Volunteer Management great ideas in the

Ultimate Ideas Newsletter

How to lead, recruit and retain more volunteers and members!

Issue 11 

Volunteer Management Newsletter Part 1 and Part 2

Constant Committees!

5 More Volunteer Recruitment Tips

For You In The Field

Here's an abridged version of an email from Ann...

Dear Judy,

I've been reading - and adopting - your suggestions for several months now. But I am wondering if you can help with our specific problem. I'm Chair of our Community Progress Association. The problem is that since joining I've found that although we usually get reasonable attendance of volunteers at working bees, a small core group (usually less than more) attends our regular monthly meetings, where all the decision-making happens. This can be good in that a 'lean and mean' team can get through a lot of business...but it would be nice to get more input from our community at large, particularly when we're making big decisions.

We meet in the warm, comfortable, private dining room of our local hotel and we generally arm ourselves with a drink before we start business, so I don't think the "ambience" should be a problem. There's no joining fee or acceptance criteria, other than being an adult resident of our town, and our meetings and activities are publicized in the local free newsletter, on the town notice board and on the community calendar.

So what more can we do to get bums on seats? Over to you for more ideas on volunteer management and volunteer recruitment of committee members...

Ann (surname and other details supplied)

Chair of a Community Progress Association

In a previous volunteer management newsletter I discussed 'Must Join Committees' and 9 Ideas on Volunteer Recruitment of Committee Members. Now let's add another 5 quick tips to Ann's and your own volunteer management collection of ideas on recruiting these volunteers.

Tip No 1 - Often Enough

Re-look again at how often you meet as a committee composed of volunteers. Is bi-monthly a more effective option than monthly or another configuration? Often monthly meetings have become so much of a habit that it continues that way and you sometimes fill up the time with enough agenda items to rationalize having the meeting. Asking someone to come on board for 6 meetings instead of 12 per year can often elicit a different response.

Is there another way to communicate during the alternative month than a face-to-face process? A telephone link-up is used by one group bi-monthly as the volunteer committee members are spread far and wide and they have to travel long distances to come together.

Tip No 2 - Long Enough

Remember a short, sharp and productive meeting is always preferable to a long-winded, unfocused process. You do need to allow time for discussion and creativity but after 1 to 1.5 hours the productivity of people in meetings drops dramatically. Are there other ways to communicate some of the agenda items, particularly if they are only information sharing?

Look at your agenda - can it be made leaner? Not sure where to begin? Then let the committee decide. At the start of the meeting have each committee member rate the agenda items from most important to least important. Collate the results and then work through the items based on this group rating. Don't aim to get through every item, keep to a reasonable time and those items not dealt with are carried over to agenda of the next meeting. Again the items are rated at the start of the next meeting. If an item simply keeps appearing on the agenda and is consistently rated low - then there is certainly a message in that for all the committee. It might be time to 'ditch not deal' with that item.

Tip No 3 - Try Before You Buy

Most people are asked to join committees and really do not know what is really involved. In your volunteer management and volunteer recruitment strategy - offer a 'try before you buy' concept. Invite people along to meetings to 'check it all out'.  Make sure you treat them well so that they will be more likely to want to return. Also ask for their suggestions on how to improve the meeting process - you might be surprised by their responses.

Tip No 4 - Fountain of Knowledge

Have you thought of special guest appearances on committees? Can certain committee members be brought 'on board' to volunteer for short periods of time? Can they work on a project, provide a report and assist in decision-making for a short 3 month involvement? This works well on very specific projects that committees may grapple with. At the completion of their 3 months they are truly thanked as part of your volunteer recognition and then allowed to leave.  Later on, when another specific project requires attention they may be willing to provide another burst of knowledge, expertise and energy as a volunteer.

Tip No 5 - Lean And Mean Machine

Always aim for quality rather than quantity on your committees. You have heard the saying 'too many cooks spoil the broth' well 'too many committee members ruin the lot'. There is nothing wrong with having a small number of committed people on a committee to turbo-charge your decision-making. But if you want to hear from more voices about your potential decisions then try this volunteer management technique.

Make a preliminary decision on an issue at one meeting and then invite a cross-section of people along to the next meeting to give you their thoughts and feedback before the final decision is made at a further meeting. Aim to choose people who may have differing points of view to give you an even wider perspective. It will add depth to your discussion and who knows they might even want to come aboard as new full-time volunteer committee members.

In the last issue of the volunteer management newsletter we gave you 8 ideas on how to involve others to take over your role on the committee. Look again at Tips No 3, 4 and 5 above. These can be further ways for volunteer recruitment, to slowly introduce your potential replacement to the committee.

For more ideas on volunteer recruitment, retention and volunteer recognition see Count Me In! 501 Ideas on Recruiting Volunteers and Count On Me! 501 Ideas on Retaining, Recognizing and Rewarding Volunteers.

Enjoy!

Judy

Dr Judy Esmond is the leading expert on how to gain, sustain and retain volunteers and members. Join up and receive FREE membership to her 'Ultimate Ideas' Mastermind Group and get the FREE E-Book and newsletter filled with 100s of ideas on volunteer management, volunteer recruitment, retention and volunteer recognition at www.morevolunteers.com

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