Former president Richard Nixon, in a speech to the National Press Club in 1972 said “When I say something so much that I am tired of hearing it my staff has heard it for the first time. When my staff is tired of saying something over again the press is hearing it for the first time. When the press is tired of saying something the public is hearing it for the first time.”
I love this quote because it reminds me of how important it is repeat (often) whatever it is that’s important for my staff (or church volunteers) to know.
Four times a year I go over the entire Church Policy Manual with the staff. Ours is on the short side so it’s not too bad, but even if it was much longer than it is, I would still go over it four times a year. Why? Because what’s in that Policy Manual is important. If staff stopped living according to our Policy Manual we would lose the beautiful culture it’s taken 15 years to build and since I don’t want that to happen, I got over it again and again.
Every single Sunday I have my staff share essentially the same thing with our volunteers. They share a stat/story that indicates life-change and then connect the dots for the volunteers, reminding them that we see life-change like this because of their service. The second we stop reminding them is the second they start forgetting why turning the alarm off early Sunday morning and going back to sleep is not an option.
As we prepare to launch our second location in Agawam MA I’ve had multiple opportunities to address the 200+ people heading out to launch the new location. And guess what? Each time I’ve told them the exact same thing. I keep reminding them the reasons why we’re launching the new location, because if they forget they might end up doing the right thing but for all the wrong reasons. And since I don’t want that to happen I keep telling them why we’re doing it over and over.
Again, whatever is important for your staff/volunteers to know, say it over and over and over.