How To Get Honest Volunteer Feedback

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Volunteers are the backbone of your ministry events. Volunteer feedback is crucial for all ministries in small churches. However, getting comments from volunteers can sometimes be a challenging task. They may be hesitant to provide suggestions for improvement or offer suggestions. We explore strategies to get honest and valuable feedback from your small church volunteers.

Volunteer Feedback Is Needed For Ministry Strength

Volunteer assessments about events, meetings, and Bible studies are important for several reasons. Honest input from your volunteers helps you know what is working well in your small church events and what things need changes and improvement for better results.

Many times, volunteers see and experience things the leaders aren’t aware of.
Getting feedback lets your volunteers know the leader cares about them and what they have to say.
Team culture is developed and enhanced when you ask for others’ opinions and thoughts.
Feedback gives insight into meeting goals and the success of an event.
It builds relationships and is a great way to connect with volunteers who are involved.

Trust In Leadership Often Yields Intentional Responses

In order to give honest feedback, volunteers need to trust their leaders. Trust for feedback is built in several ways.

Leaders give clear job descriptions and expectations for a task. They set up their volunteers for success. This demonstrates to a volunteer that a leader truly cares about the event and values the volunteer’s participation and help.
All suggestions are welcomed and accepted –– even if it’s not feasible at this time, thank your helpers for their feedback and input.
Workable volunteer suggestions are used in future events.
Talk with volunteers on a regular basis outside of asking for help. Ask about how their week is going, what’s new in their lives, and the latest time they were able to participate in a hobby. Developing relationships often yields more intentional responses for input and suggestions.

Create A Culture Of Ministry Feedback

One of the most important strategies to get valuable evaluations from volunteers is to create a culture of feedback in your small church ministry. This means making it clear that feedback and critiques are welcome, valued, considered, and acted upon. By creating an environment where volunteers feel safe to express their opinions, you can increase the likelihood of receiving honest and constructive feedback.

To create a culture of feedback, start by communicating the importance of their observations with your volunteers. Let them know their thoughts are essential to improving your events and ministry happenings. Why Church Volunteers Quit And How To Plug The Leak tells us that many times, “Volunteers Quit Because Their Input Is Not Valued (Or Even Asked For).” Encourage volunteers to share their views regularly, and make sure their feedback is heard and acted upon.

Evaluate regularly. Consistency in soliciting responses for evaluation is key to creating a feeling that ideas and comments are wanted and welcomed.

Have a plan in place to ask for analysis after every event. Ask for feedback at the end of a Bible study series. Talk with those who attend your ministry happenings and consider having an End Of Year Party to celebrate the year. Talk about the past year and ask for highlights and things that they loved and suggested changes to do things differently in the future.

Creating a culture where feedback is embraced goes hand in hand with building a successful team. Read Team Building In A Small Church for tips and “resources for finding and keeping volunteers you can count on.”

For Greater Insight, Ask Specific Questions

Ask specific questions. Ask questions that, when answered, give the feedback you are looking for. General questions such as, “What did you think about the event?” will often give you a general answer and not much to work with.

What is the biggest change you would make next time?
Name one thing we can do to improve our Wednesday Night Study.
Tell me the top three snacks we should serve.
Does anyone have an idea about something new we could try to …
Talk about what can we do differently to …
Share your biggest challenge in setting up.

Ask For Feedback Before Your Event Ends

It is a great idea to ask for volunteer feedback and thoughts just before your event ends. Things that went well and items that might need to be tweaked are fresh on volunteers’ minds. Gather everyone together to ask two questions.

First, ask for one thing you could change or do differently to improve for the next time. Secondly, end with a positive. Ask about their favorite part of the event. This gives you the items that made the most positive impact. Write all responses down to both questions and review them at your next team meeting.

Online Surveys Are Quick & Easy

When possible, in-person feedback, ideas, and input are best. If getting volunteer feedback in person isn’t an option, another strategy to get valuable evaluation comments from volunteers is to use online surveys. Surveys can be an effective way to gather thoughts and comments from a large number of volunteers quickly and easily.

Surveys work well for:

if volunteers are scheduled in shifts and aren’t there for the entire event
leaders who are asking for feedback about a program that ran over a course of time, such as a Bible study, monthly hobby group, or VBS
events that end at a late time and everyone is tired and ready to go home

When creating your survey, ask specific questions to help you understand volunteers’ experiences and opinions. For example, you might ask volunteers to rate the effectiveness of their training or to provide feedback on ministry communication. Following an all-church event, you may ask about the clarity of directions for setup. When creating surveys, always include a box for comments if the questions need longer answers. Finish your survey with the question, “Is there anything else you’d like us to know?”

Ask Open-Ended Questions To Get Thoughtful Insight

In addition to online surveys, small groups can be an effective way to gather information from volunteers. Small groups of volunteers or your ministry team come together to discuss specific topics or issues related to your event or ministry. During these types of meetings, volunteers can share their experiences and opinions in a more interactive and engaging way.

Instead of: Did you like the event?
Ask: What did you like about the event?

Instead of: Did you like this Bible study?
Ask: What is the best thing you enjoyed about this Bible study?

Instead of: On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate our men’s ministry or women’s ministry?
Ask: Tell me one thing we can do to improve our ministry.

Team meetings are smaller in number than whole ministry meetings. Smaller numbers can encourage volunteers to share their opinions more freely. Ask open-ended questions to encourage discussion. Avoid leading questions that might influence volunteers’ opinions. Leading questions often hinder discussion and discourage varied opinions.

Help Volunteers Give Honest Input

If you have a large group of volunteers, an aspect that makes surveys attractive to some is the anonymous factor. When creating surveys, you may receive more accurate volunteer feedback when you make the name an optional piece of the survey. This helps your team give valuable and honest views without the feeling of possible future consequences. Volunteers may be concerned that their opinions and ideas could impact their volunteer role or future ministry opportunities.

Using anonymous surveys can encourage volunteers to provide honest comments. Additionally, make it clear that feedback is prayed about, valued, considered, and acted upon when possible.

Two Types Of Ministry Feedback

There are two categories or types of feedback and evaluation helpful to small church ministry.

Event Evaluation

Always evaluate your events as close to the event as you can. If possible, gather volunteers together at the end of the event to ask for their suggestions and most memorable moments.

If gathering together isn’t feasible, send an email survey or call your volunteers. Ask about what went well, challenges they saw or had, and how likely they’d volunteer for this same event next year.

Volunteer Assessment On Their Task Or Role

We don’t know unless we ask. Sometimes appearances don’t give us the true feelings of what’s happening behind the scenes. Asking for feedback about how a volunteer feels about their task or role gives us insight and understanding about how to do things better.

The article, Write Volunteer Job Descriptions For Better Ministry Results gives insight into why job descriptions can help set up a volunteer for success.

Great Questions To Ask A Volunteer

How did you feel about your role or task? What were any challenges?
How could I better set you up for success?
What else would you have liked so you could do a good job?
How could the leadership do a better job in planning?
What are some things you’d like to see done differently next time?
Name your favorite thing about what you did at the event.

Personal Follow-Up Shows You Value Your Volunteers

One of the most important strategies for getting valuable insights from volunteers is to personally follow up with them after they provide volunteer feedback. Following up shows volunteers their thoughts are valued and that you are committed to improving your programs, events, and services.

When following up with volunteers, make sure to acknowledge their feedback and provide updates on any actions taken as a result of their comments. This helps to build trust and encourages volunteers to continue sharing their thoughts in the future.

Honest Feedback Is Essential For Evaluation

Getting valuable comments and thoughts from volunteers is essential for future planning. By creating a culture of welcoming thoughts and comments, your volunteers and ministry team are likely to give honest feedback more often. With this, you are able to make strategic and informed decisions that can help to improve your ministry’s programs, events, and services. Asking for volunteer feedback is just one way to show you are thankful for your volunteers, you value them, and value their opinions.

Team Building In A Small Church