Hot Topics

Responses to:
"I’ll help with that, but don’t ask me to lead it!"

Submitted on 11 December 2007 by Hodge Drake, Otterbein Retirement Living Communities, Reggional Director of Development, Lebanon, Ohio USA
Consider making volunteer leadership assignments more temporal. Volunteers are more likely to respond to well-defined time periods rather than an open-ended assignment that may last literally years, ie: capital campaigns, for one.  In light of this, consider shortening Board term commitments. Busy people may sincerely want to help, but just can't commit to a series of 2 or even 3, 3-year commitments.

Submitted on 16 April 2007 by Greg Grunau, Volunteer Calgary, Board member
Calgary, AB Canada
Great topic to post! I've been on a steep learning curve in this area, both in my role as a pastor and as a Board member in our local volunteer centre. Some key principles that have been coming to the surface are:

• Clarify who you're looking for and talk to "target audiences". Our volunteer centre recently identified 4 key areas we wanted represented on our Board, and for the 6 available roles we now have 15 applicants.
• Use effective tools. Boardmatch is available here in Canada in several cities. It's a web-based organization that helps organizations and people who want to serve on a Board connect with each other. It also provides a basic training for new Board members.
• Develop the people you have. We don't usually spend enough time getting to know our current volunteers and members and helping them get to know themselves (especially potential leaders). By giving people entry level leadership roles, they can test out their abilities, learn and grow, and be affirmed for their leadership in a less imposing role. Leaders need to recognize leadership qualities in people and call it out of them. If we raise up a culture of leaders who find and develop other potential leaders, then we will have healthier organizations with people who are serving in the right roles for them - Board members, managers and front-line volunteers alike.

Submitted on 11 April 2007 (in response to the comment below) by Hillary Roberts, President, PLNJ Inc., Keyport, New Jersey, USA
To Ms. TaNeashia Sudds at BBBS: We hear that a lot. Our methods are often considered unconventional. Not having a preconceived notion about mission does NOT mean we don't have a plan. All too often, conventional recruitment styles see those two ideas as mutually exclusive. Need not be. My point is, we welcome people with new ideas rather than placing ONLY our ideas upon them. This does attract forward thinkers and a great many concepts that impact our funding, programs and long term volunteer recruitment strategies. We approach volunteer recruitment as an investment in volunteer energy instead of leaving unique suggestions on a dream pile. I thank you for your comments.

Submitted on 11 April 2007 (in response to the comment below) by TaNeashia, Executive Assistant, Big Brothers Big Sisters, San Diego, CA USA
I have to admit that I'm impressed with your volunteer retention numbers in light of your not having a clear direction in which you are moving. I'm looking forward to reading more hot topics in the future.

Submitted on 5 April 2007 by H. Roberts, President, PLNJ, Inc., Keyport, NJ, USA
This is a BIG topic. In my position, I invest 40 hours a month meeting volunteers, recruiting sponsors and seeking out new partnerships.

Several times a year we coordinate recruitment workshops around the state. We interview roughly 50 candidates at each workshop for volunteer leadership positions. In attendance, a few Board members and Volunteer Coordinators active in our agency conducting the interviews. After the workshop we invite all of the candidates chosen from the workshop to an agency brunch. At the brunch they meet our "field volunteers," recipient client contacts, and Board Members. It's a relaxing question-and-answer atmosphere. We stress three important aspects of our mission statement: client service/quality, agency communication and FUN.

Over the past eight years we have successfully recruited, trained and retained 5,900 state wide volunteers, due in large part to collaborative and inclusive strategies. We welcome forward thinkers, idea people and individuals who have something special to offer. We do not stand on ceremony, do not rely on old methods, and first and foremost we do not have a preconceived notion about how our mission should move forward. FLEXIBILITY attracts reliability.

At the heart of this agency is a "pay it forward" spirit. Enthusiasm, compassion and a can-do attitude count for everything. We believe that is why our Board has a waiting list and our quality of mission and volunteer corps is strong.

I have many colleagues and mentors to thank for keeping me a hard-working President of a well-respected state agency. What works for PLNJ is listening and learning FROM volunteers.

Submitted on 5 April 2007 by Don Rhodes, Advocate, Don Rhodes & Associates Limited, Omakau, Central Otago, New Zealand
I contract to an organisation that is run by a board of volunteers, although their companies are members of ours and pay a subscription for the privilege. When attempting to recruit board members, I make a point of approaching those who are the decision makers—i.e., CEO or Managing Director, etc.—and also those who are very busy people. That way we get folk who get things done, and who are best able to "influence" others at board meetings to get on with the job. I enjoyed your article, and congratulate you on well thought-out points to consider. Cheers.

Submitted on 4 April 2007 by Sue Berlove, consultant, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I use a concept I call "Leading from Behind" to support volunteers in leadership roles. It involves providing solid support to those leaders as you coach them in the role. But a critical part of this approach is creating a committee structure that defines various functional roles, clarifies who does what and who is accountable to whom. I think that having a clear structure keeps people from becoming overly dependent on me as staff for all the support and expertise that is needed and it allows decisions to get made by a group of volunteers without leaving one person out on a limb.

It is a successful technique that I have used in event organizing, where we used a steering committee and sub committees. I supported the event chair and the steering committee and the committee members worked with others in small groups and reported back. Again, what provided security was the clear structure, which I created in advance. I recruited to this structure, and then oriented people to it so that everyone knew what was expected of them from the beginning. It is not very sexy work—creating committee structures—but I think it has helped me in many situations.

Submitted on 3 April 2007 by Dana Wiley, Ardmore, PA

Boy was this timely and helpful for me as I’m chair of our church Nominating Committee (for our Board of Trustees and currently the Search Committee for Senior Minister)—you’ve hit the nail on the head about the dilemmas and I found your suggestions and cautions to be quite helpful.  I’m forwarding this to all of those in our church who are in similar roles of recruitment and also leadership development as well as our ministers.

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