I am thoroughly enjoying my current role in the volunteerism
world. Working with the largest volunteering organisation in my state, my role
is to design and implement a renewed volunteer framework, policy, standards,
guidelines and tools. I’m like a kid let loose in a candy store! It’s a good
place to be with my career at the moment. I’ve been managing programs and leading
volunteers for over 21 years. To this role I am bringing much experience and it’s
a learning curve for me also. It is also
empowering to get organisational support and resources for such a big and
important project and I do believe that organisations that invest in excellent
volunteer management systems truly value volunteering.
It has been a reflective time for me as well. A part of me
still misses the day to day contact that can come with managing volunteers. ‘It’s
all about the people” is a mantra I often use for myself and it keeps me “real”
in my current work.
Personally it is satisfying to be doing this current project
and it goes to what we can do, as volunteer leaders, with our skills and
knowledge. Too often, volunteering strategy and policy is designed by people
who do not have subject matter expertise. While the involvement of HR in a collaborative
way, along with other stakeholders is important for project design and input, delivering
projects like these without volunteer management expertise simply does not make
sense and can in fact be detrimental to volunteering.
Too often I see Volunteer Managers underselling and
undervaluing their own skill set. There remains an unconscious bias, to some
degree, that they are after all “just” managing volunteers. Yet, we should all
know by now how complex effective volunteer management is. We should know how
many skills it requires and that a skilled volunteer leader is worth their
weight in gold!
What I love about volunteering the most is that it is ever
changing and fluid. The volunteering space can be a breeding ground for
innovation. The volunteering world is one of opportunity as well as hope. Shifting
volunteering trends, customer experience and sustainability drivers require us
to build and implement the appropriate standards, systems and processes to
support leaders to manage volunteering resources responsibly, fairly, effectively
and creatively. As trends in volunteering show, the volunteering marketplace is
becoming increasingly competitive. So now is the time to be reviewing your volunteering
strategy!
This is the opportunity for Volunteer Managers to step up to
the plate. Maybe your organisation does not have a strategy to begin with? If
not, it can all begin with a conversation and a chance for you to influence up
or across in your organisation. If you have a current framework check to see if
it is still current!
I still remember clearly a Volunteer Management network meeting
I attended about 10 years ago. Present amongst the large group were 3 Volunteer
Managers from a hospital group. They wanted to discuss a new policy their
organisation had released about volunteering. They had some serious concerns
about aspects of this policy. When I asked if they had been consulted about the
policy before it was released they said no and actually seemed surprised I had
asked! This brings me to the crux of the matter. It’s not about power and it’s
not about status. As Subject Matter Experts we should have a thorough
understanding of the history, culture, objectives and priorities of
volunteering in our organisations. We are the ones who should have the thorough
understanding of the world in which volunteering operates.
I would go as far to say that effective volunteer leadership
needs far more than the operational day to day duties that go hand in hand with
volunteer coordination. It needs collaboration and design skills and a
strategic overview that aligns your volunteering service to your organisational
mission. In the process you have the opportunity to tick the boxes of
recognition, renewal, and innovation and enhancing the service you provide to
the people we are helping in our communities. And at the end of the day that
end result is what it is all about.
To sum up I am encouraging you to step up. Volunteer
Managers should have the opportunity to influence and impact your organisations
volunteering practice strategically as well as operationally.
Good luck!
