Daniel C Olsen, Senior Consultant, SDAO

Leaders of volunteer organization have a duty to volunteers who contribute their time, talent, and efforts to an organization. As a leader within the organization, what are your duties.

Let us talk about duties, or responsibilities that leaders of organizations have TO their volunteers.

These duties are self-imposed and self-enforced.

Retention of volunteers is a major issue. Ask the question why they leave, and you will find a number of reasons. Performing these duties will address these issues and increase your retention of volunteer members.

THE TEN ESSENTIAL DUTIES

I propose there are ten essential duties you have to your volunteers; These essential duties are extremely important in retaining your volunteers. Each of these duties answers questions that volunteers have but may not ask you.

These ten essential duties are vital because if you address them, you will also minimize the reasons commonly cited by volunteers why they quit an organization.

1.     CLEARLY IDENITFY THE JOB TO BE DONE BY VOLUNTEERS.

This includes not only the defined duties but also the expectations you have of how well these duties are to be done. Duty to clearly identify responsibilities and expectations why are volunteers there the question why am I here? You want volunteers who are competent in knowledge and skills, confident in their abilities to perform and contributing to the success of the organization.

It is also important to clearly explain the policies and procedures within the organization. And how they relate to the purpose of the job.

This duty answers the question: What do you expect of me?

2.     PROVIDE LEADERSHIP TO VOLUNTEERS.

his includes providing information about the long-term strategic plan down to the daily plan.

Essential is clear direction where your organization is going and the part each volunteers plays.

This duty answers the question: Where are we going?

3.     DEVELOP YOUR VOLUNTEERS.

What is the plan for continuous and ongoing training and coaching? This can include formal classes to individual coaching sessions. It can also be short term assignments. You have a duty to train and coach, provide honest, constructive feedback and regular evaluation.

This duty answers the question: What do I need to know about being a volunteer?

4.     PROVIDE THE RESOURCES    

Duty to provide workplace resources to perform job. Often times, in the rush of everyday activities, necessary equipment and supplies are forgotten. This includes providing a workplace that is clean, safe, supplied, secured, equipped.

This duty answers the question: what are the resources I have to do the job?

5.     INCLUDE THE VOLUNTEER AS A MEMBER OF THE TEAM MEMBER 

Duty to include members as part of team assignments to perform which use their talents. These assignments should be challenging and rewarding. All members are to be treated with respect to being kept informed. This includes asking questions and working with others in a cooperative and collaborative manner. Often, you will have to resolve conflicts, most of which will be minor, but some can be major. Resolving conflicts is part of managing the teambuilding process.

This duty answers the question:  Am I a member of the team?

6.     ACTIVELY SEEK INPUT AND IDEAS  

Duty to seek input and listen to your members. There should be regular contact where you can listen, discuss, questions, clarify tasks or assignments and offer advice how to accommodate present and future needs

A volunteer wonders if their ideas are important? Seek comments on how to make projects or services better   How often do you have regular and frequent conversations? Being open-minded and respectful of different ideas is necessary.

This duty answers the question: Are my ideas and input listened to?

7.     RESPECT VOLUNTEER TIME   

The time of individual volunteers is valuable. Do you respect their time? Do meeting and training sessions begin and end on scheduled time. Sometime, in an attempt to build social, chatting and visiting time stretched. This does not respect time   Being aware of overload and recognizing potential burnout is vital to retaining volunteers.

Avoid surprise by providing advance notice on upcoming events. Give them a heads up and allow them to schedule their time ahead so they are available. This also enables them to notify you when they will not be available

Avoid having them take on more responsibilities that they can manage. In an attempt to please, some volunteers may not consider the workload and they become overloaded and overwhelmed. The result is frustration and burnout.

You do need to be flexible. Ask first and discuss before assuming.

This duty answers the question: Do you respect my time?

8.     PROVIDE SUPPORT AND UNDERSTANDING  

Duty to provide support for your volunteers and work to prevent frustration or loneliness. Do you understand when a volunteer member is struggling, confused, and not paying attention. Why is that? Take a time out and discuss your concern with volunteer, ask questions, offer alternatives.

In providing support and understanding, it is crucial to respect confidences entrusted to you.

This duty answers the question: Do you support me and care about me?

9.     RECOGNIZE THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF YOUR VOLUNTEERS

Duty to recognize contributions and not treat volunteers as free labor. Do you honor them, value efforts which contribute and make a difference? Do they know how they are making a difference? What are the ways you can recognize their work?

This duty answers the question: Do you recognize my work?

10.  KNOW YOUR VOLUNTEERS AS INDIVIDUALS  

When you see your volunteers do you address them by name?

What do you know about individual members? What are their other interests? What about their families? What about hobbies? Do you know you volunteers as individuals

When introducing volunteers…. What positive remarks can you say about them? What are the unique talents they possess? It gives you a wonderful opportunity to let your volunteers know how much you value them.

This is not often talked about. Volunteers are individuals. Each is unique. A good starting point is to be and recognize the personality style of each. As you recognize the style, you can better understand them, improve communications and are able to support them as volunteers. It is like tuning your radio to the proper station. Are you on their frequency?

It is important to know what their likes and dislikes are. What are their interests outside of volunteering?

This duty answers the question: Do you know who I am?

Summary

Leaders performing these Ten Essential Duties will increase the retention of their volunteers and benefit their organization and the community you serve.

As stated earlier, these duties are self-imposed and self-enforced.

In performing these duties, it is important to be consistent. These are not sometime duties. They are all-time duties. Consistency in performing these duties will make the difference. This is a key to being a leader and influencing others within your organization.

Is this article helpful to you? Do you have Questions, Comments and Suggestions about volunteer recruitment and retention? Please share them by sending an email to  dolsen@sdao.com. Thank you.