Training Busy Staff to Succeed with Volunteers

1. Training Busy Staff to Succeed with Volunteers Facilitator: Betty Stallings www.bettystallings.com

2. Agenda Your role in building staff commitment and competency Signs of resistance and methods to encourage commitment to volunteer engagement Building Competency with Staff to Partner Effectively with Volunteers Designing Your Unique Staff Training Program

3. Role of the Leader of Volunteer Engagement: The role is to EMPOWER all staff and leadership volunteers to effectively engage volunteers in meeting the mission of the organization.

4. Your Role in Building Staff Competency to Engage Volunteers Do you see yourself in this role? Does your staff see you in this role? Is that role clearly spelled out in your job description? Do you have access to staff to provide this training/consultation? Do you have the skills/time to be successful at it? How much time do you currently allocate to enhancing staff commitment/competency in partnering with volunteers?

5. Symptoms of Staff Resistance to Full Utilization of Volunteers….. Types of volunteer positions offered Retention issues Few volunteers “Your volunteer program” Confidentiality issues keeping volunteers out No clear expectation/training/support for staff

6. Symptoms of Staff Resistance (cont.) Executive staff not effectively engaging and modeling excellence in volunteer engagement. Leader of Volunteer Engagement poorly positioned, paid, respected No volunteer accountability Staff threatened by volunteers No overall agency philosophy/commitment to engagement of volunteers

7. Determining the Source of Lack of Staff Commitment Filling out Commitment Form (handout) Conducting an Assessment of Volunteer Engagement – focus: customer input Utilizing Volunteer-friendly systems/forms Staff retreat: focus… volunteer engagment

8. Potential Retreat Design: Engaging Staff in Building Enhanced Volunteer Engagement Visionary activity: (What could we be doing with 100 new IDEAL volunteers?) Barriers to Accomplishing this vision? (Staff, volunteers, leaders of volunteer engagement, volunteer input) Finding Solutions to these barriers….

9. Building Staff Competency to Partner with Volunteers What knowledge, skills or attitudes do I need to cover in my training/coaching with staff? What are some occasions and methods to provide the training? How can I develop executive and staff interest? What are some resources to assist in the training? How can I evaluate the success of the training/coaching?

10. 55-Minute Staff Training Series Purpose: Provide tools, training to build commitment and competency among all staff/leadership who partner with volunteers

11. 55-Minute Series Electronic – Adaptable Handouts for each module Trainer script Added resources/websites for more info Suggested workshop activities Workshop evaluation form PowerPoint slides for all modules

12. Training modules in 55-Minute Series Position Design Recruitment Interviewing Volunteer Motivation Supervision Orientation/Training Delegation Mutual Performance Reviews Working with Difficult Volunteers Evaluating the Organization’s Volunteer Engagement Risk Management Recognition of Volunteers