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Can't Send Short Term Trips: Tip 3: Communicate Well

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Can't Send Short Term Trips?

Tip #3 - Communicate Well

Big Picture: Communicate well and often so your participants feel honored and stay well engaged... don’t allow room for doubt.

Seasons of uncertainty can bring doubt and confusion and as things shift around us, we’re all wondering what’s next, how do we navigate things, and what should we be doing. That’s only natural as humans as we think about our base needs. What’s great is how this sets you up for success in being a guide for your participants to help show them the path forward.

Being a guide is one of the most important things you do for your participants. They are looking to you for direction and even if you don’t have all the answers, I’m certain you have a picture of what the next few steps you’re taking might be. Great! Communicate that and be transparent about things. People don’t need to know the entire plan but they would like to know what’s the next step or two. So let’s unpack a few things you should consider in your communication strategy.

  • Create a Plan - even not knowing how long things might be on pause, go ahead, and create a rhythm of communicating every so often. Perhaps it’s once a week or every other week. Just have some consistency.
  • Engage Multiple Parties - remember it’s not just about your trip participants - it’s also about your team leaders, your field partners, your donors, your volunteers, and anyone else who is involved in the process.
  • Send Prayer Needs - a great place to start in your communications is sharing key prayer needs from your partners with your participants. This is something that can always be of value.
  • Point to Current Opportunities - international trips might be on pause, but what can you be doing in your own neighborhood now? Point your participants in a direction that allows them to use those servant-minded skills now. Remember Acts 1:8 with the intention to reach Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.
  • Create Benefit - we are all inundated with communications and emails. That said... make yours stand out. The simplest way to do that is to make your communications beneficial to your participants (focusing on their needs and not your own).
  • Think Sequentially - this is more advanced, but consider leveraging your overall communication series to help teach something but doing that in parts. For example, you might have a 10 part teaching that’s communicated over 20 weeks.
  • Be Creative - these can certainly be simple text emails but also think about adding videos, giving assignments, inviting into online discussions, and more. Be creative in what you communicate to make it fun and engaging.
  • Create a Community - consider creating some online community and always point back to it so that your participants can connect with each other and see that they are never alone on this journey.
  • Share Stories - stories are powerful means to engage our hearts and minds. Share what stories you have but also ask people to share their stories. Mix these with
  • international experiences and local to help cast that local vision.

 

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