Training Ideas, Resources, Tools

Good, skilled people in the field of volunteer management are often unsuccessful because they function reactively in programs where there is little or no true commitment, understanding or support for developing and sustaining a healthy, cutting-edge volunteer program. Individuals leading volunteer programs must not only be excellent technicians but also be able to proactively influence individuals and systems to work effectively with volunteers. Betty Stallings takes you step-by-step through the process of developing your own persuasion strategy.

Rather than offering a training design, I'd like instead to share a lot of quick ideas with you that I have learned and found invaluable in almost 30 years as a trainer. Instead of adding more words than you would ever want to read about each idea, let me just offer them in "kernel" fashion, in the hope that some of them will pop into your brain when you need them the most… in front of an audience!

It is difficult to isolate the topic of recruitment because its ultimate success is intertwined with the development of good volunteer assignments (the product you are selling in recruitment) and with having an organization prepared to utilize volunteers' time and talents effectively when they arrive. It is important, however, to examine how potential volunteers are invited to consider becoming a part of your organization, particularly if this function is not centralized. Even if most volunteers go through a central recruitment process, all staff and volunteers within an organization are a significant part of its informal volunteer recruitment team. Thus, the principles of recruitment should be useful for staff/volunteers whether they carry out this function themselves or are ambassadors for the program.

Often when staff or volunteers of an organization are involved in recruitment, they are so anxious to fill slots or add to the membership that little care is given to finding the right person(s). Everyone can relate to the impact on the volunteer and the organization when the wrong person is recruited (i.e., the volunteer feels incompetent and/or unfulfilled, leading to performance and retention problems; the organization does not get the job done well and builds resentment or resistance to further utilization of volunteers).

This training provides a printer-ready file with 6 recruitment training exercises that can be adapted for use with:

• the staff of an organization,

• leadership volunteers,

• membership/outreach committees, or

• a group of volunteer program administrators.

The purpose of each exercise is to change the mindset of participants as they reach out for new volunteers and/or to give them tools to aid in that effort.

Six Training Exercises to Enhance Recruitment of Volunteers

1. Remembering a time when you were recruited to be a volunteer/member.
2. Finishing the puzzle - "Don't put a piece in the wrong spot!"
3. What factors might be keeping people from becoming a volunteer/joining?
4. Writing a recruitment message that speaks to the right person.
5. Using a marketing strategy to locate the best candidates.
6. Demonstrating persuasive, effective oral presentations to recruit new volunteers/members.

In the training of volunteers who provide direct services to clients, it is critical that volunteers have a basic understanding of the psychosocial issues faced by those they will serve. Having this knowledge prepares volunteers for successful short-term interactions, such as delivering a meal to a frail elder, or long-term relationships, such as working with a woman with breast cancer or teaching an adult to read. An understanding of a client's emotional and spiritual issues, medical and treatment issues, legal and financial issues, and family and community issues allows volunteers to feel more confident and less anxious about encountering the difficult circumstances of their clients' lives. Perhaps most importantly, a knowledge of the life situation of another enables empathy and compassion.

This article will explore the use of the "imaginary client," a case statement which is presented early, and referred to throughout the various modules of a training, and will present a module on psychosocial issues that employs this technique. This module is currently in use at Shanti, a human service organization in San Francisco, California, which has trained more than 13,000 volunteers to provide direct services to clients during the past 27 years.

Volunteer voices, millions of them, all speaking up and speaking out with passion about what they're doing and what they believe in. Lots of people responding to what they're hearing and giving time to volunteering for whatever they're passionate about. Now that would be something. And that's what Speak Up! Speak Out! is on the way to achieving.

Speak Up! Speak Out! is a unique project that helps volunteers and volunteer managers become compelling ambassadors for volunteering by teaching communications skills. Simple really. It's about helping volunteers speak with strong feeling about what they're doing to audiences of all sorts - at conferences, seminars, in the media, team meetings, interviews, anywhere.

Modern technology makes it easy for anyone with a computer and an Internet connection to access training on virtually any subject. With the click of a mouse, you can learn how to arrange flowers or earn a degree without leaving the comfort of your home. You can log in to join a live class or sign in at your convenience. Training can include video clips, audio or chat rooms. There have never been so many options! But why would any organization want to deliver their training via the Internet? Not only is there the entire question of technology and the skills needed to use it effectively, but there is also the problem that whatever you put into cyberspace potentially becomes available free-of-charge to thousands and thousands of people. So is it all worth it?