Help with Herding Cats - Tips on Managing Volunteers

I wrote this for a local sports magazine (very small, local one)a while ago and since it is the only Journal-ly thing I have ever written, I have decided to post it here. Many DUers have posted that they have become precinct chairs, or are starting up or taking over local organizations to help with the "cause". Although geared towards youth sports, I think it can be applied to political organizations as well. Hope it helps.

Herding Cats

Over the course of several years, I have witnessed the misuse of volunteers up close and personal, in fact I am guilty of doing so myself. It is always unintentional, but it is far too pervasive, and contributes to the downgrading of many organizations. Although the association I help run is far from perfect, I make a conscious effort to reevaluate my people skills annually to improve the arena in which I ask others to serve. I have developed several rules to guide me. Although a work-in-progress, it may help some of you new to, or an old hand at, running an unpaid business.

The first (and to my mind, most ignored) precept to go by is my Golden Rule. Its importance should not be overlooked. Here it is – keep it in the back of your mind whenever a volunteer is standing in front of you - Every person you come in contact with has a pre-set number of man-hours to give you. Period. Use these hours wisely - you don't know when they will run out. Our lives would all be immensely improved if our volunteer force would show up at registration with this number tattooed on their foreheads. They don’t. And to make it worse, no one – not them and certainly not you, knows how much effort they hold in reserve. However, once they reach their threshold, you will lose them. At that point, something inside them feels the need to rediscover their other priorities, and that has to be okay. In fact, it is necessary to expect turnover if you are dealing with youth organizations. Seldom do leaders stay more than a few years past their children’s having outgrown what the league has to offer.

So when you are faced with a grand force of nature that has blessedly shown up on your doorstep, fresh, excited and full of new ideas, dole out the go-ahead with moderation. Keeping their hours spent on these projects low will not curb their enthusiasm, but it will give time and experience a chance to temper their zeal with wisdom. Having a well-seasoned veteran in your boardroom, who has worked the crowd before and has a good grasp on what it really takes to get something done, is worth a thousand eager beavers dying to implement new initiatives. And let me tell you, my own personal experience in burnout taught me that. Had a certain leader handled me better, I would have lasted much longer at a position that brought me great personal satisfaction, but wore me out in a year and a half from my own unsustainable desire to do more, more, more.

And once you have set a new person on a task, keep on top of their progress, even if it means micromanaging once in awhile. Remember that this is not their job, they may not feel the weight of the responsibility they have agreed to take on. Many people new to this forum assume that you will wait for them because they are volunteering in their “spare time”. You are behind a career, school or whatever else their life involves. Your tickler, and the threat of sounding lame at a monthly meeting, are often a person’s only motivation for getting something done. Keep your volunteers on the most necessary of tasks, ask only what they can fairly give, and you will find them around a lot longer.

Once your organization is established and word gets out that it is well run, you may find yourself with a pleasant dilemma. One day you will have more people that want to work with you than you have jobs to fill. Don’t jump at the all offers for assistance. Find the right volunteer for the right job. James may really be vying for one position, but if you know Peggy has what it takes to do it well, lobby for Peggy. Your gut is often right on this. If someone is more flash than substance in everyday life, don’t delude yourself into believing that will change because it’s “for the kids”.

Now to tackle the tricky world of finances. There are no nuances here. Require requisitions, require receipts, and disclose all finances fully at every board meeting. Keep a strict system of checks on all money that changes hands and ENFORCE IT – even if your Treasurer is your best friend. Many best friends have cut and run with their buddies spouses, money and jobs. Becoming lax in this area is inviting dishonor to your cause. If your organization is worth 30 or more of your unpaid man-hours a week and you are not diligent in protecting your group’s integrity, you are selling yourself, and every person who has ever lifted a finger for you, short. Do it, even at the cost of your Treasurer’s feelings. Don’t hedge on this one. Your group’s financial solvency is its future. It is bigger than your discomfort, and a financial scandal retains the power to taint or destroy an organization long after you and your board has moved on.

So now, you have your board, what next? I have a tradition that I will share with you. Our board doesn’t have an official meeting in December – it is our month off. At our “get acquainted” meeting in November after elections, we finish up invoice approval, meet the new faces for next year, and I pass out homework for January. This is not the sadist in me talking. It my experience that although people step forward to be helpful, not everyone is a born leader. So I try to make sure every person on my board has a specific task to complete and report on for our first official board meeting of the New Year. Many of the tasks assigned have no particular urgency to them, but I make it clear that it is important that they are done. This exercise empowers people to their new role. They are not coming in January expecting “gear up” and learn their job description. They have completed their first task and have become an invested part of the board. This also serves the dual purpose of weeding out those who want to make decisions, but don’t necessarily want to work.

On getting people to volunteer for subcommittees or a new task at a board meeting, don’t be afraid to name names. It is, in fact, detrimental not to. A general call will often be met with silence. This will then be followed by an already overworked staffer begrudgingly accepting the task and further separating the board into the dangerous area of the Do’s and the Do-nots. Sniping comes soon after this line is drawn; and a dual-class feeling is only good for inciting coups. Many people are willing to help, but don’t know how to stand up in a public forum. Get a handle on whose job is lighter for that time of the year, and plead your case with them. Have extra names handy for assistants, or encourage them to get their own. If there are people in the shadows who don’t want to make commitment to be a board member, but have positive energy, draft them as extra assistants. Working on a project marries a person to an organization in a way that winning games or getting cool T-shirts never will. And maybe by getting their feet wet, they will decide they like to swim and come on board next year.

And lastly, Thank them, thank them, and thank them. In the world of unpaid minions, gratitude is our only currency – and people get miffed if they feel they are underpaid. Although a plaque is nice, public praise is something we can all live on for weeks. Rotate a list of “People With Whom We Could Not Do What We Do” on your website or newsletter. Don’t repeatedly thank the same people. Although there will be a core of people that do a lion’s share of the work, others that do much less feel just as put upon. Don’t sigh too much over this, it is a fact of life. Appreciate all that even the most expendable do. They could be doing less – thus leaving more for YOU and that main core to do. Which brings us back to the Golden Rule.

I'm on the Board of Directors of a health non-profit that stresses wellness and uses alternative methods for healing. We're just going into a growth spurt with the opening of our new Education Center in May. We are just looking into working out a program to encourage volunteers. I plan to email your article to the other Board members to discuss at our next meeting, if that is ok with you.

I hope it helps.

I'm sending it around right now!

I'm going to bookmark it!

Bookmarked, K&R! :yourock:

I couldn't have said it better myself.

One of my pet peeves when it comes to how the local party utilizes its volunteer resources is the incessant useless meetings that are held. Sadly, there are people who believe that they must assert their authority by requiring volunteers to attend meeting after meeting when there is no useful purpose being served at the meetings. We end up with a small clique of people who like coming to meetings to bitch and moan, and the people who want to do something useful give up and quit coming back.

Volunteer hours are finite. If a volunteer has only two hours to donate and those two hours are spent in a meeting where nothing gets accomplished, then you've just wasted that volunteer's donation of time and done nothing to achieve your goals. It should take no more than a few minutes to train a volunteer to perform a task at hand if that person has only a couple of hours to give. Training should be thought out prior to the time that the volunteers are to start their tasks. If you are conducting a phonebank, have a brief written script on hand with answers to frequently asked questions along with a call list and a place to make calls ready for them upon arrival. Keep them busy and focused during the volunteer time alloted, and be ready to answer any questions that arise. Thank them profusely for their time and don't forget to ask them to come back again! Save the long political discussions for social time.

in New Port Richey, they said, "hello", sat us down and handed us a script and phone list. We smiled and got to work.

We could only volunteer three hours that first day, so had they taken a lot of time to "train" us, we wouldn't have reached nearly as many people as we did.

Fantastic advice, thank you so much, keep this one kicked, DU Activists!

Thanks for sharing great advice!

Fabulous article - I've printed it for our county BoD, who could use it.

One thing I've learned from observing them:

If you're not a names person, you should not be in volunteer management. Don't do GOTV.

Calling a volunteer by a name not his/hers is telling that volunteer that zie is not appreciated. If you can't remember names, don't try to use one you're uncertain on. If you repeatedly misremember one person's name, you're disrespectful of zer identity and telling zer you don't appreciate zer work. Be prepared for your volunteer to disappear.

Very important.

Great article! :)