The Drivers of Passion

October 26, 2014

The Drivers of Passion

Celebrations for the fifteenth international day for managers of volunteers will happen at a place near you on November 5. It’s a day to acknowledge the skills, talents, leadership and downright doggedness of managing volunteers.  And by proxy, to understand how volunteering makes magic happen in our communities, in organisations and in all the services supported by volunteers.

On Facebook we are spurred to consider what elements of volunteer management drives our passion.  And what is our vision for an ideal world of managing volunteers?

It’s all very well to dream up future scenarios, and to repeat that quote attributed to GB Shaw:

You see things and you ask “Why?” But I dream things that never were, and I ask “Why not?”

Well – Susan J Ellis taught me a long time ago how the history of volunteering is the history of the lunatic fringe: volunteers often work at the cutting edge of change. Managers of volunteers are part of that fringe, forever seeking new chemistry that will enable volunteering to adapt to changing conditions.

For the moment I am keeping my feet on the ground.  I am thinking about the drivers that keep managers of volunteers keeping on.  What is it that the stayers among managers of volunteers love about their work?  Here is my sampling:

• When the shy and nervous volunteer turns into a confident and well-respected member of the team.
• When you are charged with organising a huge event, and the volunteers just keep on turning up and turning their hands to what needs doing. They know how to manage themselves.
• When you find heads nodding in a training session covering organisation mission and values – not because people are falling asleep or because it’s boring – because the mission and values is what has attracted them to the organisation in the first place.
• When thank you letters from grateful clients are sent to the Chief Executive, and they include volunteers alongside paid staff. It’s even better when they mention the volunteer by name.
• When a volunteer steps up to manage an unexpected crisis situation, showing how all that training and support pays off.
• When staff get to understand they have responsibility to support and guide volunteers on their team, and they cease running to the manager with complaints about volunteer performance.
• When International Volunteers’ Day or National Volunteer Week happen, and staff and senior managers organise an appreciation function for volunteers. Or they set up a Post-it board to pin up messages of goodwill and recognition of good work.
• When volunteers get due acknowledgement at Annual Meetings, and in the Annual Report – more than a few words or a last page paragraph.
• When people stop saying how wonderful volunteers are and uttering platitudes – when they start talking about the real work and accomplishments of volunteers.
• When we finally get a means to measure the impact of volunteer work that is more than a record of outputs translated into $ values.

You will notice this litany is all about the product of managing volunteers, not what has to happen to achieve these credits.  But that’s just it – job satisfaction comes from the outcomes, seeing how the manager’s ground work produces great results. You will also see how volunteering is people-centred, dependent on personal service and performance.   And at last, get to understand how great volunteer programmes do not fall out of the sky: it takes a visionary manager to make them happen.

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