Responses to: Staff Resistance and the Highly-Skilled Volunteer

5 Ways to Stay Connected!

Submitted by Alyson Woloshyn, Kitchener Parks and Recreation, Ontario

Volunteering in many aspects is taking on more than just the philanthropic action it was once viewed as, and today many people are looking at volunteering as a way of gaining experience by using their own skills. Consequently, the challenge is to try and match these skills with the task. Speaking from experience, being given menial tasks and little responsibility was the quickest way to send me looking for a new organization. However, providing opportunities that challenge the highly skilled volunteers also means that the organization has to give up more responsibility and sometimes that means more risk. It can pay off in the long run however, with increased pressures on our time as managers as it is, giving these tasks while providing adequate support so that the volunteer succeeds and providing recognition so that they feel appreciated may cause new and exciting challenges for volunteer managers.

Submitted by Patricia Wallace, Manager, Volunteer Services, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Pennsylvania

Highly skilled volunteers can be wonderful when their skills match your needs. Unfortunately, designing unique, personalized positions for the them is time-consuming. I have invested a good deal of my time doing this for certain individuals, only to have them leave quickly. Please do not think that they left because of the position. More frequently, something comes up in their personal lives and they simply cannot meet the commitment. I am wary of the 'uniquely' skilled as I must carefully parcel out the too little time I have to complete what is expected of me. I find we get more bang for our buck by placing volunteers in standard positions, many of which are quite challenging.

Submitted by Laura Slater, Program Director, ND USA

WOW finally someone says what I have been thinking. Thanks. I printed this off and am handing it to the director of my sponsoring agency when I get there. We are a community action agency and we do not utilize volunteers like we should. We are a rural town two hours from any big cities and we have so many on welfare that have to volunteer twenty hours a week to get their benefits and agencies, if they even use these people, are putting them to work shredding paper or cleaning floors. I am distraught as an ex-welfare recipient. HOW DEGRADING to these people. I finally started to use the community service workers because we had an abundance of them suddenly. I put the boy I got to work making databases and writing reports that I had not had time to do and now I am so grateful for all his help. I have name lists on youth that attended my events. To put this information together myself would have meant I had to slow down on the activities that I was providing to the youth in my program. The other ladies in my office would put this young man to work doing the cleaning tasks when I was not there and he had an attitude problem according to them but they now tease me because they say he really liked me. Go Figure? I think that we need to realize that even if they are community service workers and welfare recipients they STILL HAVE FEELINGS. Make the most of the help.

Submitted by Rob Jackson, Volunteer Development Officer, Royal National Institute for the Blind, London, England

I agree that many organizations are not being innovative enough in engaging volunteers creatively - and then spouting on about how volunteers are harder to recruit than they used to be! Whilst I agree that, as a rule of thumb, low-level volunteer work will attract low-level volunteers, I have always liked the suggestion (originally Susan's I think) of engaging high level business people in low-level volunteer work. Envelope stuffing as relaxation for stressed out executives. One approach I have always found helpful in eliciting creativity in volunteer job design from paid staff is the model Steve McCurley and Rick Lynch put forward in 'Volunteer Management'. When I share their suggestions of ensuring each job gives the volunteer ownership, responsibility for results, authority to think and a means of keeping score, I often have the privilege of seeing the lights come on in the minds of colleagues as they are opened up to a whole new world of volunteer possibilities.

Submitted by Debbie Thompson, Volunteer Coordinator Faith Lutheran church, IL USA

Highly trained volunteers often bring in vision to organizations that paid staff do not have time to develop. It is frustrating to have a professionally trained volunteer offer to lead a program or develop a new process and be told that they are not wanted by the organization. I recently took a volunteer training class and one of the most important things that I heard was to hear that there is no room for ego in a volunteer organization. If a professionally trained person is willing to lead your program say thank you and let them lead it.

Once the guidelines are understood and the initial training in place I have discovered that professionally trained volunteers can become the trainers and leaders of other volunteers. They are great mentors for younger less qualified people and they are also helpful in promoting our programs to others in their professional communities. Be thankful they have seen value in your agencies and wish to come and spend time with you rather than going elsewhere with their commitments of time and service.

Not only is it helpful to have others with professional training, I too am a professional volunteer. I chose to start out a couple days a week and now have worked my way into the possibility of a very nice professional job. In the beginning there were those that wondered what I was doing and if I was qualified. That gets better with time and good professional judgement. Now I am treated by everyone as nonpaid professional staff, with the same responsibilities and decision making power as the other paid staff.

Overall I see people as afraid to utilize professional volunteers because we all too readily see our own deficiencies. If professional volunteers can help us to learn and to improve our agencies then it is our duty to utilize all volunteers that offer their services to our agencies. We are not expected to have all of the answers, but if we have the resources to help find them USE THEM! I once told my own advisory board that I would be glad to take my volunteer time elsewhere if they couldn't use it. It was amazing how quickly they were able to find me a job.

Submitted by Joyce Conner, Volunteer Resources Manager, Ohio

I feel fortunate that highly skilled volunteers seem to gravitate to our local government volunteer program. I think there are several reasons for this. Our program is well-established and well-known as a well-run program. Our staff is very accepting and appreciative of all volunteers, whether they answer phones or deliver mail or write reports. We have a wide-range of opportunities for volunteers of all ages, skill levels, interest areas and varying time schedules and our staff is open to new ideas and new ways of doing things. We have several committees and special events that are chaired by high-profile volunteers and staffed by volunteers with a minimum of staff support.

The highly skilled volunteers have been very helpful to us in some highly skilled areas. For example, a volunteer is checking our computer system to make sure everything is Y2K compatible and another volunteer is doing all the research for us to apply for a safety grant. Honestly, I have recruited volunteers for some assignments that I don't fully understand, but if they have the skills and experience needed, I refer them to the staff person to determine if the volunteer has the right qualities for the assignment. Some of these include video detection specialist, GIS consultant and engineering technician.

This didn't happen overnight, but over a number of years with lots of encouragement and support. And we are still building our program and looking for new opportunities for volunteers to become involved in their city.

Submitted by Mary Kay Hood, Director of Volunteer Services, Hendricks Community Hospital, Danville, Indiana -- USA

When I think about non-supportive volunteer efforts (non-assistant types), these few things come to mind. Volunteers at our hospital entirely staff the copy center where such work includes copying, collating, stapling, binding, laminating and paper shredding. Last year, volunteers were responsible for a volume of over 1.6 million. There are no paid employees supporting the copy center and these volunteers all report directly to me. Volunteers entirely staff the gift shop at the hospital and gift shop hours are from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. Monday through Fridays and 12 noon to 5 p.m. on weekends. There is a paid gift shop manager but again all staffing is volunteer driven. Volunteers are responsible for mail delivery -- with two runs each day. They pick up, sort and deliver once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Again, there is no paid staffing supporting this effort. Just a few things -- but put a new perspective on it for me. Thanks!

Submitted by Marcia Hale, Manager, Volunteer Services Chabot Observatory, CA, USA

When a former Hollywood special effects wizard called offering his services to the museum where I worked, I almost passed on him. I couldn't imagine convincing our designers to let a volunteer, even one with his very high caliber of skills, join their very closed group. Instead I assigned our wizard to the Events department. The lighting and effects he created blew everyone away. The Events department was used to making do with the leftover design time from the designers, but this time they had someone who had all the skills and most importantly plenty of time for them!

This volunteer soon offered to teach a workshop on creating special effects, one for volunteers and one for staff. The design staff, curious about this new found volunteer attended and were blown away. Needless to say, they snatched this wonderful wizard immediately. He is such a fixture at the museum many people think he is full time staff, but he happily stays a volunteer continuing to do the work he loves.

Now, when a highly skilled volunteer comes my way, I spend the time to think creatively, knowing that I almost passed up the opportunity to involve a highly skilled volunteer because I was just sure I couldn't convince the right department to utilize his skills. The right people will generally gravitate towards each other, sometimes, though, it takes a little creativity! Don't give up, truly smart staff know a good volunteer when they see one!

Submitted by Lesley Dunn, Executive Director, Volunteer Resource Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia

The highly skilled volunteer brings about an interesting challenge. Often seen as requiring little to no supervision, they actively seek out tasks without direction. As a result they are often overlooked by staff and supervisors. Volunteers with limited skill sets require far more supervision and tend to require a great deal of interaction from us, and leaving us feeling drained at the end of the encounter. We are delighted and relieved when someone arrives on our doorstep who instinctively knows what to do. They go quickly and quietly about their duties, and before you know it their shift is complete and they have left.

I have never worked in an environment where skilled volunteers have been seen as a problem. I have though on many occasions observed staff become completely engaged in their own work assignments that they forget to interact with this volunteer. This is not an intentional oversight by the staff member, but more a reflection of their comfort level in having skilled support on hand enabling them to redirect their energies to other activities.

Submitted by Nancy Bailey, numerous organizations over the years, Texas USA

Volunteers like to feel useful -- not used.

Submitted by Carol Freed, volunteer for 26 years in various organizations, Bend, Oregon

You have identified a serious problem with volunteer management. Being a highly skilled volunteer myself, I know the difficulty in getting paid staff to accept me for my ideas, vision and leadership qualities rather than assigning me typing jobs they think I am best suited for because I do medical transcription. This is a critically important discussion, because more and more professionally trained people are taking early retirement and their kids are grown and have left home and these people have time and skills and experience they want to share in meaningful ways. Bottom line....either find a place for highly skilled volunteers or they will move on to another group that will accept and appreciate them and allow them some level of creativity to really make a difference, while still respecting paid staff and their policies.

Submitted by Linda, Volunteer Coordinator, Regina Public Schools, Sask., Canada

Issues related to skilled volunteers and employees are even more complicated if the employees are union based.. How do I convince threatened union members that there is not a conspiracy to replace paid staff, and that by agreeing on volunteer vs. staff tasks, everyone will feel more comfortable?

Submitted by Ronnie Rusk, Canadian Diabetes Association, Ontario, Canada

Highly skilled volunteers are a treasure we generally do not know how to use. Many people on my staff feel threatened by these "treasures." Staff 1) feel they cannot "control" highly skilled volunteers: that these volunteers will not adhere to agency policy; 2) they require orientation and ongoing consultation that is more time consuming and sophisticated than the staff members have time and/or ability to offer; and 3) they may make misleading remarks to influential people. Staff at the organization I work for are gradually accepting highly skilled volunteers. To accomplish this we are creating very clear job descriptions, and developing orientation and training models for specific programs. It's frustrating for highly skilled volunteers to find that they aren't instantly appreciated. It is frustrating for the volunteer recruiter not to find people instinctively welcome these "treasures."

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