Imagine something with me for a minute… Let’s say I walked into your office right now and said, “Hi, I’m Nelson Searcy and here’s $1000. I want you to use this $1000 to improve your church.” What would you do? What’s the first thing that pops into your mind?

Would you invest in your volunteers? How? Would you do something special for your staff? How would you spend that $1000? Would you be willing to use it to reward?

I started thinking about this question when I came across a recent blog post by Phil Gerbyshak. He had some good ideas around the concept of using the $1000 to thank and motivate his staff. He said that he would reward his staff by buying:

• “A Good Lunch: I manage 8 folks, so at $25 per person, that’s $200
• Refreshing Beverage of Choice: Some like iced coffee, some iced tea, and some want juice. At $5 per person, this would spend another $40 of my $1000.
• A Box of Thank You Notes: Hand written thank you notes are a very effective way to let your team know you care, especially if you offer them with specific praise. 40 thank you notes means 5 thanks per person. That’s another $25 spent.
• 40 Stamps: I like to mail my notes to my team at home, instead of just handing them to them at work, so their family can see them too. $16.80 cost.
• Frozen Custard: If you’ve never enjoyed frozen custard before, you don’t know what you’re missing. Maybe it’s just a Wisconsin thing, but instead of ice cream to fill a sweet tooth, I’d go and get some frozen custard from Kopps, not far from where I work. $50. (What special treat is near your church?)
• Direct Lighting: One of the worst things that can happen at work is eye strain, and it happens frequently if you don’t have good lighting. My team sits at their desk in front of their computer all day, so an investment into some direct lighting would be nice. I’d guess this would be $300.
• Amazon Gift Cards: Maybe this is cheating, but this is what I’d buy. With whatever is left over, I’d buy Amazon gift cards in various denominations to have on hand for the next time I need a spot reward. $400.”

Click here to read the opinions of some others who chimed in.

So, any ideas? What would you do? Spend some time this weekend thinking about what you could do to boost your team’s morale – with or without the $1000.

Have a great weekend!

Nelson