Bite-Sized Training

Normally when we think about doing an in-person volunteer training, we think of a big meeting with team-building games, ice-breakers, lots of food, decorations and an extended time of teaching.

Those times can definitely be beneficial. Most churches do these type of trainings 2-4 times a year.

But have you thought about the benefits of bite-sized training as well?

Each week, there is a small window of time when you can do bite-sized training.

When is that?

It's during a pre-service volunteer meeting.

Are you currently doing a pre-service meeting with your volunteers? If you're not, I would encourage you to start doing so. It will make a big impact on your team.

The meeting should last for around 8-10 minutes. Here's what to cover during this meeting.

• welcome / announcements (1 min)
  

• training (3-5 min)
  

• prayer (2-3 min)

You will notice the time allotted for training. This is your opportunity each week to bring a bite-sized training to your team. You should be very intentional about what you use that bite-sized training for each week. Don't wing it. Come into the meeting knowing exactly what you will be talking about during the training.

Personally, I have always used the bite-sized training time to accomplish three purposes.

• help them grow spiritually (1st weekend of the month)

• help them grow in their ministry skills (2nd weekend of the month)

• motivate them / remind them of the why (3rd weekend of each month)

I rotate through these three topics.

Think about it with me. When you do this, you have the opportunity to bring 52 bite-sized trainings to your team. Think about what you could cover in those 52 weeks and how it could help grow your team.

If you will be consistent with this, I promise you it will make a big impact on your volunteers.

Your turn. Do you do pre-service huddles? What do you cover during these? Share your thoughts and ideas in the comment section below.

You can get tons of ideas and insight about volunteer team meetings and other relevant subjects in my volunteer book - The Formula for Building Great Volunteer Teams. You can get it at this link.