Recruiting volunteers is a continuous battle and many times it drives us to not pay attention to the need to retain great people on our team. Retaining volunteers is just as important as getting new leaders to jump on the team. Losing team members is difficult for you and the kids and parents they are serving as well. When we have low retention rates we are missing the mark in some area of caring for our team. Here are seven principles that I believe will help you retain more of your volunteers…
- Be Relational // know as many volunteers as possible! Know their names and their story. Stop and connect on Sundays.
- Be encouraging // on a on one basis, write a note, shoot a personal email, make a call, send a personal text. Move away from mass encouragement and get personal with encouragement.
- Consistently equip // help them get better, hone in on training schedules and never have a meeting without some element of training. You have to help them get better.
- Celebrate and shine a spotlight on wins // find things to celebrate and move the spotlight from yourself and to them. Let the volunteers have the spotlight.
- Clarify the win clearly // make sure every volunteer knows what it takes to have a win during the day and remind them consistently that accomplishing the win is the goal every week.
- Recruit positive influencers! // every area needs people magnets, find them and empower them to lead in your ministry. Positive people inspire others to get on the positive band wagon.
- Find the right role // be flexible and make sure and get volunteers into roles where they will thrive. It’s ok to move people around in order to find the best role on the team.
What are some ways you are working to retain more volunteers on your ministry team?
