Category Archives: Volunteer Manager

Who is the most important person in your organisation?

Posted on by
Reply

“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?

Posted on by
Reply

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?

Posted on by
1

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.

 

I’m not supposed to blog about being an Olympic volunteer but….

Posted on by
1

I must join in the debate about the potential good to come from the way volunteers have “made the Games”. Here are some of the things that are being said:

The Guardian Best bits-olympic-legacy-volunteering Panellist debate how to maintain an Olympic legacy for the voluntary sector.

“The Olympic volunteers’ great attitude is doing wonders for our national brand.” The Telegraph-The-Olympics-have-shown-Britain-is-a-can-do-nation

The Observer headline “How the spirit of the volunteers could be London’s greatest legacy”

Whilst I don’t think the volunteer selection process worked entirely smoothly, I do think the Games Maker volunteering programme is a huge success. From my view as a Team Leader in the Technology team, here’s why:

  • We are excited and proud to be associated with the ultimate sporting event
  • There is no distinction between volunteers and employees – we are all called Games Makers and we all wear the same uniform
  • We are well kitted out and well looked after on our shifts
  • We were trained effectively and know what we have to do
  • We get lots of chocolate!

When I stop spending 14 hour days travelling and working my shifts I look forward to continuing this discussion. In the meantime, please leave a comment and let me know what you think about the idea of a volunteering legacy.

 

5 ways to keep your volunteers happy

Posted on by
3

1. Keep them informed

Make sure your volunteers understand what their role involves and how it fits into the overall project or event. The need just enough detail to see the big picture – they don’t want to read a telephone directory-sized handbook! It is likely that different volunteers will need different levels of detail. Friendly, timely, informed communication is key.

2. Keep them busy

Volunteers will have made sacrifices – given up free time or taken leave from work – and will fee undervalued if there is not enough to do. Plan carefully to ensure they are actively engaged in a productive activity, or at least entertained if there is a temporary lull. You will need to monitor activity and encourage the workforce to be flexible so they can be redeployed if fewer numbers are required on certain tasks as the project evolves. Bored and frustrated people will vote with their feet. If they don’t have enough to do today, don’t expect to see them again tomorrow, next week or next time.

3. Keep them fed and watered

This should be obvious – but while volunteers are working for you they reasonably expect to be fed and definitely need to be kept hydrated. What you give them will depend on their shift, remoteness and your resources. A packed lunch or a meal voucher is common. For smaller roles, just a small snack and a drink is a good way to say thank you. Can your sponsors help by providing supplies?

4. Help them be properly equipped

Don’t forget to tell them what they need to bring. Mobile phone? Pen and notebook? A folding chair? Let them know if they will be inside or outside and advise them on suitable clothing. I’ve seen cold, wet road-junction marshals wearing suits and ties at a cycling event. I’ve turned up to a winter sports fixture dressed in thermals for sub-zero temperatures only to be given a job inside. Make sure you give them information to help them help themselves by arriving with the right kit.

5. Give them them opportunity to communicate

Have you ever been sent information from a “no-reply@…….” e-mail address. And then searched the Frequently Asked Questions page on the website in vain for the information you need? This way of doing business may be OK for big companies avoiding time wasters. But if your volunteer really needs to find out some information, they need a way of contacting the right person who can answer their question. If not they will get so frustrated that they will probably let you down. And how will they tell you they are not coming!

Debate on the Olympic legacy for the voluntary sector

Posted on by
Reply

The Guardian Voluntary Sector Network held a live Q & A with a panel of experts today: The Olympic legacy for the voluntary sector. As both a volunteer manager and a Games Maker Team Leader, I think there are some very interesting points raised. Highlights for me are:

“the importance of getting it right; contacting people quickly, keeping them informed and making them feel valued.”

“the Olympics has raised the profile of volunteering in this country and empowered a lot of people to get involved and play a part in a unique event in London….I think LOCOG have been very successful in shifting perceptions that volunteers have real jobs and are senior, experienced professionals are not just being used for casual jobs.”

“LOCOG intentionally didn’t talk about volunteers but gave them a distinctive brand of Games Makers to reinforce they were the ones who made the Games happen.”

“the sense of pride and engagement people feel by being part of a movement is a great concept we should think about more when designing roles and developing programmes.”

See full questions and responses here.

The most effective way to lose a volunteer

Posted on by
2

I’ve worked with volunteers for the last 20 years. I understand that people are motivated in many different ways depending on their personality and circumstances. However, there is one very effective way to demotivate a volunteer: And that is to criticise them. Have a go at them. Unconstructively is bad.  In public is worst. Do this and they will be off faster than a 10 year-old sprinter.

As a volunteer manager, I think you need to put your volunteers first and treat them professionally and courteously – even if you yourself are a volunteer. They may not actually know you are a volunteer but you mustn’t forget that they are. Volunteers need organising but definitely not bossing about. And be friendly – would you want to work alongside someone who was grumpy? If something doesn’t work out, leave graciously and the door might be open next time.

But what if you really do want to get rid of a volunteer? Just as Fettes Management talk about “Three types of people to fire”, you don’t want to be saddled with victims, nonbelievers, or know-it-alls either. If you are unlucky enough to acquire an energy-sapping, non-contributing volunteer who is upsetting others you have to take action. Just like in the paid business world you have to recognise this and fire them – or at least give them a firm, but private, thank you and goodbye.

Have you ever been treated badly when you were volunteering?

To all my volunteers

Posted on by
2

I just want to say you drive me forward. I do what I do because of you. Your loyalty, your support and the satisfaction of working with you keeps me going more than the end result. I am immensely proud of what we achieve. Sometimes it feels that there is so much left undone but if you look at where we are now, you can see how far we have come. So thank you to all of you. Thank you for your commitment and dedication. I would be nowhere without you.

Linda

If you are one of my volunteers (or if this strikes a chord anyway) please leave a comment below.

2012 volunteers face ban on facebook

Posted on by
Reply

On the one hand the British Olympic Association says the London 2012 Olympics will be the “Twitter Games”. And on the other, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) are telling their volunteers that they should not share their experiences via social media.

The athletes have had strict guidelines for a while, but recent publication of rules for the volunteer “Games Makers” is causing a bit of a stir. Some of these rules might be justified in terms of privacy such as not taking photos of areas closed to the public. But others seem to be unenforceable nonsense – not talking about a VIP or celebrity and not disclosing breaking news about an athlete. Social networks will be humming with this sort of news, surely.

You could argue that Games Makers have a job to do and shouldn’t be working one-handed – or take their eye off the ball – in order to tweet. But many games makers are passionately excited about what they are doing and will be desperate to share a celebrity snippet, an ad lib moment, or a significant sports sight, with their friends and families. Can rules really stop them? Paul Adams predicts “that we will see tons and tons of footage leaking out from the 70,000 volunteers, and that the best footage from the Games will come from regular folks, attendees and volunteers, and not from official TV crews.” He also thinks “that by the time the 2016 Olympics rolls around, this decision will be laughable, and the enforcers of this rule will look like dinosaurs.”

i-volunteer is running dire predictions of volunteers voting with their feet at these social media rules. But as LOCOG have reportedly got a problem of managing disappointment of potential volunteers who are surplus to requirements, I doubt that they are too worried.

What do you think about the Olympics’ social media guidelines?