Volunteer Program/Resources Manager, Role of

Those who manage, lead, or work alongside volunteers often give advice to their teams, and may be surprised and perhaps frustrated when it's not acted upon. This can happen both in situations where volunteers have a lot of independence and authority to act on their own, but also when we try to encourage less experienced volunteers to make their own decisions.

In turn, volunteers may offer us helpful advice. Do we always receive it well? In this feature article, author Kirsty McDowell explores why understanding the ‘psychology of giving and receiving advice’ can help volunteer managers improve volunteer leadership practices and encourage people to act on their advice. 

When it comes to volunteer leadership, experienced volunteer manager Meridian Swift believes that two models dominate: reactive or proactive. But in this e-Volunteerism feature, Swift argues that it’s time to break the cycle of being a reactive volunteer manager – someone who waits for volunteer requests and then works hard to fulfill them – and ease into proactive volunteer management that anticipates needs and consistently networks with the decision-making staff.

“While reactive volunteer management will get the job done, proactive volunteer management frees us to take control and responsibility for volunteer services, to become creative, expand our circle of influence, have a hand in decision making and ultimately elevate ourselves within our organizations,” writes Swift. Through examples and additional insights, Swift outlines the way to proactive leadership for current and future volunteer leaders.

Here's an important addition to your advocacy toolbox. This Training Designs presents training resources to help you describe and demonstrate the power of volunteer engagement to peers and senior managers through the lens of “transformational leadership.” Newly-appointed Training Designs editor Erin R. Spink explains the theory of transformational leadership and the many commonalities it shares with volunteer engagement as a means to bring about significant change in both followers and the organization.

With the ideas and tools in this article, your presentations and training sessions can include the leadership language that is more familiar to senior management – a step that may open their eyes to what volunteer engagement can do for an organization and reinforce the value of your role and what you do.

We all know that an organizational culture that values volunteers and volunteer management is an ideal environment in which to engage citizens in important, meaningful service. But how do we foster this culture? One approach is to design and implement in-house training and advocacy to educate staff peers on the inner workings of effective volunteer engagement, including why volunteer management matters, how it results in better outcomes, and how they can more actively participate as partners with volunteer talent.  

This Training Designs offers tips and strategies for how leaders of volunteers can facilitate in-house education for their staff peers. Ideally, this will result in better staff-volunteer relationships, greater volunteer impact on the organizational mission, and an organizational culture that is more inclusive and appreciative of volunteers.

Irish-Australian colleague DJ Cronin speaks his mind with passion and humor, reflecting on the importance of truly loving the role of leading volunteers.

I love my job. I am in love with my job. I intend to live forever! So far so good! But saying such things in today’s society can arouse suspicion. What? You are happy? It’s much more acceptable to say “I hate every minute of my job… “

Like any relationship, this love affair is not perfect. We all have the down days. We might even feel like storming out the door on some occasions. But to maintain healthy relationships, we need to work on them…I’d like you to reflect on your relationship with volunteer management as your job and will give you a few tips on what works for me with this lover.

In this feature article, Cronin proposes four key elements of success: authentic leadership, a sense of humor, excellent communication, and passion. He also shares tips for how to “keep the romance going” and what to do “if the relationship fails.”

Is he speaking in your voice?

Just think about it: What helps explain why organizations don’t bother giving volunteers proper training or structure? Why do paid staff often act as though volunteers aren’t really human? Why are milk and cookies universally present at volunteer recognition events? In this issue of Voices, Publishing Editor Emeritus Steve McCurley has the answer: “They think they’re elves!”

Although he has presented this talk at many conferences and workshops over the years, McCurley’s witty and thought-provoking discourse on elf management is presented here for the very first time in print. Enjoy.

  

Chris Linnell, volunteer services supervisor at the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County (FPDDC), Illinois, thought it was crazy when Eagle Scout Gavin Burseth approached her with the idea to bring a herd of goats to eat the poison ivy and other invasive plants at FPDDC’s campground. But sixteen-year-old Burseth, working to achieve the prestigious Hornaday Award from the Boy Scouts of America for significant contributions to conservation, was persuasive. After some creative volunteer management thinking and convincing advocacy from Linnell to the Natural Resources/Land Management staff, the project was approved. In the end, the goats did a perfect job of clearing the dangerous plants, and Burseth also delivered public education lectures and generated media interest in the project.

This fascinating example of an unusual set of volunteers (with lots of pictures) has important implications for volunteer resources managers in any setting. How do you react when a teenager proposes an unfamiliar or nontraditional service project? What does it take to convince others in the organization to support the idea? What special considerations arise when stepping into the unknown? This special e-Volunteerism feature will show you why the nontraditional and the unknown can be a very good thing.