volunteerplaintalk

Tag: new volunteer manager

  • Recruitment Gone Wrong, Very Wrong

     

     

  • Retreating Forward

    “Electricity is really just organized lightning”
    ― George Carlin

    river

    Overlooking a meandering river, the retreat lodge sat, looking like a peaceful bed and breakfast, a place to rest and read a book, or to watch the sun set over the ravine. But inside the rustic walls, I could almost hear the animated voices of the many educational and informative sessions that came before.  This was a place of learning and sharing and as I unpacked, I felt my anticipation grow.

    For three days, hospice volunteer managers from Texas and New Mexico gathered to learn and share. I was fortunate and humbled to be invited. I came a stranger and left a peer because of their warm welcome. (I’m not mentioning names to protect their privacy)

    So many things stand out from my time with these incredible volunteer leaders. From the thoughtful way they looked at workshop scenarios to the humor and encouragement they shared with each other, there was a spark of electricity in this serene place. One evening, a storm rolled over the countryside and we sat on the porch, watching the spider fingers of lightening illuminate the clouds.  It was a fitting scene for it mirrored the ebb of creativity that crackled across the room each day.

    Every one of their discussions pointed to excellence, and were about providing the best possible volunteer experiences for not only the volunteers, but for the patients and their families as well. It was so encouraging to hear a message of support from their passionate senior manager and it was invigorating to hear them wish to help non-volunteer department staff understand the importance of working with volunteers.

    And here’s the thing from within these walls of wisdom: We, volunteer managers and leaders have so much in common. A few questions or comments took me way way back to my first days as a volunteer manager. But I got their meaning right away because I had the same questions and feelings too. So much has changed over the past twenty years in the field of volunteer management, but so much is still the same.

    We may recruit differently now.   We may use social media more now. We may work with newer generations now. We may rely on risk management more now. We may have many more reports and stats to compile now. But we all still feel incredibly privileged to work with such selfless, talented and inspiring human beings. We still worry that we aren’t doing enough to keep our volunteers. We still struggle with keeping chaos at bay. We still have a way to go to help people understand the complexities of our jobs.

    But we are not alone. There are so many of us out there, working to elevate our profession and to ensure that volunteers and volunteer programs receive the recognition and support they deserve.

    It doesn’t matter if you are new to volunteer management or if you’ve done this for many years. There are insights to glean and practices to learn everywhere and from what I’ve found, we are a group of folks who are willing to share our successes and challenges.

    What value does peer to peer relationships have? Why do we feel energized after peer group meetings? Well, since childhood, unless we grew up alone, peers have had an influence on us. Most of the influencing throughout our lives comes from family, friends, acquaintances and fellow workers. And for volunteer managers, those influences may not really understand our challenges.

    Our fellow volunteer managers, who do not know us other than a common profession, can influence us in an energizing way by sharing best practices, offering helpful solutions and encouraging us through similar challenges. These are electrifying thoughts: “I’m not alone. I’m not crazy, because others have these problems. I’m on the right track, because I helped someone with their problems.”

    Peer to peer is like taking a vitamin. We need it. Our professional bodies thrive on it. And as more online volunteer manager groups grow and more peer group meetings happen, we will see a stronger, more robust community of volunteer management leaders.

    I have this image in which we are all gathered on a shared porch, looking up into the sky where we can send out flashes of bright light to one another through the clouds.

    And, as peers,  together, we can retreat forward, to excellence.

    -Meridian

  • Awards: The Bridge to Inspire

     

     

    PeaceBridge
    Peace Bridge from e-architect.co.uk

    “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”   …C.S.Lewis

    When John approached Emma about nominating her for a volunteer award, she adamantly shook her head. “No way, no. I don’t want the recognition. I don’t do this for any praise, I do it because it’s the right thing to do.”

    “I know, Emma,” John replied. “But you are perfect for the award. I know you can win.”

    Nominating a volunteer for a local, regional or national award is a big deal. We all know volunteers who deserve recognition and ironically, the ones who embody the spirit of the awards are the ones who don’t want the “fuss.”

    So, how do we convince deserving volunteers to let us nominate them and should we bother with it anyway? Is winning an award something we should boycott on principal or does it have a place?

    You know the volunteer who immediately comes to mind when thinking about nominations. You happen to peek in on them and they are quietly doing the most amazing work. As you watch them, you envision the entire room as a bridge, constructed by an unassuming volunteer who is changing the life of the person they are helping, one plank, one suspension wire at a time. You wish you could capture that perfect scene in a bottle or at least on film, so that you could show it worldwide. “Here!” you would shout, holding up the moment. “Here is the perfect piece of volunteering. This is what it is all about!”

    Perhaps awards are not exactly what we are aiming for, but if they are an avenue to tell a volunteer’s story, to shed light on our volunteers’ accomplishments, and to galvanize others, then awards can serve a purpose. And explaining that to a reluctant volunteer just might convince them to allow you to tell their story.

    “Emma,” John continued, “I know that you are not an attention seeker. Your work speaks for itself. “But if telling your story can inspire others to step forward and volunteer, wouldn’t that be a worthwhile thing?”

    “I just don’t want to do this for the wrong reason,” Emma returned skeptically.

    “I agree wholeheartedly,” John agreed. “We’re not going to make a big fuss. We just want to show others that volunteering impacts our clients in the most profound way. I know that telling your story will do just that.”

    And so, with the assurance that a nomination was for reasons that would never include self-promotion, Emma agreed to allow her exceptional story to be told. She not only won, she caused others to get involved.

    A very wise person once told me that the secret to nominating volunteers for awards is to find the “angle.” What sets the volunteer apart? What obstacles has the volunteer overcome by volunteering? What has the volunteer done to initiate change, improve a program, or solve a problem? What about this volunteer’s story must be shared with others?

    But nominations can also be written to influence people. By hearing amazing volunteer stories, potential volunteers can seek an opportunity to be part of that incredible bridge building. And many folks just might want to join a group of “award-winning volunteers.”

    Nominating volunteers can:

    1. Elevate volunteers within the organization
    2. Demonstrate the importance of volunteer involvement
    3. Show the volunteers that they are valued
    4. Inspire potential volunteers to join
    5. Gather stories highlighting the impact of volunteers

    Although most volunteers shy away from the spotlight, their compelling work can often motivate others to step forward.

    And if awards can work for us,  then let the nominations begin!

    -Meridian

     

     

    –

     

  • Humbled

    potato pancakes
    Managing volunteers is very much like attending a life university in which there are classes on leadership, psychology, history, arts, health, philosophy, science and sometimes when you get lucky enough, quantum physics. We not only learn from our volunteers, but also each other, our clients, and our staff. No wonder we brush off the day-to-day hard stuff. We’re here to learn and grow.

    Sometimes, that learning is tiny, almost imperceptible like a diamond lying in the dust under our feet until a shaft of sunlight illuminates the sparkle and only then, we stop to pick it up and turn it over in our hand, enthralled by the worth of such a tiny object.

    Dot was a snip of a woman, outliving her husband by years, childless, left alone with her money and an emptying change purse of friends. She came to the hospice care center, her mind and demands intact and she could speak about the service aboard cruise lines as I could tell you where to find the best deal on hot dogs. She came with a short list of foods she would eat and an even longer list of those she would not. It was challenging for the volunteers who cooked in the kitchen and I tried to help them as much as possible to not become discouraged by difficult demands and critiques.

    One morning after hearing the food stories of the previous day, I noticed that potato pancakes were on Dot’s “will eat” list and I thought of my deceased grandmother who had made them from scratch. Surely, I reasoned, scratch potato pancakes would calm Dot’s critical tongue, so I tied on a ruffled apron and got to work. I fancied myself on an episode of Iron Chef and put my heart and soul into 3 perfectly cooked pancakes. Feeling flush with satisfaction, I covered them with the tenderness of a new mother and brought them down to her room. She was looking out the window as I knocked.

    “Good morning,” I chirped as she fixed me with eyes of steel. “I have something special for you, Dot.”

    “What is it?” she growled, a big cat cornered in our prettily decorated trap.

    I gently removed the cover, exposing my precious gift as I approached her tray table. “Potato pancakes, I made them just for you,” I said, breathless, waiting for that appreciative look I’d come to crave.

    Dot looked at me then down at the plate. She inspected the pancakes as though they were secretly holding explosives and then she looked back at me. “Take them away,” she said with a wave of her hand.”Everybody with any sense knows you put black pepper in potato pancakes.” With that her gaze turned to the window again. I was dismissed.

    Crushed like a flower beneath the stampeding herd, I headed back to the kitchen and scraped the three chef worthy pancakes into the garbage. I continued my day, the sting of rejection clouding my happiness.

    I packaged that experience and unwrapped it later at home, letting my thoughts go anywhere they wanted. Why was she so ornery? Why couldn’t she just acknowledge my gift for what it was? Why did this hurt? Why do I bother?

    Then, a prick of sunlight set itself on the dusty diamond. I began to ask myself these questions: Why did I assume she wanted those pancakes without my asking? Why did I cook them for her in the first place? Why, if I wanted to be of service, was this about me and my feelings?

    From that day on, I tried to be better at focusing on the client and by extension, any volunteer or friend or family member or staff member instead of myself. I began to ask more questions and listen less to my voice. I began to free myself from personalizing everything.

    When I would help out in the kitchen and take an order from a patient, I would ask them, “how do you want that prepared?” It’s amazing how many ways you can prepare toast, for instance-white, wheat, rye, pumpernickel, lightly toasted, toasted dark, dry or with butter or olive oil, whole or cut into two or four, rectangular or triangle-shaped, with or without jelly or peanut butter or honey or chocolate or maybe hummus. But the point was to give the person what they wanted without making them feel like a burden or without a self congratulating experience.

    I have been fortunate over the years to be humbled again and again, especially at times when I started to think that I just knew more than everybody else.

    Humility is one vastly underrated quality. It instills a sense of peace and curiosity and just might make someone like Dot feel a heck of a lot less captured.

    And oh, I now make potato pancakes with black pepper in them, because everybody knows that’s the way you do it.

    -Meridian

  • The Why? Parade

    Huntington-Beach-Parade-009
    http://www.huntingtonbeachparade.com/archives/huntington-beach-parade-huntington-beach-high-school-marching-band-4/

    A report on the Giving in Hard Times Project that attempted to increase volunteering levels in the UK showed that none of the employed approaches increased volunteering, according to Peter John, professor of political science and public policy at the School of Public Policy, University College London. The conclusion of this report in Professor John’s words was “finding out that something did not work means more research can discover something that does.”

    Ok, that’s an honest conclusion and implies that recruiting volunteers is not as easy as some might think. You know, for some odd reason, this makes me think of comedian Louis C.K.’s hilarious riff on children who continually ask “why” to every answer given until a parent incoherently rattles off meaningless garbage or just yells at the child. Sometimes organizations repeatedly ask volunteer managers “why are there no volunteers” without hearing or understanding our answers, much like four-year old tykes. It goes something like this:

    Senior Manager Gwen: Esther told me there were not enough volunteers at the Golf Tournament on Saturday. Can you tell me why?

    Volunteer Manager Toby: Well, there were 10 really capable volunteers in attendance, as per the original request, just three short of the last-minute requested number.

    SM Gwen: Well, why weren’t there 13 volunteers there?

    VM Toby: There were several reasons, the biggest one being that we had ten volunteers lined up and Esther asked for three more on Friday at 4pm. We made numerous calls, but were not able to procure extra volunteers.

    SM Gwen: Why couldn’t you reach more volunteers? You say we have a hundred volunteers on our list, why couldn’t you get three more if you actually called everyone?

    VM Toby: Mainly because not every volunteer is available last-minute and our volunteers are very busy people with jobs and families and other commitments. Most volunteers are not home at 4pm. I know this because I have had multiple requests for last-minute volunteers.

    SM Gwen: Why are they unavailable? Didn’t they sign up to help us?

    VM Toby: Of course they did and they do; if I might show you last month’s volunteer hours, you will see that we increased volunteer participation 20% over the month before.

    SM Gwen: I’m not interested in stats right now. Why then do I have a golf tournament coordinator who had to stay an extra hour to collect and tally all the score sheets?

    VM Toby: Yes, I was told that by our lead volunteer, Ben who by the way was a professional events coordinator for over ten years. However Ben said that volunteer staffing was more than adequate and that some volunteers did not have enough to do. He also mentioned that the scores were not tallied on time because the system for collecting them was chaotic. He offered to help, but was rebuffed.

    SM Gwen: Huh. Be that as it may, 13 volunteers were requested. So why can’t you recruit people who are available to us, like people who aren’t doing anything like the ones who have no jobs and no commitments?

    VM Toby: Well, because typically, people who don’t do anything don’t do anything for a reason. Mostly, they don’t wish to volunteer. We try, but they don’t follow through.

    SM Gwen: C’mon. It can’t be that hard.Why can’t you just convince them? Do you need one of our marketing people to come talk to recruits?

    VM Toby: Thank you, no. From my extensive experience, volunteers need to hear a message directed at their wants and needs, not a general marketing message meant mainly for donations..

    SM Gwen: Why are you taking that attitude with me?

    VM Toby: Because I feel like you are calling me incompetent and incapable, of which I am neither. Recruiting volunteers takes skill and I have recruited and retained forty productive volunteers in the past two years. Besides, I also weed out inappropriate people as well, It’s not about numbers here, it’s about great, professional people volunteering for our organization. I’m proud of our volunteer force .Last minute requests will always be hard to fill, but I willingly do my best every time.

    SM Gwen: Then why can’t Esther get 3 volunteers when she needs them? Three, just three?

    VM Toby: Ok, because I’m stupid and lazy and I just want to collect a paycheck! I come in late, leave early and spend hours at lunch. I could care less about this mission and just want to find another job! Recruiting is easy, managing volunteers is a breeze, any idiot can do it, all right?

     

    Yeah, kind of like answering a four-year old’s why parade. Even a well-thought out attempt by highly qualified people to increase volunteer rates proved that volunteer recruitment is a complicated and nuanced task.

    So my why question to organizations is: Why aren’t volunteer managers judged on the number of competent and productive volunteers professionally recruited and managed, instead of on the perceived handful of phantom always available mind-less volunteers who are unavailable last-minute?

    -Meridian

     

  • The Two Forks and Timing

    forks3
    Icebreakers: I could never really get the hang of using them at the first meeting when training hospice volunteers. I usually got eye rolls and polite “oh here we go” smiles so I opted for a more conversational start to training new volunteers who had real expectations for a serious mission.

    I did however, develop a few exercises of my own that I introduced into the middle of volunteer training. Admittedly, these were often self entertaining and helped keep me engaged and I tried to deliver them with a twinkle so that the volunteers understood that the subject at hand was not just about doom and gloom. Hopefully they saw a lighter, quirkier side that prepared them to view patients and families with appreciation for the diverse and sometimes absurd situations that might arise.
    forks2

    One exercise for a small group was “two forks.” I asked the volunteers to arrange two identical forks in any setting they wanted. I told them to just arrange them on the table however they envisioned them at the moment. After the volunteers arranged the two forks, I would “interpret” their arrangement with phrases such as, “you are very open minded” or “you are extremely creative.” Teens especially liked this exercise. They would smile wryly and mentally call me out on my “game” but they would play anyway and seemed to enjoy the spoof of psychological testing. (I always did “fess up” and tell the volunteers that it was all made up) But then we would seriously discuss volunteering with various personalities and how to best connect with folks.
    forks

    Another exercise that I used in group training was the personality test. I downloaded a simple quick personality test with broad results and tweaked the questions to represent volunteering scenarios. I asked the volunteers to record their answers on their paper and then tally up their score. I then read the “results” according to the score ranges. For instance, those with a score within 10-20 were introspective while 90-100 were very outgoing.

    But I added my own twist to the test results. I made up silly outcomes for each personality type based on volunteering with a patient or family member such as, “it is said that this personality type because of their bubbly personality ends up talking so much about their recent family cruise that the family member actually experiences seasickness.”

    About halfway through the result reading, the shocked looks turned to laughter and relief. “Oh you got us,” the volunteers would say. But it wasn’t just for comedy relief. We then went on to discuss the different ways a well meaning volunteer could over step their boundaries and reiterated how to keep active listening in mind. Those were productive conversations.

    One thing I did learn in years of training was that timing is everything. Acting wacky or introducing quirky subjects too soon destroys the trainer’s credibility. Once trust and sincerity is established, then comedy relief and diverse teaching methods will be much more readily accepted. The same goes for introducing deep subjects. Volunteers have to be ready in order to really digest profound information.

    My barometer of a class’ comfort level was always predicated on the day the class got up and freely helped themselves to coffee and snacks while chatting warmly with one another. It usually took two sessions to establish that level of comfort and trust. (I always taught six 3 1/2 hour sessions for initial orientation).

    But once that comfort level was achieved, then I could introduce really fun activities, and on the flip side, speakers with really deep and profound experiences to share. Classes laughed and cried, but only after we all felt really safe with each other. Honestly, those intimate moments with new volunteers are memories so precious to me, I can’t even begin to describe them. How fortunate I am to have them.

    Yes, timing is everything. Volunteers look to us to illuminate the way and we should be honored to own that responsibility. Providing volunteers with deep meaning enhanced with light and laughter takes some sense of timing. But when you get it just about right, it fills your soul with the most amazing moments.
    forks4

    Training volunteers creates a bond with them from the very beginning. We neither have to be just ultra serious nor just silly and entertaining. We only need to make them comfortable and care that they learn and feel a part of our team. This sincerity paves the way for the information you want to present.

    So, don’t be afraid to have some fun.(When the timing is right of course) Arrange your own two forks, create a personality test, make up an icebreaker and watch the magic happen!

    -Meridian

     

  • Maybe I Need a Good Cry

     

    tissues

    Kenny, a part time volunteer manager recently said, “my brain is sometimes so overloaded that I feel like I’m going to explode. I have duties as a thrift store manager which is a full time job overseeing all the donations, ordering supplies, keeping the store clean and organized and then I also manage about 20 volunteers who are really a different type of managing from my four employees. I’m constantly juggling all the needs of customers, staff and volunteers. I feel like the constant stress is just building up and there’s no way to get rid of it.”

    Stress is a volunteer manager’s BFF.  It looks over our shoulder as we guzzle our first cup of coffee and crawls into bed with us at night. It’s hanging around from the first stir of our PC’s until well after we arrive home still thinking about whether we should make one more phone call to make sure the volunteers have what they need for that event in the morning. Our jobs are never done and there is hardly ever a break from that needy shadowy voice that whispers, “you should have called volunteer Emma to see how her trip went”.  We listen to volunteers’ stories in the grocery store. We field calls and emails after hours. We are recruiting as we wait for that donut and coffee. We show up at events on weekends, fill in for volunteers that call off, and network while getting our cars washed. It’s no wonder that we live with the annoying grip of continuous stress. So how do we unwind? How do we duck into a side door to ditch stress for just a few moments? Well, here are a few suggestions from volunteer managers I have known:

    Do something ridiculously silly: Go sing at a karaoke, dress in a costume and attend a non-costume party, play a crazy board game with friends. Let loose and make fun of yourself and laugh until your sides hurt. When you are genuinely laughing, your focus is on the fun and those nagging thoughts about how you forgot volunteer Mary’s grand dog’s birthday are banished, thus giving yourself a much needed break from the seriousness of work.

    Build something: Put on your old clothes, get your hands dirty and dig a moat around your house, make a 3 foot statue of your ex, construct an outside igloo in summer, or make Mount Everest out of paper clips . Concentrating on the task at hand frees your mind from the worry that staff member Giselle will make 87 year old volunteer Dan carry all the boxes of event stuff up two flights of stairs which will probably give him a heart attack .

    Hide for a day: Go off the grid and bar the door. Watch that movie about bugs who sing, sleep, or practice your banjo. Do not clean, answer any communication nor entertain guests. Make it a good 24 hours of nothing. Eat whatever you feel like eating and don’t comb your hair. Banish your stress buddy by unplugging and binge watching those television shows about two roommates who are really zombies. By immersing yourself in a fantasy escape, you can artificially express your emotions without consequence and “care” about something that is not real nor consequential.

    Let the sadness escape: Spend some time watching the saddest movie ever, read a poignant story, find a documentary on tragedies and cry until you are dehydrated and reaching for the Gatorade. In the helping professions, we deal with true sadness and tragedy every day and yet we know that breakdowns do not help our clients so we stifle sadness. It needs to come out so let it escape with “Terms of Endearment” or “Sophie’s Choice” and a six pack of boxed tissues.

    Find a qualified BFF. Someone has to understand exactly what we are going through, so find a person who has either been a volunteer manager or has an ability to relate to your frustrations and confide in them regularly. Of course they must be discreet, but you can use fake names when speaking about that volunteer that keeps going to the CEO about the lack of proper bathroom tissue in the stalls.  Sometimes we just need a respected good friend to tell us we’re not nuts.

    I’m sure you have other great ideas about how you de-stress and honestly, we all would love to hear them, especially if there are ways to mini de-stress during workdays.

    Stress is always going to be a part of a volunteer manager’s job so we need to keep it from buying us matching best friends forever bracelets. Hang on, I think “Titanic” is just about to come on. Sniff

    -Meridian

     

  • 5 Ways to Get Off the Passive Aggressive Roller Coaster

    Kumba_at_Busch_Gardens_Tampa

     

    Glenda, an office manager and volunteer coordinator for a public school enjoys a good working relationship with the rest of the school staff, except for Ms. Riley,  the vice principal. As Glenda recalls,  “One day the vice principal, Miss Riley complained about our volunteers in a PTA meeting. She claimed that none of the volunteers were signing in and that we were losing most of our volunteer hours. Honestly, I was shocked when she said it. Instead of coming to me to ask about it, she chose to throw it out and make me look like I wasn’t doing my job. Besides, only two volunteers out of fifty did not sign in for that month and someone happened to mention that insignificant statistic to Miss Riley and she just assumed all the volunteers were not signing in. I was so frustrated I didn’t know what to say so I just sat there. I wished I had a good comeback.”

    Yes, Glenda, we’ve all experienced insufferable passive aggressive managers and staff. Snide little comments, copying department heads on jabbing emails and rehashing a volunteer error in staff meetings are their emotional roller coasters that just go off track and belittle volunteer managers. So what can we do? Do we have to ride this frustrating coaster or can we simply just get off?

    Well, for what it’s worth,  I finally got really tired of a few passive aggressive staff who routinely dragged me onto their caustic car and I decided to say no to their desire to control my emotions with their passive aggressive behavior. So, here are my suggestions on ways to respond to these staff members who want to get a “rise” out of you.

    1. Check your emotions. The point of the passive aggressive staff member’s snarky behavior is to get you emotionally involved. Quash those emotions and become professionally detached. The staff member who loves to goad people will get no satisfaction from your neutral demeanor and will seek other prey.
    2. Don’t strike back. If you don’t like the tone of an unreasonable emailed request that is copied to department heads and meant to bait you, begin your reply with a cool, unruffled, “Thank you for your confidence in the volunteer department. It is always our goal to provide the very best volunteers for each situation and to treat our clients with the respect and professional service they deserve. Because I view this request with the same importance as every request, I will keep you posted on our progress every step of the way.” The passive aggressive staff wants you to complain that the request is unreasonable, so don’t jump on that ride.
    3. Make them prove it. When a staff member complains that “the volunteer requests are not being met on time,” pin them down with, “Can you give me concrete examples of requests that were not met on time? Without specifics, I really cannot make improvements and it is my sincere desire to continually improve volunteer services. So, what are those examples?” Broad statements without factual backup are a favored route of the passive aggressive staff so make them give you something that you can work with.
    4. Deflect unwarranted blame in a professional way. Called out in a meeting because a staff member did not get something done and they want to blame lack of volunteers? Pick the right moment to stand up and say, “While it is unfortunate that we were only able to get 3 volunteers for this request, I would just like to take this opportunity to reiterate that volunteer services will do everything in our power to supply the right volunteers for all requests. Obviously the sooner we get a request, the more time we have to engage our volunteers.  Last minute requests will be treated with high importance, but sometimes we have more than one last minute request.” Don’t get into finger-pointing but take the opportunity to educate staff on how to request volunteers.
    5. Defend the volunteers in a professional manner. Passive aggressive staff that “joke” about volunteer mistakes or qualifications can be reminded that volunteers are real people who give of their time and accomplish much for clients. Try saying, “While yes, volunteer Mary didn’t send that visitor to the right station yesterday, did you know that she is caring for her seriously ill husband right now and is admittedly, a little scattered? It’s amazing that she takes her volunteer job so seriously that she continues to come in for her shift, don’t you think? And even more amazing is that Mary donated over 300 hours last year in our reception area.”  Staff members need to see volunteers as real human beings who donate valuable service time.

    The sad reality about passive aggressive staff is they are not really serious about teamwork and solutions. They are not interested in honest communication but instead, want to manipulate our emotions and drag us along on their melodramatic trek.

    With some staff members you have to stick to a strictly professional, emotionless communication. When they realize that they cannot involve you in pointless emotional back and forth, they will move on.

    While it’s unfortunate that some folks have little interest in teamwork and solutions, you don’t have to indulge them. Volunteer managers have far too much meaningful work to do to get caught up in mind games.

    Even though roller coasters are meant to be fun, passive aggressive roller coasters are neither fun nor productive. You don’t have to get on one.

    -Meridian

  • Volunteers: The Quiet Why

    hands

    But it was Mary, Mary
    Long before the fashions came
    And there is something there that sounds so square
    It’s a grand old name….

    Cohan George M. – Mary’s A Grand Old Name, 1906

    Ralph, a volunteer for a hospice in-patient unit sat in the metal chair by the bedside of 97 year old Mary. Her wisps of white hair blended in perfectly with the assortment of pillows that supported her frail head and body. Ralph was holding her gaze, his brown eyes searching her blue eyes for clues. Her eyes were magnified in their sharpness by the lined and hollow face they stared out from and Ralph was determined to connect with her.

    “Should I hold her hand?” he thought internally and was afraid. A strange man touching a woman might be perceived improper. “I want to stroke her head,” he thought but pulled his hand back. That was too forward.

    He stared harder, drawn into her being and thought of her life. At 97, alone and childless, her husband long dead, what gave her life meaning? She was born almost a century ago, forty years before he took his first breath. What was her world then, and if she was going in and out of that era as the staff told him, what was she thinking about now?

    Suddenly he remembered a song his father would sing to his mother, who was also named Mary and he began to quietly sing, tentatively at first, the lyrics gliding over and under his gaze. “For it is Mary, Mary, plain as any name can be.”

    Those blue eyes widened and recognition rushed back to meet him. Ralph sang on softly, “But it was Mary, Mary, long before the fashions came…” Now, caution gone, he held her hand and thought he felt the murmur of a squeeze. Mary’s lips stirred, trying to sing with him. It didn’t matter to Ralph that he had always been told his singing was awful. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t remember all the lyrics correctly, he sang on, to her, to his beloved Mother, to all the Mary’s that ever lived.

    Tears shimmered over the blue eyes in a pool of kinship. For a brief moment he imagined he could see his mother’s eyes looking back at him.

    Then the eyes grew weary and closed. Mary’s slight frame relaxed into a peaceful sleep. Ralph let go of her hand and tiptoed out from the room. A nurse was standing in the doorway, wiping tears from her cheek.

    Nothing was said. Nothing needed to be said. Ralph nodded at the nurse and left her to attend to Mary. He gathered his things and left the in-patient unit. He had errands to run. As he walked out the door, he sang softly, under his breath, “and there is something there, that sounds so square, it’s a grand old name.”

    -Meridian

     

     

     

     

  • Warm Bodies, Cold, Hard Facts

    Qtips

    “What a massive responsibility, being a moral creature”
    ― Isaac Marion, Warm Bodies

    Does this line of questioning sound oh so familiar?  “Why don’t we have enough volunteers to be an Emergency Buddy? How hard can it be to find people willing to be called in the middle of the night to come by our headquarters to get the emergency plan for the district, drive out to the emergency shelter and then get a shelter spot ready for arrival? I mean c’mon, do you not know how important this volunteer job is? Have you actually tried targeted recruiting? There must be scads of retired emergency personnel who would love to use their talents to help us.”

    Well, huh. Why didn’t I think of that the last twelve times I tried targeted recruiting, or maybe I was wrong to try and think out of the box by recruiting those great college students.  Perhaps I should lie to potential volunteers so that they don’t know what the job entails? I’m sure that once they realize we lied to them, they’ll forgive us and won’t do a lousy job just because we trained them improperly .

    There’s a study that indicates companies spend more resources  weeding out lousy employees than they do cultivating superior talent. This lopsided approach often applies to organizational views on volunteer recruitment.

    toxic workers are more expensive than superstar hires

    The more important the volunteer role, the more up front work is required in order to place excellent and ready volunteers. Proper vetting, orientation and training takes time and effort by hard working volunteer managers.

    Sure, warm bodies can fill roles, but cold, hard facts say that

    Warm bodies ultimately:

    Leave abruptly, usually within the first three months

    Do not sync with the organization and remain on the outside

    Can do irreparable harm to clients

    Volunteer managers understand how much effort it takes to cultivate a qualified volunteer. Because we abhor the “warm body” theory, we will continue to be accused of not providing “enough” volunteers for critical roles.

    When pressured by senior management to magically produce more bodies, point to the lack of  harmful behavior by your competent volunteers. Remind them that properly vetted and trained volunteers do not damage the very people we serve and oh, yeah, properly vetted and trained volunteers take time and skill to implement.

    And maybe ask the person this question: “Would you want a hastily recruited and insufficiently trained volunteer working with your mother, father or child?”

    Neither would we.

    -Meridian