The OpenWater Blog

How to Value Your Organization’s Members

The beating heart, the cogs and wheels, the brains and brawn that keep an organization working, growing, and improving are its members and employees. No matter how much you enjoy and believe in what you’re doing, sometimes you just get bogged down and feel like you’re not making a difference (winter doldrums, anyone?).

One way to combat the possibility of this low morale is to ensure that your members know they are valued by the organization.

Here are some ideas of how to do that:

1. Spotlight – is someone doing an exemplary job in their position? Are they a long-time member? Or a new one? Showcase a member in the organization newsletter, on your homepage or in your blog with a little blurb about them. Here’s an example.

2. Awards Program – Set up an awards program to recognize people within the organization for their efforts. Everyone likes to be recognized for the work they do and such a program is fun and valuable to everyone.

3. Keep them in the loop – Let them know what their work is doing in the real world and how their efforts are helping your organization.

4. Let them give feedback – Give them the opportunity to let you know how things are going in your organization. They could have important insight that could help you improve.

5. Take their advice seriously – If they do give feedback and advice, listen. And if the advice is something helpful that you could implement thank them and let them know.

6. But most importantly … Get to know them! Set up some events for everyone to get to know each other – from volunteers to the executive committee. It can be as low key as a coffee hour or as posh as an office cocktail party. The possibilities are endless!

People don’t want to be faceless workers. Showing them that who they are as a member of your organization is important to you will go a long way in making them remember that they’re a valuable member of the team.

Miriam Hancock

Miriam Hancock
Miriam is the Marketing Coordinator for OpenWater. When she isn't writing and designing content she paints and cooks for her own personal blog.

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