Transforming Engagement: Rethinking the 80/20 Rule in 2025

Identifying and Enrolling individuals to your team is about much more than just advertising openings or needs, and making room for relational community.

by Gary L. Yonek 2-8-2025

For as long as I can remember leaders, particularly in volunteer-driven organizations, have often expressed a similar lament: “20% of the people do 80% of the work.” Maybe that’s true. Or maybe it’s just an excuse—an easy way to justify the status quo instead of prioritizing and resourcing a serious volunteer or team development strategy.

But does it have to be this way?

From civic clubs and schools to churches, community centers, and healthcare organizations, the assumption is that people just don’t step up like they used to. But let’s challenge that assumption. If 80% of your stakeholders, or consumers, are little more than a list of names in a group (instead of mobilized teams), what does that say about your leadership and organizational culture?

It likely points to one of two realities:

1️⃣ Your organization isn’t communicating a compelling enough vision or providing a clear on-ramp for engagement. If people don’t know how to get involved AND why it matters, they won’t.

2️⃣ The mission itself isn’t resonating. If only a small, passionate group keeps things running, is it because the organization no longer believes in its mission—or maybe never had a strong one to begin with?

Are you a mission-driven leader? If you lead or support an organization struggling with volunteer involvement, let’s start a conversation. Your mission matters—but does it matter enough?

Gary L. Yonek

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Let’s Think About It…

1️⃣ If 80% of interested people aren’t actively engaging in your efforts, is that a people problem—or a mission problem?

2️⃣ Are you still trying to recruit volunteers… or just hoping they’ll magically show up? A clear vision and an intentional enrollment strategy make all the difference.

3️⃣ If your organization disappeared tomorrow, who would miss it? If the answer isn’t clear, neither is your mission. (You can’t package and envision something you cannot define and articulate.)

4️⃣ People commit to what they believe in. If they aren’t showing up, ask yourself: Are we providing meaningful activities that provide them something that’s worth showing up for? This requires taking a serious honest reflection of what your organization does and what that mission stands for. (Many may intermittently hang around and benefit from the relationships and community of an organization, but few will waste their time and energy advancing something, deep down, they believe doesn’t really matter.)

5️⃣ Is your volunteer strategy transactional or transformational? The difference determines whether people either get on-board, stick around and engage, or remain on the side lines and drift away.

In my upcoming book, Welcome Aboard: Shifting Your Team Strategy from Transactional to Transformational, I explore why people step-up and how organizations can better reframe their mission, systems, and process in a way that reignites engagement and inspires genuine commitment.

📩 Let’s connect: http://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-yonek