Volunteers

As you increase your membership, you should be aware of how and why a volunteer program works. As the organization grows, be sure to develop a culture of good volunteerism. You will want your association to be a place where ordinary people will have the training and motivation to do extraordinary things. In this book, we begin to explore the value of an effective volunteer program. If volunteers are going to be a large part of your future, please connect with your local volunteer organizations, and read more about how to manage volunteers.

Who is responsible for the volunteer program?

In the start-up days, everyone is busy seeing that nothing is falling between the cracks. As exciting as the start-up period may be, it is also exhausting. Part of growing includes dividing the work and assigning groups and individuals to take on the responsibility of accomplishing various tasks.

The leadership should take care that no one is asked to perform a job that she or he is unable to perform, that moral support is always there, and that all contributions are recognized. An individual is motivated and satisfied when doing what one is best at doing. When Marcus Buckingham was with the Gallup Organization, he and his team researched over 1.7 million employees from 101 countries representing 63 companies. Analysis of the results revealed that people have the most job satisfaction and perform most effectively when they are using their strengths (Buckingham and Clifton).¹ Leadership is responsible to ensure needed help, instruction, or training is available. Volunteer motivation is part of the responsibility of the leadership at every phase in the life of your organization.

Please don’t put anyone in charge of volunteers who has a low opinion of volunteers because they are not paid. Unfortunately, I still hear people (who should know better) say, “You cannot expect much from them because they are only volunteers.” Over the years, I’ve learned to have high expectations for what volunteers can achieve, and I’ve seldom been disappointed. The only difference between a volunteer and an employee is that the employee is paid. For many people, extrinsic rewards such as money are far less motivating than the intrinsic reward. When you match someone’s passion with the opportunity to participate in making a better world, the work is awesome.

As your association grows, you may need to develop a productive culture of volunteer management. This must go hand-in-hand with recruitment. As soon as someone has agreed to join or participate you will probably want to invite them to assist with (or even lead) one of your initiatives. Large organizations may formalize this by having a volunteer coordinator—someone who is either a volunteer or, if the budget allows, is a paid professional. At least have a committee that is accountable for recruitment and volunteer development.

Part of my purpose here is to alert you to the fact that in your community there are many people who know about volunteerism and can help you. You can, and should, expect much from the results of the work of your volunteers. There is probably a volunteer centre that can teach you the philosophy of volunteerism and also provide lots of practical advice. Here’s a small sample of the information available

http://www.501commons.org/resources/tools-and-best-practices/volunteer-management

http://www.handsonnetwork.org/files/resources/GB_TakeRoot_Volunteer_Management_unkn_HON.pdf

http://www.citizensinformationboard.ie/publications/providers/downloads/Managing_Volunteers_08.pdf

Why people volunteer

There are many different reasons that people volunteer. You should not expect that everyone is motivated by the same reasons as you. Be sure to make room for those other people.

The main reasons that people will join your organization are:

• They are attracted to participate with the existing members. This means that you and your people are the main attraction. In some cases, recruits will like you enough that they might be willing to accept your mission and values in order to participate. This is fine if it does not compromise the prospect’s integrity. From the section on recruiting, I discussed that the prospect likely attended an event or was invited to a gathering by a friend. When the leadership and the membership is friendly and welcoming, prospective members will talk to new people and seek out their interests. Newly recruited members should be guided to groups that will be supportive of the new member and will benefit from their participation.

As I previously mentioned, if people don’t feel welcome, or they are not encouraged to participate, most will quietly withdraw. Greet people in the spirit of friendship. First make a friend, then a colleague. Actively welcoming new people should be part of the culture of every gathering. Keep in mind that many people are shy, even though they may not exhibit shy behaviour. You may need to give people some time to warm to the culture of your society, and to gravitate to the activities that interest them. Be sure to review your membership lists frequently to ensure no one is forgotten.

• They are enthusiastic about your society’s vision. Part of the job of the leadership is to keep your vision in view and in focus. Sometimes the jobs required to run the club are a bit tedious, but they do really contribute to improving the world. All knowledgeable members can learn to help by being evangelists for that vision in all of their social interactions, not just at official gatherings. Many people will be inspired by your clarity of purpose and will want to participate with you.
• They believe that participating will permit personal growth and achievement. This aspect of volunteerism is often overlooked; but you should be aware of it especially if a volunteer has the opportunity to accomplish something that could be put on her or his résumé. Most people will participate in your society because this is how they choose to spend some of their time. They enjoy making a contribution and it provides intrinsic personal rewards. Other volunteers will see an opportunity to develop new skills and achieve personal growth. For those people, your volunteer training program will have real value to the member. Other people may want to use their participation as an opportunity to practice special skills that they have developed but for which they have yet to find professional clients. Participation allows them to network, meet new people, and even have fun. As long as their skills contribute to the real work of your society, make it happen!

Finding and asking for volunteers

Service clubs have members who join with the expectation that they will be asked to participate in volunteer activities. When I was museum director, my division had a large volunteer program. In that city, the opportunity to work in the labs with our curators, or as docents in the display area, were well-known and desirable community service volunteer positions—so we had no trouble finding applicants for vacancies. In these cases, when someone announces that volunteers are needed, likely several people will put up their hands.

The following discussion on volunteerism is for many other associations where a call for volunteers results in silence.

Why the silence? When someone volunteers, he or she is making a commitment of their most valuable asset: their time. In today’s culture that stresses doing more with less, few people feel they have any time to spare. People need to be able to process the request for volunteers, to decide that they want to do the job, and to consider if they can remove or delay other things in their schedule. So, they may hear the call and even be interested in the possibility, but remain silent.

Your solution to recruiting volunteers begins by understanding that most people need to be asked to volunteer.

If you are going to ask for volunteers, begin by thinking through the task that needs to be accomplished. You must have the answers to some obvious questions. Does the volunteer need be someone who already has the skills to do the job? Are the tools and other resources for the related tasks available? If this is work that has been done before, is someone prepared to train or mentor the volunteer?

Then think about whom you’d like to ask to take on the job. You don’t need to select the person most suited (likely those people are asked all the time). Review your pool of potential volunteers and think about whom might be ready to take on increased responsibility, or who is currently under-utilized. Is there someone who might like to distinguish her/himself by making a contribution? At this point you should have a short list of people to ask.

Think through what will you say to your candidate so she or he will likely decide to volunteer. Why do you think your chosen candidate is a good choice for the job? What special skills or talents are especially suited to the task? How will the organization support the volunteer in his or her work?

Now you are ready to ask your first candidate to volunteer. Keep in mind that this is a personal request. You can use phrases such as: “We need you to take this on.” “I am confident that you can do this job.” “If you do this, I am assured that [name of person] is prepared to [help, mentor you, work with you, etc.].” Recall the section on recruiting. The candidate may need time to process the invitation, so unless you must have a fast yes, until you hear a flat ‘no,’ deal with those objections.

Volunteer training and record keeping

Look at all of the regular activities performed by the volunteers in your association. Whenever you elect a new treasurer or someone is appointed to run this year’s event, is that person expected to figure out how to do the job from scratch?

If you ever expect new people to be able to take over any of the regular volunteer tasks, it might be useful to have some record of how the job should be done. For a small society, creating a detailed manual of procedures might be such a monumental task that you won’t do it. I suggest you begin piecemeal: have some current incumbents write up their volunteer job description and procedures as a way of ensuring that they won’t have to do that task forever. If you have large volunteer-run projects or events, it becomes a necessary annual event to recruit new volunteers and then hold training sessions for the various positions. For some people, this training will add valuable points to the résumés of recruits. As part of the wind-up and reporting for a regular event, is it possible to capture, in writing, the details for the important jobs, the names of suppliers, and the related costs? It is better than counting on everyone’s memory as the process begins again for next time.

A large volunteer program will require record keeping that is similar to the files maintained by the human resources department of a company. While this level of volunteerism is beyond the scope of this book, there is some information you may consider collecting. These records might involve tracking volunteer hours and having job descriptions for each job.

The event and the work of volunteers should be evaluated. Celebrate what worked well but use critical thinking to determine if the success was due to good planning or pure luck. Certainly, volunteers can learn from what did not work well. Those who are anxious to improve will stay engaged. Those who lack interest in improvements can be asked quietly to step aside. This demonstrates to the people who are fulfilling the expectations for volunteering that the work is truly valued. For guidelines and tools on planning, creating, and evaluating events, here is one useful webpage http://oregonstate.edu/ua/events/book/export/html/50

Rewarding volunteers

The most important reward for volunteer work is recognition. But what type of recognition? Some people enjoy the public acknowledgement of individual contributions and some do not. You need to communicate with each of your volunteers to determine what type of recognition is appreciated before singling out individuals. Certainly, you can mention the ongoing work of your volunteer teams at your meetings. You don’t need to gush with thanks, just let everyone know what people are doing. If you come to milestone in the life of your organization (conclusion of a program, the end of the season or year, almost anything), consider holding a celebration event to trumpet what everyone has accomplished.

One of the best uses of social media is for recognition (e.g., blogging, Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus, Twitter). As long as the individual is comfortable with public recognition, tag them in posts or in photos. Photographs of people at work are terrific ways to share the excitement about your event. People do love to see themselves or others in photos. With all of the opportunities available on the Internet, be sure to use these tools.

However, the most effective recognition is a permanent mention in official club documents. For example, the board can recognize individual contributions in board meeting minutes. If you have a print or online newsletter that is archived, be sure to recognize volunteer contributions. For more about this, read the section on the newsletter.

In some large volunteer programs there are some perquisites associated with the job. Perks can include free parking, paid travel, paid meals, special event apparel or VIP passes. Perks must be legitimate business expenses and not a form of payment or honorarium. Consistency across the organization in awarding perks is important. If several people are finding and training their own volunteers, be sure that all of the volunteers are receiving similar treatment and benefits.