by Jayne Cravens

via coyotecommunications.com & coyoteboard.com (same web site)

Training ALL Staff in Volunteer Engagement & the Risks Of Not Doing So

Anyone at your organization who will create roles for volunteers and supervise volunteers in those roles needs at basic training in working with volunteers. Period.

This will most certainly be some, if not all, of your paid employees. But it also may be some of your leader volunteers, including some board members.

The minimal that these staff members need to be trained on:

Why your organization involves volunteers.
Why people volunteer, in general, and why they volunteer with your organization, specifically (and remember that a community service volunteer isn't some how "less" than a person volunteering supposedly and purely out of the goodness of their heart).
What are appropriate roles for volunteers, and what are NOT appropriate roles.
How to write a volunteer role description.
How volunteers are onboarded (what screening is done for what roles? What training is done for what roles? What forms need to be completed and turned in to whom? what does the overall onboarding process look like?)
What appropriate staff support for volunteers looks like.
Why volunteers leave and why they stay.
What to do in various situations regarding volunteers (if they aren't showing up for shifts, if they aren't meeting expectations, if they are violating policies, etc.).
When to halt volunteer engagement, when to report violations, when to call the police, etc.
How to record and report volunteer hours and accomplishments.

This doesn't have to be an all-day training (though I'd prefer a four hour training for all of the above for all staff - I think it's THAT important). This could be a 90 minute overview training with a lot of online support material (like an online form staff use to request volunteers for a role, that has required fields so that staff are forced to more fully think through what the volunteer will do, or another form that staff use to report volunteer hours and accomplishments).

But this training should be mandatory for all staff that will work with volunteers, and staff absolutely should have volunteer engagement as part of their job description and their annual performance review should include a review of how they have involved volunteers and how those volunteers have felt about the support they have received.

Who should do the training? You could hire me, of course. But honestly, someone already at your organization should be able to do this training. You can use my materials if you want (hence why they are linked), as long as you credit me. There's no better way to show that this is a priority at your organization than having someone within your own organization champion this.

Think that you will be saving time and making things easier by NOT having all staff trained regarding volunteer engagement? Think again:

Risks by not having staff trained regarding volunteer engagement:

Someone is seriously harmed or hurt in a way that could have been prevented had staff and core volunteers been trained. Could be a volunteer, a client, a consultant, a contractor or a staff person, it could be someone who shouldn’t be onsite, etc. It could be done by the volunteer or TO a volunteer. Even if it's unintentional, the harm is done and it's real.
Legal risks. An unsupervised, inappropriately-supported volunteer could not only harm someone else or themselves - it could lead to legal action against your organization, in the form of an arrest, a lawsuit or both. An arrest and/or a lawsuit is not only bad PR, it not only costs money - it can lead to the closing of a nonprofit, due to a severe drop in revenue and public support as well a financial judgement against your program.
Risk to affiliate standing, if you are a part of a national network. Your national or international office could decide to reprimand the affiliate because of harm to a volunteer or by a volunteer - or even revoke the affiliation altogether.
Bad neighbor-to-neighbor or online PR: Disgruntled volunteers - or people who attempted to volunteer - talking to family, friends and colleagues, and posting to social media or blogging, about the negative experience with your program. It could lead to negative press coverage. Any and all of this can negatively affect both volunteer numbers and DONATIONS. It could even lead to someone at a corporation or government body voting against a grant for your organization.
Staff turnover and clients withdrawing. If employees or clients have negative experiences with volunteers, if volunteers have negative experiences with other volunteers, you will see a turnover among staff - employees and volunteers - as well as clients.
“We’ve always done it this way” is not an acceptable defense of not having staff trained in volunteer engagement.
“We’ve never had a problem before” is also not an acceptable defense, and it’s not even an accurate statement: if you don’t have effective volunteer management processes and procedures in place, YOU DON’T KNOW THAT YOU HAVEN’T HAD A PROBLEM BEFORE. Many volunteers who are sexually harassed or who have been otherwise harmed during their service do not report it to the organization nor to law enforcement. Same for employees.

In addition to avoiding these risks, training all staff - all employees and lead volunteers - in effective volunteer engagement will

make working with volunteers easier and more enjoyable for everyone.
help reduce volunteer turnover.
lead to volunteers having a more positive experience.
lead to volunteers being more effective in their service.
reduce the amount of troubleshooting your orgnaization has to do day-to-day.
build trust with your volunteers - and may turn your volunteers into financial donors.

Also see:

Diagnosing the causes of volunteer recruitment problems
Before you hire a consultant, even me, to see what the problem is regarding why you don't have enough volunteers, or the kinds of volunteers you want most, you might be able to diagnosis the problem yourself - this blog is meant to help you do that. The only catch is that you MUST be honest as you answer the questions listed here. Also, answering these questions is rarely a one-person exercise; you may think you know the answer, but you need to ask other staff members, including volunteers themselves, what their answers are to these assessment questions. This is one of the most popular blogs I've ever written.
Required Volunteer Information on Your Web Site
If your organization or department involves volunteers, or wants to, there are certain things your organization or department must have on its web site - not by law, of course, but from a point of view of ethics and credibility. It also will help tremendously in your recruitment efforts.
Screening Volunteers for Attitude
Screening is vital to finding the right people for some, maybe all, volunteer roles, particularly those where the volunteer will work with clients and the general public, and to screen out people who may be better in shorter-term assignments or assignments where they would not work with clients or the general public, or who would not be appropriate in any role at the organization. We put all sorts of emphasis on criminal background checks and reference checks for volunteers, but the reality is that a mismatched volunteer, in terms of attitude, can be a program-killer. Screening volunteers for attitude will reduce volunteer turnover and ensure everyone has a more satisfying experience as a volunteer or working with volunteers.
Recruiting Local Volunteers To Increase Diversity Among the Ranks
Having plenty of volunteers usually isn't enough to say a volunteering program is successful. Another indicator of success is if your volunteers represent a variety of ages, education-levels, economic levels and other demographics, or are a reflection of your local community. Most organizations don't want volunteers to be a homogeneous group; they want to reach a variety of people as volunteers (and donors and other supporters, for that matter). This resource will help you think about how to recruit for diversity, or to reach a specific demographic.
Foundations of Volunteer Engagement
Before you recruit volunteers, these are fundamental pieces that MUST be in place. If you choose not to do these and, instead, start recruiting volunteers right away, you are setting up your organization and those volunteers up for failure.
Support for Volunteers/Management of Volunteers & Safety Considerations
All of the resources I have regarding the support for and management of volunteers, as well as safety in engaging volunteers, are on one page because I believe they are inextricably linked - it's impossible to separate these two issues. Also, I believe that these MUST be explored and drafted BEFORE you start recruiting volunteers.
Creating Roles & Tasks for Volunteers
A key to retaining volunteers is having roles and tasks well-defined and IN WRITING, so that expectations are clear. This is yet another step to undertake BEFORE you start recruiting volunteers - and if you don't, don't be surprised when you can't keep volunteers and your volunteer engagement flounders.

Return to my volunteer-related resources

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