5 Powerful Keys to Recruiting and Leading Volunteers
Don’t wait for volunteers to volunteer. Go to them.
The volunteer who volunteers may not be the one you want.
#1. Help them:
The first question to ask volunteers is, “How can we serve you?”
Talk about them before talking about you.
Learn what makes volunteers tick before explaining what you need them to do. Leaders of nonprofits become over-consumed with organizational mission and vision. They forget to focus on people.
Questions:
- What interests you about our organization?
- What are your career aspirations?
- What makes you feel successful or fulfilled?
- What makes you happy?
Ask the second question, after you hear their responses. “What’s important to you about helping people,” for example.
After you understand them, adapt.
#2. Adapt:
Align your language with theirs.
Listen for language that reveals their heart. Do you hear compassion, systems, or vision in their language. Speak their language back to them.
Leaders who align the way they talk with the language of others show respect and connect.
Never ask anyone to help you until you understand their passion, strengths, values, and vision.
#3. Help us:
How can you help us?
Serving is a two way street. Don’t stop with, “How can we serve you?” If you do, you may end up with self-centered, self-serving volunteers.
Give volunteers the opportunity to fulfill their inner drives. Help them find roles that enhance meaning, align with strengths, and make meaningful contribution.
Leaders who help others matter more, matter more themselves.
#4. Clarify:
Volunteers want to know what success looks like, how they add value, and what you add to the process.
#5. Intervene:
Volunteers appreciate you stepping in when things go wrong.
When things go wrong, take responsibility with curiosity, compassion, and vision for the future.
- How can we be better?
- What systems or structure will protect success?
- What really went wrong?
What are the keys to successfully recruiting and leading volunteers?
Good stuff! “The volunteer who volunteers may not be the one you want” is gold. IJ’m sometimes too consumed with filling slots. Thanks.
Thanks Bigal. Filling slots takes us in the wrong direction. However, there are some “utility” volunteers who really seem to enjoy stepping in to fill a need. That helps.
Awesome Dan. This is such an important message. Many times, volunteers say I am “just a volunteer”. This phrase should never be uttered. They are not just volunteers, but volunteers who have an enormous ability to make an impact through investing their time, talent and treasure. Without their gifts, skills, wisdom and passion so many lives would never be reached.
Thanks Dan. You nailed it! People who feel valued are more fulfilled and more likely to make valuable contributions to the organization where they serve.
“Everyone has a value” when it comes to volunteering be thankful for what you receive, their inside may be totally different then the outside! Most individuals who seek volunteers are just thankful if anyone volunteers let alone being distinct in whom they want to volunteer! If mission critical requires selected volunteers, best of luck, you may has passed up on the sleepers who truly care about the mission.
Thanks Tim. Love the term sleepers. There are people in organizations who are just waiting for someone to ask.
don’t be afraid to pitch in if necessary, and don’t be above any task or job.
Dan, what an interesting way to open the conversation with a volunteer: “The first question to ask volunteers is, “How can we serve you?””
Can you share an example of how you have used this concept in a volunteer situation?
In community organizing, there is a tool called the “one on one conversation,” which is really listening & probing for where one’s passion, self-interest, and leadership potential lie. In that sense, I’m not looking for a “volunteer” as much as I am listening for where this person is a leader. I’m looking for leaders whom I can support in their leadership of their communites.
Great reminders, Dan; and a great path to energize volunteers and make sure there is a good fit.
How timely! I am in the middle of recruiting season for my org.
As a volunteer and a few times leader in animal rescue and for animal rights organizations…I can say that without the love and passion of volunteers…nothing would get done. As a leader, you have to see that what they believe in is what moves them to take action. A volunteer will always appreciate when a team lead values his/her strengths and the initiative that made them volunteer. When I get to be a volunteer, I always thank the group that saw something good in me. They allowed me to make a difference in Society…that is what is important to those that really care and give their time and talents to work for free.
Great suggestions Dan! Taking the time to “get to know” the volunteer can result in high levels of engagement.
Check out how the City of San Antonio Animal Care Services connects with their volunteers on a personal level. http://txtmovies.blogspot.com/2014/11/client-spotlight-city-of-san-antonio.html
Good piece. Thanks for writing it. As a director of volunteers who touches 100s of individual volunteers every year, I am mission-fit driven.To know whether a volunteer is a good fit for Domus, I get to know them first. That’s why my orientation interview lasts an hour. Not only does it help me “align” my message it also imparts the gravity and importance of the commitment.
Educate and Validate may be useful additions to this list.
Volunteers must be educated about the cause for which they volunteer and more to the point, they need to be educated about the needs of the organization and its functions. There are a multitude of nuances and trade specific protocols or norms that must be learned.
Validating volunteers encourages them, helping them feel useful and appreciated, and empowers them to achieve a higher degree of functioning in and for the organization.