Energize Book Blog

You’ve probably guessed that I’m excited about the volunteer management books that we carry in the Energize Online Bookstore. It’s not just me! Glowing reviews of two of the newest books we carry have just been published.

First, Tom McKee at VolunteerPower recently wrote a wonderful argument for knowing the “Whys” of involving volunteers… and how From the Top Down can help you illustrate those “whys” to top leaders in your organization. We’ve posted an excerpt below, but be sure to visit VolunteerPower to read the full article.

Most books on volunteerism are how-to books. From the Top Down: The Executive Role in Successful Volunteer Involvement by Susan Ellis is not a how-to book. This is a “why” book. It answers the question, “Why are volunteers essential?” And I don’t know of another book that addresses this question better…Executive directors are constantly thinking vision, mission and execution of the entire organization, and they should. But so often they aren’t thinking about volunteers. Read the typical executive director annual report and see how very few mention volunteers filling significant roles. Too often they don’t understand the why of volunteers or even know the positive influence of volunteers and what volunteers can do for the organization.

Enter you. To increase the impact of volunteers on your organization, you need to sell them.

A Conversation with a Purpose: A Practical Guide to Interviewing Prospective Volunteers was recently reviewed in Volunteering England’s Volunteering Magazine. Many thanks to our friends across the pond for allowing us to reprint this review in full.

We liked the layout of this book, which is written by Kathleen McCleskey and Cheryle N Yallen. It is divided up into eight clear and concise chapters. It is packed with practical advice and tools and techniques.

The worksheets, forms to use and mock dialogue for an interview are likely to be particularly useful.

In Getting Started, the authors outline some of the key elements they believe must be in place before the interview gets under way. This might seem like stating the obvious but it really does give structure to this process. The authors also examine the importance of motivation and communication.

In the chapter ‘The Participants’, McCleskey and Yallen look at expectations and how the potential volunteer can actually make a difference to the organisation and who in the organisation is involved in the interview process.

“The key to interviewing is ensuring the interviewer, whether paid or volunteer, is properly trained in effective interviewing skills.”

‘Interviewer Traps’ turns the spotlight on to possible barriers, including the ‘halo effect’ which happens when the potential volunteer has something in common with the interviewer, or stereotyping when the interviewer allows their own prejudices to impact on the interview, with first impressions generally formed in the first 30 seconds of the interview.

Another common trap is language, when someone may be ‘verbally affluent’ and using too much ‘agency jargon’. Time is also picked out by the authors as a crucial factor. They believe the downfalls here are because interviews are sometimes squeezed into whatever slots are available in the day or hastily put together.

The authors go on to examine the potential volunteer and aspects such as their concerns about the interviewer or organisation if they have not done their research ahead of the interview.

In the discussion about face-to-face interviews the authors outline what they believe are the objectives: – to inform the prospective volunteer about the organisation and its volunteer roles; to learn about the prospective volunteer’s strengths, skills, weaknesses and concerns; to gauge the prospective volunteer’s effectiveness with client, staff and other volunteers and to understand and encourage that person commitment and motivation.

There is a good chapter about preparation and the crucial role this plays for both the interviewer and potential volunteer and some useful worksheets listing some effective questions and considerations to bear in mind ahead of the interview itself. There are also some excellent resources relating to evaluation.

Chapter 5 examines other types of volunteer interviews and covers topics including virtual volunteers, group interviews, exit interviews with a good example given here, before the authors move on to the legality of what you can and cannot say in the interview process.

In the concluding chapters the authors highlight the key point of being prepared, knowing your organisation in and out, knowing what the volunteer role entails, being confident about the format for the interview and choosing your questions well.

I would recommend this book to everyone involved in the voluntary sector and in particular to volunteer managers or anyone thinking about getting involved in this area of the sector.

The third and fully revised edition of From the Top Down: The Executive Role in Successful Volunteer Involvement has just been sent to the printer! It’ll be available for sale in March. Until then, here’s another excerpt to whet your interest. It introduces an idea new to the 3rd edition: for your volunteer program to sail smoothly, you need to get middle managers on board.

Middle Managers Are Key

Every decision must be implemented across and down the organizational ladder, relying along the way on the buy-in of middle managers: branch or affiliate directors, department heads, unit supervisors, and others for whom volunteers become a factor in their teams’ effectiveness. These key people convey overt and subtle messages about expectations and can become an obstacle to effective volunteer involvement by not encouraging their team members’ attention to volunteers. In the worst cases, this can amount to sabotage.

Are your middle managers supportive of or resistant to volunteer involvement? Do they understand their “once removed” volunteer support role? Do they have the skills necessary to help their direct reports develop volunteers for the greatest impact?

Middle managers may feel that volunteers drain staff time from priority work. Because these supervisors evaluate employee performance, they have substantial influence over how staff  in their units approach all their responsibilities.  They can be great allies or real obstacles to success. Here’s why:

• Middle managers set the tone for how things are done in their corner of the organization. Their personal beliefs and attitudes about volunteers will shape the way staff and volunteer teamwork is supported (or undercut).
• Because middle managers train new employees to do their jobs properly and evaluate employee work performance throughout the year, they substantially affect how their staff members approach any area of responsibility, including volunteers. Do they have the vision and expertise to establish expectations and standards for working with community members?
• They have the authority to approve work assignments created for volunteers by the staff. So, if a middle manager’s image of volunteers is that they are mainly nice but not very skilled, staff in that unit will design volunteer positions with low expectations (and self-fulfilling prophecy will produce volunteers who don’t care to be challenged). Conversely, middle managers who raise the bar on what volunteers are asked to do will help an organization to attract more highly qualified people.
• Middle managers set the agenda for staff meetings and individual supervision sessions. Do they regularly make time to focus on volunteer involvement in their department, unit, or branch? The inclusion or absence of volunteer-related issues on the agenda sends a message,  is it that volunteers matter or don’t?

Employees can infer from their supervisors that spending time with volunteers is a diversion from their “real” job, to be done (if they wish) only after other, more important work is completed. Or supervisors can visibly recognize and reward staff who help volunteers to do well!

The point, as always, is not to assume that middle managers are on board with what it takes to support those who are expected to supervise volunteers. Take time to discover what this layer of management really thinks and win their enthusiasm for volunteer involvement. Otherwise, frontline staff will be caught in the middle, expected by top executives to put effort into partnering with volunteers, but undercut at the unit or branch level by the person most influential to that employee’s job assessment.

Include middle managers in planning sessions, training, and evaluation of the volunteer program so that they feel ownership of volunteer participation in their unit or department. Make sure that they, too, receive personal recognition for their efforts. They need to see that volunteers help their department to “shine” and are contributing to, not diverting from, accomplishing goals.