volunteerplaintalk

Category: volunteer coordinator

  • Do Volunteers Have Privacy? Naaah!

    gossipingDo volunteers have a right to privacy? While we’re on the subject, how much privacy do we, employees have? What can employers divulge about us and what should we divulge about our volunteers?

    I guess we can all run to our legal departments and get an official statement but what is our real policy? For an example, a couple of months ago, I was approached by a senior manager and the following conversation took place.

    SM: Hi, I just needed to ask you a question. Do you have a volunteer by the name of Abigail Drake?
    Me: Yes, Abigail is one of our volunteers.
    SM: Oh, ok, I need to talk to you about her.
    Me: Please, sit down and let’s talk.
    SM: Well, yesterday, they sent me a call from a woman who said she was Abigail’s neighbor.
    Me: Oh? Is Abigail all right?
    SM: That’s not it. The neighbor said, I don’t know how to put this, but the neighbor wanted us to know something about Abigail.
    Me: (eyebrows raised) And what might that be?
    SM: She said that Abigail has been on medication for severe depression for years and the neighbor feels like Abigail might come off the medication in the near future, which would make her a risky volunteer.

    (Are you sensing something very wrong right now?)

    Me: I see.
    SM: You’re not going to let her volunteer are you?
    Me: Well actually, yes, I am.
    SM: But the neighbor assured me that Abigail is a risk. We probably need to talk to her.
    Me: Abigail has been through every one of our requirements to become a volunteer. She has passed all of her background screenings.
    SM: But what about her severe depression?

    (Ok, I have to admit, at this point I was flabbergasted that a Senior Manager would be so naive)

    Me: All I can do is treat Abigail just like I treat every other volunteer. If for some reason she shows signs of risky behavior, we will address it promptly, I can assure you. But I have to say, I never discuss our volunteers with anyone.
    SM: Hmmm. I did tell the neighbor that we would take her comments under advisement and that I would speak to you. She said she knows you.

    Me: (eyebrows raised even further because here’s the part that gets bizarre and I swear it’s true) Oh, really?
    SM: Yes, she said her name was Laura Cramer or Kranmore…
    Me: Laura Cramer?
    SM: Yes, you know her?
    Me: She was a volunteer with us a long time ago and we had to dismiss her.
    SM: Oh?
    Me: Yes, it did not go well and I believe she has harbored a grudge ever since.

    Just the name Laura Cramer stops me like a hockey forecheck. Her dismissal was ugly and it is never pleasant to remember.

    The senior manager left and I’m guessing forgot about the whole thing fairly quickly. It bothered me though, that an intelligent representative of the organization would chat about the private life of one of our volunteers with an unknown voice on the phone. I started wondering: If a neighbor of mine decided to call in and say I beat my dog or had a drinking problem, would someone discuss that with a total stranger?
    I’ve been called by folks looking for a volunteer’s phone number or address, mainly because they want to thank them. But I protect the volunteers like a mother black bear hearing the snap of a twig. “If you give me permission,” I say to them, “I will pass your number along to the volunteer in question. Or you can send a card here and I will personally deliver it to our volunteer.” And fortunately, people are always understanding and grateful that our volunteers’ private lives are protected.

    Frankly, I don’t care about the legality of volunteers’ privacy. When I volunteer somewhere, I want to know that my personal information is kept locked up tight and that I matter. And when it comes to volunteers, we, volunteer managers, should lead the way in all HR management by doing better than what is required by law and regulations.
    We might even want to teach all staff in our organizations to protect our volunteers as well.
    -Meridian

  • Volunteers Leading the Way

    treasure hunt“No,” I almost shouted, “you cannot volunteer in that area without proper orientation and training!” I stood, hands on hips picturing this person in front of me as no more than a child. “Why, you ask? Because it’s a requirement, that’s why.” I said in my best Mom authority voice. My hands trembled slightly. I did not care that this person said they had spent 30 years in management. I did not care that they had jumped through all of our other hoops, because what good is a volunteer who won’t listen? I plugged my ears to their simple questions. “I’m sorry, but you either come to the next training, or we can’t use you anymore.” The echo of my footsteps down the tiled floor bounced off the serene artwork on the walls. “I don’t have time for this,” I muttered. “Volunteers need to just get with the program.”

    No, this scene did not happen. Oh boy, I hope you didn’t think it did. But could it? Do we not box up our volunteers like overly taped goods on the way to China? We’ve added background checks, fingerprinting, drug testing and personality quizzes to ensure that crazies don’t wiggle in. We require training and signatures and photo IDs to prevent any “Lone rangers.” We vet and inspect and watch like hawks each one of our new volunteers. And the seasoned ones? Oh, I might have heard one mention something about religion or politics. RED FLAG! RED FLAG! Book the counseling room!

    Since we’ve got it all in control, we can’t let in anyone who might pose a risk, not only legally but also to the assembly line of our volunteer base. Keep ’em in check or all sorts of mayhem might ensue. Yes, we require and require some more and require even more. But what we often do not require is innovative thinking, problem solving, fresh ideas, and good old gut instinct. No, those things are best left to the all-knowing people in power and they will cling to that power even as the ship goes down or is rendered out of commission. While start-ups thrive on new ideas, established non-profits may hold on tight to the ways things have always been done. And that usually involves a line between volunteers and innovation. When is the last time you saw a volunteer sit in on an executive planning meeting?

    The other day I was talking to a group of our volunteers who work in one of the thrift stores. They had forged this great camaraderie with each other over the course of two years and they support one another through life’s challenges. One of them asked me to find the phone number of a new volunteer who just happened to train with them one afternoon. Although, this new volunteer, Hannah trained with them, she will be volunteering on another day with a newly put together team. “We want to call Hannah and invite her to one of our get-togethers,” they said. “We’d like to follow-up with her.”
    “That’s so nice of you,” I said, “I’m sure she’d appreciate that.”
    “Well,” they countered, “have you heard the story of how Hannah came to us?”
    “No,” I admitted, “I didn’t.”
    So they told me. It seems that Hannah was volunteering at another thrift shop for another organization. “Hannah was the right-hand girl for the shop manager. She volunteered three days a week,” they said. “But then, Hannah’s husband got sick and she had to stop for a time so that she could care for him. She said that during that time she never once heard anything from the shop or the organization. Nothing. No card, no call.” The team looked at each other and shook their heads. “When Hannah walked back into the store after her husband recovered, the shop manager said oh, you’re back, good. That’s when Hannah left.”
    I have to admit, I was taken aback. I did not know that about Hannah. But the team went one step further. “We feel like she was treated poorly and we want to make sure that she feels welcomed and needed here. So, we’re going to make sure that happens.” One of the team looked me right in the eye and said, “it’s the right thing to do for volunteers, you know that.”

    Not too long ago I was sitting and talking with a volunteer, Jim who I hadn’t seen for a while. He told me a story about visiting a nursing home patient. He said, “The director of the nursing home pleaded with me to come in on Saturday so that the patient would not be alone with a Saturday worker who made the patient uncomfortable. This worker reminded the patient of a man who had beaten and robbed him several years before. He would get really agitated when he saw this worker.” Jim shifted slightly. “For just a moment, I realized I should call in to see if that was ok, but then I knew: It was the right thing to do. I hope you don’t mind that I took that on myself.”

    Mind? While organizations may see their journey as a straight line, volunteers tend to be able to swarm over wide swaths of terrain, finding and seeking the right thing to do. If we can just relax our holds on them, just a little, imagine all the territory we can cover.
    -Meridian

  • Sloppy Slippery Slope

    slippery-slope1Who doesn’t hate being wrong? I certainly do, because it makes me, well, wrong. I hate being wrong about football picks, hate being wrong about that Sushi restaurant being open on Monday, and I hate being wrong about the dreamy guy that I recommended to fix my friend’s air conditioner. She’s still mad at me for that one. But what I hate most is being wrong about something I’ve done for so long that it should be part of my circulatory system.
    Last week a volunteer manager, Garth, called me to ask for some advice. Garth and I go back a few years to a charity event where we occupied the same table in a frigid tent along with six other frozen event goers. It was cold, damp and thoroughly miserable, but we all exchanged business cards and kept in touch.
    Garth manages a small museum and oversees maybe twenty regular volunteers. His volunteers are long-term, most having been there longer than he has. But occasionally, he will accept a student who needs school credit, especially if that student has an interest in history. So, Garth called and said he wanted to bounce something off someone who would understand.
    Me: “Hi Garth, what’s going on?”
    G: “Hey, good to talk to you, I have a slight problem and I was wondering what you think. I took on a high school student, Lizzie as a volunteer a few weeks back. Lizzie told me she needed to complete about 50 more hours for her scholarship application. She’s been coming in for a couple of weeks but now here’s the problem. Lizzie came in yesterday afternoon with a paper that I needed to sign for her hours. I looked the paper over and while it is a statement of completed hours, it’s not for a scholarship. Seems she got into trouble at their homecoming dance and she has to complete 50 hours for that. Now, there’s no court involved, it’s just the school requiring this.”
    Me: “Hmmm, so she did not tell you this upfront?”
    G: “No, I remember her saying scholarship. This is totally different.”
    Me: “When is it due?”
    G: “That’s the other kicker. It’s due tomorrow and I can’t seem to locate all the sign-in sheets for her, so I don’t think she completed 50 hours, or at least I can’t prove that right now.”

    Now here’s where my brain opens up a whole can of stewed memories of volunteers who just needed a signature for court or school or whatever. We’ve all had them, the student who needs to do community service and sneers at you during training, the adult who openly lies about hours done “off the clock” to clear a charge and the parent whose child just sits there blankly while the parent extolls their offspring’s brilliance and dedication.

    So I said…
    Me: “Ah, that’s a shame, you have to give her credit for being creative.” ( this is where I snorted with lame, unhelpful laughter)
    G: “I might refuse to sign it although I know she’s done hours, maybe not 50, and frankly, at this point, is it worth my time to deal with this anymore? Or I can just sign it, tell her to not darken this museum’s door anymore and be out of it. Lesson learned.”

    Ahh, here we are. This is the vulnerable spot that some creative “volunteers” will poke because our hectic schedules force us to consider just signing off on whatever is required so that we don’t have to spend more of our valuable time fighting something not worth winning. And let’s be honest, sticking to our principles sometimes loses its luster against the magic eraser that will make a problem go away quickly.

    So I said, “Garth, are you comfortable signing something you are unsure of?”
    G: “No, I’m not, so I’m not going to sign the paper. I’m going to write on the paper that I can’t verify 50 hours at this time. That’s what I’ll do.”

    At this point, I have to admit, I jumped to conclusions. Based on Garth’s recollection, I just assumed that Lizzie was trying to put one over on Garth. I had never met Lizzie, I didn’t know the situation and yet I thought I knew exactly what had happened. I realized that when you’ve been burned, you can either choose to heal or choose to look at that spot every time you come near fire. I called Garth the next day.
    Me: “How did it go with Lizzie?”
    G: “Well, funny thing. Not only did she remind me that she did tell me about the school ordered hours, we found the sign in sheets that proved she was here for 45 hours. She promised to do five hours this weekend and I signed the papers. So, when I called you yesterday, I was completely wrong.”

    Just as it may be easier to sign off on undocumented hours than try to prove them, it is sometimes easier to assume that a volunteer is not telling the truth when confronted with conflicting evidence. But in both cases, it’s a slippery slope and we need to take the time to do the right thing, even though we are very busy. Like it or not, we are the examples our volunteers follow and if we expect them to act in a professional manner, then we had better show them the way.
    Besides, being sloppy is worse than being wrong.
    -Meridian

  • Clash of the Titans

    Clash-of-the-Titans-2010-001
    For a very long time, volunteer manager Dina enjoyed this incredible on top of the world feeling. She ran a thriving charity shop which not only brought in money for her organization, but also became a symbol of successful volunteer involvement in her town. Other volunteer managers would visit Dina to watch in awe as the shop volunteers worked together to transform donated goods into revenue.
    Each shift had a hand-picked volunteer team lead who oversaw the volunteers’ duties. This gave Dina the precious time to train new volunteers, advertize the shop and interact with customers and donors. On Tuesdays, the team lead, Herbert, a retired shoe store manager inspired his team to create beautiful displays and quickly get valuable items to the floor. On Thursdays, Helga, a social worker by trade encouraged her team to interact with the customers and make them feel welcome. Each day, a different team would bring a different flavor to their volunteering so savvy customers could choose favorite days and favorite volunteers.

    One day, Herbert approached Dina and said that he could no longer work on Tuesdays. Because he loved volunteering in the shop, he asked to be moved to Thursdays as that was the only day he could come. Although Dina was disappointed, she figured it would be ok because one of the Tuesday volunteers, Cathy agreed to step up and take over the lead role.

    The following week Herbert came in on Thursday. He had already assured Dina that he would fit in with his new team and respect Helga and her leadership. At first things went well. Helga continued to instruct her team to interact with customers and Herbert kept somewhat to himself while churning out the items to sell. Dina was pleased. Then, things began to change. Dina isn’t quite sure how or why it started, but she found herself in the middle of a clash.
    “I honestly don’t know when things got to this point and frankly what does it matter who or what started it? All I know is the bickering and nitpicking between Herbert and Helga began after a few times together and got worse and worse each week. Each one of them would seek me out and corner me to complain about the other. Herbert would tell me that Helga’s team did not move enough merchandize and were always standing around talking and having fun instead of working. Helga would complain that Herbert would ignore customers and was rude to the members of her team.”
    Dina said she patiently listened to each one and tried to convince them to work it out, but the complaining increased. “It became about the most mundane things, like Herbert parked too close to the shop and Helga would not acknowledge Herbert when he came to volunteer. It was so childish, so unnecessary and I was aghast that such talented and professional people could be so petty.”

    Dina decided to have a sit down meeting with her two volunteers. “I thought we could clear the air. I knew that they both respected me and I planned to let each one speak and then I’d point out how we all wanted the same thing which is for the shop to succeed and then we’d shake and be done with it. But holy smokes, was I wrong! Once they started talking, they pointed out everything they felt was wrong with the other one. Helga complained that Herbert would frown when he saw her and complained that one day Herbert told a customer to put down a breakable vase. Herbert said that Helga spent too much time in the lunch room and brought in fattening cookies that he couldn’t eat. Helga said that there was no way she could work with Herbert any longer and she told me she would quit if he continued to come on Thursday. Herbert said that Helga was manipulating me and wanted to run the shop herself and demanded I fire her. Frankly, I looked at them both in a new light. What I thought were two wonderful, productive volunteers were now my biggest headache.”

    Dina found herself in between two riled up combatants and she tried to deflect the hurled broad swords and war hammers. These two Titan volunteers, when faced with sharing the attention, control and inner circle chose to make each other an enemy instead of working together. Unfortunately, Dina’s hopeful spirit was injured by the flurry of thrown weapons. “I can’t respect either of them anymore.”
    Dina said that Herbert quit in a huff and Helga smugly celebrated. “I’m not sure I want her here either after what I witnessed, but honestly, I’ve had enough change to last me for a long time.”

    Dina left Helga to her Thursdays, but the warm feeling cooled a bit. “I made a mistake thinking that I could just expect good volunteers to be able to work well with one another. Obviously I should have thought this through more carefully. In looking back, I believe that having successful teams caused me to let my guard down. I won’t ever do that again.”

    As volunteer managers we know that creating successful teams of volunteers is hard, hard work. But we also know that nurturing and maintaining those teams is even harder.
    -Meridian

  • My Big Fat New Year’s Resolution

    godzillaSo, 2015 is upon us and it is time to make some volunteer management New Year’s Resolutions. I can imagine what you’re thinking, because you too, have read how we all set ourselves up to fail each time we do this annual reinventing of ourselves in rituals much like throwing salt over your shoulder or knocking on wood.
    Anyway, I’m thinking back to all the New Year’s resolutions I’ve made both personally and professionally and there isn’t one darn one that I’ve kept so maybe I should just laugh it off and resolve not to bother. However, there has to be some merit in all this, right? The new year always comes with a feeling of closure tinged with optimism and unless we live in a perfect world, we want life to improve for us and for our families, friends and the world in general.
    I’m thinking back to the kind of resolutions I have made or witnessed friends make that pertain to volunteer management. There are the usual ones and then there might be some you’ve made that are unique to you.

    1. Recruit more volunteers: In order to fulfill a resolution, we often go to ridiculous lengths to make it happen. By going into recruitment overdrive, you may end up with volunteers who quit after two weeks or you may get too many volunteers to manage well. Sitting at your neighbor’s son’s lemonade stand with brochures or handing out business cards at a funeral might be a tad too ambitious and end up netting more ill will than prospective volunteers.

    2. Thank volunteers more: This one is a no-brainer until you take it to the extreme and thank volunteers constantly, which in turn renders any genuine gratitude meaningless. You might get clever with this one and try to do something outside the box like get a celebrity endorsement but that has only a short-term effect. When I first started working with volunteers, I asked various municipalities to proclaim volunteer day, which was lovely and meant a lot of time spent going to city council meetings and accepting the proclamations, but it really had no lasting effect. How do I know this? The twelfth time I pointed to the proclamations on the wall, volunteer Jorge said, “yes, I’ve seen it, it’s nice, can we move on?” And that was in February.

    3. Engage staff in recognizing volunteers: Normally, you find begging to be unseemly but hey, you’ve made this resolution so you first try reasoning. You have this awesome speech and plan that you just know will sway every staff member to see volunteers in the most positive light. You can envision the wonderful teamwork that follows because you are the one to shatter the “us and them” mentality that permeates your organization. So, at every meeting you attend, you whip out parts of your speech and on the seventh heartfelt opine you see some yawns at the table and poof, your resolve begins to dissolve. Then you wonder if begging is perhaps a misunderstood concept.

    4. Get more organized: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha ha. Ok, this just makes me laugh.

    5. Make better use of the available tools: You have to love tracking software, it sounds so exotic, like a survivalist following a macaque to water until one day you have to track volunteer Paul, who left training midway through the session, is on vacation for several weeks and turned off his phone. Add to that mix volunteer Giselle who promises to bring in her initial paperwork, then after a couple of weeks, drops it off, but it is incomplete, meanwhile she has her background check finished and is in the process of moving, but signs in while you are out at a recruitment fair (see resolution #1) and leaves you a voicemail stating that you forgot to be there for her initial assignment. Then add in volunteer Peter, a senior manager’s son who needs community service hours and is volunteering in his mother’s office while not following any volunteer protocol ever set down in the history of volunteering.

    6. Not let volunteer Mira push my buttons: This one’s mine from ten years ago and for some reason, Mira just rankled the heck out of me. The first Monday of January of 2005, Mira came in for her scheduled shift. I smiled brightly while repeating a mantra in my head, “she deserves the same treatment as other volunteers, she deserves the same treatment as other volunteers.” Mira looked at me and I swear said, “well, I see you haven’t gotten the cleaning people to put better toilet paper in the bathrooms.” BOOM! BUTTON PUSHED!!!!! RESOLUTION VAPORIZED!!!!

    7. Dress for success: Yeah, I know, dress for the job you want, not the job you have. Ok, so wearing a big cowboy hat to work might not really get me on a horse in Montana, but hey, I tried wearing suits all the time, but the sweat from outdoor fairs in summer and from pitching in on the physical work volunteers do stopped that pretty quickly. Besides, I saw senior managers wearing all kinds of inappropriate and casual attire to work. One day, no lie, a senior manager came to work on casual Friday dressed in a t-shirt, grey rumpled baggy knit shorts and white knee socks-the kind with the green stripe at the top. Two weeks later casual Fridays were declared “unfit for this organization.”

    So, my big fat New Year’s resolution is to put on warm socks: Bear with me on this, ok? One day, while getting dressed for work, and the temperature was below freezing, and I had a cold, I just wanted my feet to stay warm, so I put on my warmest, although bright red, socks, under my black dress pants. Immediately I felt good, enveloped in a warmth that spread throughout my core. At work, folks commented on my socks and I was kept warm all day, even though my cold tried to make me shiver.

    The good work that our volunteers do daily is like a pair of warm red socks. The enrichment they provide is the bright red color that attracts attention and begs taking notice so that is when we can effectively comment on the worth of our volunteers. “Look at them, see how they stand out, how valuable they are, how wonderful they make us feel, how much they enhance the lives of our clients.” We can make sure we wear our bright red socks to every meeting and make sure that the red color catches staff’s attention by flashing our ankles and heck, sometimes putting our feet up on the table.
    And sometimes even more importantly, the cuddliness of our volunteers’ good works can keep us volunteer managers warmed to the core while fending off the cold of feeling alone and misunderstood.

    You know, it’s fairly cold out again today. I think I’m going to put on my red socks.
    Happy New Year to all and keep warm!
    -Meridian.

  • Yes, Virginia I Need to Know There is a Santa Claus

    yes VirginiaSo many years ago, the famous New York Sun editorial of 1897 answered this letter from eight year old Virginia O’Hanlon:
    I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

    Virginia O’Hanlon

    This past Monday, I arrived at work, feeling pretty good. I had gotten more shopping done, and I was gearing up for some holiday events with volunteers. All in all it was a pretty satisfying start to the week, that is until a friend of mine brought me the newspaper. “Did you see this yet?” he asked and as I shook my head no, he gently placed the article in my hand as he walked away. I looked down, not prepared for the shock. One of our college student volunteers, Jay had been killed in an accident over the weekend. “No,” my mind screamed silently in my head, “not Jay.”
    You all know Jay, you’ve had him (or someone so very like him they could be clones) in your midst too. A mere 21 years old, I immediately liked Jay when he came to see if I could help him complete a project for his marketing class. Within minutes of sitting down, I felt like I was in a planetarium watching a light show and his comet-like charisma made me want to help him. He smiled constantly, said hello to everyone that interrupted our conversations and proceeded to tell me about his major, film production. He excitedly commandeered my PC and pulled up the short films he was working on. He patiently explained lighting and blocking and the nuances that made each film look professional. Every time he would come in, he schooled me further on his studies and one day he emailed me to tell me he had landed a part-time job with an independent film company.
    I can honestly say that every time he came in to see me, I lit up like one of the stars in the night sky.

    But back to Monday. I put down the paper and cried. I thought of my silly shopping, my nice events with my volunteers and then I thought of Jay’s parents and what Christmas would now mean to them as they prepared to bury the body of their full of life son. I cursed the universe that I, nor anyone could bring him back. I wept for the meaningless loss of a life so full of promise. Jay had come specifically to see me two weeks ago and promised to come back and volunteer when the semester ended. I tried to comprehend that he wasn’t coming back. I didn’t know how much I could care about one of our young volunteers until I acutely felt his stinging absence.

    We, volunteer managers work in areas of need and often our daily companions are sorrow and tragedy because sadly, tragedy happens every day. Our jobs are predicated on assisting others who can use our volunteers’ help and so, we are used to sadness and trauma. But are we comfortable with it, especially when it hits us like a black hole bent on destroying our very core?

    The editor of the Sun answered eight year old Virginia in part by saying:

    Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

    Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.

    Monday, I wanted to not believe in the idea of Santa Claus, or in beauty and love and fairness and right, and I wanted to quit trying but that would mean no belief in hope, no belief in kindness, no belief that I can make a difference in this world, albeit a small one.

    Does Santa have aches and pains, does he have days when it seems so hopeless? It’s easy to romanticize every act of kindness and to not see all the behind the scenes moments of doubt, uncertainty, and the desire to give up and give in when incomprehensible events knock us off our trajectory.
    But we can’t. We must go on, we cannot stop our part in building a world of peace and kindness. We must ensure that our jobs are eventually obsolete because the world is filled with light.

    So I’m going to get up again and even though it hurts so much, I’m going to get my hammer and go back to building this world of luminous hope even as tears spill over my worn shirt.
    Why? Why bother at all since there is so much to stay our hands?
    Because the alternative is unacceptable.

    So, in the spirit of this season, here’s to all of you who get up at dawn’s breaking beacon to deliver the toys even though your heart might be aching, to all of you who stoke the campfires of warmth and comfort even though you’re sore and tired, and to all of you who smile through pain so that someone else might find joy.

    And here’s to your memory, Jay, be at peace. Somehow, the rest of us have to go on now.

    And to you Virginia? Here’s to the humanity, generosity and determination in us all.
    -Meridian

  • The Wheelwright vs. The Pioneer

    wheelwright On the door of Chief Executive Officer Cynthia Obsole’s office is a sign that says, “kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless”. Her life is taken up by insular meetings; meetings with senior managers, meetings with donors and meetings with consultants. Her trusty right hand executive assistant, Miranda fetches the lattes, reminds her of her husband’s birthdays and stands in front of the door like an offensive left tackle on a Sunday afternoon. Ms. Obsole has years of non-profit leadership and is very pleased with the team that surrounds her. She is a pillar of the community, and the majority of senior managers vie to be the leader whose team does the most to further Ms. Obsole’s agendas.
    For years she has run her non-profit with a central vision, one she had 30 years prior when she took over the mantel. She is an artisan, a person who, at home polishes her grandmother’s silver set.
    Ms. Obsole is a non-profit wheelwright, a maker and repairman of wooden wagon wheels. Her non-profit is run like a craftsman’s shop from the turn of the last century. The product is just as beautiful as it was 30 years ago, but recently she hired a pioneer in the volunteer services department, Jess, a millennial, and recent college graduate who came to the organization trailing ideas she learned in classrooms full of youth. This volunteer coordinator, Jess wants to introduce some new concepts and fresh ideas.
    Jess has successfully recruited her peers and a new brand type of volunteer, one that a pioneer recognizes as the future of volunteering.
    Some of Jess’ recent recruits include:

    Volunteer Doug who asks “why don’t we start an Instagram account? We can keep in touch with all the other volunteers and gain new recruits that way.”
    Volunteer Keesha who wants her honor society to be involved but they are unable to volunteer except on weekends. “I’m sure you have some needs on weekends,” Keesha says, “that can be a time when your clients can be served or we can do upkeep on the building.”
    Volunteer Maria who wants to volunteer with her twin six-year-old daughters. “I want them to learn about service at an early age,” she says, “while actually helping someone.”
    Volunteer Travis who has a quirky fun idea for a fundraiser and can’t wait to try it out.
    Volunteer Alshon who cannot do the brick and mortar volunteering but has a great desire to volunteer virtually.
    Volunteer Kiera who is a speech major and would like to speak to campus groups. She wants to gain some experience in speech because she is studying political science and she believes in the mission.
    Volunteer Zahn who has organized grass-roots movements and would like to stage a positive protest outside headquarters.
    Jess has brought the ideas from these new volunteers to her superiors. She has argued that these innovations would not only enhance the work they are already doing, but would catapult their organization into a whole new realm.
    Ms. Obesole, ever the craftsman, listens politely and says, “this is not how we do things, Jess, we are looking at all kinds of liability and risk here, not to mention how our managers are going to be able to rein in these volunteers. I’m not so sure this is a good idea.”
    So Jess retreats and works on the wagon wheel along with all the other artisans and one day as she sitting at a recruitment table, a breath of wind stirs as the pioneer spirit breezes through her. She meets Jade, a 40 something marketing professional who is looking at the volunteer brochures. Jade captivates Jess with her explanation of brochures and how to arrange items so that people actually read the material. In Jade’s polished voice, Jess can see the landscape of uncharted territory opening before her. Excited, she obtains Jade’s information and makes an appointment to see Ms. Obesole.
    Jess arrives, eager to share this prospective volunteer’s tantalizing offer to help the organization revamp outdated materials. Ms. Obesole listens politely and then pats Jess on the head, telling her that the volunteer’s offer is very sweet but “we have a team of marketers who know the mission so well. Let’s leave it up to them, shall we?” With that, Ms. Obesole returns to the wagon wheel and Jess goes back to her office, dejected, seeing her pioneering trip evaporate.
    So Jess begins to look for another job and one day receives an offer with a start-up non-profit. Fortunately, Jess has kept the contacts she’s made while working for Ms. Obesole’s organization. She knows they will have a place with her in her new role.
    And so, Jess dons her kerchief and hat and heads west.
    Ms. Obesole? She continues to be a wheelwright until one day she looks around and says, “Where are all the wagons?”
    -Meridian

  • The Back of the Restaurant

    kitchen inspection
    Sadly last week, Martha, a volunteer with a project management background not only just quit her volunteer assignment, she quit the organization she’s been volunteering with for the past five years. It wasn’t a decision she came to lightly. It wasn’t something she decided one night because things did not go her way. She quit because, well, let me tell you a story first.

    When I was in college, my roommates and I would finish up our classes and head for the local hangouts. In order to get from our off campus housing to the bus stop, we had to walk down a gangway by our apartment, then across a road where we had to navigate around the back of several small mom and pop businesses until we hit a cross street where we could walk to the front of the small businesses and catch the bus. You would think that having to walk around a few pesky buildings didn’t matter, but for some reason it did to us so one of my more daring friends decided to walk through the back door of a mom and pop restaurant and out the front, thereby shaving off a good 5 or six minutes. We all stood in the back of the building, stunned, but when we didn’t hear any shouting, we followed her lead. That day became known as the day our shortcut to the bus stop was born.
    The kitchen help never said anything to us, although I’ll bet money that they hated us walking through their kitchen. Today, of course, it would never be tolerated, but back then, things were, should I say much more loose. As other friends heard, they started using the restaurant as their walkway. We would nod to the staff as we breezed through their kitchen (swell of us, huh?) and wiggled around the meatloaf. Now here’s the point. Did we ever eat there, I mean, at least as a thank you for not calling the authorities on us? No, we did not. Why? Because we saw what went on in the kitchen, in the back of the restaurant.

    But back to Martha. She began as any volunteer, enthused, and eager to find meaningful work. She started off small by volunteering one afternoon a week and when she retired from her career, she devoted two, then three days to her volunteering. As she increased not only her hours, she increased her involvement with programs and eventually took the lead on a project. She became as the organizational staff joked, “the unpaid employee.” Martha was fine with the joking as she loved being a part of the inner circle and after a short time, the staff began to let their guard down and speak in front of her as though she were a paid employee. Slowly, Martha started to take trips into the back of the restaurant.
    One day, Martha was sitting at the reception desk when a donor came in to inquire about a rather large donation he had made several months before. He had not gotten any acknowledgement of the plaque he was promised on the donor wall and so he had come in to find out when that plaque might be hung. Martha called the financial department secretary who basically said that orders were running behind and to tell the man that he would be notified when it was up on the wall. “I thought that the secretary could have spoken to him personally. I mean, I felt good at first that she thought I could take care of it, but in thinking about it later, I saw how discouraged that man was. This was customer service gone wrong. We should have been much more personal with him.”

    Although Martha knew intellectually that her organization was run by people who could have bad days, exhausted moments, lapses of judgement, Martha started to see a pattern forming. It was like the commercial kitchen that goes lax and greedy. Oh. just use that food one more day, it won’t matter. Just leave that grill dirty, we don’t have time to clean it right now. Just skimp on those meals, we need to turn a profit. Martha saw corners cut on clients, and promises left unfulfilled. She gently asked questions on matters that seemed right to her and received little satisfaction. She would talk to staff members and some shrugged and said that it was the “new order” while others bristled at her questions. Martha wondered, “who’s inspecting this place and why did I not see all of this before?”

    Volunteers are unique because not only do they serve, they are also actually clients of our organizations that are allowed to go into the back of the restaurant. If our organizations are sound, we can advertize that long-term volunteers mean our non profits have passed the transparency scrutiny. But when there’s high volunteer turnover, it may mean that the volunteers are noticing the dirty food prep area, the food left out of the refrigerator, and the glove-less hands.
    And we, volunteer managers can try our best to keep volunteers out in the pristine dining area, but eventually, they get a peek in the back.
    So let us volunteer managers continue to remind our respective administrations that official inspectors aren’t the only ones paying attention.
    -Meridian

  • How Did I Get Here?

    Sitting-On-The-CliffThe car door shut. I playfully admonished the volunteer sitting next to me in the front seat. “Make sure you buckle up, “I said, smiling. I was taking my volunteer, Rod to his doctor’s appointment, something I had done before. As I started the engine, Rod handed me an envelope. “What’s this? I asked, puzzled.
    “It’s for you, take it,” Rod said as he put it in my lap.
    I opened the envelope. Inside was a $50 gift certificate for a local restaurant. I stared at it in disbelief. What was he thinking? And as I looked at him, formulating my response, I thought, what was I thinking? Then I thought, how did I get here?
    A long time ago I had some pretty loose notions about volunteer management. Granted, I had no idea that so many great volunteer resources existed to help us so most of my information came from my then supervisor, another volunteer manager and the monthly meetings of the local volunteer manager group. That was it. The internet was just becoming the go to place for knowledge, so I felt very much an island fed by the small school of experienced fish that lingered near shore. I had no idea that out past the reef was a plethora of all sorts of smart, accomplished marine life. And so, the lessons I learned about volunteer management were pretty much the kind you learn from either making mistakes or doing something right or both.
    I remember wanting to make every volunteer happy. I thought that happy volunteers meant staying volunteers so I did everything to meet their needs. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that it felt good to see volunteers fulfilled even if that meant longer hours and personal requests like taking a volunteer to the doctor or attending every birthday party that came my way. Heck, it still feels good although my personal space is something I guard now like the secret recipe for grandma’s stuffing. But back then, boundaries were for the uninvolved volunteer managers. Me? I was involved, to my own detriment.
    Let me tell you about Rod, whose wife was dying on our program. He became what I jokingly referred to as our only unofficial official volunteer. Rod, a 90ish former pharmacist, would hang around my desk, chatting. He and his wife Mary, had no children and I thought perhaps I represented the child he didn’t have, but frankly, I really don’t know if that was even it.
    When Mary died, Rod continued to come. He would tell me in his gruff voice that he went to a bereavement session and “it does no good, they just want me to talk about my feelings and I don’t want to talk about them.” Then, of course you know he would talk about his feelings with me. I felt good about helping Rod, about being a sounding board for him and giving him a place to be. I started asking him to help out, unofficially, of course and he agreed. We became an unlikely pair, Rod, not really a volunteer, me, not really a bereavement counselor.
    And so one day, I found myself refusing a gift from this volunteer. I told him that we could give it to a needy family. He was disappointed and I, to was disappointed because I was forced to look critically at my actions. I was far too involved with this volunteer and the reasons were not admirable. Instead of offering this man a great volunteer experience, I offered him dependence on myself which is what led to his feeling that he needed to gift me.
    A while ago, I knew a volunteer coordinator who was dismissed because she became too intertwined with her volunteers and accepted gifts from them. One of those volunteers had a daughter who rightfully felt extremely uncomfortable with the relationship. And so all the good that coordinator had done became out weighed by a loose idea of volunteer management. What that coordinator did not realize, was that the volunteers were not her friends, or even peers, they were her professional responsibility.

    From that day in the car on, Rod and I had a much different relationship. We were less close, but more professional. I watched him make friends with other volunteers and reconnect with distant family. I watched him become a real volunteer. I had to do some good soul scrubbing to see what the heck I was thinking and why I felt compelled to become over involved.
    Do volunteers call me a friend? All the time. Do I think of them as friends? Yes, but in the sense that any manager would feel towards those he/she managed and cared about.

    When we have those moments thinking, “how did I get here”, it’s a chance to become better at what we do. We know we owe that to our volunteers, but really we owe it to ourselves to be the best version we can be.
    I want to be a better version and have much to work on, so every day, I learn something new about how I can improve.
    -Meridian

  • F.U.N. Foolish, Unproductive Nonsense

    Second_stage_of_a_Delta_IV_Medium_rocketWhen Carrie accepted a position as a volunteer manager, she wasn’t sure if her degree in human resources management would translate well into her new job. “I was so excited to be managing volunteers,” she said. “I’ve always thought that volunteering was, well, noble and that anyone who would spend their time helping others for no gain was someone to be admired. I felt a real sense of purpose and immediately started doing research on working with volunteers so that I could do a good job.”
    Carrie settled into her new role by combining her academic knowledge with talking to her volunteers and other volunteer managers in her area.
    “I started to see that managing volunteers was both very similar to managing employees and at the same time very different. When you remove a paycheck from the equation, you take away the punitive aspect of management and even more challenging is you remove the set in stone job requirements. But you add more inspiration, more leadership, more connection to mission and personal motivations. It opens up all kinds of doors to getting to know and engage people.”
    The one thing that Carrie found disconcerting was the lack of understanding of her role. “There’s a lot of misconceptions about volunteer management and its hard to make people see the challenges we face. What I’ve experienced is that volunteer retention takes many forms, and sometimes what looks like fun is really working at having fun.”
    Carrie recalls the day she was playfully teasing a couple of regular volunteers. “I was kidding our volunteer, Ada, about an upcoming trip she was going to be taking. Ada loves to joke and have a good time but her work ethic is second to none. As we were laughing, the Vice President came into the room and the look on her face just said so much. She looked at me and said, ‘well, it’s nice to know someone’s having a fun time’. Before I could say anything, she was gone. I felt horrible and Ada asked me if she had gotten me into trouble. I hate it that Ada heard that remark and frankly, we didn’t deserve that. She may have thought that I was just having fun and not working, but what she didn’t realize was that I was just doing my job.”

    Volunteer retention is often more complex than the second stage engine of a Delta IV rocket. Each volunteer’s needs are nuanced and individual. No two volunteers are exactly alike in the things that motivate them and keep them coming back. While there are universal givens like recognition, meaningful work and clear direction, we can’t ever rely solely on the obvious. Those obvious volunteer retention building blocks are the basis for the more complex work we do by learning what really drives our volunteers. Does Jane like to work alone? Does Sam like to socialize with like-minded volunteers? Does Avery look for continuous feedback and does Cristobal need to use his artistic skills?

    I remember a volunteer Maureen, who came to give back said, “whatever you have for me to do is fine. I’m really good at office work and I just want to help.” Now, I’ve learned that those words are a volunteer coordinator’s dream, but they’re not necessarily the whole truth. Even the volunteer who utters them may not realize that underneath the offer is the desire to find what truly keeps them coming back, so it becomes our job to find that secondary reason. Maureen began volunteering by making phone calls because that’s what was needed. But then I noticed she was missing her shift and so we talked. I found out Maureen did not enjoy making the phone calls so I asked her to try data entry. Maureen didn’t like that either and as I observed her, I noticed that she found ways to go back and interact with a group of volunteers who worked in the kitchen of the care center. I asked her to help these volunteers one day and saw an immediate change in her satisfaction. As we talked about this new job, she gushed about the group of volunteers and how much she enjoyed working with them. I asked her to “temporarily” help the kitchen volunteers and she agreed. Months later, she has found her spot. She is happy because not only did she want to help, she wanted to be social as well.

    But where does fun fit into all of this talk of retention? I spent years struggling with trying to walk a fine line between having productive fun with volunteers and becoming silly and irrelevant. Does fun diminish the serious work we do? Do volunteers who want to enjoy themselves miss the point? If a volunteer were to say, “I had fun today,” would that be a failure on my part?
    Something occurred to me one day while trying to explain volunteer management to an acquaintance. I said that volunteer retention consisted of creating a positive experience for the volunteer. It dawned on me that fun was a component of that positive experience. Not fun in the sense that there’s no serious work to be done, but fun that bubbles up from the true joy in helping. In thinking of all the words I identified with a positive volunteer experience, like meaning, satisfaction, enjoyment, inspiration, fulfillment, I used to dismiss fun as too frivolous. But now, when I see volunteers having fun, I view it as just another indication that the volunteers are satisfied.

    So, the next time you feel guilty for having a laugh with a volunteer, do not look over your shoulder to see if someone is questioning your work ethic. Bask in the moment for it is a heart full of joy that gives the most.
    -Meridian