Children know how to say the words ‘thank you’. Believe it or not, they even know when they are supposed to say them. But most parents know that expressing gratitude is not at the top of their list of things to do. Mom puts yet another meal on the table and rather than a ‘thank you’, the classic “eat your vegetables” battle ensues. Dad allows the kids to stay up late to watch a great movie and rather than a ‘thank you’, everyone just mosey’s on to bed when it’s over. Mom cleans up a messy bedroom and the child acts like he doesn’t even notice (he probably didn’t). That’s not to say that kids won’t say ‘thanks’ from time to time. No. Every once in a while it explodes from them like a burst of fresh sea air on a late afternoon day!
We all know the importance and value of gratefulness. In fact, the Bible is full of verses exhorting us to thank God Himself in all things. Paul declares in 2 Timothy 3 that ungratefulness represents a quality of ‘terrible times in the last days’. Unfortunately, and like our children, expressing gratitude is often not at the top of our list of things to do!
So in today’s Tactical Tip I am going to suggest a simple SYSTEM that will give gratitude a more prominent place in your regular routine. This system shouldn’t represent everything you do to thank your leaders and volunteers, but it’s probably more than you’re doing right now!
The Thank You System
To begin, you will need to collect a few resources. I suggest you add these to your shopping list right away or ask your spouse, secretary, or a volunteer to pick them up for you this week. Here’s what you will need:
- Four $40 gift cards.
- A small notebook.
- Thirty stamped ‘Thank You’ cards.
- Place one gift card into four separate ‘Thank You’ cards and wrap a rubber band around them. Place a sticky note on the wrapped bundle that says “Gift Cards”.
- Write at the top of the first page of the small notebook the words, “Thank You Log”.
- Place the stack of ‘Thank You’ cards, the bundle of ‘Thank You’ cards including the gift cards, and the small notebook in a convenient location near, in or on the desk in your office.
- Create a recurring reminder using your reminder system (if you don’t have a reminder system, then check out: Tactical Tip: Reminder Calendar) to send you a reminder every OTHER Monday morning at 9am or pick the day/time of your choice. I recommend a reminder no less than once every 14 days. Your reminder should say: “Write a Thank You card TODAY!”
- Create another recurring reminder using your reminder system to send you a reminder once every 3 months to send a Thank You card with enclosed gift card. Your reminder should say: “Write and send a Thank You card with Gift Card TODAY!”
- Create one last recurring reminder using your reminder system to send you a reminder once every YEAR beginning 11 months from now. Your reminder should say: “Evaluate and Setup your ‘Reminder Thank You’ system for this upcoming year.”
- When you receive your ‘Thank You’ reminder, STOP whatever you are doing or schedule a slot THAT DAY to follow up on this important task.
- Stop and think of which leader or volunteer you want to encourage that week. Pull out your ‘Thank You Log’ and look down the list of names written there. Make sure you don’t pick someone you’ve already sent a card to, unless you specifically want to. Ensure you aren’t just thinking of the ‘obvious’ people all of the time.
- Once you’ve decided on a person, write their name in the ‘Thank You Log’.
- Write a heartfelt and meaningful ‘Thank You’, address and mail.