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Expectations for Behavior
By Sue Vineyard and Steve McCurley
From Best
Practices for Volunteer Programs:
Best Ideas from Best Programs, pages 58-59
Key elements include:
- Examine expectations you have for behavior. Are they realistic?
Do you have people on your paid staff or among your long
term volunteer corps who feel that volunteers should all
look and act alike? You will need to correct their incorrect
conclusions-quickly.
- Ask volunteers and staff to brainstorm expectations. Then ask them to divide them into "healthy," "unhealthy," or "not sure" headings. Discuss ways to strengthen healthy expectations and eliminate unhealthy ones.
- Identify expectations you are not sure of that can be
ambivalent: when are they good, when bad and what makes
them so?
Let's look at some examples of unhealthy expectations:
- All volunteers will come to our program with a
deep understanding of what we do and why we exist.
- All volunteers will be well educated and therefore
articulate in expressing our message to groups to
which they belong; they will, of course, understand
that this is one of the things we will ask them to
do.
- All volunteers are signing on for the long haul;
they will be with us for many years and give us many
hours of work every week.
- Everyone will adapt to our normal fast pace of work and constantly changing instructions on how we do that work; they will understand and accept that their work will probably change on a regular basis.
All of these expectations are assumptions and if you are over the age of 12, you already know what assuming really means: disaster!Always "check out" different people's understanding of your program, its clients and services, their educational background, their willingness to speak before any group, their time commitments and demands, their normal "pace" and energy level and ability to adapt to change.
The following expectations usually promote retention. Expectations which are:
- All volunteers will come to our program with a
deep understanding of what we do and why we exist.
- Realistic in terms of time and energy. Assignments
given to seniors may be done at a different pace from
those of teenagers. (Beware of an assumption buried into
that sentence - the seniors may be more likely to get
something done than into-everything, hormonal-guided teens!)
- Applied to everyone fairly. Nothing is more
unsettling than finding that "rules" that apply
to you do not apply to everyone. Keep things fair and
even.
- Considerate of other demands on volunteers. Extend
great consideration around time demands that pop up in
other parts of their lives. Expect seasonal demands from
parents of school-age children who are very busy at the
start of the school year and at its end. holidays demand
more from people as well, especially Christmas and Hannukah.
Be understanding and respectful, demonstrating that you
understand they have more going on in their lives than
just working with you.
- Spelled out at the time of job placement. I always
thought there should be several more commandments to guide
us in our lives, among them: "Thou shalt not hide
elephants in closets." Be sure to be clear about
what a job entails at the time you are talking with a
volunteer about possible assignments. Never hide parts
of a job that might be uninviting. I always preferred
to be honest with a person about what is going to be expected
of them at the very start of our relationship rather than
"springing" anything on them after they have
said yes. Why would anyone trust someone who has not been
truthful with them in the first place.
- Flexible, so that the job and the volunteer "fit."
I've seen some very creative solutions to removing roadblocks
in front of a volunteer's placement including job sharing,
alternate site for work, etc. If you need table decorations
for a banquet, why does it matter if a volunteer does
the work with two others in her home rather than alone
at your office? Bend without sacrificing the goal of the
work.
- Openly shared with everyone involved. Keep people
"up" on what is going on so that they are not
"down" on anything. I suggest a time-lined worksheet
that everyone has. It lists who does what, when, and contact
information for everyone, so there can be direct contact
between working volunteers. this tool becomes a way to
hold everyone accountable and underlines to worker A why
it is critical that they write the copy for the new brochure
before a specific date that worker B has to have it typeset
and to the printer.
- Openly focused on the mission of the organization.
For work to be truly understood, those involved must see
the reason for the work and that it leads to the ultimate
goal for the organization. this can get tricky if the
volunteers are stuffing envelopes and don't understand
why that's important. Making clear that what they are
doing is part of a public awareness effort that will help
raise the money to serve clients clarifies the connection
to the organizational mission.
- Measurable. Be sure that folks understand what
success is. Set measurable, attainable goals for any assignment.
Avoid vague goals. Making the church "more friendly"
is too vague: express the same goal in measurable objectives,
such as "Make a point to greet at least two newcomers
to the service every week, recording their name, etc.,
for future contacts."
- Matching skill levels and interests to work assignments.
Giving folks work that they are capable of doing and like
to do, simply makes for a happy match for all involved.
- Leading to success as defined by the volunteer. Find out hat the volunteer would consider success in a specific assignment. Redirect their thinking if it is unrealistic ("I want to work for you to wipe out poverty in our city in the next year.") or if you discover they have misinformation about what you do.
For books on this topic in our bookstore, click the link(s) below:
A to Z: Volunteer Management Overviews
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Permission is granted for organizations to download and reprint this article. Reprints must provide full acknowledgment of source, as provided:
Excerpted from Best
Practices for Volunteer Programs:
Best Ideas from Best Programs, pages 58-59, by
Sue Vineyard and Steve McCurley
Found in the Energize website library at: http://www.energizeinc.com/art.html
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