Q&A: How Can I Create a Culture of Care with My Volunteers?
Q:
Our volunteers are great at caring for our guests. But how can I create a culture of care on my volunteer teams, where they are also caring for each other?
[from the 2023 blog survey]
A:
One of the foundational principles of customer service is that employees will reflect care in the same way they’ve been cared for. In other words, if a corporate senior level manager sees employees as a simple means to an end, it won’t be long until those same employees treat customers as a profit center, rather than a living, breathing human.
It works much the same way in church world. A healthy guest services culture is only as healthy as a guest services team, and a guest services team only gets healthy when they’re cared for by staff and each other.
So how do we create a culture of care?
1. See the people, not the process.
This point has to apply universally. When inviting a potential volunteer to serve, leaders need to view them through the lens of what’s good for the volunteer, not what’s good for the organization. When volunteers are serving guests, they have to see them as real individuals, not faces in the crowd.
When we demonstrate that at every level, there’s a bleedover effect into how our volunteers see each other. It’s no longer about sticking a warm body at door #3, it’s about getting to know that person on a relational, rather than transactional, basis.
2. Provide a backstage area.
You need a Volunteer Headquarters – or something like it – so that vols can be “off” with guests and “on” for each other. Yes, a volunteer’s primary focus should be the guest, attendee, child, small group member, whoever they’re serving on their team. But they also need downtime when they stop focusing on the role and start focusing on friendships among the team.
3. Tell stories.
You need a story repository that you’re constantly restocking with fresh content. Tell about Mike changing the flat for a first-time guest. Talk about Claire stopping to pray for a recent widower. Celebrate Zach helping a single mom get her kids to the van. Big stories and small, great resolutions or not, telling stories with people at the center helps to humanize the process.
But it’s not just the good stories. With the volunteer’s permission, talk about things that are not going so well on the team or in their lives. Talk about the awkward interaction with the hostile guest. Don’t ignore the recent diagnosis. Weep with them over the wayward child. And then spend real, meaningful time praying for those things that matter to those people. When we can do that backstage, away from the time crunch and outward focus, we build bonds and forge friendships.
4. Create a position dedicated to care.
Sure, you need a team leader for your 9 a.m. parking team or your 10:30 a.m. elementary teachers. But what if you had a care leader to match? That leader is less instructional and more relational, less administrative and more “antennae up.” We’ve experimented with this before: having one dedicated person who just wanders the team, checks in, brings bottled water, gathers stories, and flags any crucial issues for the team leader or staff member to be aware of. I’ll bet you have a volunteer who would thrive in a role like this, and it frees you to see the 10,000 foot view of the morning.
5. Rally the troops for major needs.
Surgeries or babies, weddings or funerals, job losses or job transfers: all of those are opportunities for your volunteer team to partner with that person’s family, neighbors, or small group to show up in big and small ways. Start a Meal Train. Pick up their kids from school. Put gas in their car or groceries on the table. Meeting practical needs is a great way to establish a culture of care among your people.
Photo credit: Peter Van Dyck
