volunteerplaintalk

Tag: non-profit

  • Mono or Multi? Voluntasking is the Answer

    office mail business work
    Photo by Tookapic on Pexels.com

    Greta’s hand was shaking. Three recent volunteer requests needed her attention. One of her volunteers, Serena, was on the phone with a major problem. End of month reports were due at 5pm and Greta hadn’t gotten the chance to record all the available volunteer hours. Matt, a recent graduate of the latest volunteer orientation was standing in her doorway. He needed a dose of her encouragement. She could feel her heart racing. How would she be able to do it all?

    Multi-tasking vs. single or mono-tasking. A 2009 study of heavy media multitaskers versus light media multitaskers from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America revealed that heavy media multitaskers are more likely to be affected by random, non-essential stimuli. And here’s the surprising results. Heavy media multitaskers performed worse than light media multitaskers on a task-switching ability test, instead of performing better as expected. It seems as though multi-tasking actually hinders our ability to concentrate.

    There is one tremendous benefit we seldom speak of in describing volunteer contributions. Volunteers are more able to focus on a single task than harried staff who are juggling multiple duties at one time. We, volunteer managers know this from experience. Take Greta in the example above. Can she possibly bring her best to each task in front of her? Will she be able to give her undivided attention to Matt, or to Serena? Will she find the concentration necessary to fill the volunteer tasks? Can she actually clear her mind to gather and record the volunteer hours for her report, not to mention adding the additional stats and stories she knows will make her report more impactful? Or will her attention dart back and forth, splitting her cognitive abilities into tiny, unusable pieces?

    No, not with all the external stimuli that fractures her attention. This inability to do superhuman multitasking is one of the reasons we, volunteer managers ask for volunteer help with our workload. We realize that a competent volunteer can do a job that might take us ten times as long to do, because we are in a constant state of being distracted.

    We’ve seen it so many times. Give a volunteer a desk and a light and they will power through an assignment. Volunteers possess the trifecta of task accomplishment:

    • The will or passion
    • The time
    • The focus

    We need to highlight this overlooked asset and properly showcase it as a benefit derived from embracing volunteer help . We can start by asking staff and senior management these questions:

    • If you had two hours a day to focus on one task without interruption, what could you accomplish?
    • Do you often feel like you are being pulled in multiple directions and you can’t concentrate?
    • What would it mean to you if you could offload a portion of your work so that you could give your attention to the tasks you feel are critical to your job and our mission?
    • Do you feel that being pulled in so many directions actually helps or hinders your ability to reach your goals?

    And here’s the kicker question:

    Do you really think that someone who is passionate about helping, can sit and actually focus on the task at hand and is willing to devote the time to getting it done will do a much poorer job than the person who is continuously pulled in every direction?

    If you want to have some fun, at the next staff meeting, ask staff to take out a piece of paper. Announce a phrase, such as “volunteers are great.” Ask staff to spell the phrase out loud while writing their names and addresses on their piece of paper. You’ll get laughs and groans, but it will take a good chunk of time as their brains switch back and forth between tasks. And it won’t help that they are being distracted by the reactions of their fellow staff members around them.

    Now point out that this is their reality. Ask them (in all seriousness) why they wouldn’t want a volunteer, one who is capable, and has the will, time and focus to accomplish tasks more quickly and efficiently, helping them.

    Non-profits are notoriously understaffed and overburdened. The reluctance to seek volunteers’ help is holding missions back from great accomplishments. The mind-destroying multi-tasking world in which non-profit staff find themselves can be alleviated by the help of focused volunteers.

    We can encourage our organizations to take advantage of volunteer help for many reasons, all of them sound. One simple, but overlooked reason is voluntasking: the passion and ability of volunteers to devote the time it takes to focus on one task, thus accomplishing it faster and with more accuracy and freeing up staff to concentrate on mission centric goals.

    Or, we can all continue to cling to our workloads and keep multitasking. But, if we do, we’d better learn to love mediocrity and burnout.

    -Meridian

     

  • Horrors! Can a Volunteer Manager Say No?

    close up photography of person s eye
    Photo by Tookapic on Pexels.com

    Carlos took a deep breath and regarded Marty, a long term volunteer who stood before him. “Mr. Jansen really wants to visit his son in Philadelphia.” Marty said. “It’s only a four hour trip from here and I don’t mind taking him. We can do it in a day.”

    Carlos thought about the organizational policies, trying to recall one that forbid volunteers from driving clients on long trips. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, Marty,” he said. “I really don’t know if we should do this.”

    Leadership is about doing the right thing, even if it is the hardest thing to do personally and even if it puts you on the spot. As leaders of volunteers, we are faced with doing the right thing every day. We must weigh the right thing for our organizations, for our volunteers, for our vulnerable clients, for our communities and for us.

    Being able to say no is sometimes the right thing to do. While our jobs pretty much paint us as the folks who always say “yes,” we must take into consideration the times we are obligated to say “no.” Some obvious examples are:

    • when a volunteer wants to break policy and jeopardize the safety of himself or a client
    • when a request for a volunteer puts the volunteer at risk
    • when a community service volunteer wants you to sign off on hours not spent volunteering
    • when anyone asks you to embellish volunteer hours

    It’s easier to say no when strict policies back you up, or risk factors are obvious. But sometimes we have to say no, when policy is not a factor and the area is gray. Examples might include:

    • When someone requests a volunteer for a task that volunteers have strongly objected to
    • When a volunteer wants to initiate a project that will take precious time from mission related work
    • When you are asked to fill in for a volunteer on your day off and you already have plans

    How do we artfully say ‘no?’ If we feel pressured to say ‘yes,’ or are backed into a corner, we might stutter and say something like, “I’m not sure.” A weak ‘no’ is really just a soft ‘yes.’ When saying no, you have to actually say no and not want to immediately take it back.

    If you need to, ask for time to think on it. Say, “Let me get back with you on that,” so that you can formulate your response. Getting caught off guard seldom gives you the advantage of putting together a well thought out answer. Remember though, if you don’t get back to the person in a timely matter, they will assume your answer is yes.

    Think of all the reasons you have to say no. It’s not because you just feel like being oppositional, it’s because you know there is a better alternative, or you have information the person asking the question does not have. Listen to your intuition and find all the whys that force you to say no, then explain the whys in decisive terms.

    Present a suitable alternative. Explain why you are saying no, and offer an alternative. If say, a volunteer wants to bring a friend with them on assignment into a client’s home, you can say, “I’m sorry, but that is against our policy. The reason it is against our policy is because no one who has not been background checked and officially entered into our organization can enter the home of our client. (the why you’re saying no) This applies to staff and volunteers alike. I can offer your friend a path to becoming a volunteer so that he can accompany you on assignments. (the alternative) Let’s talk about how to make that happen.”

    Steer the person towards the alternative. If a staff member wants you to find a volunteer for a task the volunteers have repeatedly said no to, you can say, “I will try, but our volunteers have said no in the past so I’m not likely to be able to fill this request. But, we do have volunteers willing to help you in other ways. Let’s discuss the ways they want to be of service and how they can support you.”

    Be clear that a no is not personal. Leadership is about the mission and the team. Point out the mission centric reasons you must say no. “I understand that things change rapidly and that now you are asking for five additional volunteers for tomorrow. I will ask one of our experienced volunteers to make last minute calls and I know that every one of our volunteers who can commit, will commit, so you are in good hands. I however, must continue to work on the annual gala which is next week because volunteers are heavily involved and the gala is extremely important to our organization’s outreach.”

    There’s a reason these responses sound an awful lot like “professional speak.” It’s because they are. Using professional speak is the way to stop others from viewing you as a lightweight, a yes person, a go-fer. Using professional speak forces others to communicate with you on a mission-related level and not on emotional or personal terms.

    Feeling like you can never say no resides on emotional levels. Being able to say no in a professional way resides on logical, thoughtful levels. In order to take control of the conversation, use professional speak that centers on mission centric goals and steer the person away from trying to emotionally manipulate you.

    You can put off a conversation until later when you have the time and energy to discuss it with focus. Take the volunteer who wants to initiate a program that takes time from mission related goals. You can say to that volunteer, “that sounds like an interesting proposal and one that you’ve given considerable thought to. I really want to give you my full attention, so can we set aside a time to discuss it when we can really focus on what you are offering?” Then set aside a time when you are not being bombarded from all directions and can thoughtfully discuss any ideas.

    Saying no is not a failure on our part. It is actually an opportunity to control the direction of our programs and a chance to steer people towards a better way of engaging volunteers by offering more viable alternatives. When done with tact and professionalism, saying “no” can open doors to a better “yes.”

    A strong leader is able to say no in a way that assures everyone that the no means listening carefully, then a negotiation, or a revamping or an alternative.  Above all, it indicates a striving for excellence. And that already describes every volunteer manager.

    -Meridian

     

  • Helicopter Volunteer Management

    photo of helicopter on flight
    Photo by Alex Broski on Pexels.com

    Yvonne looked at her watch. “Oh my gosh, it’s 12:30, I have to get up there.” She hastily threw the rest of her lunch away, closed her office door and headed upstairs to the workroom. Her volunteer, Angie was just settling in for her Thursday afternoon work recording client surveys. Angie picked up the rubber banded stack and opened the computer program on the aging desktop.

    “Hey, Yvonne, how are you?” Angie asked. This corner of the workroom, designated for volunteers was quiet, a bit dark, since the clouds outside threatened rain.

    “Great, now that you’re here.” Yvonne turned on the lamp a few feet from the desk. Do you have everything you need?”

    “I think so,” Angie said, looking around. “I’m not sure if all the new surveys are here, but I can work with these.”

    “Oh,” Yvonne put her hand on Angie’s shoulder. “I’ll go find out where the new ones are and bring them to you.” She headed back to her office. After several phone calls, Yvonne tracked Garth in compliance down and was able to retrieve the latest pack of surveys and bring them to Angie.

    Helicopter volunteer management. When does making sure that volunteers are engaged border on hovering and intrusion?  When does the desire to give volunteers a meaningful experience devolve into swaddling them in bubble wrap?

    We, volunteer managers can often walk an emotional tightrope when we “hand over” a volunteer to a department. We can feel like the typical proud parent, especially when we have spent precious emotional time cultivating a volunteer. We recruit with an impassioned plea. We interview with laser focus, zeroing in on the volunteer’s strengths and desires. We train with patience, allowing enough time and questions to ready the volunteer for greatness. We instill in them what a great experience they will have.

    And unfortunately, we carry scars, too. We’ve turned over excellent and ready volunteers, only to see them leave due to being under utilized or given confusing directions or not contacted quickly enough. We see all our upfront work wasted, our emotional investment dashed and we think of “what could have been.”

    Sometimes, we just want to pick our battles. We know that if we complain that certain staff members don’t take working with volunteers seriously, we will be rebuffed, or labeled “negative” by senior management. And so, we pick up the slack, or follow a volunteer about, making sure that he has everything he needs. And maybe it’s not even that. Maybe we realize that departments are just not going to cuddle our volunteers and that scares us a bit.

    While we have the best interests of the volunteer and organization at heart, does helicopter volunteer management have its drawbacks? What might they be?

    • We perpetuate the stereotype that volunteers are low-skilled. By running around making everything ok, we send a message to the staff working with them that volunteers are not capable of doing the job without our help.
    • We create volunteer dependence. When we subtly say to our volunteers, “you need me in order to succeed,” we create a dependence on us and rob the volunteers of using their common sense and being able to forge a relationship with the departments they work for.
    • We use precious time better spent elsewhere. When we follow volunteers around, we miss opportunities to recruit other volunteers, or create new programs.

    So, how can we let go of helicoptering?

    • Pull a new volunteer if a department doesn’t reach out to them within 3 days. Re-assign that volunteer to another department, or better yet, keep that volunteer and ask them to help you with your projects. Don’t chase a department, begging them to call the new volunteer. And don’t be so quick to get them another one, but explain that if they cannot contact new volunteers in a timely manner, then volunteers won’t wait.
    • Prepare volunteers as well as you can and give them instructions to call you if they need you.
    • Praise staff who work well with volunteers. Create awards for key staff, Trust the time it takes for them to forge relationships with volunteers.
    • Expect some amount of failure. Unfortunately, failures will occur. It’s important to not blame yourself, or to fall back into the helicopter mode.
    • Appoint seasoned volunteers as mentors. Ask them to take new volunteers under their wing and to check in with new volunteers often at first.
    • Gather feedback, especially from new volunteers. Prepare a “new volunteer report,” and include their comments, both positive and negative. Share with senior management.
    • Prepare departments individually to work with volunteers through a “new volunteer integration plan.”
    • Continue to educate staff. Create training through in-person, video, manuals, posted tips or cheat sheets. Help staff learn how to work with volunteers.

    Our desire to hover over our volunteers is understandable since it is most often based on experiences we’ve had when helplessly watching volunteers leave due to being under utilized or due to the amount of effort we put into cultivating and readying new volunteers.

    Instead of hovering, which simply band-aids any problems, we can begin to work on fixing our tendency to helicopter by addressing the underlying issue: What do we think happens to volunteers once they leave our cocoon of cultivation?

    • Do we assume they will be mistreated?
    • Do we assume they are not capable of handling themselves?
    • Do we think that once volunteers ask questions, or need something, they will be labeled “difficult?”
    • Do we secretly desire to be the only person who can get the best out of the volunteer?
    • Is it more than just doing our jobs for us?

    We have to be careful in how we view volunteers and our role. If we operate in an “us vs. the rest of the organizational staff” bubble, then we are going to helicopter our volunteers. And we’re going to take any shortcomings by staff personally. Stress will follow us everywhere.

    If, instead, we open up and begin to work within the system, (good and bad) we can start to clearly see where challenges lie and then, in a professional way, find solutions.

    One of the areas that may need tweaking is in that zone where a new volunteer joins a department. Before a new volunteer is assigned, help your organization’s departments answer these questions and formulate a “new volunteer integration plan:”

    • Does my department have a plan in place for new volunteers?
    • Do we have a departmental staff member to mentor new volunteers?
    • Do we have someone designated to answer questions?
    • What is our course of action should the volunteer need more help than we can give or is not working out?
    • How do we help the new volunteer succeed, but continue to get our work done?

    Once these questions are adequately addressed, a new volunteer should fit into a department more comfortably, thus removing a lot of the anxiety felt by the volunteer manager who placed the volunteer in good faith.

    Cultivating volunteers is a highly emotional experience. We get caught up in the volunteers’ passion and desire and sometimes their issues. We want to help them. While noble, this desire to see them flourish can take an emotional toll on us.

    Can we set aside our emotional investment and let them fly? Can we forcefully, yet professionally advocate for top-down respect for volunteers and their time? Can we partner with other departments to set up a system for integrating new volunteers? Can we meet out consequences in a solution-related manner when departments fail our volunteers?

    We, volunteer managers invest heavily in our volunteers with our time, energy, mentoring, and passion. It’s time we also invest in our own emotional health by setting our organizations up to successfully integrate new volunteers so that we can refrain from helicoptering and move forward to recruiting and creating innovative programs.

    -Meridian

     

     

     

  • Velp or Vichelin Stars, Whichever

    Velp or Vichelin Stars.png

    Do you clap on Medium or use Yelp or TripAdvisor or any of the rating systems? Do they influence your reading habits or purchases?

    What if we were to institute ratings for volunteer organizations? “Yipes, are you nuts,” comes to mind. But, in reading Jayne Cravens’ excellent post, Volunteers should be talking about their experience online, on volunteers and social media experience sharing, it reminded me of something I posted a few years back.

    In my post entitled, Of Tires, Stars and Volunteer Organizations, I argued that we should adopt a sort of Michelin Star rating system for volunteer organizations, one in which a central volunteer agency awards Volunteer Centric Stars based on attaining specific volunteer centric goals. Points of Light already does offer a path to becoming a service enterprise organization through their program. I’d love to see an expansion on that idea, one that has visual impact (stars) and levels of deeper commitment to volunteer engagement so that volunteers, donors and the community can easily see how much effort is placed on volunteerism.

    Why would that visual make a difference? Well, why do we stop at hotels that have 5 stars, or why do we aspire to eat at a 3 star Michelin restaurant? Because there is accountability involved, whether it is through public rating or through an organization that creates standards.

    At this point, volunteers have little to go on when choosing a volunteer organization, unless they have been a recipient of services. And with little to no rating system, why should any organization try to do better?

    And what is the purpose of rating anyway, at least in theory? It’s feedback for entities being rated and guides for people looking for the best place to spend money or time. Let’s look at this example of the power of feedback:

    Ben owns a small, upscale restaurant. Traffic has been down lately. He thinks, it’s got to be the quality of the food, so he sits down with his chef, Alisha and tells her that the diners are not happy. He sends Alisha to scope out other restaurants in the area so that she can mimic their menu. Alisha dutifully does as Ben asks, but there is no increase in traffic. Frustrated, Ben looks for another chef and replaces Alisha with Jorge. Together,  Ben and Jorge revamp the menu. Ben advertises a grand re-opening and for a few short weeks, traffic increases, but it falls to a level that is lower than before the re-opening. Perplexed, Ben finally joins a review site and to his amazement, the overwhelming complaints shared by his patrons are the rude wait staff, charging for water and the dirty bathroom. Ben had blamed Alisha and her food for the drop in customers, but it was other areas of his restaurant that drove them away. Ben had forgotten that dining is an experience and that every person and area in his restaurant contributes to that experience.

    It’s no different with volunteers. Every person and area in an organization contributes to the volunteer’s experience, including the volunteer manager and other volunteers, ease of getting started, scope of work, etc.

    The question, then becomes: What would volunteers say? It might be a frightening thought at first. But, how do we fix what we don’t know? How do we back up the idea that keeping volunteers motivated is everyone’s job? How do we illustrate our assertion that volunteers are looking for flexibility, or projects or skills based volunteering opportunities?

    Until there is a volunteer rating system, if ever, can we just cut and paste one? Yes, we can and do. It’s our surveys or exit interviews, our conversations with volunteers and as Jayne Cravens so brilliantly points out, our monitoring of volunteer comments on social media.

    Anonymous surveys can give volunteers a chance to be honest with us and provide the feedback that supports our assertions. If you do send out a survey, there are some feedback by-products that you might want to utilize:

    • At the bottom of the survey, give an option to include the volunteer’s name with the promise that anything that needs to be addressed, will be done in confidence. Follow-up with the volunteer.
    • Indicate on the survey that quotes will be utilized for recruitment purposes. Then, use the positive quotes as testimonials on your recruitment information, even if they are anonymous.
    • Share the positive and negative responses with upper management as an instructive way to show what is working and what is not working. If volunteers indicate that certain departments are not utilizing them or taking too long to contact them, then upper management needs to know that. Prepare a report based on the feedback you receive. Do it in a professional, instructive way, not in an emotional, “see, you guys are mean, and I’m frustrated,” way. Based on feedback, come up with recommendations to fix the negatives such as enhanced training for staff, better software to capture data, a review of jobs and positions, etc.

    Scour social media sites for any comments on your volunteer program. Add those to your feedback report.

    Even though there is not yet a Velp or Vichelin Stars, there is still organic rating going on in the form of word of mouth, social media and surveys. Feedback helps us cement the things we know, while we discover the things we don’t know. Think of the ways to use it to your benefit and encourage volunteers to give their feedback.

    We can preach all we want about the path to meaningful volunteer engagement. But, if we really want things to change, it’s time to back it up with concrete evidence.

    -Meridian

     

     

     

     

  • Expecting Different Volunteering Results is Organizational Insanity

     

    Expecting Different Volunteering Results is Organizational Insanity

    Albert Einstein is widely credited with this quote:

    Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

    Vern sat down and dropped his notepad on the desk. The meeting had not gone as planned, but then, Vern knew it wouldn’t. He’d gathered his volunteers, served them coffee and donuts and explained the new task to them. He mustered up the enthusiasm to pitch the task and at times, came close to begging. He used phrases like, “we really need,” and “if you could just,” but the words were vinegar on his tongue.

    Asking his volunteers to give more of their time to a task he knew they had no interest in, felt like he was betraying them. A few of the volunteers felt sorry for Vern and even though they were already giving a good chunk of time to client related volunteering, they promised to give the task a try. They told Vern that the only reason they agreed to try was because they wanted to support him. They appreciated how Vern had always treated them with respect, how he shared impact with them and how he matched them to assignments that utilized their skill-sets.  The volunteers knew that if they did not say yes, Vern would get into trouble.

    Vern put his head in his hands. It wasn’t fair to treat the volunteers like pawns in a chess game. It wasn’t fair to ask them to do something they weren’t invested in. It wasn’t fair to the clients, because now, those volunteers were devoting their time to a meaningless task which kept them from their mission centric volunteering.

    This scenario, the one that Vern endured, plays out day after day in organizations everywhere. It is the scenario in which organizational upper management, without the input of the volunteer manager, decides to enlist volunteer help in a task that either a) staff involvement has decreased or b) a new initiative has been created and the “grunt work” needs to be completed or c) a staff member or department has complained that they are overworked and they want to offload the minutia on volunteers.

    So, what is so wrong with that? After all, that’s what volunteers are here for, to do our bidding, right?

    Well, let’s just count the ways this is the perfect example of organizational insanity:

    1. It sends a message to volunteers. Volunteers are not easily duped. Every action an organization takes sends volunteers a message. How many messages that say, “you are nothing more than tools to be used at our discretion” are sent before volunteers leave? Oh, and tell their friends?
    2. It puts the volunteer manager in a terrible position. It reduces the VM to selling a task to volunteers instead of engaging them in ways that excite their passion for the work. It undermines the VM and all the effort in laying a foundation of volunteer trust. Poof! Out the window goes everything the VM has told the volunteers about how the organization is committed to integrating volunteers into mission critical work.
    3. It robs clients of the help we promise them on our slick brochures. Let’s do the math on this. 50 mission centric volunteers – 20 volunteers diverted to meaningless tasks = not 50 mission centric volunteers, that’s for sure. Oh, and let’s do complicated math while we’re at it. 50 mission centric volunteers – 20 volunteers diverted to meaningless tasks x number of volunteers who don’t like the bait and switch thing happening = not many mission centric volunteers at all.
    4. It moves us away from the mission. What are we in existence for? To perpetuate and grow? To pad our coffers? To increase our influence? Growing, padding the coffers and increasing influence are not wrong, in and of themselves, but when they become goals instead of secondary goals for supporting the mission, then we’ve become something unrecognizable to our volunteers. And don’t forget, volunteers are not easily duped.
    5. It establishes a self-defeating pattern. When volunteers say yes out of a sense that the volunteer manager will suffer consequences instead of because they want to do the task, a self-defeating pattern is set. If a few volunteers reluctantly say yes, then more meaningless requests will follow, because it appears that volunteers are happily agreeing to do anything. It becomes much more difficult to explain volunteer objections if volunteers agree to assignments they feel pressured to accept.
    6. It keeps us frozen in outmoded models. When we engage volunteers in the same tired manner from years ago, we will see our volunteer numbers drop.
    7. It wastes everyone’s’ time. Volunteer managers have limited time. Volunteers give limited time. Why are we wasting it with tasks that drive volunteers away?
    8. It sends a message to the volunteer manager. The message from upper management says, “you are nothing more than a mouthpiece, a carnival barker, a conduit for our demands. The skills and time you invest in our volunteers mean little to us.”

    What can a volunteer manager do? Besides quit?

    • Don’t beg volunteers. Offer any task or request as an option. Check your emotions at the door. After all, it is up to the volunteers and we’ve all been surprised by volunteers who are willing to do something we never imagined them wanting to do. But, on the flip side, don’t buy into the “get them to do it” nonsense and don’t share your frustrations with the volunteers. They will say yes because they like you and don’t want to see you get in trouble. And then, the self-defeating pattern is set.
    • Capture volunteers’ objections. Write them down to give to those requesting the task. “that’s not something I’m interested in,” or “it doesn’t fit my needs, or time-frame or skills,” are phrases that show the reason a volunteer is declining the task.
    • Ask the person(s) requesting the task to present it to the volunteers. Take yourself out of the middle.
    • Remind senior management that you are there to engage volunteers, not use them. Share engagement successes and failures in order to support your theories and illustrate the difference between mission centric volunteering and tasks.

    Organizations thrive with engaged volunteers and while it may seem harmless to organizational senior management to ask volunteers to do whatever we want them to do, it actually sends a message. And not a very good one.

    We must take two additional and crucial things into consideration when creating volunteer tasks. How does it impact the mission and how does it impact the volunteer? Without mission centric volunteering, tasks are meaningless chores that sap the volunteer soul. And wear them out. And drive them away.

    What’s the definition of organizational insanity?

    Not listening to nor respecting the insight of the volunteer manager.

    -Meridian

     

  • Volunteer Chaos Theory: If a butterfly flaps its wings, will Jeremy volunteer?

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    I’m on a short vacation this week, so I’m revisiting a post I wrote in 2015 and tweaking it just a bit.

    Volunteering needs to have its own chaos theory:  You know, the one that starts with “if a butterfly flaps it’s wings in Brazil, will it spawn a tornado in Texas…”  because engaging volunteers can be quite chaotic.
    Have you noticed that a lot of really smart people look at volunteerism in a very linear way? Their volunteering theory in no way takes into account any chaotic variables that affect whether a potential volunteer follows through, or an existing volunteer stays. Instead, it all depends upon how well volunteer managers “sell” the program.
    Their linear theory  goes something like this:
    Volunteer Manager (VM) sitting at desk. A long line of prospective volunteers stand outside the door patiently waiting for their turn to do good.

    VM: Who’s next? May I help you?

    New Volunteer Jeremy (J): Hi, I’m answering your ad for volunteer help. Can you tell me more about it? I really want to do good and I can’t do good on my own so I came here.

    VM: Why yes, we need someone to do good by helping put up supplies.

    J: Oh my gosh, this is unbelievable, I have a Master’s Degree in putting up supplies! I’ve put up supplies for most of my life. I love nothing more than to put up supplies! When can I start to do some good?

    VM: Well, you first have to go through some orientation and training. There’s four sessions starting tomorrow. That might be a bit last-minute.

    J: Tomorrow, huh? Well I had some important surgery scheduled for tomorrow, but I think I’ll reschedule that. To do good by putting up supplies is far more important. I can take the pain a little longer for the chance to volunteer here.

    VM: Wonderful. After that we need to do a background check. It needs to be done before you come to training. That just gives you this afternoon to get it done.

    J: This afternoon, huh? I actually have an interview for the job of my dreams this afternoon. It’s a job in putting up supplies, but hey, I’ll bet they’ll understand if I don’t come. I’m sure another job of my dreams will come along in another decade or so. After we speak, I will go to the police station and do the background check. I’ll pay for that myself. While I’m there, do you want me to pay for some other volunteers?

    VM: No, that’s not necessary, thank you. Let me check the schedule for the all-important supply put-uppers. Are you available to work on Tuesdays?

    J: Wow, Tuesdays, huh? That’s the only day I have to take my elderly Mother out of the nursing home. She really loves our outings, but hey, what the heck, putting up supplies for you guys is so much more important. I can maybe write my mom some letters. I’ll be here every Tuesday doing good! By the way, what kind of supplies are we talking about?

    VM: Well, our organization gets shipments of office paper supplies on Tuesdays. No one here is willing to do that work.

    J: Office paper supplies, huh? I’m violently allergic to office paper, but you know, my college thesis was on the body mechanics of putting up office paper supplies! That’s where I learned I was allergic. But, I’ll just go to my doctor after the background check and get some stronger medication. Is there an emergency room close by here, just in case the medicine doesn’t work?

    VM: There’s a hospital about five miles from here.

    J: That’s fine, I’m sure they have ambulances.

    VM: You do know, Jeremy that you will have to work alone in a hallway closet. There’s not much light or air, but that’s where the supplies are kept. Is that all right?

    J: I do have a fear of the dark, but what the heck! My minor in college was working alone in a closet, where I learned I had a fear of the dark, but I’ll just bring my own flashlight.

    VM: Great, we will see you tomorrow. Thanks so much for volunteering. Next!

    So, in this linear theory, volunteers pretty much show up, then set aside and overcome any and all barriers to volunteering, because nothing will stand in their way. But, in reality, even the most well-intentioned and eager volunteer can be thwarted by outside factors.

    Have you ever recruited the most promising, amazing human being, only to have a change in job status, unexpected move or family circumstance steal them from you before they even get started? It can shake you and make you feel that all your hard work has been wasted.

    Chaos surrounds volunteerism. Unlike a paid position, any extenuating circumstance can interfere with a volunteer’s commitment to follow through. The tenuous bond volunteers establish with us can fray at any moment due to events beyond our control.

    It happens to all of us and when it does, it feels like that chaos butterfly is slapping us in the face with their wings. There’s no point in obsessing over the stories of “the volunteers that got away,” so we dust ourselves off and continue on, hoping that chaos will smile on us and allow the next eager volunteer to actually get a chance to become a valued member of our team.

    We keep that potential volunteer’s information in a drawer. Sometimes we get lucky and the butterfly wings flap in our direction. When the volunteer is able to return, they will, because we didn’t guilt them about a family member falling ill or a child of theirs needing help and instead, made them feel as though we understood that circumstances kept them from us.

    It’s those nuanced moments that can affect the direction our chaos takes us. Treating volunteers as more than bodies to fill tasks leaves a lasting impression on them. And even if circumstance never permits them to return, they will spread the message to others that our program cares about volunteers as people with real lives.

    Maybe we have to endure more chaos than most. And maybe it’s difficult explaining the variables that keep volunteers from following through.

    But maybe, in this chaotic world, the next great volunteer is waiting for us to find them.

    -Meridian

  • Don’t Believe Your Own Press…Too Much

    Don't Believe Your Press Too Much

    When I attended my first peer group meeting for volunteer managers, there was a moment that stopped me in my tracks.  During the break, a few volunteer managers were sharing volunteer stories and I overheard one of them remark, “yes, that happens to me too. One of my volunteers told me that I was so amazing and actually said that my orientation changed her life.”

    “Whaaaaaat??????” Poof, my brain exploded.

    Their volunteers were saying the exact same wonderful things about them that my volunteers were saying about me. How was this possible? I wasn’t special? I wasn’t the greatest volunteer manager ever? There were, (gasp) others?

    What a wake-up call. My little piñata of secret self-importance burst open with one whack of the reality stick. But as I dejectedly swept up all those sweet volunteer comments that were like piñata candy from the floor, I started thinking about what all that meant.

    It meant I wasn’t the best volunteer manager to ever walk the earth. It meant my volunteer programs weren’t the greatest thing to happen in the history of volunteerism.

    It meant that I was taking my job way too personally. I was personalizing volunteer enthusiasm.

    That day, I realized that I was the representative of my organization which meant that I was the face, the voice, the go-to symbol of all the good my organization stood for. The volunteers were praising me because they loved the work.

    Because here’s the thing about taking comments too personally. One day we’re buoyed by a volunteer’s glowing comments and the next day we’re dragged down by a careless remark from a staff member who didn’t get enough volunteers for a task. It can become this gigantic disconnect in our heads: How come the volunteers think I’m so great and yet, staff just treats me like I’m on a lower rung?

    Becoming emotionally self-absorbed in our work is exhausting and it corrupts the way we view our job performance. Taking everything personally clouds the ability to see the bigger picture. When the work becomes personal, we become guarded and unable to view challenges with logic. We defend more, complain more, and close ourselves off more. We begin to see each positive comment as personal affirmation and each negative comment as hurtful. We lose the ability to see things clearly.

    But you know what? Letting go of the personal and instead, representing the mission and the impactful volunteer work is actually so much more satisfying than slogging through all that heavy personal junk anyway. And you get to go home at night.

    So, what to do when volunteers tell you that you’re the best thing since sliced bread? Firstly, thank them of course. But their comments can actually present an opportunity to learn more about the things you are doing that are working and going well.

    A few follow-up questions can uncover the specific reasons that volunteers gush over you and their work:

    • “What part of the training did you find so helpful? How did that speak to you?”
    • “Can you tell me more about why you find this work so fulfilling? What elements of the work are directly impacting you?
    • “How did the conversations you and I had in private help you become a better volunteer? What exactly did I say that made you feel like you can do this?”
    • “What words did I use during the interview that made you want to volunteer?”
    • “What is it about the atmosphere here that makes you feel so productive?”

    A comment such as, “I’m so glad I volunteered here, this is the best day ever,” sums up a pinnacle moment that consists of a lot of moving parts. That smile of triumph on a volunteer’s face or their respectful hush when something profound occurs is the culmination of factors working together to make a perfect volunteer moment.

    While it feels really good to hear the wonderful compliments from our volunteers, it can also be highly instructive. We already know that asking an unhappy volunteer the specifics of what went wrong helps us to learn and adjust for next time. In that same vein, asking for the specifics of what is going right can also be helpful and give us solid blocks to build upon.

    Not being the greatest volunteer manager in the world isn’t so awful. It’s actually kind of nice to know there are lots of them out there.

    -Meridian

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Volunteer News Stories: Does This Good Press Really Help?

    Volunteer News Stories Does this good press really help
    Courtesy of https://gratisography.com/

    Emma set her cup down on the table and opened her laptop. She could hear the kids arguing upstairs as they got ready for school. Jenna needed to be picked up after soccer practice, and Harvey still needed to finish his science project or he’d get an incomplete. Emma’s phone pinged. Her mother’s tests came back. The cancer had returned. Holding back the tears, Emma scrolled through her news feed. She clutched at her life spinning out of control, desperately grasping at something to ground her. She read the headlines. So much political in-fighting. Too many vapid celebrity news stories. One heading came from her local newspaper: Volunteer Receives City Council Award. Emma paused for a second, and then scrolled on.

    For years, I thought that any story on a volunteer would produce a tsunami of people trampling each other to join our team. “I want to be just like Herman, or Zafir, or Maria,” they’d proclaim, their fresh smiling faces eager to give back. “Pick me! OOOOOhhh, pick me!” They’d come in wearing t-shirts sporting the face of my smiling volunteer. It would be cult-like, but so what, my volunteer was a star!

    Having press cover volunteers was so rare, that once a reporter showed up, I was slobbery grateful for any mention at all. I grovelled at the reporter’s Birkenstocks. And so, stories about volunteers receiving some plaque or attaining some milestone were all I could get. I never challenged the content and I always suspected the reporter was being punished by doing a “filler” or “human interest” story and really wanted to get on to digging out news stories about that bank robber wearing the Nixon mask or the mayor’s brother suddenly being awarded a lucrative city contract.

    While scrolling through news-feeds this week, it felt like the I was back in the 90’s. I could hear Alanis Morissette singing in the background. Ironically, the overwhelming majority of volunteer news stories are identical to the ones written about my volunteers 20 years ago. Here are some news-feed headlines from just two days worth of searching articles: (names and places removed)

      • Seniors recognized for volunteer work
      • Doing what comes next: Man keeps working, volunteering
      • Volunteering “immensely rewarding” for local woman
      • Duo shares gifts through volunteering
      • Local woman finds volunteering a positive influence
      • Local man honored for volunteering by Service Center
      • Couple’s love of volunteering keeps them on the go
      • SENIOR SPOTLIGHT: Volunteering can have numerous benefits
      • Volunteer receives medal for dedication
      • These volunteers provide help, friendship

    Have you nodded off yet? And to think I used to titter excitedly, “my volunteer in the newspaper, wow, we’re at the summit of the recruitment mountain! Break out the oxygen!” Seriously, what was wrong with me?

    I’ve been reading targeted news-feeds for years. Anything of real substance I share on my Pinterest site, Volunteer Management Talk. But most articles on actual volunteers by actual reporters are frothy little yawn-fests. Yes, they’re positive. Yes, they paint volunteerism in a good light.

    But where are the meaty stories that outline the results of volunteering? Where are the intriguing headlines that proclaim, “These Volunteers are Alleviating Homelessness,” or “These Volunteers Are Creatively Saving the Wetlands,” instead of “These Volunteers Have Really Big Hearts and Are as Boring as Their Organization’s Website.” (ok, sure, I made up the last part-sorta)

    I was wrong about the recruitment potential of the few articles that were published in my local press. There was no mad rush to volunteer. I didn’t see our phone lines light up, or volunteers stampede in with news that their friends and neighbors were outside, clamoring to join our awesome team. I didn’t yell, “Put more coffee on, guys, it’s going to be a long night!”

    In retrospect, I failed to get the real message out. The real message is the impact.
    Volunteer managers everywhere are fighting to elevate the volunteer role by changing the perception of volunteer contributions and volunteers. If we want volunteers to be recognized for their work, we have to take volunteers out of the “human interest” column and push it into the “news” division. But, how?

    When a reporter shows up to cover that award or story about Jane and Hermione, partners and your volunteers for 10 years, ask the reporter these questions:

        • “Where does this story fit in your publication’s divisions? Why?”
        • “What is the end game of this story? What do you want readers to take away?”
        • “Do you want to know the bigger story, that of the impact on our community?” (be prepared to offer relevant information and if you can, an interview with someone helped by your volunteer)
        • “Can you come back and do a follow-up story on the results of the volunteers’ work? We have some juicy human interest stories to share about the people who have been impacted by our volunteers.
        • If the reporter is doing a story on a particular volunteer or volunteers, (let’s take life partners, Jane and Hermione) prepare some eye-opening stats about them. “Yes, it’s true that Jane and Hermione have been here for 10 years, but here are the stats and stories on the impact they’ve had on our homeless population and by the way, that’s the reason they’ve been here for 10 years. “

    I know you’ve experienced this. A volunteer is chosen as the subject of a local newspaper piece because of an award or milestone. The humble volunteer doesn’t want to be the center of attention. The reporter is just on an assignment. You convince the volunteer to do it because it will inspire others to volunteer. You tell them that whatever they say will be inspiring, because hey, they are a great representative of the work, right? Well, maybe they really don’t know what to say.

    Well, why not take it one step further and plan with the volunteer what he/she will talk about? Pick out real impact stories to focus on and explain to the volunteer that these stories are the impetus for encouraging others to get involved. Tell them to turn the interview message around from “you can be like me,” to “you can impact our clients too, in these ways.” And throw in, “we can sure use more help.”

    Why not help the reporter see that they could turn the story into something more, something with real substance? Plant that “juicy” story in their heads.

    There’s a complex mathematical equation that explains the phenomena surrounding news stories about volunteers: It’s tricky and complicated, but it goes like this:

    Press Stories on Volunteer+Fluff=Where are the new volunteers?

    We have more than just our organizations needing to be convinced that volunteers are not just decorative marshmallows of pillowy goodness. We also have to target press, media and the community.

    I’m disappointed and sorry I didn’t do anything about this disconnect before. But, the perception of volunteer contributions needs to change, both within and without. I think that together, we can change this perception, one story at a time.

    -Meridian.

  • Top 3 Theme Ideas for Volunteer Appreciation Week

    Top 3 Theme Ideas for Volunteer Appreciation Week

    Is it time to buy those cute banners and balloons for the annual volunteer luncheon? Do you wonder which phrase is better, “Volunteers are Priceless,” or “Volunteers Are Helpers Extraordinaire?” Don’t have unlimited resources for volunteer appreciation but need to decorate the halls with messages of thanks? I’m here to help.

    You can scour promotional product websites and find some great posters with nice sayings such as “volunteers, work with heart,” or “volunteers put the care in caring,” or “volunteers, you brighten our day,” but it will cost you. And if you’re a budget conscious volunteer manager, or more likely have only the $13 in change from all the times you were roped into running out to get food for senior management meetings, then you’ve come to the right place.

    And anyway. why use old cliché themes to celebrate the volunteers? Why not actually save money and create the kind of honest theme that will really resonate with your volunteers? Here are my top picks for this year’s themes.

    Volunteers, Love the Box You’re In! Ask friends and family to give you their old boxes, like shoeboxes, used gift boxes, cardboard shipping boxes, etc. Place them in strategic areas under a banner that reads, “We love our volunteers so much, we are keeping them safe in a pretty box!” Plaster copies of your rules and policies on the walls and play games such as “pin the broken rule on the volunteer.” If you’re lucky and can score an appliance box, decorate the inside and create a photo booth. Take pictures of your volunteers and create memes, adding text quotes such as “It’s cozy and safe inside my organization’s box,” and “the mission needs me to adhere to the rules so I don’t run amok!”

    Volunteers are the Plastic Bags of Charity.  Who doesn’t have a thousand of these grocery bags stuffed into a closet? Tape them all over the walls next to a huge sign that proclaims, “Volunteers are for using, like plastic bags-we stuff ’em in a closet and yank ’em out for whatever we need!” You can even fill some plastic bags with leftover garbage and picked up dog poop to scatter about the room for effect. (see, these bags have many uses) Give out the golden plastic bag award for the volunteer who completed the lousiest assignment without complaint.

    Volunteers, Thanks For the Time, But It’s About Donations! This one is easy. Buy a pack of construction paper and cut out dollar (or pound sterling) signs and tape them all over the place. Invite the fund-raising arm of your organization to hover around the meeting room and hit up volunteers for money. Instead of reading out stats on volunteer hours given, (pffft, who cares anyway, right?) read out the names of volunteers who haven’t donated money lately. Then, play pass the basket. You might even want to enlist your cousin Dwayne, who is an amateur body builder, to stand at the exit door and look menacing.

    No matter what theme you choose, volunteer appreciation week can be a real source of stress and frustration for any leader of volunteers. Do all these sweet messages printed on candy hearts and breast of chicken lunches really convey true appreciation for volunteer contributions? Do you feel the burden of making the volunteers feel valued fall onto your shoulders? You’re not alone.

    This week creeps up on every volunteer manager. I know, I used to scramble to make appreciation meaningful. There’s not enough time nor brain power to do the job of the volunteer manager and plan mind-blowing events at the same time.

    So, I’d end up relying on silliness, weird dancing and my general refusal to be embarrassed. We always had fun. And sometimes, that can be enough. Fun is a bonding experience.

    Please don’t stress yourself too much. (I know, easy to say) Try to have some fun with your volunteers. Try not to wonder if it’s all enough.

    And maybe, we, volunteer engagement professionals, will all keep moving collectively towards pushing organizations into strategically recognizing volunteer contributions. As one strong voice, we will keep pulling organizations into the twenty-first century and move them to abandon outmoded ideas on volunteer services so that you don’t have to scramble during this week every year and volunteer appreciation becomes organic. We will keep advocating as a tightly knit body of experience, so that leaders of volunteers are an integral piece of strategy planning and volunteer recognition is woven into all organizations’ grand schemes.

    Now, that would be something worth celebrating.

    -Meridian

     

  • 5 Things Your Volunteer Manager Isn’t Telling You

     

    1. I’m the one who convinces volunteers to stay after they are ignored or are treated poorly. Yep, that’s me calling volunteers to convince them that it was just a one-off or that a staff member had a bad day. It’s me you see when you walk by my office, sitting and having a long heart-to-heart with a volunteer. You may think that I’m just socializing, but in reality, I’m doing my job. I’m retaining a good volunteer who is on the verge of quitting.
    2. I may look like I’m just having fun but I’m hard at work ensuring the volunteers are connected to our mission. Uh, huh, it may look easy, but creating an inclusive, welcoming atmosphere is exhausting. I can’t have a down day; I have to be “up” and empathetic and positive at all times, no matter how I feel. I’m the one running all over town to get the balloons, ordering a cake, creating signs with positive messages that I say come from staff, but really it’s just me making them up because staff is too busy. I make sure I learn about every volunteer, their motivations and interests. I keep dates of volunteers’ birthdays in my head, along with their favorite books, or the heartfelt stories they tell me about clients. I juggle so much information because each volunteer wants to personally connect with our organization and most of the time, I am that connection.
    3. You may think I work 9-5, but actually, I’m recruiting volunteers and answering their questions at all hours, everywhere I go. Um, yes, I recruit at my kids’ soccer game when I meet a dad who has a big heart, at the gym when I meet a lady who is organized, and at my place of worship when I see a person who makes everyone feel welcomed. Besides, my open door policy means I am available to the volunteers whenever they need me. I’m not complaining, but don’t ever think that I’m not working at all hours towards creating an excellent department. I am. I just don’t broadcast all the things I’m doing. It’s not about me, but know I’m doing so much more than you can imagine.
    4. I can’t make volunteers do what they don’t want to do. Sigh. Nope, I can’t. Don’t forget, they’re not paid and I can only encourage, beg, convince, cajole, or promise so much. If your request is something they don’t want to do, well, they won’t. They know when I’m trying to “sell” them on an assignment. Volunteers are quite perceptive and I teach them to have boundaries and to not say yes to everything because it keeps them from burning out and we need them for mission centric work. I’d truly appreciate help with making sure volunteer assignments are worthy of our volunteers’ interests and skills so that we don’t drive them away. And actually, my time is better spent engaging our volunteers with meaningful work than trying to get them to do something no one wants to do.
    5. I know our volunteers’ potential and you need me to plan their involvement. Yes, it’s time you understand this. I know the volunteers inside and out and if you want them to support our mission, then I’m the one who can shape their roles so that it’s a win-win for all. The reality is, only I can design the roles our volunteers want to fill. I can create positions that make volunteers want to do more. I want our organization to succeed, and engaging our volunteers is a leap towards excellence. Let me be of greater service by planning our volunteers’ involvement together, with you.

    There, I said it.

    -Meridian