volunteerplaintalk

Category: international volunteer manager appreciation day

  • Who Gets to Define Excellence? IVMDAY

    Happy IVMDAY 2021! November 5th is International Volunteer Managers Appreciation Day. The theme this year is “What is Excellence? Pushing Us Beyond the Ordinary.

    What a great question! What is volunteer manager excellence anyway, and more importantly, who gets to define it? Volunteers? Staff? Community? Your neighbor?

    Whose excellence are we seeking?

    Would I, a volunteer manager tell a neurosurgeon (I can’t even spell it, I had to use spell checker) what defines their excellence? Would I dare tell a poet their sonnet lacks emotion or a fireman their gear is improper? Not unless I want to be a fool.

    What is an expert, anyway? According to Dictionary.com, an expert is: a person who has special skill or knowledge in some particular field; specialist; authority, Woah, wait a minute. Authority?

    Authority: the power to determine, adjudicate, or otherwise settle issues or disputes; jurisdiction; the right to control, command, or determine.

    The Power to Determine

    You know where this is going, so I’ll be brief. As experts, we have the power to determine. What we need is the confidence and conviction to wield that power. We need strategies to build programs in this new reality.

    The people who have formerly determined excellence in volunteer engagement and impact (organizational founders, senior management, organizational boards) are not super beings. They are human, just like we are, and as such, can be persuaded, can be convinced, can be appealed to, can be shown. By no means is this easy or simple or done in a day. But with a vision and a strategy to implement the vision, things can change.

    Small wins can lead to bigger wins. It’s nearly impossible to change minds with broad, sweeping concepts. You need specifics and outcomes to back up your vision. Bite-sized wins are more easily digested by those we seek to convince.

    Beyond the Ordinary

    Ordinary to me is this: Accepting the systems we’ve inherited and complaining about them. Yep, did a lot of that in my time. Until I realized I was holding myself back. By taking things personally, I was failing the volunteers and the projects. And the good news? In this chaotic upheaval caused by the pandemic, change is now a norm. We can use change to set forth our vision of excellence. Change = need for new vision = new excellence as defined by you the authority = better outcomes/better value/better benefits.

    Excellence should feel excellent. The thrill of accomplishing something excellent is like nothing else. With that feeling in your heart, be confident, have conviction, be the authority. Let go of the personal frustrations and strategize. Go for small wins and build. Go beyond the ordinary.

    Happy IVMDay 2021 to all you EXPERTS in our field. You have the power to determine. You got this.

    -Meridian

  • International Volunteer Managers Day November 5: What’s Next?

    Photo by Pressmaster on Pexels.com

    International Volunteer Managers Day is tomorrow and the theme for 2020 is: What’s next?

    I’ll tell you what’s next. Change-big, big, gargantuan change, that’s what’s next. Sweeping changes, whether we initiate them by adjusting volunteer programs, or they occur naturally in spite of what we do. But changes in volunteerism have been drip, dripping in for years and the pandemic has merely loosened the change valve and allowed a wave of changes to gush in.

    Shall we get red in the face and shout?

    So, do we simply amplify our change voices?

    Should we yell in the next meeting that “volunteers need respect and true recognition, you fools, not balloons and cute sayings?” Scream over the intercom that “volunteers need meaningful roles, people” and hope that sticks? Put up posters with sayings like “volunteers are human beings, not tools,” or “the volunteer exodus is real?”

    Starting where change must first begin: with our approach to enacting change

    “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”
    – Lao Tzu

    What is your perception of yourself? Well, that’s easy, right? Let’s see, I’m

    • hardworking
    • dedicated
    • kind
    • creative
    • forward thinking
    • humble
    • a team player
    • a believer in possibilities

    But what is your reputation (not self-identity) within your organization?

    Your self-identity may not be the same as your reputation. You know you possess all those wonderful traits, but how do you exhibit them at work? Or, could it be that (as I’ve experienced more times than I care to admit) what seems obvious is not obvious at all?

    Maybe your humility is viewed as weakness. Maybe your kindness is viewed as a lack of gumption. Maybe all of your hard work behind the scenes is not seen at all. Maybe your dedication is viewed as having fun with volunteers. Maybe your forward thinking is perceived as complaining.

    Shouting won’t change the perception of who we are and the importance of our volunteer programs

    Think about a person you respect and/or admire. When they say something you listen, right? Now think about a person you’re ambivalent about. What happens when they say something? Do you listen with the same intent? Probably not.

    Change will never happen until people want to hear what we have to say

    We can argue and advocate all we want, but if our reputation hinders us, people won’t listen deeply to understand what we are saying. And we must get through to our organizations. Why? Because volunteers are rapidly changing, irrespective of Covid’s impact, and we know that organizations must adapt to sustain volunteering.

    For years, volunteers have been changing because:

    • they look for flexibility
    • they need meaningful roles
    • they want instant access
    • they want to have say in what they do
    • they crave being told how they’ve impacted missions
    • they hate red tape
    • they demand transparency
    • they want to know more about organizational inner workings
    • they don’t feel bad about leaving for better opportunities
    • they want to be educated and more involved
    • they want to feel totally integrated
    • they want to use their skills, not be slotted into tedious roles
    • they want to create an identity within the organization
    • they want more control over their volunteering
    • they want to be on an even par with donors
    • they want to be recognized for their additional support outside of their recorded volunteer hours

    That’s a butt-load of changes, isn’t it? These changes are not new; they’ve been coming for years and now, they’re here in our laps. So, we can shout all we want, but we need listeners.

    Who are we in the nonprofit world?

    Take a moment and think about perceptions. Look at the behaviors that might create the wrong perception. Do you ever…

    • stay quiet in meetings
    • phrase your advocacy in terms such as “but, volunteers don’t want to do that.”
    • hang back so volunteers are in the spotlight
    • assume everyone sees how hard you work
    • look harried at times
    • get down or mad because no one seems to get it
    • react defensively when staff doesn’t respect volunteers
    • use phrases like, “I’m putting out fires”
    • talk about “having fun with the volunteers”
    • avoid confrontations with challenging volunteers
    • just sit back and hope for the best

    Now, remove yourself and picture a random person (let’s call her Matilda) exhibiting any of the above behaviors. What would your perception of Matilda be? What would Matilda’s reputation at work be like? Would she be thought of as a visionary, a leader, a go-getter, an innovator, a solutions gal?

    So, for International Volunteer Managers Day, the “what’s next” question for me means this: Forget for a minute all that needs to change when engaging volunteers and think about how we can make change happen.

    What needs to change is our self-identities as innovative, mission-supporting, forward thinking, visionary people must match our reputations within our organizations.

    Once we are viewed in the way we self-identify, we can successfully advocate for the changes we seek because people will listen.

    Next time: An action plan

    -Meridian

  • I Speak Volunteer. You?

    I Speak Volunteer You

     

    Are volunteer managers world travelers? Do we venture into exotic lands where the inhabitants speak a foreign language and do not understand the words we speak?

    If you’ve ever stood up in a staff meeting to give a presentation on volunteering and the attendees glazed over while checking their devices, you know what I mean. They don’t understand the odd, volunteer language coming out of our mouths.

    For example, what are common volunteer management phrases and typical staff responses:

    “Our selfless volunteers who are caring and compassionate.”  HUH? So what? I’m caring and compassionate too, but that doesn’t get the mountains of work done.

    “Our volunteers gave 6,000 hours last month making our clients lives better.” WHAT? Who gave $6,000 and why wasn’t I informed? I’m in charge of donations here! The nerve!

    “Volunteers give from their heart.” Yeah, that’s nice but I give from my heart too and I give my blood, sweat and tears besides. Who has time for this fluff?

    Broad statements and dry statistics are the twins of tune-out. So, do stats and heart-warming stories have any place at all? Yes, of course they do, but what is the impact of these stats and stories, other than the feel-goodery of volunteerspeak?

    As you step onto the stage for your moment to talk about volunteer services, think about your elevator pitch. Does my audience speak volunteer? How do I get their attention? And, most importantly, can I speak to them in their own language so that they understand?

    Let’s break this down:

    In volunteerspeak, we focus on our volunteer’s selflessness as in,  “One of our volunteers, Dave, gave up tickets to a sold out play to spend two extra hours with an upset client. Now that’s above and beyond. ” Nice, but well, this has no bearing on me.

    Instead, if we retell this story in a language our target audience speaks, and we focus on impact it becomes, “volunteer Dave stayed two extra hours, allowing our social worker, Alexis, to fully focus on her caregiver assessment while he engaged the upset client. This cut Alexis’ time in that home by half which gave her two more hours to get her work done.” What? Extra time? I’m listening.

    Forcing our audiences to understand ‘volunteerspeak‘ is a burden on them. Instead, if we want our voices heard, we need to learn to speak their language.

    What questions can help us find the common tongue?

    • What, at this moment is the most pressing challenge facing our organization? Time? Marketing? Money? Lack of market share? Competition? Complaints? Auditing? How can we craft our stories and stats into the ways volunteers help in addressing these specific challenges? For example, instead of talking in general terms of how volunteers support the mission, gather concrete examples of volunteers who donate money, in-kind goods and influence their neighbors to give. 
    • What departments are stretched, overworked and leaned on? In what measurable concrete terms do volunteers alleviate the load on these departments? For example, instead of pointing to volunteer hours given, flip it and speak to the amount of hours saved by staff.
    • What are some of the current organizational goals? Expansion? Partnerships? Social Media presence? National recognition? How are new volunteer programs leading the way in achieving these goals? For example, instead of pointing to a new program that will bring in more volunteers, show how the innovative program will more quickly lead to a specific goal.
    • What methods speak to my organization? Gathering stats? Big picture thinking? Connecting dots? Awards? How can I rework my presentations using these methods to show volunteer impact? For example, instead of equating volunteer hours to dollars saved, speak to examples of volunteers as extensions of departments and the work produced. Impact stats vs. hour stats.

    We can continue to praise volunteer goodness until we are hoarse. But if we don’t speak in the terms and language understood by our organizations, CEO’s, department heads and staff, it will fall on deaf ears.

    We can’t expect others to translate volunteerspeak. We must adapt the common tongue in order to show true, measurable volunteer impact.

    You know, because of volunteer involvement, we frequently travel to all corners of our organizations.  It really helps to speak the language.

    -Meridian

     

     

     

  • International Volunteer Manager Appreciation Day or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bond

    http://volunteermanagersday.org/
    http://volunteermanagersday.org/

    Happy IVMA Day tomorrow! November 5th is in some pretty impressive company along with Gunpowder Day (Guy Fawkes) and Men Make Dinner Day. So, after gorging on cake, opening all my presents and explaining for the 75th time that this is not a day to thank volunteers, I’m going to reflect on what this day represents. And I will be thinking about some volunteer managers who really deserve to be appreciated. These volunteer managers did not throw in the towel when faced with the challenges unique to volunteer management. Here they are in no particular order:

    Volunteer coordinator Mandy who was pressured by the CEO’s executive assistant to join a secretarial association in order to secure a discount for the rest of the administrative assistant staff.  Mandy was enticed by “c’mon, you sit at a desk and you use a computer and work with email. Besides, we serve cupcakes at our meetings.”

    Volunteer manager Marcus who found the CEO at his door one day asking about a volunteer who had recently died. “Who was she, where did she work,” the CEO inquired. Marcus was thrilled to see the CEO care about a long-term volunteer until the CEO said, “gosh, I really can’t picture her,” then proceeded to talk about the sizable chunk of money the volunteer left to the organization.

    Volunteer manager Chelsea who was promised additional help if she doubled the volunteer base. When she asked about the additional help after increasing volunteers by 120% she was told, “but we all have to tighten our belts. Besides, it’s not like these are employees. Volunteers are easy.”

    Volunteer coordinator Bennie who arrived at work one day to find his desk moved. “We hired a consultant on employee morale,” he was told, “and had to find space for her to sit.”

    Part time volunteer leader Casey who went shopping and was caught by a chatty former volunteer who talked so long that she ended up wetting herself and the store’s floor.

    Volunteer manager Tyreese who was instructed to create a good experience for a senior manager’s teenager daughter that needed community service hours. Tyreese spent hours working on an educational and meaningful project only to repeatedly find the teenager sitting outside on a bench texting. The next day, the senior manager presented Tyreese with a form to sign that stated the hours were complete, saying, “She’s such a bright girl, don’t you think? She wants to be a mental health therapist one day.”

    Volunteer coordinator Toby who spent most of her weekend sitting by the hospital bed of a new volunteer only to find out that the volunteer wasn’t really sick in a traditional way, but actually addicted to pain killers.

    Volunteer manager Miriam who spent her rainy birthday driving 54 miles with all her training gear to a rural community center where the Ladies of the “Communication Service Guild” wanted to be trained as volunteers. Not only was the center padlocked, the president’s cell number was disconnected. A soaked Miriam tripped over some slippery rocks strewn in front of the gate and fell in the mud. The next day after much trial and error, Miriam was able to reach the guild’s treasurer who said, “Oh, no, we put that off until next year. We’re just too busy working on our rock garden right now.”

    Volunteer specialist Jarrel who generously invited the head fundraiser along to present at a community speaking engagement only to be talked over throughout the entire presentation. The head fundraiser breathlessly told the crowd, “what we really need is your volunteer efforts to raise more capital for us. As a matter of fact, why don’t we set up a fund-raiser right now! I’ve got a sign up sheet right here!”

    Well there you have it-kudos to all the volunteer managers out there who endure the oddball insanity of volunteer management.

    So, again, happy International Volunteer Manager Appreciation day! Have some cake, open all your presents and tell everyone to….   well, just enjoy!

    -Meridian