“I had no idea it would smell so bad.”
That’s how one mission trip participant summed up her experience. She was surveyed post-trip by the organization that conducted her excursion and this was her comment. She had a negative view of her trip because she didn’t expect to encounter the smells that she did.
While this person’s reaction is quite humorous, it speaks to a bigger issue facing volunteer ministry trip leaders. This is the need to manage expectations. Whether or not a person has a great experience with you is directly connected to their expectations of the trip. If you meet or exceed their expectations, then they will have a favorable view of their experience. Come up short of what they expect and they walk away with a tainted view of the trip.
While it’s unlikely that “scratch and sniff” will be part of your pre-trip orientation any time soon, preparing your team for “different” experiences should be. So should a discussion on expectations. Talk through with the team what their expectations are for the trip. What do they think they will see? What do they think the conditions will be like? What do they think the reaction will be from those they serve? Will they see big bugs? And yes, what do they think it will smell like?
The challenge for many leaders is that during the recruiting process they build up expectations—sometimes a little too much. After all, they want to make the trip sound as appealing as possible so that more people will sign up. Even if the recruiter hasn’t done this, each participant still comes to the table with a set of expectations. The more you can deal with these up front, the more likely it will be that your participants have a positive experience.
Let them know from the beginning that there is only one guarantee that you can make—that things won’t go exactly as planned or expected. At some point flexibility will be needed by everyone.