In many ways, leading a booster club is like running a small business. As in business, you must attract and engage energetic, motivated people to achieve your booster club’s objectives. Today, let’s look to the workplace for best practices in engaging parent volunteers.

In a recent New York Times article, Tony Schwartz and Christine Porath set out to find Why You Hate Work. They were “curious to understand what most influences people’s engagement and productivity at work.” Through a survey of more than 20,000 employees, they found that people are most satisfied and productive when four of their core needs are met: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.

Of the four core needs, they found the greatest to be spiritual, “feeling connected to a higher sense of purpose at work.” Survey results showed “employees who derive meaning and significance from their work were more than three times as likely to stay with their organizations… These employees also reported 1.7 times higher job satisfaction and they were 1.4 times more engaged at work.”

A Higher Sense of Purpose

Booster clubs inherently serve a higher sense of purpose. Their very existence is to make an impact on the rising generation. Booster clubs, by design, give parents the opportunity to do something significant. Therefore, booster leaders must appeal to a higher sense of purpose to attract, engage, and retain parent volunteers.

When you appeal to a higher sense of purpose, you’ll realize significant benefits. Here are three.

1. You’ll attract more volunteers. When people have a clear understanding of your program’s higher purpose, you’ll increase your value proposition. People want to be part of an organization of significance.
2. Your volunteers will be more likely to follow through with their commitments. One of the most common excuses parents give for not participating is not having enough time, but it’s all about priorities. People make time for the things that matter most to them. When you appeal to parents’ sense of purpose, and they derive meaning and significance from volunteering, they’ll make time for it.
3. You’ll increase the student program’s and booster club’s reputation within the school and community. A thriving booster club serves a higher sense of purpose, and that commands respect.

The workplace may offer the financial rewards of pay and benefits to attract employees. However, the research we’ve seen shows one of the greatest motivators to engage employees is appealing to a higher sense of purpose. This is great news for booster clubs – it’s why they exist in the first place. The task now, for booster clubs, is to communicate that sense of purpose to parent volunteers and engage them to help meet the clubs’ objectives.

If you want to learn more about recruiting, engaging, and retaining enthusiastic parent volunteers, check out my book, The Booster Leader: 35 Leadership Essentials for a Thriving Booster Organization. The Booster Leader is available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats.

Question: What benefits does your booster club realize from serving a higher sense of purpose? You can leave a comment by clicking here.