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Keep Your Volunteers Coming Back!

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Spokes would like to thank Rachel Cementina, Spokes faculty and SLO County YMCA Director of Membership and Marketing for guest-writing this article.

Several years ago, a young man contacted our office seeking a last-minute volunteer opportunity. John was required to complete 15 hours before the semester ended. We thought the Cal Poly student would do well at a computer project and quickly set him on his task.

Upon completion of the hours, he was asked how he felt about the experience. John answered, “It was the most boring work ever.” And that was the last we saw of him.

We can learn a lot from our experience with John and use it to keep volunteers coming back in the future:

• John said yes to the hours even before we told him about the project.

Make sure volunteers know in advance what they are signing up for by setting expectations. This means outlining a position description, including the purpose, duties, and skills that are required of the volunteer. A great place to start is at volunteer recruitment – make sure your position descriptions are complete at VolunteerSLO.org!

• We didn’t know how John was motivated.

Besides having appropriate training to get the assigned work done, volunteers also need the motivation. Was John motivated by the achievement of the project, satisfaction of giving back to an organization he was passionate about, or recognition of his hard work and time? On the surface, he may have been motivated by the proof that he completed the volunteer hours, but had we gotten to know him, we likely would have found that he also wanted to feel good about the work he was doing.

• John didn’t understand why his job mattered.

Even though we asked John to complete what he found to be a menial task, he may have found it more fulfilling to know why it mattered. If volunteers understand how their support leads to the greater mission of the organization, they have a better volunteer experience. Let each volunteer know how their efforts are making a difference and how their work contributes to the bigger picture.

When a volunteer knows what they are going to be doing in advance, are appreciated for their work, and can connect it to the “why,” it creates a quality volunteer experience. For more additional resources on Volunteer Retention, check out Energize Inc or chat with your friends at Spokes at (805) 547-2244 or [email protected]

From the Top: Executive Director Performance Evaluations

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Calling all board members! Did you know that evaluating your executive director is a key board responsibility? Evaluations foster clear communication about the boards’ expectations while giving the executive director an opportunity to weigh in on those expectations. Evaluations are also a critical tool for reviewing and setting the executive director’s pay. They open the door for frequent, honest discussions about your organization’s effectiveness and sustainability.

It’s never too late to start
The best time to establish the performance evaluation is before the executive director’s hire date. This way, the board can outline the standards of success and objectives in advance. However, it’s never too late to introduce an annual performance evaluation. Your board may even find that the evaluation results in a happier executive director who finally has a clear understanding of what success looks like to the board of directors.

Improve understanding to resolve conflict
Performance evaluations are also a useful tool to assess organizational failures or navigate conflicts. As HR professional, attorney, and Spokes Board of Director Jim Dorf says, “If the executive director is not achieving their goals, don’t just hope that things will improve. Once performance problems are observed, write everything down. Sit down with the executive director and set an objectively measurable performance improvement plan. Task a board member to assess the progress over agreed-upon intervals.”
Annual performance evaluations establish trust between executive directors and boards. Since executive directors manage day-to-day operations without oversight, board members can be left wondering what’s going on behind the scenes. Performance evaluations offer a safe space to inquire about daily operational strategies.

Keep it professional
It’s important to remember that the goal of an evaluation is to appraise professional performance, not the person. There is a great risk of bias, prejudice, and discriminatory actions when a board judges an executive director based on their personality or other subjective areas. According to 501 Commons, “An annual performance review can only hold the executive responsible for meeting targets, complying with policies, or achieving results that were agreed upon at least a year in advance. This way, the executive has time to organize resources and meet those targets and is given a chance to provide the board with information to indicate if the results and goals have been achieved.”

Make it a priority
To effectively conduct the evaluation, form a 2-3-person committee or task force – they will be responsible for determining the measurement criteria, establishing the formal process, and communicating with the executive director and the rest of the board. Download a checklist, like this one from Blue Avocado. Edit it to reflect your own measurement standards. Prepare to have a strategic discussion about organizational goals that have been set, met, or are pending.

Performance evaluations take time and effort to implement, but your executive director works hard. Your feedback plays a major part in their continued professional development. If you have questions or need supporting resources, feel free to call Spokes at 805-547-2244 or email [email protected].

Volunteer Appreciation Week: Clever Ways to Say ‘Thank You’

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Volunteer Appreciation Week is April 15-21! Now is the perfect time to plan to say thank you to your volunteers. If your organization is like ours, you rely heavily on volunteers as an extension of your staff or human resources. A genuine gesture of appreciation can result in a happier, more motivated volunteer. Here are some options to try out:

1. Surprise your volunteers with a kind gesture – coffee or muffins to start their day or a plant to show you’re thinking about them.
2. Show your appreciation through social media or a newsletter.
3. Send a personalized thank you note to the volunteer themselves or to their employer.
4. Use the power of the testimonial. Ask staff and other volunteers to write notes about a time that their colleague handled a challenge or made a difference. Compile the notes on a poster or book and present it to your volunteers.

Remember, a gratified and well-treated volunteer is a motivated and happy volunteer! If your organization is seeking additional support for its volunteer program, Spokes has several volunteer management classes coming up: Preparing Your Agency for Volunteers: Navigating Volunteer Screening and Recruitment on April 11 and Keeping Quality Volunteers: Volunteer Retention and Motivation on April 18. Join us!

Finding Success with a Succession Plan!

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There is change afoot in the nonprofit sector; in San Luis Obispo County and across the country, boards are seeking new presidents, and nonprofit executives are transitioning to new jobs. Even in our Spokes microcosm, the search for new leadership is on. CEO Lesley Santos Dierks is moving to a volunteer role as a board of director and consultant. Using Spokes’ carefully crafted succession plan, Spokes board and staff are reorganizing, facilitating great potential in this next phase of Spokes evolution.

Why does your organization need a succession plan? Succession planning is a discipline that enables organizations to reduce reliance on any one person or small group for critical functions, thereby building sustainability. Infusing an organization with new individuals is a healthy opportunity to expand viewpoints, diversify, and clarify the organizational vision. Considering that only 27% of organizations surveyed by the 2017 National Index of Nonprofit Board Practices reported that they had a written succession plan in place, it’s clearly something that needs to be added to the agenda.

Organizations experience leadership transition for a variety of reasons. At a minimum, best practices require regular turnover at the board level with term limits. Sometimes there is an unanticipated opening on the board or staff or a natural transition of a long-time leader. And, maybe your volunteer-run organization is hiring its first executive staff person. In each case, a succession plan is key to keeping stakeholders confident and preventing service recipients from experiencing delays. Here are tips to ensure your organization’s future transitions are as smooth as possible.

  • Create clear job descriptions and roles for all volunteer, board of director, and staff roles; monitor and evaluate successes (and failures).
  • Put policies and procedures on paper so any new volunteer and/or staff can get up and running quickly and efficiently. Start with a simple checklist, and imagine walking someone else through each step. Developing an operations manual for your processes will ensure consistency and uniformity. For details on creating these policies for your organization, click here.
  • Continually train and cross-train all volunteers and/or current staff to minimize disruption from unexpected changes. Job shadow or utilize Lynda.com to help staff and volunteers learn the new skills and technologies they need to succeed one another. Spokes consulting services can also be a huge assist!
  • Spread the wealth: make sure donors have relationships with more than one person in the organization. At your next event, make it a priority to introduce your donors to more members of your leadership team.
  • Spokes offers classes and resources to help your board and staff learn the best practices of nonprofit management. Allow us to train them on the basics while you focus on teaching them the more nuanced functions of your operations.
  • Take advantage of member benefits like Executive Director Roundtables and Board President Roundtables. At your next board or staff meeting, play Spokes Best Practices in Nonprofit Management video series.
  • And, when an unexpected transition occurs despite great succession planning efforts, remember that Spokes offers Executive Search services through its consulting program. Learn more here.

Getting Board Members to Agree

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Consensus. Harmony. Unity. These are the goals of every nonprofit board. Unfortunately, they are rarely part of their reality. So, how does a board leader honor every individual around the table while encouraging them all to move forward in agreement?

In his recent article for Fast Company, “This Is Why Your Passive-Aggressive Office Note Didn’t Work,” Shane Snow suggests that understanding each individual’s outer and inner expectations is the key to creating group agreement. Snow cites a framework presented in author Gretchen Rubin’s latest book, The Four Tendencies, that identifies different personalities and how best to empathize with and appeal to those personalities–rather than avoid them or fight them.

• Upholders will do anything to meet a work deadline (an outer expectation) and also their New Year’s resolution (an inner expectation). They’re self-starters and highly reliable, but they can be defensive and rigid.
• Questioners tend to be good at meeting their inner expectations, but they need to be convinced why to do something before doing it, this way they can decide for themselves whether it’s worth doing. They’re comfortable bucking the system but can suffer from analysis paralysis and get impatient with people who just accept things as they are.
• Obligers are motivated above all else by helping others and by following rules. They can be counted on as responsible but can have trouble imposing limits or saying “no.”
• Rebels are motivated by freedom of choice and self-expression. They don’t want to be told what to do; they want to decide what to do. They’re great at being independent, spontaneous, and creative but not at being disciplined.

Read his entire article here to learn more about your own personality type, better identify the personalities of your peers, and gain strategies to use this framework to create more true consensus in the board room, with your colleagues, and in your personal relationships, too!

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