Strengthening your relationships with volunteers

Working with volunteers

Photo: Contributed

How well do you work with volunteers? Take Karen Knight's quick quiz to find out.

This column is going to put you to work.

We all want our programs to be supportive of the volunteers who serve with us. But is that support actually there?

In what areas are you strong and where can you improve? This self-assessment is a much simplified version of the one I do with my clients and I’m hoping it will give you some insight about how to strengthen your relationships with volunteers.

Below are some statements you can rate yourself on. Mark whether you do it (2), don’t do it (0), or kinda-sorta do it (1). Be objective and honest. Ready? Here goes:

1. We provide volunteers with a role description that clearly states the role’s requirements and explains what tasks and outcomes we expect from them.

2. Expectations are reasonable, and as much flexibility is built into the roles as the mission allows.

3. All our communication, of whatever sort, with volunteers is clear, timely and fully accessible.

4. We intentionally and directly encourage and welcome people of varying genders, ethnicities, abilities and world views to volunteer with us, and have removed all known barriers to their involvement.

5. We provide all necessary resources to protect volunteers’ health and wellbeing from any challenges inherent in their role (ie: counselling for suicide hotline volunteers).

6. We encourage and support the building of community amongst volunteers, and provide opportunities and facilities for them to interact with other volunteers and staff.

7. We take volunteers’ interests, abilities and desires into account when matching them to a role. This includes recommending that they volunteer elsewhere if we have no suitable position for them.

8. We provide all training required for volunteers to do their tasks easily and well. We also ensure that they know who to approach with questions, and that, whenever possible, mistakes are seen as a learning opportunity.

9. We supply volunteers with clear policies on expense reimbursement, and ensure that they are never out of pocket for the service they provide us.

10. We regularly check in with our volunteers to see how they are fitting into the organisation, feeling about their role and impact, and to provide feedback on both what they are doing well and ways that they can improve.

11. We show every volunteer exactly how the tasks they do contribute to the mission, and make a point of thanking them regularly in the appreciation style that they prefer.

Obviously, the higher your score, the better your relationships with volunteers are. However, it’s not really the overall score that gives the greatest insight, or leads to improvement. Improvement happens when we get into the specifics.

First, take a look at those areas where you marked the program as 0. What is the key theme that statement revolves around? Is it communication? Training? Appreciation? Why is that theme missing or weak in your program? What do you need to do to strengthen it?

For example, say you marked the fourth statement as 0. The theme there, of course, is diversity and belonging. Why has that not been a priority in your program? Is it because it’s not a priority for the organization itself? Is it because you don’t feel it’s necessary to accomplish the mission? If it is a priority, what is holding you back? Are you not sure where to start? Do you just not have the time to dedicate to it?

No matter what the theme is, these kinds of questions can be uncomfortable.

But, as the saying goes, growth happens outside our comfort zone. We need to ask these questions if we want to improve our relationships with volunteers and, thus, strengthen our program and increase our impact on the mission.

Once you’ve determined the answers to these questions for each of the statements you marked as 0, then follow the same process for those you marked as 1. Just focus on the specific parts of the statement that you find you’re weak in.

For example, in statement 10. you may regularly check in with the volunteers and let them know what they do well, but you’re uncomfortable giving them ways to improve. Hey, they’re volunteers; we shouldn’t criticize them! Only, everyone wants to feel like they’re doing a good job and if you point out ways that they could do the work faster, easier or more accurately, they won’t see it as criticism. They’ll see it as you helping them grow. Assuming you’re tactful about it, of course!

Once you can see clearly the challenges you’re facing, it becomes a lot easier to tackle them. I can’t give you specific solutions in this blog; that will depend too much on your particular situation and the statements or themes that you’re struggling with. If you’re really stuck on one, though, get in touch. I’ll be happy to brainstorm with you.

The hardest part of this exercise is remaining objective.

It’s easy to look at a statement and say “Oh, we do that,” without really thinking about it from the point of view of a volunteer. You may think that your role descriptions are clear, but are they to someone who’s just walked in off the street? In many cases, to do this assessment properly, it may be necessary to get the opinion of one or more volunteers – especially new ones who haven’t learned the ropes yet. Which in itself will help strengthen your relationships with volunteers. For now, though, just see what you come up with.

A final piece of advice. Don’t try to tackle all your challenges at once. Pick one that you feel would have the most impact and focus on solving it. Taking on too much just leads to frustration and overwhelm, and then nothing ever get accomplished.

Step by step is how you climb a mountain.

By the way, if any of you got a full 22 points, let me know. I want to pick your brain.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.