volunteers

Discovering, leading, and building a volunteer team is a tough one for me. Recently I've been discovering the vast... and I do mean VAST.... IT professionals in our congregations... a CFO of a major financial institution, 2 Network engineers who are tasked with managing thousands of users, help desk pros, programmers working on BIG projects with global implications, Web advertisement pros who spend time at the googleplex, and the list goes on...

So here's my delima... Time is so valuable... between kids, spouses, and work... time is short for all. So how do you begin to harness the MASSIVE power that lies within a volunteer base and yet make sure you don't run them over. I understand there have been books written and conference talks given about this subject but how are other people in my shoes doing this? What kind of agendas do you have? Are you doing anything particular to encourage them? How are you gaining buy-in?

So far it seems like the easy way to harness some of the power is to be task driven... in other words... this needs done so track down the people who would know what to do and ask them to join the task. But then what... when the task is over, how do you keep someone connected? What do you do with the server guys while your talking network... or the email guys while your talking intranet....?

Do you have a pattern or practice?

I can say this for sure... They guys I've worked with so far are AMAZING. I am continually humbled by the amount of knowledge, experience, and time they give us. It truly is great!!!