Many of you are gearing up for the schedule of volunteer recognition events that run around the world from April through June. Here's an idea to add to the mix.
We tend to recognize volunteers for their "regular" work -- whatever major assignment they have taken on. But throughout the year many individuals help with a wide variety of special projects or quick response needs. These can be anything, though common ones are:
- Decorating or otherwise setting up for a holiday, birthday, or other festivity
- Giving a tour or sharing experiences with a visitor of importance
- Pitching in when the office had to be moved for painting or when the snow turned the parking lot into Siberia
- Substituting on short notice for the volunteer who went into labor two weeks early
- Revising the instruction checklist for the one-day volunteering event
- Participating in planning meetings to develop the new recruitment campaign
Do these sound familiar? I'll bet they do. These -- and many more activities -- happen all the time, and we tend to take them for granted. We may indeed say thank you at the time (at least, we should!), but they rarely get remembered or recorded.
Try keeping an "Extra Effort Log" and keep track of such special assistance all year long. Record what the paid staff and even your executives do, too. Then, when it comes time for annual recognition, you'll have lots more to say than the usual. Some ideas:
- As you call individuals up for their certificates, mention something "forgotten" or unknown by most about the extra effort that volunteer (or staffer) did in the last 12 months.
- Put an extra line onto the certificate or in a note, mentioning the special activity.
- Create an "extra effort" display and post a montage of all the things volunteers did above-and-beyond their ordinary duties. If you took photographs, use those, or make a slide show.
- Report on paper and/or orally about all of this. People may be aware of the work volunteers accomplish regularly, but often it's the extras that really illuminate how the organization depends on this corps of workers.
Besides, this is the fun stuff and everyone will enjoy hearing about it!