You may remember a commercial a few years ago that depicted cat herding. While the commercial humorously depicted modern management in general, it reminded volunteer resources managers (VRMs) about their work. VRMs bring together information, ideas, and people and direct them where they need to go even when it seems that everyone is going in a different direction.
The strength of VRMs is their commitment to effective leadership…leadership that draws the team together, guides it, draws out the team’s strengths and keeps everyone moving in the same direction. Unfortunately, many professionals still believe that teams just happen. In reality, teams take a lot of nurturing to build and a great deal of effort to keep working. Several suggestions follow that can help VRMs build effective teams that support their agencies.
Several Suggestions for Leaders
Learn to Follow
In the past, the image of the lone leader sitting at the head of the boardroom table calling the shots was very familiar. That image, however, is a little misleading because all successful leaders surround themselves with key advisors. They are successful because they enable others to achieve greatness and they allow themselves to follow.
The best leaders share one quality. They know how and when to follow. Successful leaders enable others to achieve greatness and they allow themselves to follow. We have also all sat in meetings where nothing gets decided; it’s a colossal waste of time because the committee exists only to serve the needs of the committee.
When Put In Charge, Take Charge
The speaker, Bryan Dodge, has three tenets of leadership: “When put in charge, take charge”, “It’s never better than the interview”, and “When you can’t change the people, change the people”. These tenets directly apply to the work of volunteer team leadership in the nonprofit environment.
Everyone has participated in a group situation or on a team where the team leader doesn’t take a strong leadership approach to the group. Often in these situations, volunteers will report that the team doesn’t have a strong sense of direction or focus. While teams need to grow and discover solutions to the problems they encounter, they also need the guidance of a leader to fulfill their potential. It is the team leader that will help the group to “learn” how to work together, keep the project on track and develop strategies that leverage the collective strengths of the team.
It’s Never Better Than the Interview
Through their work, VRMs meet many members of the community who want to make a difference. Often, they meet individuals with great creative and programmatic potential. It can be tempting to consider how that volunteer can grow in their body of knowledge and skill level. While this certainly will occur during their tenure of service, Mr. Dodge reminds that when an individual goes to an interview, they are putting their best foot forward so be cautious of reading more into the individual’s potential than is really there.
When You Can’t Change the People, Change the People
Team development is a process that takes time. Often team members will have to learn how to effectively work together and what their roles are. They will need time to learn how to collectively resolve differences and find solutions. However, there will be times as a leader that you discover that the team composition or assignments are not appropriate. Leaders must be able to recognize these times and how to readjust the team composition or reassign tasks more appropriately.
Follow advice
Successful leaders listen when advice is offered and ask when they need it. Leaders surround themselves with really great people but many will keep the reins so tight that they do not ever allow their people to perform at their true level of potential. So loosen the reins and allow those volunteers to provide their valuable input. People will truly surprise you with what they have to offer.
Develop the team
Take the time to develop the team. Volunteers have agreed to contribute their time, talents, contacts, and often their money to ensure that the agency reaches its bottom line. As a leader, it is the VRMs job to determine what the volunteer’s motivation to determine the best placement for them. VRMs should also seek to understand what each particular volunteer has to offer to the agency.
VRMs are then able to start developing a cohesive group. Share information regularly but don’t overwhelm volunteers. Educate them on issues important to the organization. This takes a little time and effort but the benefits are well worth the investment because it builds confidence in the volunteers and helps them to develop a network of their particular spheres of influence.
Develop a clear vision
No team is ever going to get to the finish line if they do not know where the finish line is or why they are going there. It is the leader’s responsibility to communicate a clear vision. As someone who is vested in seeing a problem solved and a child helped, this is channeling your vision in a way that others can see what the potential of the project is. For most VRMs, passion helps to communicate this vision. They just need to find a way to communicate it that is manageable for other people.
Clear, simple, mutually agreed upon goals is the first place to start. The next step is to consistently follow up on those goals and report progress throughout the project. As volunteers between to work together, they will begin to more closely identify with the goals and collectively work toward them.
Regular evaluation will also help a team to move toward a higher level of functioning. Volunteers appreciate the validation and the opportunity for discussion and, most importantly, chance for growth. There are few times for intimate and animated discussions between volunteers and the VRM about the organization’s work. This opportunity will enable to VRM to explore the volunteer’s strengths and interests, as well as, areas where additional training is needed.
The primary reason that volunteers leave an organization is because their strengths are not utilized. If some one comes to an organization to serve, they did so for a reason. It is the VRMs responsibility as a leader to find out what that is and where the volunteer’s interests are because if you do not allow them to contribute their passion to your organization, they will find another organization to give to.
While it may sometimes seem like “herding cats,” effective leadership of volunteer teams can bring success to an organization.