1 Maximizing Impact Through VolunteersDiane Zapata, Director of Volunteer Services Rudy Sanchez, Volunteer Services Manager Prepare handouts: SWOT template Volunteer Engagement Toolkit Model Conflict Resolution Model Scenarios Unicorn Name & Title
2 Welcome Unicorns! How many of you have heard the term “Unicorns” to describe non-profit workers? Why are we called unicorns? Because, we are “imaginary creatures here to make the world better” All while working with hand me down desks, second hand chairs and technology, right? And I’m going to guess you’ve been asked to “do more with less.” Does that sound familiar?
3 Today’s Agenda Succession planning through volunteersVolunteer engagement strategy Developing volunteers Delegate – AND get out of the way! Volunteer conflict resolution Strategies Interactive: How will you handle this? * PLUS: New titles! *
4 Volunteer Engagement Strategy#1 #2 Volunteer Manager: recruits, trains, and supports volunteers Volunteer Manager: coaches and is internal consultant Volunteers perform tasks for the organization Volunteers are part of the organization’s strategic plan Volunteer metrics = hours Volunteer metrics = impact Challenging you to think bigger about volunteers When you think about your organization, does it most resemble #1 or #2? OR, is it a combination of both?
5 Volunteer Engagement Strategy3 R’s: Recruitment, Retention, Recognition MISSION STRATEGY Challenging you to think bigger about volunteers When you think about volunteers, what comes to mind? 3 R’s: Recruitment, Retention, Recognition = Participant ( transactional; engagement could be low to medium. WHY is volunteer participating? How much is due to factors like personal connection (social aspect)? Nothing wrong with that – that’s powerful… BUT When volunteers are embedded in strategic plan and actively shape and participate in the mission, they become PARTNERS. Volunteers Volunteers : Participants or Partners? PARTICIPANTS PARTNERS
6 Volunteer Strategy Toolkit: SWOT
7 Volunteer Strategy : TOOLKITSWOT Analysis Get leadership buy-in Involve Volunteers! (Advisory Board) Ongoing Attention Measure Results & Share Impact SWOT Analysis : Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats Get Leadership Buy-In! Does your ED and Executive Team understand and support the concept? What about the board? Involve Volunteers! NOTHING engages a high value volunteer like being part of the direction of the organization. Volunteers can be on advisory boards and/or steering committees. Don’t underestimate their potential! Ongoing Attention – What do I mean by that? When you embed volunteer engagement in the strategy, you want to do proper care & feeding! Measure Results & Share Impact – HIGHLIGHT the value of volunteers in your organization! Raise the profile! Don’t let great be the enemy of good What does that mean? We shouldn't put off implementing solutions that are only GOOD because we feel that down the road we could come up with a solution that was GREAT. In essence, we shouldn't let the promise of GREAT stop us from doing things that are GOOD, because after all, GOOD things are still good. We shouldn't let the juxtaposition make GOOD things seem bad. It’s OK if you can’t do all of these, or even MOST of these. DO WHAT YOU CAN. Continuous improvement is better than status quo.
8 Developing Volunteers into LeadersDEVELOPMENT “What improvements can you suggest?” “What projects or initiatives interest you?” “What can I do to support your success?” “What talent/skill do you possess that is valuable to the mission of the organization?” “WHAT excites you? WHAT gets you out of bed in the morning?”
9 Developing Volunteers into LeadersCOACHING “What makes you proud to serve here as a volunteer?” “What do we need to do to stay on track?” “What roadblocks have you encountered, AND what can I do to remove them?” “With sufficient resources, what could we achieve together?” Why ask this? Helps give you insight into what makes them passionate… AND once you know this – you know how to match with the work that needs to be done!
10 How do you eat an elephant?Succession Planning How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! I’m sure you’ve heard that saying… How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! This may be trite, but when we think about all the work we have to do… it can be overwhelming. You are not likely to find a volunteer willing to put in hours a week, right? But – maybe you can find 5 or 6 willing to give you 8-10 hours a week? IF you break it down into smaller bites, then you increase the chance of successfully “matching” the work with the skillset. NOBODY does everything well. But we all do some things well. AND – if you match the volunteer with what excites them and that they are good at, you get what you need AND the volunteer gets a “win.” WIN for increasing engagement! There’s no substitute for planning and coaching in this model.
11 Delegating “Bite Size” PiecesTask analysis Break down elements Skillset needed Outputs desired Time frame (deadline or project based?) DON’T limit; be creative! Volunteers can TRAIN other volunteers / mentor Volunteers can manage / coordinate
12 Volunteer Conflict ResolutionMore volunteers = more need to manage conflict You can’t “have it all” But – you can “ask for it all” COACH more – DO less!
13 Volunteer Conflict ResolutionQualified Abundance High quality AND sufficient volunteers to help Quantity, Lacking Abilities Plenty of volunteers but wish we had better skills (higher quality) Scarce Volunteers, Lacking Quality Never enough volunteers in terms of numbers and ability What does your organization look like in terms of volunteers? Your approach is influenced (possibly even dictated) by your program You may even flex between categories depending on season. The holidays you may have a “qualified abundance” whereas during the summer, perhaps you fit second or third
14 The Toxic Volunteer They openly ignore current rules and programs and intentionally proceed without aligning to organization norms. They badmouth the organization to other volunteers (they will tell the other volunteers how the policies/training/rules/paperwork, etc. are poor or stupid). They will attempt to justify their positions by bullying others to align with them, rallying the troops. They think that if they get enough other volunteers to complain or to ignore the mandates, they will get their way. They will scare away newer volunteers with their venom. A new person comes in full of hope and excitement. The Toxic Volunteer will zero right in on that person to tell him/her all the things that are wrong with the organization and how hard it is to be a volunteer.
15 Listen (Don’t Pick Sides)CONFLICT RESOLUTION Identify Issue Listen (Don’t Pick Sides) Brainstorm Solutions Agree on Solution Implement Solution ABOVE all – don’t badmouth! GET volunteers together in the same room – no “side conversations” After the “solution” is agreed upon and implemented – don’t forget to circle back and check on progress.
16 Volunteer Conflict ResolutionSCENARIOS
17 New Titles!
18 THANK YOU! Diane Zapata, AKA Whispering Pastel Miracle, Avenger of In-Kind Donations Rudy Sanchez, AKA Ephemeral Crystal Moonbeam, Harbinger of Data