Profession/Field of Volunteer Administration

In this third e-Volunteerism article in our Sabotage series, the authors turn their focus to those not-for-profit organizations that engage and deploy millions of volunteers globally. They list 10 universal actions that not-for-profits engage in, and argue that these actions make their volunteer programs less effective, reduce volunteer commitment, and ultimately lead to costly mistakes, lost revenue and reduced scope. More importantly, in the context of a major demographic shift, the authors argue that these actions may cause hundreds of thousands of organizations to be faced with a service delivery crisis within a decade. The authors consider practical solutions for moving forward.

As e-Volunteerism enters its eighth year, it is clear that one of the original aims of this online journal project hasn’t been met: Namely, to get people in our field to interact more online.  Most of our online readers don’t make use of the interactive publishing features that make e-Volunteerism so valuable a resource to volunteer managers. In this Keyboard Roundtable, we explore why this might be. And along the way, we look at the whole issue of online interaction by people in the volunteerism field. 

An interesting movement is emerging in volunteer management: Some managers of volunteers are limiting themselves to being responsible for only one part of their organization's volunteering scheme − the most 'traditional' part − while their organizations build new ‘pro bono’ and ‘community involvement’ programs without them.  While this is not a new phenomenon, what is new and concerning is that there has recently been significant growth in this ‘non-traditional’ volunteering. The change is undermining the role of the manager of volunteers and hampering the ability of community organisations to adequately meet the needs of the community. In this article, the authors consider what factors prevent or limit a manager of volunteers from taking responsibility for all volunteering responsibilities, and they also present a strategy for change.

All faiths rely heavily on the goodwill of their followers to undertake work on behalf of the church/synagogue/mosque/congregation of both a spiritual and practical nature. Is this recognized as “volunteering” by those in leadership positions within their respective faiths?  How does service to the congregation relate to service done in the outside community under the sponsorship of the house of worship?  Where does service as an expression of faith end and volunteering begin? Is there a clear jumping off point either scripturally or pragmatically?

 

How do you avoid having to sell a solution or future direction that the management or leadership team has created? Because it IS a sell job when a few people decide on a new way for the many.  When there are circumstances where any answer is a potential right answer – and there is a large group of stakeholders invested in that answer – there is another way:  large group interventions (LGI).  Instead of training people on a new direction and having to parry objections and dissatisfactions, including them in the creation process avoids the uphill battle.

There are several designs for large group participative events:  Search Conferences, Future Search Conferences, Open Space Technology, Real Time Strategic Change, World Café, and the Technology of Participation, to name some of the most popular.   There are some basic principles behind all of these techniques that are discussed in this article, along with specific design ideas when using the search conference method.

Should there be a significant difference in leadership ability between the head of the organization and the head of the volunteer program?  While there may be differences in authority, leadership is not restricted to the executive director or chair of the board, nor should it be for the sustainability of the organization.   Leadership happens at all levels within an organization.  Everyone, including volunteer managers, has the capacity of becoming a leader. We all have skills which can be enhanced and abilities which can be cultivated. 

 

Some volunteer program managers may not yet perceive themselves as leaders in their organization, but they can be.   In this article, Bailey and Petro provide some self-assessment considerations and tools.

What/who do you call senior leaders where you are?  Perhaps you use director, CEO, executive director, director of volunteers, board president and, for me, add bishops, archbishops, chairs of provincial or national committees, doctors (the great senior leaders in most voluntary health organizations, etc.). 

Now, count the levels between you and the senior persons you want to connect with…your direct boss, your boss’s boss, the “big cheese,” the prestigious chair of a key committee. 

Now choose the one to focus on that you most want to influence.  Get that person and his or her job firmly in your mind.  Picture his or her office if you’ve seen it.  Got it??

So, let’s begin to strategize together.  And strategize you must if you wish to truly influence these leaders.

Suzanne Lawson takes you on an exploration of why a volunteer program manager would want to influence senior leaders at all—and then offers some practical ideas for doing so.  This article is adapted from a speech Suzanne presented to the Toronto Association of Volunteer Administrators.