Tag Archives: excuses

by Kristi

In Part 1, we looked at a volunteer (Team Member 3) whose team had dissolved. Would he stay? Would he go? Let’s look at the rest of the story.

At times, leaders pressured with the task of recruiting volunteers to fully staff an organization can get blinded by the trappings of “we’ve always done it this way.” That way may not be bad or wrong. Sometimes, though, adjustment may be called for.

New Position
In the case of Team Member 3, we realized that putting him into a new team was not going to be a good solution. At the same time, we identified a stress point for our team and created a new job description that fit him very well.

In many cases, recruiting is a year-round process. Just when you think you are fully staffed, someone gets sick or moves away. Typically, it’s much easier to keep a veteran volunteer than to assimilate a new volunteer. In the case of a reluctant volunteer, helping them get one foot inside the door of your organization may be a key to inviting them to a higher level of commitment.

I am pleased to say that Team Member 3 fully embraced his new volunteer position. In some ways, he’s keeping just one foot in my department while the other foot is starting to drift towards the department where his children are now involved. His current role fills a vital need in the organization I oversee. The newly created position allows him to complete his volunteer task within the first half of the program, and he is then able to go to a Bible Study for adults.

Sure, a couple times a month he is a little bit late, but his fulfillment level is high because he still gets to volunteer in an area of passion without giving up new relationships in the adult class. Additionally, before the time comes for him to fully move to another area of volunteering, my department is capitalizing on his interests and experience within our organization to establish the new position and refine that job description.

New Vision
To help prospective volunteers get a glimpse inside your organization, or to assimilate new volunteers onto your team, evaluate “front doors.” Make sure that there are easy ways for prospective volunteers to get one foot inside the door of your organization. If you are really headed a positive direction and have a successful team for them to join, just a glimpse is likely to show them what they need to see.  It may be a huge part of convincing them to join at a deeper level.

Take-Aways
Here are some ideas for starters:

1) Create new short-term jobs.

2) Have a system of purposefully using ‘substitutes’ along-side veterans.

3) Regularly host preview or open house type of events that showcase your organization.

4) Instead of staffing an event with all tried and true loyalists, invite prospective volunteers into one-time type positions that give them a taste of the organization and start building relationships with other volunteers.

5) Finally, don’t forget to find ways to help outgoing volunteers keep one foot in your organization, such as filling in as a substitute, or transferring their knowledge and interests to a new position.

Moving Forward
Remember, volunteers and volunteer organizations change and grow. Pay attention so that the volunteer positions change and grow along with them!

By Kristi

While listening to responses from prospective volunteers, you have probably heard all the excuses under the sun.  But have you really heard these people?  In many cases, individuals are telling you that they can’t envision where they fit in.  Perhaps this relates to their interests and passions.  Maybe their current schedule or life pressures are clouding their vision and they can’t clearly see a fit for themselves in your organization.  Your job is to help them understand how they can fit.  If they get one foot in the door, it is much easier for them to enter the rest of the way through the door at a later date – either when life circumstances change, or when they begin to understand their fit.

Pull out a copy of your staffing chart – the document where you record who is volunteering where.  What are the positions for which you are still seeking volunteers?  We all run the risk of viewing our organization through the lens of “how it’s always been.”  As you evaluate your need for volunteers and strive to connect with volunteers of all types, consider these things:

1.  Look
Look carefully at the positions that are still unfilled.  Does this task have to be done in one particular way? Or at a particular time?  Can it be combined with another job description?  Are you asking the right type of people?

A couple years ago, the volunteer teaching team in one classroom consisted of 3 weekly volunteers and another couple volunteers that rotated through the month.  By the end of the term of commitment, Team Member 1 wanted to move to volunteer with a different age group for family reasons, Team Member 2 had major surgery and was not able to return, and when asked to renew his commitment for another term, Team Member 3 initially declined.  The team he had been part of for several years had dissolved, and he had no desire to start fitting in with a new group of volunteers.

2.  Listen
Listen carefully to the folks who are requesting to volunteer and those that are declining your invitation to join the team.  Is there a recurring theme among the interests or passions of either set of people?    Who are the individuals that are rejecting your pleas for more volunteers?

As I listened to Team Member 3, I was told straight up – “I still love children….”  Through this statement, I knew that his interest was still strong in the area where he previously volunteered.  There wasn’t another area that he wanted to serve in more than the current area.  Moreover, he was a really good and faithful volunteer – one that I really did not want to lose.

3.  Assess
The twenty-first century is moving right along at warp speed.  What are you hearing from people regarding their current schedules and pressures in life?  Is your organization keeping up with changes in society and your immediate culture?

Armed with a bit of information about Team Member 3 – and most importantly, with a relationship of good rapport as a supervisor over his team – it was easy to see that he was moving into a new stage of life.  Some of his Sunday schedule was changing as his children were moving out of one division into programming for older children.  His wife was moving to serve in a different area (a possible life pressure).  If he also really wanted to move to a different area, I wanted to let him.  But I also wanted to capitalize and put his passions and gifts to work.

The question was, “How?”

For the answer, come back for Part 2.