As this volatile year draws to a close and we look toward new opportunities, it is heartening to know that volunteering is inherently an optimistic activity. No one volunteers for a cause they assume is hopeless. So the very act of participation implies a dream: this problem can be solved, this cause can succeed, this effort can make a difference.
In our efforts to professionalize volunteer management, to calculate the worth of volunteer services in the gross national product, to develop policies and minimize risk, it is easy to miss the forest for the trees. We must never become so focused on the nuts-and-bolts of effective "management" of volunteers - doing things the paid staff wants them to do - that we forget our role as facilitators of what volunteers want to do.
The late Ivan Scheier always exhorted leaders of volunteers to think in these terms and he wrote all about it in his book, Making Dreams Come True without Money, Might or Miracles: A Guide for Dream-Chasers and Dream-Catchers. He proposed that leaders of volunteers recognize their role as "dream-catchers"; we have the special ability to welcome the passion and vision of those we engage as volunteers. Here are just three examples of how you can fill this role:
1. Welcome mavericks.
In general, very few organizations are comfortable with people who march to the beat of a different drummer. How do we react if someone enthusiastically proposes a new idea for how to deliver service or even for what service to deliver? Are we willing to experiment or do we dismiss the different vision as naive, uninformed, or amateur? We ought to make the volunteer program the place that new ideas can be tested.
2. Foster "social entrepreneurship."
The traditional model is for the organization to define a need or problem, decide how it will be handled, and recruit employees and volunteers to fill predetermined job descriptions. Maybe we can allow creative thinking to thrive. For example, why not recruit volunteers who are concerned about the need or problem and challenge them to "find ways to do something about this"?
3. Give permission to dream.
The volunteer program can dedicate itself to foster dreaming. On a regular basis, hold think tanks or at least "idea discussions" on questions such as:
- If we were to start from scratch, what would you do differently?
- In an ideal world, what would you like to see happen?
- What idea has no one ever tried that you think might work?
- If you were given an unrestricted grant of $50,000 (or whatever amount or currency you wish), what would you spend it on?
Don't just involve volunteers in these sessions. Paid staff rarely are permitted to dream and there is no reason why the volunteer office can't be the one place they are welcome to do so.
And how about involving clients in speaking for themselves about what they'd like? One model of volunteering is self-help. Perhaps instead of always recruiting outside volunteers, maybe we can engage recipients of service in helping each other or at least in steering the organization toward greater impact.