
17
2012

Zig Ziglar on Leadership: How Much Does it Cost?

An article by Matt Comments

Over the past two days we have been reflecting on Zig Ziglar’s teaching on a recent podcast titled The Real Reason They Don’t Buy (link will open iTunes). On Monday we looked at whether we believe in what we calling people to, yesterday we spoke a little bit about our need to wait until things are perfect. Today I want to share what is probably the most profound line in the whole podcast:

People buy what they want when they want it more than the money it costs.

Just let that soak for a minute.

I would encourage you to look beyond the sales language that Zig uses and focus on what he is saying about people. In our role as church leaders we are called on a regular basis to ask people to make sacrifices on behalf of our church. Whether these sacrifices are of time, talent, or treasure, the truth is that we are asking them to make a pretty big commitment. When we ask our congregations to work with our youth, lead a class in our children’s ministry, or to be a part of our worship team, we are asking them to sacrifice their time for the good of our church. These sacrifices do not come without a cost:

Time spent practicing with the worship team is time away from the family on a weeknight.
Spending the week at summer camp or on a mission trip with your youth is possible only when using valuable vacation days.
Teaching a Sunday school class well requires planning and study during the course of the week.

As church leaders we live in the reality that while our congregations have unlimited talent, their time and treasure is finite. When we make an ask of our people, we are asking them to say no to something else in their lives. To me, this is a pretty big deal… something that I did my best to always be mindful of when leading the teams I was entrusted with. Good leaders understand this, and honor the sacrifices being made by leading in a way that is worthy of the sacrifice. What does this look like? I can think of three easy (yet difficult) ways to honor your team’s sacrifice:

Embrace a Bold Vision. Why does your ministry exist? People want to commit to something that is bigger than they are, something that can change a community, a nation, or the world. Asking your team to do anything less than something amazing is a waste of time… both theirs and yours. Inspire your team with a vision of where you are headed that is worthy of the time, talent and treasure that they are sacrifice on its behalf.
Remove Obstacles to Serving. Nothing is more demotivating to a team than not being given the resources needed to be successful. If you are asking someone to do a craft based lesson with toddlers, make sure they an ample amount of glue sticks in order to ensure that glitter gets stuck EVERYWHERE. Making sure that curriculum is ready when promised, that supplies are assembled, and that you clearly communicate expectations of who is doing what goes a long way towards honoring the sacrifices made by those you are leading.
Invest in Your Team. I can’t say this enough. Your role as pastor is to pour into your team and develop them both from a spiritual and practical standpoint. Take the time to do regular training, pay for them to take part in conferences, invest in a staff retreat, and say thank you as often as possible. While overseeing ministries to students, children, and young adults my leadership development budget was by far the largest chunk of my budget… because without a great team working together, our ministry was going to flop.

How do YOU ensure the sacrifice YOUR volunteers make is worth it?