Energize Book Blog

Can you believe it – volunteer management now has its own Idiot’s Guide book! Working with the standard template, author John L. Lipp  crammed a lot of very useful information into 304 pages, all in bite-sized chunks.  Read on for our interview with John and a taste of the great information you’ll get from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Recruiting and Managing Volunteers.

Energize,Inc. (EI): What makes this book different from previous books on volunteer management?

John Lipp (JL): As a profession, we’ve been very fortunate to have some great books on volunteer management. Many of those books gave me a lot of guidance over the years and the feeling that I wasn’t alone. I’m hoping this book will do the same for a whole new generation of leaders in the field, especially those who might not even think of volunteer management as a profession.

I wrote this book from the perspective of a practitioner. I’ve worked in the field for 22 years and spent many of those years directly leading volunteer programs in a variety of settings. I’ve made lots of mistakes along the way, and want to share what I’ve learned and hopefully prevent others from repeating some of those mistakes. I’ve also had my share of battles, usually with people who only think of volunteers as free labor or in very condescending terms. In that spirit, I hope the book will not only be valuable for people whose main job is volunteer management in an organization – whether or not they are paid or volunteers themselves – but a valuable resource for all people who find themselves supervising volunteers in some capacity. In other words, I hope this book gets shared among several people in an organization and that it just doesn’t sit on the volunteer manager’s bookshelf.

It’s also nice being part of the “Idiot’s Guide” series, with their familiar orange covers and format. Hopefully, this will make the book – and the information inside – very accessible to lots of people. I’m also hoping more bookstores, major chains as well as the independents, will carry it with their other titles in the “Idiot’s” series. It will probably end up in the business section, with other management books. I actually feel the “for profit” sector can learn a lot from those of us who work in the independent sector, so maybe the book will even have some crossover appeal? That would be great!

EI: In the chapter on volunteer training, you introduce the “Goldilocks Rule .” What’s that?

JL: The “Goldilocks Rule” comes from personal experience, when I served as Director of Volunteer Services at an organization that provided emotional and practical support volunteers for persons living with HIV/AIDS. At the time, the organization was requiring all volunteers – whether or not they intend to provide direct services to clients – to attend a two weekend training program that was Friday night and all day on both Saturdays and Sundays; approximately 35 hours. It was a phenomenal experience, but at the same time, it was way too much for people who wanted to provide other volunteer services for the organization; services that we really needed.

Although I initially got some resistance, we ended requiring a much shorter training for those volunteers who wanted to work behind the scenes.  I learned that the key to preparing volunteers was to give them just the right amount of training they needed to be successful in their positions. If your organization requires too much, you can lose valuable people who might have a lot to offer. Require too little, and you may be putting your organization’s clients, and the volunteers themselves, at risk. It’s a balancing act. Goldilocks understood when things were “just right,” and most volunteers will too.

EI: The book goes through each step of the process of effective volunteer involvement – from position design, to recruitment, to recognition.  In your opinion, what’s the one step in this process that’s most often neglected?  How does that neglect affect volunteer engagement?

JL: I teach a lot of classes on volunteer management and leadership and, from talking with participants over the years, I’ve come to realize that many organizations want to focus on quantity – “how many volunteers and how many hours” – and not on quality, “what is the impact those volunteers are making?”  As such, a lot of organizations don’t spend enough time planning for volunteers and instead put all of their efforts into recruiting.  As we all know, bringing in volunteers without a clear sense of what role they will play and how they will be supported can lead to a lot of frustration and finger pointing down the road.  In short, never underestimate the importance of a good position description; the process of crafting them helps answers a lot of these questions ahead of time.

EI: We tend to put lots of time and effort into big, fancy recognition events, but your book contends that creating an overall “culture of thanks” is just as important to making volunteers feel appreciated.  What is a “culture of thanks” and how is it cultivated?

JL: A “culture of thanks” is a fancy way of saying that recognition of an organization’s people – volunteer or paid – should happen every day. People should feel welcomed, appreciated, and receive some acknowledgment of how they’re contributing to the cause.  Big, fancy recognition events can be a lot of fun, but they don’t replace the most simple gestures – smiling, greeting people when they come in, and saying “thank you” as they leave.

EI: Any closing thoughts?

JL: It is such an exciting time to be in our field! There are all these international, national and local movements to engage volunteers.  At the end of the day, it will be up to our field to make sure all these new recruits have a meaningful experience and can truly make a difference.  It’s going to come down to capacity building; helping the leadership in our various organizations understand what kind of systems need to be put in place to maximize the impact of all these new volunteers. I say it a lot in my book – volunteers are free, but volunteer programs are not!  I’m hoping my book will help spread that message. I have no doubt that everyone reading this blog “gets it” – now we just need to make sure that our bosses “get it” too!

The book is available at Amazon.com – they even have a kindle version, which I think is very cool! I feel a little embarrassed saying this, but if anyone wants a signed copy, they can order it directly from my organization Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS) in San Francisco. If they do it that way, all the proceeds from the book will go back to directly support our programs to keep low-income seniors and people with disabilities, including HIV/AIDS, living independently with their beloved pets. Just go to the Shopping Link at www.pawssf.org.

Finally, if anybody has any questions or feedback about the book – I’m especially open to suggestions about what should be included or changed for a future edition! – please e-mail me at John@voluncheer.com.

A million thanks for this opportunity to be part of the book blog and for everything Energize, Inc. has done for our profession!

Here’s the third  in a series of questions submitted by our readers and answered by volunteerism and risk management expert Linda Graff (read previous posts, on Risk Management and the Swine Flu and policies on reference checks).

The Question: I presently have a volunteer driver who has just come back from leave for medical conditions (stroke).  She still has her license and is eager to drive for us again.

My supervisor received an irate call from her son stating that his call was confidential and he did not want his mother driving due to her health condition.  He also implied that her health condition had deteriorated due to her busy schedule with us.  He made it VERY clear we are not to tell her he called.

The volunteer’s husband has passed and she enjoys her volunteer work.  The volunteer called wondering why she is not getting drives.

The son should speak directly with the mother, but won’t. The volunteer is getting frustrated, as we haven’t given her a clear answer as to why we are “holding off”. In the end if I can’t reveal the son’s call, what do I say to my volunteer?

Linda’s Answer:  Since the volunteer was off work for medical reasons and since the work she is wanting to return to is responsible, demanding, and risky, it would not be unreasonable to request that she provide a physician’s note verifying her ability to resume her volunteer driving responsibilities.  This way you can be more certain that she actually is well enough to drive for you and you transfer the responsibility for determining so to the expert.

You might consider (though this is tricky) notifying the son that this is what you plan to do and let the son make his case to the physician if he chooses.

I might add that the question of driving ability arises often in my workshops on risk management.  As you observe, the possession of a driver’s licence does not guarantee good driving ability, particularly for some of the demanding driving roles we ask volunteers to fulfil, such as night driving, driving long distances – sometimes will an ill person in the car – driving in demanding weather conditions, and so on.  It is also common for managers to worry about a decline in driving capacity among elderly volunteers or volunteers, who, as in your example, have experienced a related health issue.

My recommendation is that the organization recruit a volunteer expert assessor of driving capacity – a driving instructor – who will either routinely (every year or two) take volunteer drivers for a test drive to ensure they are still driving with the degree of skill required, or as the need arises, such as in the case of recent illness.  This technique ensures a more accurate assessment by someone who has the qualifications to do so.

Here’s the second  in a series of questions submitted by our readers and answered by volunteerism and risk management expert Linda Graff (read the first post, on Risk Management and the Swine Flu, here).

The Question:
I am continually updating our volunteer policies. I have been researching the pros and cons of doing written reference checks for volunteers. At a workshop I attended a few years ago, a lawyer recommended the written check over a telephone check for some types of volunteer work. I cannot find any documents to support this view. What is your opinion on this matter?

Linda’s Answer:

I favour telephone based reference checks.  I detail the reasons in my book, Beyond Police Checks, but briefly, here, my sense is the referees will be incline to be more candid and spontaneous, and divulge more pertinent information verbally by telephone than they would in writing.  Take good notes, date and sign them, and keep them on file.  If necessary, you might summarize what you’ve heard and ask the referee to sign off that you have accurately reflected their opinion, but that seems excessive in most settings.

Here’s an interview with Nick Ockenden, Head of Research at the Institute for Volunteering Research  in the UK, about IVR’s recent report on volunteering and employability.  You can find more information about the research and read the final report at the IVR website.  Many thanks to Nick for taking the time to talk to me about this important and timely project!

(Note: we have retained the spelling differences in British English in Nick’s answers below.)

Energize, Inc. (EI): You’ve just released a report about  ways that organizations can successfully link volunteering to employability. Tell us a little about what this research has found.

Nick Ockenen (NO): The research focused on the role that Volunteer Centres could play in supporting the link between volunteering and employability. We worked with eight Centres around England which we felt were demonstrating good practice and backed this up with a telephone survey of 220 Centres (58 per cent of the total). One of the first findings was simply how much appears to be going on. One-third of Volunteer Centres were currently undertaking work focusing on employability. Most of them were doing this by recruiting and referring volunteers on to other organisations. The support they offered was, however, highly comprehensive, including making visits to their placements, providing training and help with job searches, and undertaking volunteer reviews and supervisions. As with much research before us, we had to conclude that the link between volunteering and employability was far from straightforward. We did, however, identify numerous benefits and evidence to suggest a link did exist. When we spoke to staff and volunteers, the experience of volunteering was often described as ‘life changing’. Perhaps the most notable benefit we identified was how volunteering could increase self-esteem and confidence amongst volunteers. Our research stressed that it is vitally important that such ‘softer’ outcomes are recognised and given equal weighting alongside targets and numbers of people moving into paid positions. Many volunteers who are long-term unemployed might not be able to move straight in to the structured environment of paid employment. Many staff felt that volunteering, because it was often flexible and highly supportive, provided an effective means of getting someone ‘job ready’ and allowing them to make this transition at their own pace. The research also highlighted successes and challenges of working in partnership with employment agencies and other organisations.

EI: The Energize, Inc. online bookstore carries Volunteering by Unemployed People, published by Volunteering England in the ’90s.  In today’s climate of high unemployment and economic uncertainty, what has changed about successfully working with unemployed volunteers?  What remains the same?

NO: While each recession is unique, they all bring high rates of unemployment and large numbers of people looking for work; the number out of work in the UK has just passed 2.2 million. People will be looking for ways to get (back) into the labour market, and for many, volunteering can provide them with such a means. We were encouraged to see that many of the employability benefits to volunteering that we identified in our research, particularly the development of self-esteem and self-confidence, were strongly echoed by findings from studies going back throughout the 1990s and 1980s. It appears that much good practice in the management and support of unemployed volunteers also remains the same. As other studies have found, our research stressed the value in seeing volunteering as a long-term strategic approach to securing employment; it also highlighted the need to record ‘soft’ outcomes; and it emphasised the benefit in providing ongoing and comprehensive support, especially to those people who have more complex support needs. But if the current recession is, as many suggest, deeper than what we experienced in the 1990s, or indeed in the 1980s, then these needs will simply become more important.

EI: There have been reports in the US media that, because of the recession, some organizations are getting more inquiries from unemployed people wanting to volunteer than they know what to do with.  How can organizations turn this challenge into an opportunity?

NO: For some time we’ve been hearing of organisations receiving more inquiries from people wanting to volunteer. Our recent research found that of the 220 Volunteer Centres surveyed, 87 per cent said that they had experienced an increase in the past six months. We’re not yet sure how much of this is to do with the recession but it does raise a concern that there’s a limit to how many volunteers an organisation can effectively involve. Sometimes this can be about developing networks of volunteer-involving organisations so that prospective volunteers can be referred on to different opportunities if the original organisation is unable to involve them. A network of environmental organisations in the North East of England is working to develop just such a referral system with support from the government body Natural England. Volunteer Centres clearly have a key role to play in any such brokerage system. But even referring volunteers on to other organisations takes resources and much of the Volunteer Centre network in England is operating with limited funding. Our research found examples of Volunteer Centres that had sought funding from new sources, tapping into funding streams focusing on getting people back into work (for example the New Deal and funding from the Learning and Skills Council). Others had successfully formed new partnerships with private sector employment agencies and companies to secure funding.

EI: How can organizations effectively utilize the help of the unemployed while concurrently supporting their future employability?  How can they keep the job-seeking volunteer engaged with their cause even after they’ve transitioned into paid employment?

NO: Volunteering by unemployed people is of great benefit to the organisation they give their time to as well as to the volunteer. The Volunteer Centres we spoke with as part of our research experienced higher profile, new and often longer term funding, and the development of new staff skills as a direct result. Our findings suggested that these benefits could be maximised if the organisation ensures that their employability work complements and enhances their original remit, rather than resulting in unplanned ‘mission drift’. Our research also highlighted a real requirement for a personalised approach when working with and supporting unemployed people as volunteers – one that is focused on their individual expectations, motivations and needs. Common sense tells us that someone who remembers their volunteering positively will be more likely to volunteer again than someone who had a bad experience and felt poorly supported. Once a volunteer has moved into paid employment, it may be the end of an organisation’s involvement. We did observe, however, several Volunteer Centres which had successfully maintained contact with their volunteers after they had secured a job. Where this did occur it allowed the Volunteer Centre to monitor whether the volunteers were happy in their job and whether they sustained employment; which was sometimes key in order to fulfill funding targets. Furthermore, any such relationship left the door open for future volunteering.

Download A gateway to work. The role of volunteer centres in supporting the link between volunteering and employability, the report referenced in this article, at www.ivr.org.uk.

Nick Ockenden is Head of Research at the Institute for Volunteering Research, where he has worked for nearly four years. He has worked on numerous research projects for a wide variety of public, private and third sector clients. This includes exploring the link between volunteering and employability, a large scale review of environmental volunteering in the North East of England, the national evaluation of youth volunteering body “v“, and an evaluation of a project supporting volunteering by young offenders. He has also worked on the development of volunteering strategies for the National Offender Management Service and the Department of Social Development in Northern Ireland. Nick leads on IVR’s research into volunteering within volunteer-led and community-based organisations, and maintains a keen interest in environmental volunteering. In the past he has volunteered for a variety of environmental organisations in the UK and the US, and is currently a volunteer with the British Red Cross. Nick can be contacted on nick.ockenden@volunteeringengland.org or +44(0)207 5208 931.