Supervision

"There is an essential integrity in a relationship with a volunteer that I find worth examining."

Sarah Elliston proceeds to analyze the fundamental differences between relationships with employees and relationships with volunteers:

"As I examine integrity as this simplicity and deliberation in buildings and people, I recognize that some of my relationships haven't matched the characteristics. The ones where I have felt the most integrity is with volunteers. But with some employers and colleagues, I have been met with distrust and fear when I have been honest and acted from my value system. Why? I believe the major reason for the difference is the assumptions we make with volunteers and those we make with paid staff."

To read the full article

BECOME A MEMBER

LOG IN

• Read more about Integrity - The Guidepost to Volunteer Relationships

The expression “work-life balance” was first used in the UK in the late 1970s to help explain the unhealthy life choices that many people were making. According to one definition, people “were choosing to neglect other important areas of their lives such as family, friends, and hobbies in favour of work-related chores and goals.” In the 30 years since there has been research and discussion around the topic of work-life balance, taking on increased importance as the pace of life in developed countries becomes faster and faster.

As a volunteer manager, have you ever explored how volunteering fits into the balance of the lives of your team?  Many people talk about their lives as a ‘juggling act,’ in which they feel pulled in many directions by the demands of paid work, family care, community involvement, physical fitness and emotional health. Whether volunteers or employees, not all people have appropriate balance or clearly established boundaries in their lives. This Training Design is an opportunity to explore how the work-life balance of volunteers impacts your organisation.

For 30 years, Kate Hanson pursued two passions: growing vegetables and herbs in her organic garden and studying the complexities of working with others. Until recently, she viewed these passions as two completely different and separate areas of her life. But in this creative, delightful feature article for e-Volunteerism, Hanson asks an important question: “Could the basic principles of an organic approach to gardening also serve us as approaches for organizing and supervising volunteers?” Hanson provides the answer to this question and explains why the lessons she’s learned from her gardening can definitely be applied to working with others. You may never look at a tomato plant the same – and you’ll certainly never again plant a tomato beside a cabbage.

When a volunteer walks through a manager’s door, each volunteer brings along a whole system of expectations, wishes and demands associated with the volunteer experience. Volunteer managers often recognize one category of expectations as the “fantasy world” of the volunteer. These expectations are frequently hidden from the volunteer manager and often only exist subconsciously for the volunteer.  While the volunteer’s altruistic motives are most important in the first stages of recruiting and integrating the volunteer, the volunteer’s fantasies are most likely to surface during the actual volunteer experience. During this stage, if these additional hidden needs of the volunteer are not fulfilled, the altruistic motives that the volunteer previously declared will gradually erode, often causing the volunteer to drop out early on.

In this e-Volunteerism feature story, we review how these fantasy concepts challenge volunteer managers and discuss why it’s important to understand the nature of volunteer fantasies. Ultimately, volunteer managers who learn to manage these conditions help influence the management practices of the entire organization – for the better.

In this discussion of research from the Netherlands, Research to Practice explores how volunteers are as committed as paid workers and provides examples of how organizations can deepen the attachment of their volunteers.  Editor Steven Howlett further explores how the issues discussed in this research “chime nicely with what we know, underlining other findings and suggesting that for commitment, at least, volunteers from different parts of the globe have a lot in common.”

How do you manage volunteers who don’t choose to be in your organization, those volunteers who often show up after being “bullied” into service? In other words, how do you manage the non-volunteer volunteer?

In this e-Volunteerism feature story, volunteerism expert and author Thomas W. McKee discusses this overlooked issue and offers a step-by-step guide to help organizations and managers face the problem. McKee outlines special considerations for working with this large category of volunteers, and offers additional advice for volunteers who lead other volunteers (especially those who would rather not be volunteering).  McKee uses authentic examples of non-volunteer volunteer situations throughout the article – ranging from the soccer field to an elementary classroom to the board room.  His personable and purposeful technique will engage volunteer managers from all sectors. And they will have no trouble relating to McKee’s descriptions and learning valuable coping techniques from his experiences. 

Gwen Fujie calls it “martial arts ideas for the mind and mouth.”  In this article, Fujie explains why “Tongue Fu!” leads to cooperative communication and more peaceful relationships, both essential elements to success in volunteering. Based on author Sam Horn’s popular book by the same name, Fujie argues that Tongue Fu! is the “constructive alternative to giving a tongue-lashing or to being tongue-tied, a step-by-step process for turning hostility into harmony and aggravation into aloha.”  

There’s The Talker. The Know-It-All.  And, of course, The Silent Type. When it comes to challenging participants during training sessions, we’ve all experienced them. This Training Design offers a review of some of the most common challenging participants, along with tips on how to prepare in advance so that they don’t disrupt the rest of the audience – or the trainer.

When it comes to volunteer training, the secret to success may lie in the approach. In this Training Design, learn how the switch from a problem-focused approach to a strengths-based approach called Appreciate Inquiry can make a huge difference in your volunteer training and ultimately your volunteer program.