bcg blog

Volunteers v Hostages

In March of 2019, Pittsburgh Steelers’ coach, Mike Tomlin, was asked about the loss of star players Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell. Brown’s departure was a result of a trade, one in which many felt the Steelers didn’t receive nearly enough for given the Pro Bowl receiver’s stats. While Bell opted out of the Steel City for more money through free agency. Neither were amicable. 

When asked about it, Tomlin got straight to the point.

“We can’t do this with hostages, man. We need volunteers,” Tomlin said. “We need good players, good guys who want to be here and if guys can’t check those boxes, it’s probably best for all parties involved to go our separate ways.”

Volunteers, not hostages. 
What a clear expression of the required mindset for teams to excel. 

Why Should We Care?
Let’s consider the reasons most people volunteer: to support a cause they believe in, to help others, for personal fulfillment, to improve a skill, or maybe to give back. To state the obvious, when we volunteer we want to be where we are; we’re choosing that specific option over many others. 

That autonomy in volunteering is far more powerful than we want to admit. 
We can’t force people to volunteer.


We control hostages. We can make them do whatever we want them to do. Hostages wanting, or not wanting, to be there, or to do what is asked of them, is irrelevant - they’re hostages. They do what we tell them to do. Hostages are there for our gain, not their enjoyment. 
​

It’s clear that volunteers give more than hostages. Not only do they give more, but it is given with more care, passion, intent, and love than a hostage will ever give. It turns out just wanting to be where you are is pretty important.

As part of this volunteer, not hostage focus leaders need to understand we are not simply talking about physical location or presence on a team. While that is unequivocally true, the most common shackles of the hostage are applied to role identification. What part do I play on the team? Am I happy with it? Do I feel it’s important?

It’s not enough that we want to be on the team. 
We must also want to be doing what we are doing for the team. 

REAL TALK - Action Steps
Of course, our teams will always have people on them that are at varying ends of the volunteer - hostage spectrum. The best teams are always heavily bent towards the volunteer end. Here are a few ideas for filling your team with volunteers rather than hostages.

• Honor the Power of Choice 
  
  • Think of your team as a buffet. You're not the only team. Every person on your team has the option to devote their time and efforts to something else. Whether they realize it or not, they are there because they are choosing to be. Even if they don’t think they have any other choices, they do. The more you view team members' participation on your team through the lens of choice, the better equipped you are to serve them.
    

• Present a Clear & Bold Purpose
  
  • One of the most significant driving forces in what people choose to volunteer for is the purpose of the organization. While it seems like the best place to start is with what you are doing, it’s much more powerful to start with why you are doing it. Allow your purpose to drive the how, then the what. Allowing your team to flow from why to how to what is the most enticing way to garner volunteers. And, make it bold. No one wants to volunteer for something minute and trivial. 
    

• Eradicate Jerks
  
  • I’ve done it. You’ve done it. We’ve all done it and we are always disgusted with ourselves afterwards. So, let’s just agree to stop doing it. Although it may be effective in the short term, it always compromises our team, or our own moral code, later. Confront jerks quickly, directly, and without apology. They are holding your good people hostage. You ARE better off without them, not operating as such expresses your lack of belief in the rest of your team.
    

• Widen Your Perspective
  
  • Good bye is not always bad, for either party. Again, your team isn’t the only one and it’s not the best situation for every person. Don’t act like it is. When someone needs, or chooses, to leave your team; that’s ok. How you handle that departure is a better reflection of you than it is them. It’s better to free them to find a place they can willingly volunteer than to hold them hostage to a role they weren’t accepting of in the first place.
    

Tomlin said, “We can’t do this with hostages, man. We need volunteers.” The ‘this’ he is referring to is excellence. Accepting hostages is compromising excellence.

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