volunteerplaintalk

Tag: volunteer coordinator

  • Horror! Should I Pull the Plug on a Volunteer? Part 1

    plug

    Ebony is in charge of a busy thrift store. The only staff member, Ebony manages sales, donations, store appearance, supply ordering, advertisement and the twenty volunteers who help her throughout the week. She has precious little time for drama or nonsense. Because her volunteers are a tight-knit team, when Bernice, a new volunteer signed up, Ebony placed her on the day the most welcoming volunteers worked. But a month later, those volunteers began to openly complain about Bernice’s attitude. Bernice had quit another resale shop volunteer position and was vocal about her perception that Ebony’s shop did not run as efficiently as her former store. Bernice complained about pricing, merchandising, advertising and lack of volunteer perks such as sizable discounts on merchandize.

    Unused to volunteer conflict, Ebony had several heart to heart talks with Bernice and moved her to a different day. The complaints continued. Frustrated, Ebony hoped the volunteers would work things out, but her stalwart volunteers began to call out sick and take longer vacations.  The once hard-working team became listless, negative and unproductive. Two volunteers quit, giving broad reasons. The other volunteers refused to fill in on the day Bernice worked. Ebony found her team crumbling. Too late she realized that one volunteer could destroy months and years of team building.

    When do we pull the plug on a volunteer? How much trying to integrate one person is too much? This is a dilemma that we all face at some point in our careers. And while we may erroneously feel that we have failed if not every volunteer becomes successfully integrated, we have to weigh the time and effort spent working with a volunteer and their impact on other volunteers versus keeping someone just to keep them.

    I remember a volunteer, Dot from my first years as a volunteer coordinator. She was a retired professional and not only belonged to many clubs and organizations but attained leadership roles in most. She was highly intelligent, but authoritarian and demanding. Her air of superiority was off-putting to volunteers and staff. I once complimented her on her outfit and she said, “I have a doctor’s appointment today and I want to make sure he is intimidated by me.” Everyone tiptoed around her because Dot put her own importance above the mission.  Being new to volunteer management, I didn’t think we could dismiss Dot, but I asked. My senior managers were already afraid of what she might do, and sure enough, one day she went to the board of directors to threaten a volunteer walkout over a policy she disagreed with. Eventually the senior managers realized that something had to be done and she was let go. It was messy. She wrote a letter to the other volunteers imploring them to quit in solidarity, which thankfully, they did not.

    What could Ebony or I have done to integrate Bernice and Dot? Did we miss something? Would spending more of our time have helped? Or is there a point when parting ways with a volunteer is the right thing to do? Can we stop blaming ourselves if occasionally, a volunteer does not work out no matter how hard we try?

    The answer is yes, there is a point when the amount of work spent keeping a volunteer is incredibly lopsided against the benefit in having that volunteer. In weighing whether to continue to try to keep a problematic volunteer, you have to ask yourself these questions:

    Do I spend more time on this volunteer than on any other?
    Do I field more negative feedback about this volunteer than positive?
    Do I find other good volunteers and staff refusing to work with this volunteer?
    Do I find myself worrying what might go wrong when this volunteer is present?
    Do I find myself bending rules and expectations in order to avoid confrontation with this volunteer?

    But, hang on, before we can ask the questions above, we have to do some soul-searching of our own deep feelings on the matter to see if there are some personal perceptions that are keeping us unable to meet the challenge head on.

    By being brutally honest with ourselves when working with problematic volunteers, we can move away from emotion based analysis and into logical resolution.

    Am I petrified of confrontation even though I see there is no forward movement with this volunteer?
    Am I afraid that I will just give in and not stick to my convictions?
    Am I looking at this as a failure on my part?
    Am I thinking that this will make me a mean person?
    Am I clinging to my vision that volunteering is perfect? And that I must be perfect?
    Am I just afraid of the unpleasantness of it all? Do I just want volunteering to be sunshine and kittens and not involve the hard stuff like requiring excellence and management?

    The first set of questions refers to the problem at hand while the second set deals with our own emotions. And lets face it, we have feelings too. But, we can learn to acknowledge our feelings so as to view problematic volunteers in a logical and yet kind way. Sure, our stomach feels like the spin cycle of a washing machine when we are faced with unpleasant conversations, but just remember, by avoiding the issue, it only gets worse, not better. And besides, volunteer success or failure should never be about our feelings, but about the volunteer and the mission.

    Next week, part two: FACE It: An acronym to remember when dealing with a challenging volunteer.

    -Meridian

  • Gobble, Gobble, Good God I’m Frazzled!

    pumpkin2
    Willow, a new volunteer manager for a small organization providing aid to the homeless population in her town, answered her phone the day before Thanksgiving. She had spent long hours that week, organizing and recruiting volunteers to help prepare the annual meal held at a local high school auditorium. Exhausted, her brain overloaded, she tried to muster up enough energy to sound human on the incoming call.

    The caller identified himself as Harry, the coach of a soccer team consisting of 15-year-old boys. “I’d like to get these boys involved in helping others,” he told Willow. “We’d like to come out and feed the homeless tomorrow.”

    Willow felt a throbbing in her forehead. “How many players are we talking about?”

    “Not the whole team, mind you, about 7 or 8.”

    Tears filled her eyes like the bubbles in a natural spring. The volunteer slots were set in stone. It had taken every fiber of her new volunteer manager being to accomplish that. She was bone weary and wondered, why did this man wait until now to call? How could he think that there was no coordination in putting together something so incredibly complicated? Why does no one understand?

    It’s happened to all of us. Often, people call at the last moment to help, especially at holiday times. After it happens, you begin to expect it and it is incredibly frustrating to have to tell a group of willing helpers that they are not needed because they procrastinated or called on a whim. They are, after all, potential volunteers. Granted, most might never volunteer again, but there’s always that little voice in our heads that sneers, “there goes a group that might just have been the greatest group of volunteers known to man. And you denied them. Tsk, tsk.”

    So, what to do if you are not able to just dust off those last-minute potential holiday volunteers? If you feel that a part of your job is to give people the chance to experience the deep, satisfying joy in volunteering, then you will feel a twinge of guilt or sadness when having to refuse someone, even if they called too late. We all know that holidays bring out the desire to help and that each “drop in” volunteer might become an advocate for our organizations.  Can we accommodate those late comers without making the holidays a nightmare for ourselves?

    Yes, there is a way. It’s not perfect mind you, but it’s better than feeling overwhelmed and guilty at the same time. And it takes implementing now.

    So that the future you is not caught in a holiday trap, prepare for the season right now. Before the holidays creep up on you, create some projects that last-minute folks can do. Don’t save the work that must be done but be ready with some extra projects that are off premises and not in direct contact with clients. (No background checks needed). You can invite these one time volunteers to become official volunteers at a later time.

    Start now by asking everyone in your organization for fantasy projects. Ask, “If you had 3 or 5 or 10 volunteers over the holidays, what could they do?” Does marketing fantasize about hundreds of distributed holiday flyers? Does the thrift store secretly salivate over a huge deep cleaning and resorting for the season? Does finance have a tired office that cries for a fresh coat of paint? Is there a corner where an extra decorated tree would look lovely? Do you partner with other agencies and can you ask them if they have projects? I’ve always been able to find a nursing home that was extremely grateful for some extra help during the season.

    You can also create your own meaningful projects. Go to social workers and ask if they have a family that needs Christmas presents because of financial need and then create a “gift tree” with the ages and sizes of family members on paper ornaments. Buying a gift for someone who is going through a tough time is a very satisfying introduction to volunteering. Don’t be afraid to create a project in which the participants will have to spend a bit of money. That never seems to matter.

    One time volunteers can certainly write holiday cards and wishes to older clients or children. They can have a card writing party off premise. Ask a willing volunteer to attend to explain how much these cards mean to your clients. The point is to be creative. You know the difference between meaningless work and projects that can actually enhance the holidays. Have an extra tree to decorate, or paper place mats to color (good for youth groups to do). Ask your existing volunteers if they would be willing to mentor a group when necessary. Stock up on craft supplies now.

    Then, when someone calls last-minute, instead of having to say, “sorry, but there’s nothing I can give you,” you can invite the late comers to get their feet wet by tackling a small but worthwhile project. If the latecomer says no, at least you offered something. I’ve had folks tell me that my organization was the only one  who even tried to place them. That good feeling can translate to future volunteers.

    You, by virtue of being a volunteer manager, take care of everyone around you. Take care of yourself this holiday season by preparing now for those inevitable 12th hour but sincere calls to help. Your future self will thank you.

    -Meridian

  • ProPer Tweets and Other Social Media

    twitterIsabella couldn’t wait to get back to the volunteer office and tweet. It had been a long day at her organization and 17 volunteers showed up at 5am to prepare packets, man booths, hand out water, snacks and awards at the annual Run for Awareness campaign. Staff members complimented her on the volunteers’ professionalism and how much they had contributed.

    She thanked each volunteer as they helped with cleanup and then, thoroughly spent, she returned to her office where she shut the door and collapsed into her chair.  She then pulled out her phone, accessed her account, @IsabellaVolMgr77 and tweeted:

    #VoteYesOnProp37 Just met a guy at our 5K He is organizing a 5K next year to support Prop37 more details later!

    What you ask? What does this have to do with her volunteers? Exactly! See, Isabella is very passionate about an upcoming election issue in her community and she tweets about her support for proposition 37 frequently.

    So, all right, big deal, what’s the harm? Well, prop 37 is a divisive issue in her town and half of the towns’ folks are strongly opposed to it. (which means half of her active volunteers and prospective volunteers could be put off by her sharing of support for this cause.)

    In another part of town, Randy, a volunteer manager for a small start up charity checked his twitter account @RandyHelpforNeedyOrg and smiled. His last series of tweets were pretty clever he thought. His tweets were:
    #firstdatesareevil Getting ready for first date. Perspiration stains on shirt oh no!
    #firstdatesareevil Almost there, salmon on grill, I’m feeling flaky too!
    #firstdatesareevil Burned the salmon, dropped a drink, I’m doomed!

    Am I getting picky here? Maybe. Because our jobs require emotional intelligence, we can understandably view volunteers as friends, compatriots and even followers on social media. It’s easy to regale them with our personal lives and our passions because they look to us as their bosses. But how much do we really want to draw our volunteers into our personal lives and views?

    I’ve noticed over the years that there is a segment of the volunteer population, albeit a small one, that really wants to operate on a strictly professional level. They are the volunteers who are not interested in my family, my funny mishaps or my secret passions. I take no offense, because it’s literally not personal. They’re the ones who discreetly roll their eyes in orientation when I get too “cutesy” and want me to stick to the professional task at hand.

    But back to tweeting and social media. Is there a fine line that we walk between acting in a professional manner and allowing our warm, engaging personalities to still come through? Can Pro(professional) and Per(personal) ever be ProPer? Absolutely. Let’s look at some examples of Per (personal) tweets and ways to seize an opportunity to rephrase them for volunteers and therefore make them do double duty and more Pro (professional):

    Per tweet: Sigh, 3 car accident made me late to work today.
    ProPer Tweet: Accident made me late to work today, makes me appreciate all the vols who consistently show up on schedule!

    Per tweet: Hey guys, here’s my favorite funny cat video!
    ProPer Tweet: Here’s my favorite funny cat video, humor is a great stress relief, don’t forget to take care of yourselves!

    Per tweet: I’m voting for Candidate Jones!
    ProPer tweet: Met volunteers at a candidate Jones rally, they are passionate and committed, reminded me of our volunteers who btw are the best!

    Per tweet: Guy in line just argued with cashier who wasn’t fast enough. #jerksareeverywhere
    ProPer tweet: Guy in line just argued with cashier for being slow. Reminds me to again thank our vols for being so patient when I forget to call back!

    The sharing of ourselves-our humor, our love, our very humanity is a great way to connect with volunteers. And if you turn the personal (Per) into a message about them (Pro), you’ve successfully engaged the volunteers once again, which is a very proper thing to do.
    -Meridian

  • Success is Everywhere

    This was a post from three years ago and I just wanted to update it:

    I had an open house the other evening for folks who wanted to find out about volunteering in a “no strings attached” forum. You know the drill; people ask questions, hear other volunteers speak, see videos and generally get a feel for what it would be like to volunteer. I’m finding that those who are just a step away from crossing the volunteer threshold will come, have their questions answered and some of their fears allayed.

    There were a good number of people, all asking “How much do time do you require” and “do I have to work directly with patients?” Amongst the crowd was one gentleman who stood out. He was young and dressed quite well, GQ actually. Most people come casual. He was very quiet. Most people ask questions and talk to one another. He sat and listened intently, more than most. What really made him stand out was his intense gaze. He had that look like he was waiting for a magic word or phrase that would free him from his hesitancy.

    Open houses and orientations are great ways to get to know people you are going to manage. They talk about themselves, what they believe, and how they view the world. It gives me some sense of where they are in life and why they want to volunteer. Managing people without pay is hard enough, but not knowing why they are volunteering is just too difficult.

    So, as I’m looking around the room, answering questions, getting a sense of everyone, I’m still at a loss with this young man who by his demeanor, seems to be out of place. And when you manage volunteers, it helps to have everything in place. Chaos is our world, so we appreciate some sort of control.

    After a seasoned volunteer spoke of her experiences, I told a story to piggy back on her explanation of service. I told the group about another volunteer who simply offered a caregiver a cup of coffee. The caregiver who was sitting vigil at the bedside of her dying husband, had said with heartfelt appreciation, “No one has ever brought me a cup of coffee before.”

    I wanted to expound on that idea, the age-old notion that one act can change everything, so I said to the group, “You never know when you will be the one at the very right moment to do the very right thing.”

    At that, the young man became animated and spoke. He told the group that he worked in the corporate world and that he was responsible for keeping some very high profiled executives on schedule. He said that his world was very demanding, moved quickly and there was not much room for connection and gratitude. He simply ended with, “What you just said, that’s the feeling I want.”

    Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. While I believe that everyone possesses more than one reason to volunteer, there are always those who sometimes know their reasons, sometimes guess their reasons and sometimes can’t quite put their finger on why volunteering will be something worthwhile.

    When I see that light bulb go off, I know then that I can help steer that person in the direction that hopefully will give him what he is seeking. Getting to know volunteers is a lengthy process. With this gentleman, the surface is only scratched. It will take trial and error to see where he “fits” and where he gets what he searches for. Don’t get me wrong, it will be interesting and I am looking forward to learning more about him and his journey.

    Do we know volunteers well? I’d say we know them intimately, because we are nurturing their very beings. I’m curious and excited to know this person and curious and excited to see him receive what he came for.

    Update: After a good amount of trial and error, he did settle into volunteering, so much so that he tells me he is keeping a journal about his experiences. He says he has found a balance between work and his desire to have “that feeling” and has brought both worlds together which has made him feel more whole.

    -Meridian

  • Click, Click, Clique!

    Don’t you just hate it when everything becomes such a fine line? I’ve never encountered more fine lines than in volunteer management, except maybe when trying to decide a reasonable curfew for a teenager.

    Cheryl is new to volunteering. She took a job that afforded her some free time so she wanted to give back. Scouring online ads for the perfect volunteer place, she decided to take training at a local chapter of a large organization. “I was excited, really excited, because I could picture myself actually helping people in my community. I never volunteered before, never had time before and I was nervous because I didn’t know what to expect. So I went to training which was pretty good and then I went to my first volunteer meeting. It was in the evening, and as I looked around at the volunteers coming in, I saw people who looked like they worked too, so that made me feel a bond with them. I took a seat in the back. It was fairly crowded and I spoke briefly to the man next to me. He said he was relatively new too, hadn’t gotten an assignment yet, but was looking forward to starting. The meeting began with the chapter’s director showing a power point highlighting the stats from a previous quarter. Then there were general announcements. I noticed that the same small group of volunteers spoke up with stories or questions and they seemed to continually refer to each other. I figured they were the long-term volunteers. Then they asked one of those volunteers to come up and talk about the upcoming needs. She listed several events and assignments and asked for folks to volunteer. I started to raise my hand, but she pointed at her group and before I knew it, they had all laughingly worked out the assignments. I looked at the man next to me and he rolled his eyes. I guess I should have been more forceful, I don’t know. I thought they wanted new volunteers, but now I’m not sure.”

    Ahhh, the volunteer clique. It happens because of that fine line. When we need groups of volunteers to take on assignments, especially on-going assignments, we work extra hard to find personalities that will mesh. We introduce hand picked volunteers to each other and hope that the team will “click.” I know I get all tingly when I drop in on a group and they are chatting away, enjoying themselves and each other. It’s a real perk to volunteering. You can almost hear the team bonding as each person joins. Click, click, click. It’s wonderful. But then, because of that fine line, some teams, not most thankfully, will click so well that they become exclusive. They shut new volunteers out. They become suspicious of and sometimes actually sabotage the newbies.

    New volunteers are as varied as long-term volunteers. Some are forceful, some are timid. But even under the best of circumstances, being new is challenging. So, what to do when introducing a new volunteer to an established group of seasoned volunteers in order to prevent cliquish behavior?
    Here are a few things I learned by making mistakes with group culture. I hope these observations help you too.

    1. Do not just drop the new volunteer into the group, even if it is only temporary. Talk about getting stiff behavior-I brought a new volunteer into a group one day and I thought I had walked into a meat locker, the response was so cold. Alert the group beforehand, talk to them in person, or call to keep from putting them on the spot.
    2. Talk about the awesomeness of the group to the newbie and vice versa. Let the group know that this new person considers it an honor to join such a fantastic well-functioning group.
    3. Appeal to the group’s sensibilities. I’ve said to groups, “I wanted Doug to join you because he’s anxious to do well and I couldn’t think of a volunteer group better able to show him the ropes.”
    4. Make it temporary at first. I’d say, “Doug will be learning from you and then I hope that he can join a group of his own once he’s ready.” Sometimes the group will just love the newbie and take them in because the decision was their’s to make. If a newbie is not forced upon them, the group is often more receptive.
    5. Check in often. Observing the dynamics of the group will tell you everything about how well the integration is working. Check in to let the group and the newbie know that you care about their success and how they feel about each other.
    6. Reiterate that the organization wants to be inclusive of new folks. I’ve used phrases like, “we don’t want to be the best kept secret,” and “we want everyone to be able to have a meaningful experience. With your help, we can do that with our new volunteers.”

    But what happens if all else fails? I’ve had groups that, when a member or two is out for extended periods of time get angry because the temporary newbie doesn’t operate just like good old Janet or Bob or whomever is missing. Then, when several newer volunteers tell me that they won’t work with that group because of the way they are treated, I know I have a problem, and it’s time for a heart to heart. And here’s where one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned comes into play: Don’t ignore a problem. Ignoring a problem only makes it fester.
    The group and I will have a chat about change. (On their time and turf is best I’ve found so I “drop in”). Change and volunteers is like buying a smaller size skirt and hoping it will be good enough to wear at a presentation. Something usually pops.
    So, we chat. The group may be worried that their missing member is sick and will never return. They may think that new volunteers will come in and critique them. They may feel like they’re not doing a good enough job, because if someone new needs to come in, what does that say about them?

    But back to Cheryl and her experience. As volunteer managers, it’s our responsibility to monitor who gets called to service. We need to especially look out for new people and integrate them into the team. It’s better to look at everyone in the room when speaking and not appear to have favorites by chuckling over inside jokes or discussing past events in front of new people without explaining the context to them. Everything can be an inclusive and teachable moment.
    It’s a shame that Cheryl’s volunteer coordinator did not approach the long-term volunteers prior to the meeting and ask if they would “show the ropes” to the newer volunteers. He/she could have asked, “is there anyone here tonight that is new and would like to join our wonderful seasoned volunteers who are happy to help you acclimate here?”

    Then, Cheryl and maybe the man next to her would have had an assignment. And that organization would be one step closer to having another enthused ready to go volunteer.
    -Meridian

  • The Evolution of Thought

    2014-09-29 11.46.26

    All things evolve, says science and who am I to disagree although I frankly wish scientists would figure out how the brain can answer emails during REM sleep. (Don’t bother me now with your question, I’m flying! Hey! Is that a pig?) Anyway, it’s interesting to note how much volunteerism has evolved over the years and keeping up with trends is now a large part of a volunteer manager’s job. I often think back to how I viewed things twenty years ago and compare that to how I view things today. For better or worse, you can’t help but marvel at how your thoughts evolve with the times. In particular, I’m referring to the concept of good old risk management.

    Risk management is one of those things that we must pay attention to, like it or not. It’s kinda like the caloric information on a caramel smoothie or your mother’s voice in your head when you’re about to follow that stray dog down a dark alley. (“But ma, he might need a home!”)

    I’ve learned to view everything through the lens of risk management, no matter how corporate and sell-out it seems.  I was never too happy being hauled up into the CEO’s office because a volunteer stole a client’s credit cards and went to Vegas. Nope, would rather not have to explain that one.

    So, I looked back at my years as a volunteer manager and here’s how risk management evolved in my thought processes.

    20 years ago: “Wow, you want to volunteer, that is so amazing, thank you, thank you, thank you! I can’t tell you how thrilled I am you chose us. My gosh, look at you, you are so wonderful! What? You want to bring your gun with you when you volunteer? Ummm, I don’t see the harm in that, the point is, you want to volunteer, I am so happy!! And have I said thank you?!”

    15 years ago: “Hello and thank you for volunteering, we certainly can use a person with your skills. You are going to do so well here, I am convinced of it. What’s that? You wanted to tell me about your recent incarceration for grand theft? That is so honest of you, thank you for sharing that with me. Well, yes, we do a teensie background check, but we really want you to volunteer, so I will make sure that we get you started.”

    10 years ago: “Welcome to our volunteering orientation. According to our volunteers, it is a privilege and honor to work with our clients and I trust you will feel the same. Now let’s learn a little about you. Uh huh, uh huh, what was that? Oh, you have made some mistakes in the past, I see, well, let’s move forward and I must tell you that we do background checks, but we will see what happens and deal with it when we have to. But now, let’s talk about how excited we are to have you volunteer.”

    5 years ago: “Hello and welcome, I am so glad you are taking this first step towards volunteering with our great organization. Why don’t we take this opportunity to go over our rules and regulations. Because our volunteers are crucial members of the team, we do require them to pass background checks, fingerprinting and abide by the guidelines that allow all of us, myself included, to work with our clients in a professional manner. We are so glad you are here and want you to be at your best because that’s what our clients deserve and what will make your experience memorable.”

    1 year ago: “Hello and let me preface this by saying that we only take squeaky clean volunteers here. You will be put through a rigorous screening, including drug testing, psychological profiling and searches every time you come on property. You will obey the rules at all times. Any infraction will require immediate termination. Do you understand? Now give me some hair strands for the drug test. You heard me, pull ’em out!”

    All right, that last one was a bit exaggerated. And even though I still cringe when my first thoughts are, “what is the risk involved here,” I have learned to live with my corporate shill side. I still am thankful for each and every volunteer, and still feel warm and fuzzy towards the magic of volunteering.

    I’ve just learned that when you expect excellence from volunteers, they step up and provide it. And any risk in striving for excellence is well worth it.

    Hmmm, evolution doesn’t have to hurt so much.
    -Meridian

  • Defining Success

    coal miners wikipedia wikipedia

    The first time I met Alex many years ago, I noticed his manicured nails. He had the soft hands of wealth. His was not a gaudy proclaiming wealth, but an understated old mixed with new wealth. A retired corporate lawyer, with his much younger wife still working, he wanted to fill his days with something meaningful to do. He’d not had a hospice experience, but he’d heard that hospice was a good organization to volunteer for and he wanted to try it out.

    He stuck out in orientation. From his formal weekend wear to his lawyer inspired questions, he animated the sessions with his analytical take on things. The rest of the diverse but more laid back class was somewhat intimidated by him. (Me too if you must know- and yes I tell myself that I’m no better and no worse than anyone else, but heck, my clothes wouldn’t keep their shape like his did).

    After the six orientation sessions were over, I met with Alex in my office. He was polite and cerebral and together we formulated that with the help of a seasoned volunteer, he could begin volunteering in our care center.
    Alex called me often to ask questions. He would show up at my office door every time he came in to volunteer. Knowing that he was used to doors always opening  when he knocked, I allotted time for him. Was he smart? Oh my, I think I could have applied for 3 credits at a local college after listening to his measured thoughts.
    Since the care center staff had really never seen anyone quite like him, I was peppered with lots of questions and comments. “One of those successful types,” a nurse said one day. “He asks a lot of questions,” another said and added, “you’ve got your work cut out for you.”

    One day, a new patient, Lester came into the care center. A coal miner from West Virginia, Lester was in his late 80’s. His wife had died young and although he had no children, he had an old phonograph that played bluegrass music day and night. We all were used to walking past his room, hearing the lively strains of banjo, fiddle and mandolin drifting up and down the halls as if over the hills of a coal camp. As thin as a pick axe, Lester spoke of a time when his wife scrubbed his coal stained clothes until her hands bled and the chocking black dust laid upon the ground outside his camp house door.

    Alex began to visit with Lester more frequently. He sat in Lester’s room while the phonograph scratched out “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” and listened to Lester’s stories of moving from job to job until the mines became more mechanized. As time passed, Alex began to place his chair closer to lean over to hear Lester and I would observe him, elbows on knees, straining to catch the flooding memories. Then, one day, the absence of bluegrass music outside Lester’s door spoke volumes. Lester was actively dying and his phonograph had grown quiet. He had turned it off. Alex came to me and tentatively said, “I have an acquaintance who plays the banjo and knows any number of Lester’s favorite songs. Do you think I could ask him to come in and play for Lester?” We checked with the charge nurse and social worker and Alex was given permission to bring his friend in. By this time, Lester had not stirred from bed, but lay peacefully, quietly slipping away.

    I skipped a meeting that day, shut my office door and crept down to the care center. The stomping good sound of the banjo’s strings was glorious. I peeked into the room and saw Alex’s friend’s frenetic fingers pick that banjo, his eyes smiling at  Lester, who was now somehow sitting upright, a look of bliss on his worn face. Alex nodded to me from the very corner of the room. I wondered if Alex consciously picked the color of his shirt that day to blend in with the wall color.

    Lester died two days later. Alex and I sat in my office, the lack of music deafening. He did tell me that his friend was honored to be able to play for someone who breathed those mountain roots. Alex got up to go. It wasn’t the time to badger him with questions about how he was going to process this experience, not yet anyway. Right then it was time to silently let it all sink in.

    What makes a person successful? I’d say Alex pretty much had it all figured out.
    -Meridian

  • Looking Back

    I’m on vacation this week visiting family. In typical volunteer manager fashion, I figured I’d be searching the yellow pages for and interviewing volunteer managers in a new and different town. But, I’ve subjected my family to so much work intrusion throughout their lives as I’m sure you have too. It’s time to just simply enjoy them.
    So, I got up before everyone this morning, fired up the coffee and looked back, found this very early post and copied it. I hope you don’t mind. It made me feel good, because I know this visit with family will come to an end and I will be sad because life is not perfect, but it is a balance of work and home, success and failure, joy and pain, curiosity and fear. And in it all lies meaning; meaning for those we serve and meaning for us. Here is the post from four years ago:

    You know how some days just feel wrong?  Today was one of those days. I had been reading some very interesting articles about volunteer management and started getting ideas that I could adopt for the volunteers I work with when a little voice said, “It’s Friday. Who cares? You’re overworked, underappreciated and tired of the struggle. Give it up.” I wasn’t happy to see any of the volunteers today. I wasn’t all that funny or nice or anything. I was blah.

    As I was sitting there, staring at the computer, willing it to make me feel better, the phone rang. I don’t know about you, but when it rings on blah days, I sometimes let voicemail pick it up and then I call back later. It makes me feel more in control I guess. But for some reason I reached for it. Must be habit.

    I answered and it was Monroe calling from Des Moines where he now lives with his mother. Monroe used to volunteer with us. He is 23 years old. He moved to our area with his Mom to look for work. They lived in an apartment a block from my office with no car, no job and little resources except a grandmother who lived in the area.

    He came into my office three years ago and asked to volunteer. He is one of these really, really quiet types; you know the ones who answer in monosyllables. He speaks in a voice that barely breaks a decibel and looks down as he talks. He is covered with tattoos and piercings and wears nothing but black. He has a goatee.

    To be honest, I took one look at him and wondered why on earth he would want to volunteer and would he scare staff, clients and other volunteers? I gave him the information for the next orientation and thought no more about it. Not only did he show up, he came to all six sessions, and participated, albeit in monosyllables. The other volunteers started to like him.

    Monroe started volunteering in the office. He told me a little about his situation. I could lie and say he opened up, but he did give me some tidbits here and there. I happened to be working with some volunteers on a music project and I mentioned that to Monroe. He said he wanted to help. Now this is a project that a very select few volunteers who have extensive musical experience work on, but I brought Monroe along for a meeting and practice. He not only did anything asked of him, he asked to do more. He informed me that music was his passion.

    From that day forward, Monroe became our go to guy for anything musical, whether it be production, setting up, getting snacks or toting heavy equipment. He became one of us very quickly and every single volunteer took him under a wing. I have to admit I drove him a few places and so did other volunteers. He was always very grateful. I got to see his apartment one afternoon when I gave him a ride home. He was very proud of his room.

    His Mom could not find work and so they had to go back to family in Des Moines. I am not lying when I say I really miss him and so do the volunteers who worked with him.

    After I happily greeted him on the phone, I asked him how he was doing and in typical Monroe fashion, he said “good.” I tried to extract more, but I did get that his mom had a job and so did he. He was working on writing music and doing well. He told me that he wanted to keep in touch with us and I was relieved. I asked him if he found a place to volunteer and he said that he had thought about it, but no, it wouldn’t be the same. He then told me that we were family to him.

    We all have the chance to impact the lives of those we serve by providing the best volunteers we can. We all have those nuggets of success when a volunteer does a great job. But this is different. Monroe is a personal slice of joy for me. I don’t know how much his volunteering experience impacted him, but I can guess that we had a very positive impact on his self-esteem and psyche. I hope we did, and I hope that I never forget that everyone has something to offer. Volunteer managers are fortunate enough to be able to discover and cultivate the talents and desires of the folks we manage. The heck with blah. I’ve been reminded that it’s good.

    -Meridian

  • Dialogue? You Call This Dialogue?

    GPS-IIRM wikipediaOne day several wise men were challenging each others thinking over tea. “If you were given the opportunity to sacrifice yourself for world peace,” the first man asked the group, “would you do it?”
    “Yes, of course,” the second man said. The third man agreed. “If I were guaranteed world peace, I would do it, surely as it would be the right thing to do.” The fourth man rubbed his chin. “What do you mean by world peace?”
    “Just that, world peace,” the first man said.
    “Well, if world peace meant only for one day, then no, I wouldn’t do it,” the fourth man said.

    Do we know what staff members, CEO’s, volunteers, and the community mean when they use certain phrases and concepts? And do those concepts mirror what we, volunteer managers define them as?
    One day when I was feeling particularly feisty (or truth be told, downright crabby from hearing that a volunteer was sent home from an assignment at a health fair because a marketer brought her children to man the booth), I heard a staff member say, “we couldn’t do what we do without our volunteers.” Now, I know this is a lovely platitude, but being cranky, I asked, “really, that’s so nice, what do you think would actually happen if we didn’t have volunteers?”
    She looked at me like I was a pompous jerk (and maybe I was). “Well, we probably couldn’t accomplish as much as we do.”
    “Do you think we’d close?”
    “Don’t be silly,” she said and walked away, I’m sure thinking that I was nuts and a pompous jerk.
    But what is meant by common concepts that are continually used? What do some of the phrases we hear actually mean?
    “We love our volunteers.” What does that mean? We love them individually and will bring them soup when they are ill or we love the idea that we have them? Or we love them as long as they don’t create any problems for us or take up our time or ask questions when we are busy?
    “We’re volunteer friendly.” Really? How? Explain that to me. Do we hang out with our volunteers on a Saturday afternoon along with our good friends? Do we let them call us at home? Do we confide in them? Do we smile at them when we walk in but don’t notice that they have a broken arm because we are late for a meeting?
    “Volunteers are the heart of our organization.” Hmm, are we talking about a crucial organ or a warm fuzzy feeling? Do we mean they truly inspire us to be more compassionate or is the term “volunteer” an abstract idea that we cherish, not real, breathing human beings that come in every day?

    See, if you say volunteer engagement to a volunteer coordinator, there is a complex burst of ideas that go off in their heads, including the idea that engagement is a two way street. Ask any random staff member “what is volunteer engagement” and you may get a totally different view that does not include volunteers in leadership roles or the challenges in managing volunteers. And here is where an awful lot of volunteer manager angst lives.

    So, the challenge is, how do we beat the concept of volunteer engagement into everyone’s heads?     Wait, did I really say, that, whoah, I must have let that rabid little voice take over for a minute. Whew.
    But seriously, we have bent ourselves into pretzel shapes for years trying to “educate” organizations on the true nature of volunteer engagement. Sometimes we’re kinda like the folks who show up at your door unannounced, either selling something, or trying to get you to accept their pamphlets on their religious and political beliefs. I know I have been like that.
    Me: Knock, knock.
    Staff: Who is it?
    Me: Volunteer Services here to educate you on volunteers!
    Staff: Um, I’m really busy, what with just coming from three meetings and my work is piled up. I just attended a seminar last week on fund raising so I’m a bit overwhelmed.
    Me: Well, if you’ll just open the door, it won’t take more than 20 minutes.
    Staff: Can you come back later?
    Me: But this is important. Don’t you want to know about volunteers?
    Staff: I already do, they’re great, gotta go, my phone is ringing.

    Hmmm, if the knock knock method doesn’t work, now what? Well, maybe we should try a dialogue. I know, dialogue is one of those buzz words, but
    we could seriously try asking organizational stakeholders the meaning (in their own words) of concepts that we think are important to bettering communication between volunteer services and staff. And if we do this with sincere intentions to learn where we differ from staff in how we view volunteer services, we might be able to begin work on closing the gap.
    Hearing a senior manager’s explanation of volunteer engagement may make you angry and think, “how can he be so ignorant? How can she think that’s all there is to it?” But, if we put aside that anger and look at the disparity in thought, then perhaps we can begin to free ourselves to analyze how to make volunteer engagement better understood within our respective organizations.
    With the keen desire to understand, we can try asking, “how do you view the volunteers’ role? What does the term volunteer engagement mean to you? What about volunteer involvement?”
    Be prepared to hear some surface answers and some surprise answers and be prepared to question (in a non-judgmental way) those answers. “What makes you think that?”
    We can ask, “what do you think the most important job a volunteer manger does and what are the challenges volunteer managers face?” Hearing the answers may initially make you defensive but in stepping back, may just make you see where the misconceptions lie between what the volunteer department actually does and the perceptions of the rest of the staff.
    Again, this is dialogue, not mandates to change the way we view or do our work. How can we work together with staff to help them learn more about the challenges and organizational responsibilities of volunteer engagement?
    If we want to get to a place where staff view volunteer engagement the way we do in all its complexities, perhaps we need a street map to get there. Discovering the diversity of ideas within our own organizations on common volunteer concepts and terms may just be the first step to the GPS we need to arrive together at that place where volunteer engagement is understood by everyone the exact same way in which we understand it.
    -Meridian

  • Let’s Just Have Tea, Shall We?

    teaMarlene has been a volunteer coordinator for ten years. She’s adventurous, loves rock climbing, extreme sports and her idea of a pleasant evening is a demolition derby. It’s only natural that she would bring her sense of adventure to volunteer management.

    “I like to try new things all the time,” she says with the tiny grin of a child caught in the act. “I like to see the things others are doing and try to incorporate that into my volunteer program. Here at my hospital, it’s easy to get into a complacent stage where you think all people who come to volunteer in a hospital setting are pretty much the same type of person. I’m constantly being told to find retired nurses and health care workers, because they would naturally want to continue their line of work after retiring, wouldn’t they?” She laughs easily. “I mean it’s this kind of thinking that breeds a stale environment. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand that a retired nurse would be easy to train because she knows the system so well and can follow the rules. But,” she adds with a mischievous gleam in her eye, “what about the retired nurse who was so fed up with obeying the rules, and she wants to volunteer to break the constraints wide open? Huh, what about that?”

    Marlene has a great point. Organizational administrations who tend to lump potential volunteers together will most likely also make the mistake of lumping actual volunteers together in a “them” mentality. Ignoring the subtle complexities of volunteer management will foster this stale and outdated thinking.

    “When it comes to interviewing potential volunteers,” Marlene continued, “I’ve tried everything from quizzes to group interviews to structured questions. Sometimes these techniques work, and sometimes they don’t. We’re in an age when background checks are not enough, not if you really want to get to know the motivations of the volunteers working within your system. Do background checks uncover mental illness? Does a quick call to a reference on an application reveal the tendency to get over-involved with children? Will an interview question about the reason a person comes to volunteer actually produce the real answer?” Her grin widens. “And what is the real answer, now that is the question?”

    Marlene has had some experiences she wanted to share with us. “Look, I tried a list of good, solid questions, but what I often found was that I immediately put the volunteer on the defensive. For instance, I asked a man why he wanted to volunteer with us and he shrank back like I hit him with a bat. I could see in his eyes that he was searching for to the correct thing to say, so I knew right then that I wouldn’t be getting an honest answer. Now, mind you, this man became a great volunteer, but that interview question did not help me in any way. Actually, it hindered the rest of the interview and it took some time to get to know him.”

    Marlene looked for the right words. “But, I knew that I wanted answers to certain questions so I started experimenting with peppering the questions into a casual conversation. The whole process took a bit longer, but I found that in the majority of cases, it was well worth it. My mother was born in England and so I began to create in my mind what I termed the ‘spot of tea’ scenario. I would invite potential volunteers in for a twenty-minute chat and a cup of tea or coffee.

    At first I started by asking them simple questions and I found that even that put them a bit on the defensive so I experimented with trying to put them at ease. And now I begin by first explaining our program to them. It works so much better and puts them at ease. I start by introducing myself and talk about how the program works, our volunteer jobs, and some of the benefits of volunteering. I make sure that I tell them how rewarding our existing volunteers find their work to be. Then, and only then, do I start to ask some questions in a conversational manner. I’ll reword the questions every time so that it doesn’t sound so rehearsed.” Marlene laughs. “If you don’t think most potential volunteers can spot a canned question, then you don’t know volunteers!”

    She continued, “when people are comfortable, they will naturally open up, much more than when they are put on the spot by invasive questions like why are you here?” Marlene then recalled an incident during the beginnings of her ‘spot of tea’ interview. “I remember one young man who came in. We were talking, really getting to know one another and he told me that he had been fired from his last job. Because a red flag went up in my head, I carefully asked him what had happened and he told me. I was shocked that he confided in me, but it turned out to be a reason that prevented us from taking him as a volunteer. A background check would not have revealed that information to me. He did.”

    Assessing potential volunteers is something all volunteer managers want to do well. There really is no perfect question, technique or method involved in getting to know volunteers. Whether you have a set of specific questions or not, Marlene advocates first putting prospective volunteers at ease. “Make them comfortable with you so that they can be honest. That way, you’ll not only get some honest answers, but you’ll also have a leg up on figuring out a fit for them. And besides, it’s gratifying learning the volunteers’ stories. It helps you and it makes them feel a part of the organization right from the start.”

    This is why volunteer managers are so incredibly good at their jobs. Even the simplest of tasks such as interviewing a prospective volunteer is viewed as crucial to organizational success. Volunteer managers like Marlene may not try to be perfect, but in striving to do the best possible job in every situation is surely as professional as it gets.
    -Meridian