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 Leadership Lessons from a High School PromMy wife and I knew nothing about organizing an after-prom event; but we did know how to love the volunteers we led.
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In the heart of a leader, three words act as a reliable, internal GPS: I love volunteers. Get this right and an organization or ministry will fly high. Ignore it, and you can count on the crash. This truth occupied a big chunk of my life recently, thanks to a high school prom. Specifically, I'm talking about the after-prom, an entity that barely existed in my high school days. Sure, the prom dance was a big to-do back then. But the activities that followed seemed like more of an after-thought. So with authentic naiveté, I attended the January parents-of-the-junior class meeting to hear from the school administration about this supposed non-event, run exclusively by parents. Sixty minutes later, I left the meeting better informed and committed to help. "You did what?" my wife said (or "exclaimed," "demanded," "cursed"; you choose the word) when I explained the role I volunteered her and I to tackle as a team. Apparently, the title "chairmen" results in far less excitement for her than it did for me. "We know nothing about the after-prom, so how can we run it?" she asked. I decided to reply with the truth: "No one else stepped forward." "So why did you?" "You mean 'we,' right?" "Whatever!" "Because," I said, "we do know how to lead a team, and that's what is needed most." I then explained that other parents did step forward in other roles. All the work fell neatly into ten different committees, and the other moms and dads volunteered to lead those groups. Someone had to lead the leaders, organize the meetings, and love the volunteers. Suddenly and skeptically, my wife began to see to logic of her co-chair. Two weeks later the parent after-prom organization held our first meeting. After we reviewed and assigned all tasks to the committees (which my wife enjoyed), I shared these words with the team: "We're here to organize an amazing event—amazingly safe, amazingly fun, and well-run by amazing people. The safety and fun will take place in a few months, but tonight it's clear that all of you are amazing people. We've hit one out of three already!" That's when the love started. I repeated those words in every monthly meeting that followed. We had silly prizes for people who completed the greatest number of tasks, including recruiting an additional 100 or more parent volunteers. My wife and I had no idea how to organize the after-prom, so we applied the majority of our efforts to support and encourage the committee leaders who figured out how to do everything. In short, we loved the volunteers. Then came the big night. As the chairmen, we self-designated our roles as roamers willing to troubleshoot problems, answer questions, and love the volunteers. So we arrived at the YMCA and personally thanked every parent volunteer. I rode in a truck with the security team and affirmed their work, and hopped on the trolley to thank those folks, too. We drove to the bowling alley and spoke appreciation to each volunteer. Same thing at the pancake restaurant and the coffee shop. From 11:30 p.m. until 5:30 a.m., we showed up at every venue for every shift. We loved the volunteers. |        
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Connie Silver
What wisdom and love displayed. He chose to delegate and then appreciate the volunteers. Beautiful! Servant hearts at work giving of themselves to make wonderful memories for the youth. What examples of love in action. Thanks for the lesson in true leadership.
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