Summary: Volunteers need to be thanked in a way that matters to them.
One time I got a voicemail as the director of Children’s Ministry and I open up that voicemail. It was a fire-breathing volunteer and she was crying. This person had a reputation for chewing up people and spitting them out. Now, this volunteer had left me a voicemail, she was crying and I’m talking the ugly cry. She said through her tears, how thankful she was that I had sent her a handwritten postcard telling her thank you. She went on to say, through major tears, that no one had ever told her thanks. While I find it rather hard to believe that no one EVER told her thanks, I must say, that no one had ever told her thanks in a way that resonated with her.
You see, volunteers need to be thanked in a way that matters to them. Everybody has a different love language and everybody has a different way of receiving praise or acknowledgement. I believe that it is our job as a leader to become students of our volunteers. In the story I just told, the hardest of hearts and the most vicious of volunteers was brought to tears through a simple hand-written postcard. Could you turn a corner with a particular volunteer through a simple act of kindness? My challenge to you today is to write one postcard.
LEADVOLUNTEERS has 53 different done-for-you postcards and over a dozen sample write-ups from which you can gain inspiration and send YOUR OWN postcards. Trust me, it will make all the difference in the world.
Join LEADVOLUNTEERS.com today!