Category Archives: 7. Procedures / Buck Stops Here

What happens when volunteers are too busy?

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by Carol

What happens when volunteers are too busy?

This is Therapy Journal 101. When I’m too busy:

  1. I don’t get blog posts written/proofread/posted.
  2. I snap at people.
  3. I have no patience.
  4. I make mountains into mole hills. No — the other way around.
  5. I make mistakes.
  6. I can’t think creatively.
  7. I give up before the job is finished.
  8. I drop things (like paint brushes, soft drinks, trays of cupcakes — icing side down).
  9. I snap at people.
  10. I get sick.
  11. I fail to ask others for their help, their understanding, or their prayers.
  12. I say things that shouldn’t be said out loud (like letting other people know how frustrated I am with someone/something).
  13. I snap at people.
  14. I think about quitting.
  15. I forget to give God the credit He deserves.
  16. I think about kicking the cat (which I wouldn’t do — and, besides, God’s word says a lot about people who mistreat animals).
  17. I don’t smile or laugh.
  18. I snap at people — and don’t tell me that I already said that!

People have limits.  When they are stressed, tired, and pressured, even the best of us run out of energy and let our filters slip.

There may not be anything you can do when one of your volunteers has had a storage unit flooded, had cats start the volunteer’s work day at 4:45 a.m., is about to be laid off, and has a VBS to-do list that is a mile long of things past their deadlines.  (Welcome to my world!)

What do I appreciate when I’m too busy?

  • Help with cleaning up or getting things finished.
  • A creative perspective.
  • A minimum of questions and advice.
  • A short memory for some of the things I say.
  • A long memory for expressing appreciation for good things I do.
  • Sometimes — but not always — a hug.

Thanks for listening.

Too busy – puppets, scripts and props

What about vacations?

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Sarajevo, Bosnia

Relaxing in old Sarajevo

by Carol

Do volunteers get “time off for good behavior”?  That’s an old term from the prison system.  Sometimes volunteers get locked into a position and feel like they are serving a life sentence.

Experts often recommend that we recruit volunteers for a fixed length of time.  Sunday School teachers, for example, are asked to serve for a calendar year.  But when the end of the year rolls around, do they have an all-or-nothing choice — stay for another 52 weeks or quit?

A good pool of substitute teachers helps somewhat.  But what about offering a refreshing break?

Some ministries in the church have a built-in break for the summer.  Most regular Sunday morning roles, though, do not.  How can you give volunteers (or yourself) some time off?  Here are some possibilities:

1.  Take a good, solid break for the summer, if possible.
I remember being president of an adult choir when the director suggested that we let the choir have the summer off.  We met every other week for a while, which confused us all and never really gave us a break.  The next year, we took the whole summer off.  I was amazed at how energetic and reinvigorated the choir members were when they came back.  And they did come back.

2.  Give your volunteers a vacation.
If you are a grown up, you usually take a week or two (maybe more) for a summer vacation.  The purpose is rest and relaxation, which is why we joke about needing a vacation to recuperate if we travel or stay active the whole time.  Volunteers need rest and relaxation, too, even if they love what they do.  Rotate the team, pull in some substitutes or close the ministry for a couple of weeks so everyone can have a few weeks off.

3.  Scale back the program to take a breather.
Lighten up.  Create a “summer” event that is less intense.  Instead of sessions with a short video, deep discussion, and homework, try a good movie.  Some movies have discussion guides available that take all the stress out of planning.

4.  Ramp up your program to take a break.
Go big or go home?  Sometimes you can pull everyone into the auditorium for a big event.  Small and medium classes are great for interaction and building relationships.  But getting everyone into a big group gives the small-group leaders a break from preparation and allows a few of them to take the day off.

Find the mix of alternatives that work for you and your ministry.

Got ideas?  Post a comment.

How many volunteers?

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How many volunteers does it take to change a light bulb?

Okay, seriously. This is not a joke. When you are trying to fill volunteer positions in your Sunday School or recruit volunteers for your Fall Festival, how many volunteers do you need?

You can probably come up with a pretty good estimate. As the deadlines draw near, it is easy to see how many positions are unfilled. At that point, you start to scramble for space in the bulletin (if your church still has one) or make phone calls or call in personal favors. As things get desperate (from your point of view — Ever wonder about God’s sense of humor as He watches this play out?), I have a better question for you:

How many volunteers do you actually have in your church?

I had an epiphany the day the pastor sent me into all of the Sunday morning Bible study classes to recruit volunteers for a Fall Festival. I looked at folks with walkers, young parents lugging diaper bags, people I knew were taking trips, etc., etc. After adjusting for all of the limitations, we didn’t have enough actual human beings to fill all of the volunteer positions we had created!

I’m not saying that people were unwilling. I’m saying that I did not see enough adults (youth included) to fill the slots — people who could be there to lift and tote, or watch kids carefully, or walk at a brisk pace (or toss balls back) for an hour or two, or cook at a grill for three hours.

If I had been looking for Bible study leaders, I would have run into a different set of limitations. Not everyone can be there 50 weeks out of the year or read well enough to plan a lesson or speak in front of even a small audience. For example, teenagers can do a lot of things, but they rarely lead a home group for couples. All of that shrinks your pool of potential volunteers before you ever consider their spiritual maturity or the personality fit.

In community theater groups, we knew that 10% of the tickets that people reserved for our programs would end up not being used. Life happens.  I haven’t seen numbers that involve church volunteers, though.

For every 100 people in your church, how many of them are actually available in your volunteer pool? There may be some guidelines that tell us how to calculate the number.

It’s time to go looking for them — or figure them out. If you know of any, leave us a comment!

Spread the Load! Part 2 of 2

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by Kristi and Carol

What if …. Your usual volunteer pool is shrinking and your responsibilities are growing.

In part 1, we looked at the steps to evaluate your current situation:

TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND THINK: What is stressful to you or other leaders in your organization?

STOP FOR A SECOND AND LOOK CLOSELY: Are the job descriptions in your existing organizational structure up-to-date?

COMPARE REALITY TO WHAT IS ON PAPER: Although capable people are working hard, do their jobs match reality?

Now that you have identified the stress points and have a firm grasp on what your volunteers are actually trying to do, it is time to take action. Read on to see what “Org-C” did.

1. WE ADDED NEW FACES.

It looked like stay-at-home moms re-entering the workforce were depleting the pool of easily accessible volunteers. Older adult volunteers, though, had never previously been asked to take on this volunteer role. They were available to work on these tasks during the week and it gave them an excuse to get together with friends. Even better, they were excited to do something that they were good at.

2. WE ADDED NEW PLACES.

Although many moms couldn’t come during weekdays to do prep-work, some could work from home.

3. WE ADDED NEW POSITIONS.

It may seem counter-intuitive to increase the number of volunteer positions. To keep the supervisors focused on people (the volunteers they supervised), we created new job descriptions related to the computer work. These “extra” volunteers were designated to handle issues at the command center desk while the supervisors were in hallways and classrooms. They cross-trained in many areas and were able to help with tasks beyond the computers.

4. WE ADDED A NEW STATION.

A gathering point a few feet down the hallway became a new check-in station for supervision and dispatching of rotating substitutes. This took the congestion away from the main command center. Handling substitutes seemed to get in the way of the supervisors’ core job, and it could easily be done by volunteers with administrative talents. We sliced off those responsibilities and created a whole new volunteer position. Several volunteers were passionate to fill this role, as it was scheduled just for the first portion of the program day, and if they wanted to, they could finish and leave. In many instances, these volunteers stayed to pitch in and help with other needs that arose.

Spreading the load may seem like a lot more work at the beginning, but purposeful adjustments in this area will have multiple benefits. After new positions were created and the load was more evenly shared at Org-C, the supervisors were more successful in supervising volunteers. Prospective volunteers began observing an organization that was no longer frenetically out of control. Instead, they saw an organization they could successfully join. In case after case, the volunteers who came into the new positions eventually spread their efforts beyond their initial job descriptions. Because they felt fulfilled in the role that fit their key passions, many had enough energy to help in other areas — and had the motivation to do so because they had become loyal to the supervisors and to the program.

BOTTOM LINE: If you can’t recruit more of the volunteers you are looking for, start looking for different volunteers for different positions!

 

Spread the Load! Part 1 of 2

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by Kristi and Carol

What if …

Let’s say that you’re currently looking for a certain type of volunteer. What if you were never able to recruit more of that type? What if — despite your best efforts and most eloquent pleas — prospective volunteers stopped saying “yes” when you asked them to take a role in your organization?

IMG_5211 - cropped

 

 

 

 

 

A few years ago, I (Kristi) consulted with an organization we’ll call “Org-C” — “C” for chaos!!! Their leadership admitted that, to the general public, they appeared to be “running around with our heads cut off” or operating under “controlled chaos.” The challenge was to recruit more volunteers into an existing structure.

We evaluated the system and determined areas of high stress. By expanding the organizational structure, we took pressure off of them. As a result, they gradually came to a place of projecting a calm and efficient leadership presence, and new volunteers joined the team.

How can you do that?

TAKE A DEEP BREATH, AND THINK: What is stressful to you or other leaders in your organization?

In Org-C, it was easy to see the stress points. Three supervisors planned ahead. But on the program day, chaos ensued: regularly scheduled volunteers did not show up; last minute rotating subs did show up, but they hovered around the main command center desk, clogging up an already congested thoroughfare until they were sent to the right location; visitors showed up and needed to be assigned to classrooms; and invariably, some missing supplies would be needed from the back room.

STOP FOR A SECOND, AND LOOK CLOSELY: Are the job descriptions in your existing organizational structure up to date?

In Org-C’s past, when the 3 supervisors started serving, the organization was staffed with many stay-at-home moms. The moms volunteered during the week so that everything was ready. But like many organizations, Org-C felt the changes in society as women went back to work. Often “supplies” were one of the tasks that slipped through the cracks in preparation. The supervisors tried to pick up the slack on program day, in addition to data-entry in the new digital age, and making last-minute assignments for more substitutes in a growing ministry. None of these new responsibilities were in the job description.

COMPARE REALITY TO WHAT IS ON PAPER: Although capable people are working hard, do their jobs match reality?

Once everything was on paper, it didn’t take long to see that the 3 supervisors in Org-C were being stretched beyond their limits. Their main role was to supervise volunteers. With a smaller pool of volunteers, more technology, and an expanding organization, no one had quite understood how the work load of the 3 supervisors had become unmanageable.

The next step? Do something about it.

Come back for Part 2 to see what we tried.

Coming soon — procedures / buck stops here (structure & supervision)

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Topics in this category:  supervising volunteers, organizational structure, volunteers and mass events, volunteers and events for children, minimizing legal risk – because of volunteers, minimizing legal risk – for volunteers, traveling with volunteers, volunteers go international, moving from volunteer to staff, big fish / little pond, little fish / big pond