Author Archives: volunteer

About volunteer

Linda Cairns has worked with volunteers for the last 20 years, in sport, publishing and education. She has managed teams of volunteers in the UK and abroad and knows firsthand what it is like to be a volunteer.

Volunteering experience counts – put it on your CV

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Recent University research has identified that recruiters value relevant volunteering experience as much as paid work experience. This is good news for volunteers, whatever their age. So make sure you include your relevant experience on your CV and job application. Read more about this research on the British Psychological Society’s Blog.

In an earlier blog post, I asked How can you get a job without having an interview? It is exciting to see this anecdotal evidence, of the benefits of gaining relevant experience and skills as a volunteer, now backed up by research.

Wilkin, C., & Connelly, C. (2012). Do I Look Like Someone Who Cares? Recruiters’ Ratings of Applicants’ Paid and Volunteer Experience International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 20 (3), 308-318 DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2389.2012.00602.x

Inspiring reminders

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Recently described as “someone who just gets on with things” here are some quotes that inspire me:

Relationships with volunteers and colleagues:

  • The way to get things done is not to mind who gets the credit for doing them
  • When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself. (Wayne Dyer)
  • Respect is earned. Honest is appreciated. Trust is gained, Loyalty is returned  (Gloria)

Action:

  • Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. (Seneca)
  • Never let someone with the significance of a speed bump become a roadblock in your life.
  • Don’t wait for a light to appear at the end of the tunnel, stride down there and light the bloody thing yourself  (Sara Henderson)
  • The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all. (Meg Cabot)

Overcoming perfectionism:

  • Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing.” (Harriet Braiker)
  • Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly (Dr. Robert Schuller)

and finally, the most important notes to self, a little reminder as we approach a new year……..

  • To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
  • What we do for ourselves dies with us, what we do for others and the world is and remains immortal. (Albert Pine)

 

10 more inspiring quotes for volunteers

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“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.” Helen Keller.

Thank you vInspired for 8 inspiring quotes for volunteers who make a difference.These words sum up so succinctly how I feel, that I was motivated to make a list of 10 of my favourite quotes. Here they are:

  • “One person can make a difference, and everyone should try” John F Kennedy
  • “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” Mark Twain
  • “When nothing in your life matters more than your own success you’ll likely have nothing in your life but your own success”  Steve Keating
  • “Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.” John F. Kennedy
  • “A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.” Jim Watkins
  • “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill
  • “Be the change you want to see in the world”. Mahatma Gandhi
  • “Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together” Vincent Van Gogh
  • “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others” Pericles
  • “Make things that you believe in happen” Me

Who is the most important person in your organisation?

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“The Chairman” I hear you cry!

“Or the Treasurer?”

I disagree!

Having been a chairman of a large PTA for a number of years, I actually think the most important job in any association, charity or amateur club is the volunteer manager. This is the person who inspires, motivates and nurtures the workforce – all the people who give up their time to take on responsibilities to help the organisation.

The volunteer manager could be anyone on the team. You might have a dedicated role, or you may have another post holder who’s particularly good with people and who takes charge. Particularly good with people – this is the key! You need someone who is easy to get on with, understands and cares about others and who knows the difference between what motivates and what dispirits. It helps if they are involved in the organisation so that they are familiar with what is going on – but everything can be learned. Lack of experience is not a barrier: lack of empathy is.

What should a volunteer manager do?

  • Know who the volunteers are – especially the new ones
  • Know where they have helped
  • Know what they would like to do and have the skills to do
  • Recognise their contribution
  • Encourage them to take on new responsibilities if these suit the volunteer
  • Keep in touch with the volunteers letting them know past successes and news of what is coming up

To sum up: recruit one good volunteer and you have someone who can take on one role: Recruit one good volunteer manager and you have someone can maintain a supply of volunteers to keep your organisation rolling.

“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” – Carl W. Buechner

 

Are you new to working with volunteers?

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Have you just taken on a new job – paid or voluntary – where you work with people who are  doing their roles as volunteers? If so, this is for you:

Time and energy

When you are planning – whether its a project, an event, or a new direction – make sure you build in extra capacity because it will likely take more people and more time than you think you need.

Is it that volunteers are naturally inefficient? Not at all! Your supporting team will be fitting their volunteering around both work and family commitments and when unexpected things happen and take up their time, it is their volunteering that gets put on hold. Expect the unexpected! Get things done ahead if you can and allow a longer lead time to deadlines. And recruit a few more people – say 10% more – than you think you need  It makes for less stress if you do.

What do you know?

Your volunteers probably know less than you think. Make them feel comfortable by explaining the system, showing them how things work and getting them started. They might be too shy to to ask you for help but they will thank you for putting them at ease.

Hello – how are you?

Keep in touch with your team. I don’t mean bombard them. But check how they are getting on and encourage them to talk to you regularly. You will enjoy hearing the progress updates and good news from them. And if there is bad news then it’s better to hear it sooner rather than later.

Keeny beanies

Make the most of a new volunteer’s initial zeal. Some people love a new project and will bring huge amounts of drive and enthusiasm at the outset. If you can harness this productively the volunteer will have a much better experience and be more likely to move onwards and upwards. If they experience frustration and barriers in their early days they may give up on you.

Have you got any suggestions you would like to pass on to someone just starting out working with volunteers? Please leave them in comments.

Can we really deliver an Olympic Sporting Legacy?

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If you want to have a go at athletics or hockey – or your kids want to take up cycling, rugby or football you will probably go to your local club. But this club will almost certainly be run by volunteers and will quite likely be close to reaching capacity. So, if we want to deliver a real sporting legacy of more children and adults taking up new sports, we need to find ways of building capacity.

I am proposing that we need a much more effective system for attracting and training volunteers to deliver entry-level sport.

Here is my idea: we don’t need senior (Level 3) coaches to deliver introductory sessions to newcomers – what we need are suitably trained volunteers that can inspire beginners and give them a positive and correct introduction to the sport. We should be putting much more emphasis in recruiting and training club helpers and new coaches to cope with Olympic-generated demand and free up the experienced coaches to concentrate on coaching elite club members. A good example of an effective training programme is England Athletics’ one-day “Leadership in running fitness” course.

Inspiration

The Olympic Games Makers have done wonders for the image of volunteering. If we can’t get sport volunteers to step forward now we never will. We need to build on the enthusiasm that we have from the Olympics to inspire volunteers to get involved and provide a pathway for them to do this. We should be making it easy for a dad to help at a cycling club or a university student to train as an athletics coach.

Recruitment

Clubs need coaches and team managers – and they also need volunteers to put out equipment, look after kit, manage membership systems and do a range of small jobs that you might not think of. If you are a club – how do you advertise these vacancies beyond your membership? If you are a potential volunteer, would you know where to look to get involved?

Welcome and preparation

Volunteers need to be nurtured. If they offer to help a club they should be welcomed with open arms and they need to know exactly what their job involves. Newcomers to coaching need to be trained by attending an Introductory or a Level 1 coaching course. As a minimum for certain roles they need to have safeguarding training. There is helpful Information on coaching courses here: http://sportscoachuk.org/

A fair relationship

Volunteers are entitled to enter into a fair relationship with the organisation they are supporting. The club needs a commitment from the volunteer to turn up at the agreed times and deliver. In turn, the volunteer needs to be properly managed and looked after. If we are to retain good volunteers they need:

  • affordable training – it’s right that volunteers make some investment in their own training, but £150 for a Level 1 Coaching course is a deterrent for many
  • a schedule that is workable for them and the club – volunteers have limited time available and fear of being asked to do too much is one of the major factors that puts people off volunteering. One idea: could a new helper be paired with another volunteer to job-share?
  • to be supervised and mentored – new coaches and other helpers need a contact they can turn to for ideas and advice
  • to be kept informed of how the part they are playing fits into what the club is doing as a whole

Clubs have needs too

In turn, the clubs are also going to need practical support to find and look after new volunteers. There is information on http://www.clubmark.org.uk/ about managing volunteers including an outline job description for a volunteer coordinator. This is a key post and one that needs to be filled by an enthusiastic and capable leader.

There is hope

Sport England has set up Sport Makers: http://www.sportmakers.co.uk/  as the official London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic sports legacy. They are aiming to recruit 40,000 volunteers to help make sport happen. If you are looking to volunteer in sport then go to this website today!

The last word

Much of sport in the UK is currently delivered through clubs. These clubs need more volunteers to increase capacity for new participants.  I sincerely hope that we can harness the inspiration and deliver volunteers to the sports clubs to make sure we really do make the most of the buzz we are experiencing after an amazingly successful Olympic Games.

“Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.”  Let’s make our Olympic Sporting Legacy happen.

Please leave a comment with your legacy thoughts and ideas.