TG Happens in Engagement |
Jan 5, 2010 |
No, we’re not talking wedding bells here. We are referring to the second element of the PEO Development Model: Participation – Engagement -- Ownership. You will see, by attending our January workshop entitled “Engagement: The heart of your development program,” that engagement is what makes transformational giving distinct. Unless we’re doing engagement as the central element of our development program, we’re really not doing TG.
So, how do we DO engagement? In order to coach your champions on how to be engaged in your cause, you need to rely on the 3 E’s: Equip, Experience and Educate.
To equip your champions involves facilitating your champions to DO something. You’ll want to determine how you plan to interface with them and what opportunities you’ll present for their growth in the cause. The use of the PEO Map will be key to establishing activity that will lead to this growth. Once this activity is established, it’s your role to coach, train and provide whatever resources are necessary for the champion to carry out
the activity.
Be careful not to confuse equipping with encouragement. Encouragement is too passive to lead to action and although it’s a great accessory to encouragement, it’s a poor substitute. And poorly equipped champions don’t take root – lacking impact and personal transformation. Our goal is to equip individuals to grow comprehensively into the fullness of Christ in relation to the cause.
The second E involves providing experience which comes as a result of a tangible encounter with the cause. Experiences at the E phase should be things that help the champion interact as directly as possible with the cause. Feeding the homeless or distributing evangelistic tracks on the beach are both experiences that give you a real tangible encounter with the cause. Keep in mind, it’s much less about what the actual activity is and more about how that activity grows and changes the champion. What we don’t want to do is develop our champions by having them listen to stories about our own experiences and have them live it through us. This doesn’t allow the champion to grow in their own walk as it relates to the cause.
The last E involves providing education, which is a continual teaching about the cause, sharing comprehensive and cumulative information, while coaching in how this translates into what “we” can do. It involves transferring your knowledge to the champion in manageable chunks tied to their experiences. You know you have educated rather than simply informed when the end result of the process is that the champion becomes an owner in the cause and is able to raise up other owners in the cause as well.
Remember, engagement is the heart of every good development program. Is it at the heart of yours?
