Welcome to

3f) Managing a team of volunteers

Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know about Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t need to know about the second theory of thermo-dynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.

Martin Luther King Jr.

National Survey of Volunteering defined volunteering as:...any activity which involves spending time, unpaid, doing something which aims to benefit someone (individuals or groups) other than or in addition to close relatives, or to benefit the environment.

Managing a team of Volunteers

‘The Volunteer Paradox’

•Churches are employing less paid youth workers 2017 than in 2007•Those that do are generally part time fixed term contracts•Where a paid youth worker is in post, they will need more – not less – volunteers. •Aging volunteer pool to choose from

The role of our volunteers and

how we manage them well is

therefore crucial to help them – and our work with young

people - flourish

Managing a team of Volunteers

The typical make-up of a volunteer...

•Consistent trend towards more women volunteering than men•Peak age: 50. Then drop off followed by a peak at retirement age•More likely to be middle class than working class – although working class more likely to be involved in informal volunteering (e.g. Helping elderly neighbour)•More likely to be married than single•More likely than not to be church attenders•Likely to read a mid-market Sunday tabloid and give to a good cause

Managing a team of Volunteers

Most common areas for volunteering:

Sport / exercise: 34%

Children’s education / schools: 30%

Hobbies / recreation / arts / social clubs: 25%

Religion: 23%

Religious people are twice as likely to be involved in volunteering compared to non-

religious people.

26% of people participated in formal volunteering at least once a month & 35%35 per cent participated in informal volunteering

2007/8: formal volunteers contributed £22.7billion to the economy

(http://timebank.org.uk/key-facts)

Managing a team of Volunteers

Objectives

1) Motivations of our volunteers

2) Managing and recruiting volunteers

3) Changing face of volunteering

Managing a team of Volunteers

Motivations...

What are your motivations for volunteering as youth workers? (or for paid youth workers, as volunteers in other spheres)

What do you think are the motivations of the other volunteers in your teams?

Managing a team of Volunteers

Motivations1) Seeing a need and feeling they can help meet it2) Strong personal drivers – ‘I’ve always volunteered’3) Family example4) Desire to serve – ‘I want to give something back...’5) A need to be needed6) Personal commitment to the cause - Two relatives passed away from cancer in

the past 12 months…7) Friendship / social reasons8) Personal – even selfish – motives – ‘To get out of the house’9) Guilt – ‘If I don’t no-one else will and it’ll close down’10) Gaining fulfilment11) Spiritual drive / religious faith12) Desire to be part of a team13) Simply because they’ve been asked

Does recognising our motivations for volunteering help? If so, how?

Managing a team of Volunteers

Richard Steel: ‘Many recognise, and are quite open about, the good that volunteering does to them, as well as the good done by them.’

Daniel Goleman: ‘The fundamental task of leaders...is to prime good feeling in those they

lead...the primal job of leadership is emotional.’

If that is true, then recognising our volunteers motivations for volunteering at your youth group will help us to ‘prime good feeling in

them.’

Managing a team of Volunteers

Recruiting and Managing Volunteers

How were you ‘recruited’ into your youth work?

How are you managed in your current position?

How do you recruit volunteers in your current context?

How do you manage your volunteers?

Emelyn Williams: ‘Research has found that short-term volunteers are often recruited by a friend or colleague, and that long-term volunteers tend to become so through having a close link with existing volunteers or the organisation over time.’ How good are we at asking people to volunteer?

If someone’s in charge of you…

If you’re in charge of other volunteers…

Recruitment• Job or role

description• References• Interview• DBS• Probationary period• Decision to appoint• Training

Should we have a formal recruitment process for our volunteer youth workers in Church? Why / why not?

Managing a team of Volunteers

Your leaders / helpers should know• your aims and goals (overall and specific)• what you expect of them (behaviour and role)• good safeguarding practice• how to head up safely if you’re not there• what to do if a young person discloses information of a

safeguarding matter• what the theme for the week/term is all about• how to relate to the young people (what is appropriate)• the boundaries of the group and how to discipline• other areas of training covered by Aurora…

Training opportunities…-Aurora September 2017-YMCA Learning Hubs with Care for the Family (May 16th www.billetto.co.uk/MayLearningHub)-Diocese Networking Gatherings (May 24th www.sheffield.anglican.org/network-gatherings)-Joined Up Conference (Sat 10th March 2018: www.joinedupconference.com)

Managing a team of Volunteers

1) Good Induction. What did you want to know when you started?

• The vision and aims• Key people they need to meet• Relevant policies – child protection, health and safety etc• Relevant procedures – how things are done, team meetings, other

people’s roles etc• Practical issues of where things are kept, how equipment works

2) Clear expectations

• Two-way expectations: what are your expectations of your volunteer and what are their expectations of you and what they’ll be doing?

Managing a team of Volunteers

3) Tasks and Roles which, wherever possible, are tailored to the volunteer

4) Training and Development both formal and informal.

5) Rewards – Jesus spoke about reward for service (Matt 5:12, 6:4, 10:41, 16:27, 19:29).

6) Ownership – talking about ‘us’ rather than ‘you.’ Good chance that other volunteers will out last you, especially if you’re a paid worker.

Williams: ‘Ownership is grown through the involvement of volunteers in planning processes, decision making and evaluation and through regular consultation.’

7) Support and Supervision

Supervision & Management

• Making good use of your supervision• Accountability• Mentor• Your responsibilities over others• Review sheets• Appraisals• Aims and Goals to encourage growth• Keeping a team on board• Model what you want to see your

leaders doing with your young people.

Managing a team of Volunteers

Managing a team of Volunteers

Changing face of volunteeringSilent Generation (1920s-1945): Commitment to a cause = duty

Boomers (1945 to 1960’s): More selfish but still large place for deferred gratification

Gen X (Mid 1960’s to early 1980’s): ‘What suits me – now.’

Generation Y (Mid 1980’s to early 21st Century): ‘Whatever!’

This can and does affect how people volunteer

Managing a team of Volunteers

Gen X needs:

-Options and flexibility-Dislike close supervision-Love change so much they actually need it-They work to have a life; they don’t live to work.

Gen Y:

Expect more intense reaction more immediately than previous generationsWant community, fun, enjoyment, and high ‘take-home value’.Socially-networked generation – and shows in volunteering.

Managing a team of Volunteers

‘Volunteers today demand, whether explicitly or not, more time from those who lead them. They respond to appraisals (formal or not), mentoring, regular reviews, volunteer agreements. Gen X and Y are used to them in their working life and they expect their leaders, even in voluntary situations, to be professional.’

Volunteers

Other issues around volunteering today:

Younger volunteers tend to volunteer for one-off events (e.g. Holiday clubs, Spring Harvest etc) rather than week in week out

Many younger people can’t afford to volunteer – need to work instead

Larger commitments in other areas of their life

Families spread out – weekends often spent visiting family

University students need to work during holidays

Are there any other issues around volunteering today?

Managing a team of Volunteers

Opportunities:

We are here to serve our volunteers as well as our young people – so how can you serve yours?

Enabling people to volunteer on a one-off basis might help secure them in the long term.

Volunteering opportunities provide people with different experiences to their work and family life

Provides a sense of community and ownership for volunteers

Managing a team of Volunteers

Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know about Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t need to know about the second theory of thermo-dynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love.

Martin Luther King Jr.