volunteerplaintalk

Tag: volunteers

  • How Did I Get Here?

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

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

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

  • F.U.N. Foolish, Unproductive Nonsense

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

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

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

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

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

  • Soulplasty

    up periscopeI didn’t make an appointment to repair my soul, because I really never stop to think that I need it. Every morning, I can see in the mirror how a face lift would go a long way to erase crinkling lines, but my soul, well it’s hard to see, at least in the daytime.
    So, when, Hannah, a volunteer who roams the floor of a hospice care center came and got me, I wasn’t thinking about going under life’s knife, but then you have to know Hannah.
    So quiet, she sometimes melts into the carpet, Hannah, at just over 5 feet tall, is like a submarine in shallow water. Her radar is spot on and in between her torpedo jokes, she gets to the heart of a patient and family. When Hannah summons you to “see this” you’d better believe it’s beyond cute or nice or lovely. It’s soulplasty. She summoned me on Monday to hear about a terminally ill man in one of the rooms. “I’ve been invited to be in on the ceremony,” she said as if I knew what the heck she was talking about.
    “What ceremony?” I asked.
    “The wedding.”
    “Wedding? Who’s getting married?”
    “He is, the patient, George.”
    “Oh, wow, who is he marrying?”
    “His live in girlfriend. I’m waiting for the chaplain.”
    It didn’t surprise me that Hannah would be included in something so personal, so intimate, so life altering. She has this way of entering a room. She arrives, testing the emotional temperature with her eyes and ears, and becomes a part of the scene. She doesn’t throw out pleasantries, she’s all business and that business is the family in front of her. Her demeanor says, “I’m here and I’m all in no matter what’s going on.”
    Our chaplain arrived. I really wanted to ask to join the group, but of course that would be about me and not about the patient so I picked at a piece of peeling wallpaper down the hall waiting to hear.
    Hannah came out a short time later and nodded to me. It was done. I got some coffee and waited for Hannah to join me at a table in the lounge. She sat down and unwrapped her very long very chic scarf as if removing a part of a uniform.
    “How did it go?” I asked.
    She sat for a moment, processing and then spoke. “It was really good, he’s barely able to speak now, but he got the words out. He told her what he needed to say.” She choked up a bit and stopped. I could only just sit there and try to grab the emotions filling the room.
    “What about his wife?”
    Hannah smiled. “She positively glowed.” She twirled her scarf in her hand. “This was the one thing he insisted on, the one thing he had to do before he died.”
    “Was it for a religious reason?” I gently asked.
    “No.” She paused and sipped her coffee thoughtfully. “He didn’t do it out of guilt, or responsibility, or some social expectation, he did it because for him, it was his own personal responsibility laid bare. It was out of pure love.”
    We both grew quiet. Then Hannah said, “Do you ever get a moment when everything seems to make sense?”

    Yes, I actually do.
    Yesterday I spent the day helping honor veterans for veterans day. As I stood in the cold room of a Navy Pilot, he softly said, “I can’t tell you how much this means to me.” Tears filled his eyes, and he shakily reached for my hand. I got close and felt his weakening life through his grip. He looked up at me and for a moment everything melted away, the room, the facility, the world. I could feel the battles, now distant, the coming home, the hard work, the family and friends, the joys and the heartaches. His voice, just a whisper now held the power of eternity.

    It is this reparation of soul, whether we feel it firsthand or through the stories of our volunteers that give us sustenance. It is the interconnectedness of human to human to human and on that makes us do what we do.
    I’m taking my newly repaired soul back to work and know that it will get battered with stress and challenges. But, at least I also know that another moment of soulplasty will come my way just when I don’t know I need it.
    -Meridian

  • Happy International Volunteer Manager (Leader) Day!

    great leadershttp://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/articles/manager_leader.htm

    While doing some research, I came across this comparison between a manager and a leader and that got me thinking about our jobs. Are we managers or leaders or both? I’ve included the main points of the article below, but you can read it in its entirety if you follow the link above at changingminds.org.

    What is the difference between management and leadership? The biggest difference between managers and leaders is the way they motivate the people who work or follow them, and this sets the tone for most other aspects of what they do.

    Many people, by the way, are both. They have management jobs, but they realize that you cannot buy hearts, especially to follow them down a difficult path, and so act as leaders too.

    By definition, managers have subordinates – unless their title is honorary and given as a mark of seniority, in which case the title is a misnomer and their power over others is other than formal authority.

    Management style is transactional, in that the manager tells the subordinate what to do, and the subordinate does this not because they are a blind robot, but because they have been promised a reward (at minimum their salary) for doing so.

    Managers are paid to get things done (they are subordinates too), often within tight constraints of time and money. They thus naturally pass on this work focus to their subordinates.

    An interesting research finding about managers is that they tend to come from stable home backgrounds and led relatively normal and comfortable lives. This leads them to be relatively risk-averse and they will seek to avoid conflict where possible. In terms of people, they generally like to run a ‘happy ship’.

    Leaders do not have subordinates – at least not when they are leading. Many organizational leaders do have subordinates, but only because they are also managers. But when they want to lead, they have to give up formal authoritarian control, because to lead is to have followers, and following is always a voluntary activity.

    Telling people what to do does not inspire them to follow you. You have to appeal to them, showing how following them will lead to their hearts’ desire.

    Leaders with a stronger charisma find it easier to attract people to their cause. As a part of their persuasion they typically promise transformational benefits, such that their followers will not just receive extrinsic rewards but will somehow become better people.

    Although many leaders have a charismatic style to some extent, this does not require a loud personality. They are always good with people, and quiet styles that give credit to others (and takes blame on themselves) are very effective at creating the loyalty that great leaders engender.

    Although leaders are good with people, this does not mean they are friendly with them. In order to keep the mystique of leadership, they often retain a degree of separation and aloofness.

    This does not mean that leaders do not pay attention to tasks – in fact they are often very achievement-focused. What they do realize, however, is the importance of enthusing others to work towards their vision.

    Perhaps we should call ourselves volunteer leaders who manage projects, for truly that is what we do. We lead people, but manage tasks or projects. It is always the people portion of our jobs that reveals our true impact on our programs, although this may not be measurable in traditional ways. How do you measure a volunteer who, because his volunteer leader believes in him, becomes a great volunteer? What stat is served when a volunteer manager spends extra time finding the right volunteer for a sensitive assignment? How can figures show the satisfaction volunteers derive from being shown how much they are helping clients?

    On this day, I hope everyone can take just a moment to reflect on the impact volunteer leaders have on not only the people we serve, but the volunteers we engage to serve. This balancing act of leading while managing takes diplomacy, skill, patience, diligence, fortitude, courage and stamina. As one volunteer said to her volunteer leader, “I can see how difficult your job is, what with all the different personality types you deal with, not to mention all the other people, like other staff and families you work with too. But I do know that if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t still be volunteering. You saw something in me that I didn’t know I had, the ability to relate to people on a deeper level. I will always be thankful for you in my life and I’ll wager there are so many others who feel the same way.”

    So, for a moment, forget the tasks, forget the stats, forget the pile of unfinished business and think about all the people who have been touched by your vision. Know, in a quiet soul filling way, that the late nights, the exhausting planning of parties, the hours of hearing stories, the endless follow ups, the measured convincing, the tireless advocating, the off hour hospital visits, the struggles to remember birthdays, the constant plans for innovation, the never being away even on trips, and the continuing search for dynamic in services all reflect on the sphere of influence you have created in the world. Know that you make a difference, and although it may not be clear at every moment and to every administrator, it is clear in the universe. Stay the course, continue to lead, for the world needs you.
    Cheers to you all, leaders of volunteers!
    -Meridian

  • Where the Heck is My Paper Shredding Volunteer?

    Paradigm-ShiftArrrrrrggggggggghhhhhh.

    So, we all know there is a paradigm shift happening in volunteer management. As the WWII generation sadly leaves us, we are looking to the baby boomer generation and on to fill their prodigious shoes. When I first started working with volunteers, the greatest generation was busily humming along, doing every and anything necessary to fill needs. Nothing was beneath them and honestly, I didn’t manage any of them, I basically stood back in awe and occasionally ran for some refreshments. They taught me humility for it was in their essence to be humble, hardworking, non-complaining, authority respecting and generous.

    As I watch their faces grow more lined, their limbs more trembling, their gait unsteady, I can only stand by helplessly, offering a hand to their elbow as they decline. Their eyes, though, clear as an autumn sky, still hold the hardships they endured as they endure one more.
    As these volunteers age and retire, we, volunteer managers know that the next generation of volunteers will be different, will be their own people with a new skill set needed to recruit, engage and cultivate them. So, as I read the research and advice on how to find and keep great baby boomer volunteers, I make note of not only the advice that’s out there, but the experiences I’m having as well. I’m seeing that boomers are different; they are not as inclined to want repetitious jobs or confining schedules. They want more perceived meaning in their lives and they balk at boring assignments and rigid requirements. A lot of them look at volunteering through a spiritual or universal prism and speak freely about their journey to find meaning. There are those who were very active in the 60’s revolutions and after working corporate jobs for years, want to return to their activism roots.
    But back to the WWII generation. I remember Dora, a volunteer who came in to shred papers. Her husband was a big band trumpet player and she accompanied him on USO tours during the war. She would sit for hours in front of the shredder, pulling staples and paper clips, shredding no more than three pages at a time. Dora was possessive of the shredder and when another greatest generation gentleman, Bob came to shred papers, she sniped about how he didn’t do it right. Bob, a man who was orphaned during the Great Depression, was a bombardier who flew missions over Germany. Those two volunteers knew that we needed the sensitive material shredded and they dutifully spent their time helping us see that job done right. For them, there was no answering of phones, no fund-raising, no strategic planning, nothing except paper shredding with no complaints.
    Both Dora and Bob died some time ago. I tried to replace them and could do it piecemeal for a while by asking office volunteers if they would “just do it for an hour” while they were at work. An easy job became harder and harder to fill as Bob’s and Dora’s generation started to slip away.
    As we grew used to the dwindling of the generation that included widows who never worked and needed more training and help with office duties and war heroes who never spoke about their experiences, we embraced the boomers who work hard, have boundless skills and opinions and challenge us to dig deep for a more involved volunteerism.

    So, what’s the challenge? It lies in being able to integrate the paradigm shift into the fabric of our organizations. Newer organizations or those run by young people already have a deep understanding of millennial and generation X and boomers. It’s the organizations that are older, run by long-term administration who looks at volunteer services as “it’s always been thus.” Convincing them that no one wants to shred paper anymore after it’s been shredded for years by willing volunteers is tricky.
    I loaned a volunteer out to another department who needed one time help putting together last-minute binders for a presentation. Jill, a fabulous boomer who normally works on statistics and research agreed to lend a hand for a day. She came back and pleaded, “don’t ever ask me to do that again because I will quit first. They had me copy a 100 page binder thirty times. Do you know how many people came up to me and complained that they couldn’t get copies made while I was there? And the machine ran out of toner, then it jammed, I think it probably overheated too. I had to just stand there and watch as the copier ran. It was excruciating!”
    Thankfully, Jill happily returned to her more meaningful tasks and we laugh about her foray into “copier purgatory.”

    As we have adjusted our thinking regarding volunteers and their changing involvement, our organizations need to rethink their view of volunteers as well.
    Old thinking: Volunteers will do any job regardless of how tedious.
    New thinking: Volunteers need meaningful experiences.
    Old thinking: Jobs that have always been done by volunteers will happily continue to be done by volunteers.
    New thinking: Maybe we should invest in a paper shredding service and use volunteers for more important jobs.
    Old thinking: Volunteers are all the same, they come to be helpful, we tell them how to be helpful, they do the job and go home happy.
    New thinking: Volunteers have so much wisdom, experience and passion to offer, let’s find ways to tap into that.

    Bringing research and evidence that volunteering is changing and that we must adapt is no small mission. Telling management that old thinking is well, old thinking and that it is nearly impossible to find volunteers to do menial tasks without sounding negative takes finesse. Being proactive and showing what the new volunteer paradigm can do goes a long way to ease the pain of losing shredding volunteers.
    Let’s see, volunteers who shred papers vs. volunteers who design websites or consult or have management experience? Hopefully, organizations choose a new wave of professional skill sets over mundane tasks.

    Old thinking: All a volunteer coordinator has to do is ask and a volunteer will magically appear to shred.
    New thinking: It takes multiple complex skills on the part of our volunteer coordinator to engage the new volunteer. Let’s listen to him or her about volunteerism and accept that he or she has done the research and has knowledge on the subject.
    Added bonus or really new thinking: Let’s give him/her some much-needed recognition next Wednesday during International Volunteer Managers Day.
    -Meridian

  • Nepotism Volunteer Style

    cat my spaceFrom the “Common Sense Observation Dictionary”: Nepotism=Hiring really obnoxious, unqualified people who are related to someone in power and cannot be fired so get used to it.
    Is nepotism really that bad and does it exist in the volunteer world?

    Well, you might have noticed that when the economy slows and there are very few jobs out there, it becomes all about who you know or who your Mom works for. Organizations are really not immune from nepotism. A job in finance opens up and before you can recommend a really awesome volunteer who ran a CPA firm for years, boom, a senior manager’s son who just graduated with a degree in ancient religions is sitting at the new desk. Now the finance department has to teach him everything from the ground up, while he continues to spend his lengthy lunch hour looking for a position in a museum.
    There’s the out of work husband, the newly graduated son, the recently laid off daughter. Family ties are never so strong as when the relative of a favored senior manager needs a job. At times you watch, feeling the helplessness, as the supervisor of this new employee has a hard time reprimanding him because he doesn’t follow rules or he just doesn’t do the work. And you muse, “what have we become? I thought we were an organization based on ideals.”

    Nepotism extends to volunteering as well, so henceforth, I will refer to them as “nepoteers.” Cindy, a volunteer coordinator said, “One of my senior managers has a daughter who needs hours for scholarships. Now, I am happy to take this student, but the senior manager waited so long that her daughter can’t come to orientation and can’t really follow the path I have set out for students. Now, I have to fast track the daughter to help out the senior manager. It’s really not that big of a deal, but it’s irksome that because it’s a senior manager, I have to bend the rules.”

    Does a nepoteer need court ordered community service hours and it’s against your policy to accept them, but you come to find out that a manager really needs a favor from you and so you accept their relative? Do you have strict rules regarding volunteer training or age limits and you end up bending rules to help out a favored employee? Do staff members say, “But, even though she’s 12, she’s incredibly smart and mature, and oh, by the way, she needs to be here all day, every day during summer and really needs to be busy.”
    I am recalling the time a friend of mine, Megan, who was a volunteer coordinator for a very short time, accepted a nepoteer who was 15 and the daughter of her organization”s CEO. Megan remembered, “Evie, the 15-year-old, would show up for her shift and then sneak out the back door and meet her boyfriend. I chased after her twice and then got up the nerve to report her to her mother. Do you know what her mother’s response was? She said, ‘yes, I knew she would try to sneak out, that’s why I brought her here. I can’t leave her alone. So, whatever you do with her, don’t let her sneak away.’”

    Just as staff sometimes has to adapt to a nepotism employee, we sometimes have to adapt to a nepotism volunteer. The challenge for us is twofold. We dream at night that the nepoteer rats on us and tells the high-ranking manager that we are incompetent. On the other hand, we realize that if this nepoteer is ambivalent about having to volunteer, but for some reason has to, then what can we get from them to help our clients?

    I remember reading a blog a few years back in which a young man talked about having to do community service. He spoke of his experience at a volunteer site and at first made fun of the volunteer coordinator and her “niceness.” Oh did that make me mad, but as he wrote further, he came to begrudgingly appreciate the mission of the organization. Wow, I thought, kudos to that volunteer coordinator.
    That day, I realized that I was being horribly judgmental when faced with nepoteers. I was dismissing them because I thought the reason they came was not a good enough one. I was building a barrier because I figured they couldn’t possibly do good work as their motivation was not pure. But heck, I realized that all the other volunteers come with so many different motivations and I didn’t prejudge them, so prejudging the nepoteer was hypocritical and unfair.
    So the next time I was handed a nepoteer, a 14 year old male who needed to complete service hours, I made myself welcome him. Daniel shook my hand, scanned everything on my desk, from the disarray of papers to the pink glass elephants and worry doll (given to me by volunteers traveling to exotic lands-please take me next time) and said, “my Mom told me you were a busy lady.” I smiled. He turned out to be one of the most engaging young students I have ever met. He was able to chat with anyone, regardless of age, culture and prejudices. He would bounce in and tell me physics jokes and we had a good friendly sports rivalry. He gave me numerous computer tips, and baked cookies in his young Renaissance man style.
    Was Daniel a coincidence or was Daniel dropped in my lap for a universal lesson? Had I treated him with disdain, would he have been a different nepoteer?
    What I learned was that volunteer motivation applies to nepoteers as well. Their motivation may be to complete an assignment, check off hours or fill time. We see these reasons to volunteer all the time in other volunteers.

    And maybe not all nepoteers will be a Daniel. Maybe not all nepoteers will suddenly become so engaged that they win a volunteer award.

    But maybe, if our treatment of nepoteers is no different than our treatment of volunteers, they may do some good work and leave a friend to the mission.
    -Meridian

  • Flirting With Disaster

    lost in forestChristian was hired as the volunteer manager for a small hospital. After spending ten years as a human resources generalist, he wanted to utilize his skills while working with folks who wanted to give back.

    “I replaced the former volunteer coordinator, Janice, who was moving out of the area. She had been in charge of the volunteers for five years and we spent about two weeks together before she left. The volunteers on the whole were very sorry that she was leaving. They were really attached to her.”

    Every volunteer manager has their own unique style of managing volunteers. Some are gentle and kind and encourage volunteers with praise and genuine caring. Some are a combination of inspiration and a perceived expectation of excellence. Some are masterful negotiators and visionaries. Some are light-hearted and fun, others are serious and meaningful. Most are combinations of all of the above. Few of us can be authoritarians or dictators, at least not for long.

    “What I discovered a few weeks after Janice left was just how much the volunteers were attached to her. I can’t tell you how many times I heard a volunteer say, ‘Janice didn’t do it that way’ or ‘Janice would never have asked that.’ At first I kind of expected it, but as the weeks wore on, it became more of an us against him situation.”

    What Christian was experiencing is the unraveling of the management style instituted by his predecessor. He stepped into a role that was not his style and so the volunteers, used to Janice’s management, were chafing at her absence. It wasn’t so much a rebuff of the new leadership as it was missing the old leadership.

    “The more I spent time with the volunteers, the more I realized how intertwined they were with Janice. She knew so much about each one. She socialized with many of them, went to their family functions, had lunch with them, and stayed with them in the hospital. They had her personal cell number. One lady, Bea told me that Janice helped her buy a car. Another volunteer, Simone said that Janice found bargains for her online. It was all so overwhelming, I mean, I was hired to do a job, but I never expected that my job was a 24/7 immersion into the volunteers’ personal affairs. When I was in human resources, I never walked the dog for an employee or planned a birthday party for a grandchild. I simply did my job.”

    Christian’s experience went beyond taking over a job from a popular coordinator. He was unknowingly walking into more than a job, he was walking into a cult of personality.

    “I started asking the other staff about Janice and the volunteers. I learned that Janice was extremely social and gregarious and that she had a positive attitude and sense of humor. I already knew that from spending time with her before she left. But what I heard from many of the staff is that Janice often seemed frazzled and complained about stress. I also heard that she was somewhat flirtatious, which, on the surface doesn’t seem too harmful, but I now feel a real sense of indifference from the men who volunteer. It’s as if I’m personally responsible for Janice’s leaving.”

    Managing volunteers is challenging enough without having to replace someone who has created a cult of personality and Christian, no matter what he did to win the volunteers over, was just not Janice.

    “The volunteers would do anything for Janice, and she was very successful in filling all the jobs. But I got to tell you, the first few days, I just thought that the volunteers were really wonderful people who truly wanted to help others. Now I’m finding that yes, the volunteers are wonderful people, but I’m not so sure if they want to help others or if they just wanted to please Janice. I ask them in the nicest way to take on a an assignment and I try to ask them questions about their families, but they are somewhat cold towards me. I haven’t lost any of them yet, but I expect that to occur any day, because although they have direction from me, they seem lost without her.”

    Stepping into anyone’s role is hard but stepping into a status quo that you cannot duplicate is incredibly challenging. As volunteer managers, we walk a fine line between being professional and being involved. We sometimes utilize whatever skill works to fill volunteer requests. We often become very comfortable with our volunteers and develop strong relationships with them.
    But, every now and then, we have to do a mental check on our own style of volunteer management to ensure that we have created a professional atmosphere and that our volunteers are loyal to the clients we serve and not us. The mental check goes something like this:
    If I leave tomorrow, will my replacement find all the systems in place they need to succeed?
    If I leave tomorrow, will my replacement be able to continue the calendar that I have set up for volunteer meetings, events, training’s, educational in services etc?
    If I leave tomorrow, will my replacement find the volunteers welcoming or will he find hostility because the volunteers are loyal to me instead of the mission?
    If I leave tomorrow, will my replacement find that boundaries have been consistently crossed with volunteers, hence making her work life impossible?
    If I leave tomorrow, will my replacement have a list of currently active, currently inactive and also former volunteers?
    If I leave tomorrow, will my replacement walk into utter chaos or find a smoothly run department?

    Ahhhh, if we can occasionally look critically at our work with the eye of our potential replacement, we might just discover some things that need our attention. We might just see the forest instead of those pesky daily, demanding trees that get in the way.
    And if a professionally run environment is better for our potential replacement in case we happen to leave, then isn’t a professionally run environment better for our own health and well-being?
    -Meridian

  • Confessions and Connections

    tinkertoySometimes our view of the volunteer world can be shaken. We read that a volunteer harmed a vulnerable person. We find that a volunteer was hiding a checkered past or we observe a volunteer behaving in an unseemly manner.
    We send a volunteer out to do a good job and when we hear nothing to the contrary, we assume that everything is rolling along smoothly, because everyone realizes the worth of a volunteer and will welcome that volunteer, right? At least we hope it happens that way until we hear a confession sometime later…
    Kaya, a hospice volunteer coordinator was speaking to a former volunteer, Jayne. Jayne has been battling a chronic illness that prevents her from volunteering but, when healthy, was one of the most called upon and successful patient volunteers.
    In between all the catching up, Kaya and Jayne chatted about a few of Jayne’s favorite assignments and most interesting patients and families. She provided respite care to families in homes and brought companionship to nursing home residents.
    Kaya said, “Jayne played by the rules, turned in paperwork on time and always was cognizant of her representation of the mission. But at one point Jayne asked me if I remembered assigning her to see patients in the Golden Oaks nursing home.”
    Kaya hesitated. “Yes, I said, I remember that, but I also remember that you couldn’t go back because of the cleaning fluid they used. It gave you respiratory problems. But then Jayne told me that wasn’t true at all, that she lied to me and asked me if I wanted to hear the real story. I, of course said yes and she told me this story.”
    Kaya shook her head, but she continued, “Jayne said that she went to visit a patient at Golden Oaks, a 90 some year old lady who had end stage Parkinson’s disease. She said she was in the room with the patient when a staff member came in with a lunch tray and told Jayne to feed the patient. Jayne said she told the staff member that she was not allowed to feed patients and the staff member got mad and demanded to know why she was there in the first place if she couldn’t really be any help. Jayne said she kept her cool but another staff member, who appeared to be a supervisor came into the room and basically said the same thing.” Kaya stopped for a second. “I can’t tell you how shocked I was to hear that. First of all, how dare someone treat a volunteer that way and second of all, I thought of all the good these volunteers do for patients and how Jayne could have just as easily up and quit after that. I wanted to ask why Jayne didn’t tell me when it happened, but I reconsidered. I didn’t want to make her feel like she had let us down, not after all the good work she has done. But it makes me wonder what other situations occur that volunteers are unwilling to tell me.”

    tinkertoymazeVolunteer managers construct intricate helping structures. While we may be the hub or first connector for our volunteer helping structure, we must rely on other connectors (other people) to extend out further. The further you build out, the more fragile the structure becomes. Any volunteer that reports directly to the volunteer coordinator is being engaged by someone who knows how to cultivate volunteers. The further out on the structure the volunteer goes, the more the volunteer manager must rely on the soundness of new connectors (other people) interacting with the volunteer. Do these new connectors understand the volunteer’s role? Does a new connector know how to engage a volunteer? Is the new connector aggravated at having to monitor a volunteer on top of other duties or perceive a volunteer as a nuisance?
    While we understand that we cannot control every situation and every person a volunteer interacts with, we understandably can worry about our volunteers when they are being engaged by other people unknown to us. And, after spending a great deal of up front time mentoring a volunteer, it is disheartening to think that a callous comment or flippant attitude can quickly ruin that.
    When I started accompanying volunteers on their first assignment and introduced them to the key stakeholders, I found that some of these problems were minimized. One of our roles as volunteer managers is to educate other people on how to work with volunteers. The skills needed to retain volunteers are second nature to us, but aren’t all that obvious to everyone else who may have stressful jobs and responsibilities that prevent them from seeing the volunteer picture.
    This approach takes more work on our parts, but it’s necessary, both for the mission and for the volunteer. As we extend our helping structure out, we need to personally check on the connectors being used, to ensure soundness and strength.
    After all, the delicate structure we create is a thing of beauty and support for our clients. We don’t want it to fall.
    -Meridian

  • I’m Going to Be Locked in a Room With a Naked Man?

    personal shopperOh, those odd requests. You know, the ones that can either make you cry or seek therapy. We get them all the time and our volunteers can sometimes just walk into them. The other day, I was talking with one of our retired volunteers, Greta, who, for 12 years provided respite in the homes of terminally ill patients. Completely nonplussed, Greta would take the assignments that no one else would or could. She particularly loved working with men whose care giving wives needed time to shop or visit relatives or even take a nap in the next room. Some of the male patients cared for by Greta had dementia or Alzheimer’s, which made for a challenging time.
    She recalled the day we sent her to a patient’s home and she met with the man’s wife who calmly instructed her to lock herself in the bedroom with her husband. “He tends to wander,” she said. “And oh, he usually walks around naked.”
    Luckily, Greta, a retired psyche nurse and case manager, had already been to odd request-ville and survived. Completely unfazed, she would coax the patient to dress himself.
    She talked about another patient she dubbed “Bad Brad.” Bad Brad would flush anything and everything down the toilet if he got near the bathroom. Greta put a stop sign on the bathroom door. “I just looked at everything as doable,” she said. “And if I couldn’t, well, you heard about it!”
    We all get the out of the ordinary requests.
    There are the unusual requests for volunteers who can sing in Olde English, or volunteers that have no sense of smell.
    While odd requests may seem like a hardship, they are actually a chance to step back and think outside the box, even if you cannot fill the request exactly as it was put forth. That’s when bargaining can be used, because we ultimately want to help our clients. “Maybe I don’t have a volunteer who plays “Bringin in the Georgia Mail” on the fiddle, but I do have a volunteer who has a fine collection of bluegrass cds.”

    Mindy is a volunteer coordinator who has always tried very hard to fulfill every volunteer request. She has meticulously paid attention to exact needs and worked hard to find the perfect volunteer fit. “But lately,” she says, “I’ve found myself wanting to be involved in the requests before I begin to fill them. I’m finding that the more I speak directly to the clients, the more I can get a sense of the type of volunteer they need. And I can offer the type of volunteer I think would work for them and the volunteer who is actually available. It’s made my job so much better and given me a proactive way of filling needs. I’m just sorry I didn’t think of it sooner.”

    Being proactive is an excellent tool for not only managing the amazing volunteers we have, but for showcasing the skills and possibilities of the volunteers who may not have a current assignment. We don’t have to wait for invitations to planning meetings. We can ask to be included. We can come with a menu of volunteer services and offer to plug volunteers into the spots that we know we can fill even when there is no request. Think of it as akin to being a personal shopper. Personal shoppers get to know their clientele and because they also know all the designer clothing lines, they can offer the outfits that flatter their clients’ body types.

    Mindy continued. “I know who my volunteers are and what they are capable of. The rest of the staff in my organization can’t possibly know all I know about them. So, I figure, I can offer the volunteer service I know will work, versus constantly rejecting the requests that I can’t fill. The more I am proactive, the more respect our volunteers receive, and the more I can place volunteers who have a skill or passion in situations that are enjoyable for them. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

    Mindy reinvented the way volunteer involvement is utilized in her organization. She stills receives traditional requests for volunteers, but now, she has taken on an activist role in promoting and controlling the ways her volunteers are assigned. “I’m trying to play to the strengths of my volunteers. They come with varied skill sets and I want to see those skills used.”

    Volunteer management can be a passive position (receive requests, then fill them) or it can be an active position (seek ways to use the volunteers available based on their interests). On the surface this may seem like a no-brainer, but when Mindy stepped back and took a look at the way things were done in her organization, she really had an epiphany. “I had requests that were difficult to fill and I had volunteers who were not being utilized in the most advantageous way. It became clear that I needed to step my role up and become a part of the request process. I’m using the volunteers more efficiently now and I feel so much better about my work.”

    Our roles can and need to expand. For instance:
    Staff: Do you have a volunteer to stuff goodie bags?
    OR:
    Volunteer Coordinator: I see you’re putting together a brochure for services, I happen to have a volunteer who is a graphic designer. I think he could be persuaded to help you with that.

    Because we’re somewhat like that personal shopper, we know our inventory of volunteers and how each one can enrich the ways our organizations serve our communities which will eventually lead to volunteer managers sitting at organizational planning tables.

    Me? If I could afford a personal shopper, I would. They’re really good at their jobs and frankly, I’m not so great at picking out flattering outfits. Maybe staff members who put in requests would appreciate a knowledgeable personal shopper for volunteers too.
    -Meridian

  • Just a Ripple I’m Seeing

    ripple-in-waterOne day a few weeks ago, I was on my cell phone walking down the hallway when I noticed a woman speaking to the front desk volunteer, Molly. While listening to the person on the other end of the phone, I watched the woman engage Molly in conversation. As I talked, my attention kept darting back to the woman at the front desk. There was something about her.. something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. She looked familiar, and I wondered where I had seen her before. I thought that she might have been a former caregiver who we had helped. I see caregivers all the time when they come back and thankfully want to give back. I studied her face. Her eyes, they just had this crinkly way of smiling as she spoke. And her chin, it was just so familiar, but really her mannerisms spoke to me. It was like losing your memory and seeing a good friend again for the first time.
    Curious, I came closer and heard her ask Molly about volunteering. Molly was handing the woman a packet of volunteer information, but as I approached,
    Molly saw me and said, “oh here, here’s Meridian, she can tell you more about volunteering.”
    I caught the woman’s eye and as she looked at me, I felt deja vu. “I’m Bree,” she said, holding out her hand and we shook. Her hand felt like favorite family. We walked back to my office and she sat down, her eyes taking in everything as though she had seen it before, in another life. Then she smiled a knowing smile. “My name is Bree Phillips and I’d love to volunteer here.” Hmm, I thought, the name rang no bell, and I wondered if maybe she had changed her name. Bree continued. “I just moved here to be near my mother after having been through a long divorce. Because Mom is getting older, I need to take care of her. But I have some free time to give, and really, I’m here because of my father. He volunteered here many years ago.”
    “No kidding,” I said, not recognizing the name Phillips, “who is your father?”
    “George Keenon,” she said.
    My mouth dropped open. “Your dad is George Keenon?”
    “Yes,” she answered, “did you know him?”

    Oh my gosh, it suddenly dawned on me, those eyes, her chin, the mannerisms, I was looking at a female version of George, a volunteer who was one of my all time favorite volunteers. In that instant, I felt like I was sitting with him again, enjoying his stories of growing up on a farm, his love for family and helping others. George volunteered during a time when sadly, male volunteers were scarce and he stepped forward to fill requests for a male volunteer to help male patients. He roamed the halls of the hospice care center, complementing the nurses and stopping to acknowledge a broken heart. I remember one day, when a patient was asking to see Frank Sinatra, George entered the room and she looked at him with a smirk and said, “whoa, you really let yourself go!”
    Bree listened to my stories of her father and told me that before he died, he recommended that she try volunteering at a hospice. “He was always talking about his experiences here,” she said. ” I swear, he had this long, great career in business, but he spoke more often and more fondly about his connections to the patients.” Bree’s eyes brimmed with so much emotion. “I want to honor my father by following in his footsteps. I’ve got the time and I want to do something that lights me up the way it lit up my dad.”

    Then last week, I had a new class of volunteers. In the class was a middle-aged woman named Holly Starfire. What an awesome name I thought as the volunteers introduced themselves. Holly was quiet, shy almost when it came time for her to comment on the icebreaker. “Why am I here?” she mused aloud. I think it’s because of my father who volunteered here a long time ago.”
    “Who’s your father if I might ask,” I inquired.
    “Hardy Pike.”
    “What? Your dad is Hardy Pike?”
    “Was,” she corrected. My dad died last year in Florida where he retired.”
    Hardy Pike was a volunteer who, as a young man, had changed his name from David Toth to Hardy Pike because he liked the sound of it. It figured that he would name his daughter Holly Starfire. A big brute of a man, Hardy had blue-collar hands and a bohemian heart. He had built his own house from scratch and fixed heating and cooling units for a living. He loved fishing and poetry and could listen to anyone from little prim ladies to salty language gents. Hardy was an enigma. Everything about him pointed anywhere but volunteering, and yet, he faithfully committed to providing a pat on the back for the terminally ill.
    “I grew up with a sense that the world is full of possibilities,” Holly told me, “and that giving back was more a possibility than a mandate. Dad spoke often about how good he felt when volunteering. He inspired me to find that too.”

    Most of the time, we’ll never know the lasting impact volunteering has on our volunteers. There’s not a statistic for “volunteers who, in whatever area they live, go and volunteer because they’ve been inspired by someone we worked with”. We don’t hear the stories they tell their children. We can’t see their friends and relatives, who are inspired to go out and volunteer themselves. We’re not a droplet of water on the ripple, along for the ride. But if we’re lucky, we will get to meet a son or daughter or friend who comes because they want that meaningful experience they’ve heard so much about.
    And, I figure, if I last long enough, I’m going to meet the next generation too.
    -Meridan