2000 Volunteer Leader Training Guide
Retaining Volunteers
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Objectives of the Lesson
• Introduction
• Suggested Activities
• Recruitment
• Retention
• Job Design
Objectives of the Lesson
- For members to become familiar with the mission, objectives
and goals of the organization;
- For members to adopt good membership habits; and
- For members to understand the relationship of job design and
member responsibilities.
Introduction
Maintaining a group of strong volunteers is important to the success of any
organization. The secret to maintaining a highly motivated group of
volunteers is in the recruitment, retention and assignment of
responsibilities or job design. As our lives have become more complex,
managing organizations has also become complex. When we involve volunteers,
we are asking them to give some of their free time. If the jobs that you are
asking them to do are unpleasant, they will move on to something that is
more interesting.
When our numbers begin to decline in our club, we begin to think about
recruitment. We really need to go further back. Before we think about
getting more people, we need to answer a few questions about ourselves and
what we know and believe about the organization.
- Who are we?
- What is our mission?
- What do we do?
- What are the benefits?
- How can a new member be a part of this organization?
Having a sense of purpose and understanding where you are going and how you
will get there is the first step to retaining volunteers. Getting the facts
straight in your own mind will help you recruit new members. This phase
helps build commitment to your program. Sue Vineyard, a well-known authority
on volunteer management, has coined the Eleventh Commandment, “Thou shalt
get thy silly act together.” This is true for any recruitment you might
have, be it for membership or a particular job.
Suggested Activities
- Select 1: (Approximately 10 minutes)
Activity A
To stimulate some discussion, ask one or more members some of the questions
below:
1. Why did you join this organization?
2. What is the mission of the Extension Homemakers organizations?
3. How has the organization benefited you?
Activity B
If you have members who enjoy role playing, set up two situations for
recruiting. After the two scenes of role playing, discuss how they differed and
how your members would have reacted in the same situation.
Scene 1 – A member runs into her friend at the supermarket. She mentions
that she has been to her club meeting. Her friend asks her about it and, in
the process, the member answers the five questions mentioned earlier and
invites her to the next meeting as her guest. The friend accepts and they
move along.
Scene 2 – A member runs into her friend at the supermarket. She mentions
that she has been to the club meeting. Her friend continues the conversation
about the meeting and her answers are much different. Something like, we
meet, we have a great time, we eat, and you will just love it. The friend
moves on thinking she is interested. She doesn’t know what they are about or
how it could benefit her. No invitation was extended.
Recruitment
Time is money in today’s society and gone are the days that people will do
anything. If volunteers are interested in what you are doing, are satisfied
with their roles, and see the time spent as beneficial to them, they will
stay with you. Having a well-rounded program that meets the needs of a
diverse group of members is important to consider in recruitment and
retention.
Understanding the answers to the questions in the first activity is the place
to begin. A member should be able to tell who you are and what you are about
briefly. People will remember what you say in the first minute of an
explanation, but not far beyond that time length.
You might try something like this. Ask a volunteer to respond to the question:
What is EHC? A possible answer might be:
We are a volunteer organization. Our primary interest is families and how we
can improve the quality of life for ourselves and our family. We meet monthly
and have programs that are presented by our members on subjects we have
selected. We belong to a county and state organizations and have opportunities
to participate in educational programs.
Suggestions for Presenting
If you included the role playing in the introduction, you may refer back to the
two situations and discuss how the answers or explanation could be improved.
You may ask members to respond to this in an impromptu manner, followed by a
discussion on inviting members to join Extension Homemakers.
Retention
Once you have recruited a new member, the work is not over. How do you keep
members? Many times we recruit new members, they come to the first meeting,
and they leave loaded down with the jobs that nobody wants to do. This is
not a good way to retain members. A satisfied member is one who understands
what the organization is about and is meeting his/her needs in the process.
Member Orientation
New members should have at least one year to learn about the organization. The
more a member understands about how things work, the better they can be as a
member. Developing leaders in an organization is a gradual process and
developing good members is too. You start at the bottom and work your way up.
Some things that will help the new member with orientation:
• The club president should offer explanations of what is happening during the
business meeting so that new members can be informed.
• The new member could be assigned a mentor or partner. It is sometimes easier
to ask an individual questions rather than the group.
• Add a five-minute orientation to your business meeting. Take some time each
meeting to review some club procedure or event. It’s a good refresher for some
members and orientation for the new member.
• Assign some responsibilities to the new members. The first time it may be an
assignment with someone else. They may be a committee member before they serve
as chairman, a club leader before taking on the vice president.
• Be a good role model. The member’s handbook has a section on “Membership
Responsibilities.” Some of the things listed include:
• Attend meetings regularly.
• Do your “homework” for each meeting.
• Encourage and support members serving as officers and leaders.
• Share in responsibilities of the club.
• Be willing to do your part.
• Become familiar with the mission and objectives of the organization.
Becoming a good member takes work, but you get out of it in proportion to what
you put into the organization. It takes commitment and a positive attitude.
Job Design
The third area that is important to membership retention is job design. The
secret to job design or job assignment is learning what your members are
interested in doing. People join organizations for different reasons. For some,
it may be a social event – they want to be around people. For others, they may
have something specific they want to learn. And for others, they may enjoy
working with groups. Community service may be the appealing factor. Whatever the
reason, the leaders in the organization need to know. This information will help
in finding the right jobs for the new member.
There are many ways to find out. It can be a formal process you go through or
something done informally at a club meeting. Some suggestions include:
Suggestions for Presenting
This may be a good time to ask some of the members why they joined and why they
remain a member. Discussions may bring out ideas that will create some
changes in the club.
You may not want to dwell on negatives, but you want to look for things that
are good that would motivate someone to join and be an active member.
It may be a good time to introduce the club data sheet. Have each member
complete a data sheet. This would be kept by the president and updated
annually.
Develop a club member data sheet. Have new members fill this out when they
join. It’s not a bad idea to update these each year. It should include the
obvious information like name, address, phone number, e-mail address. The
information that will help you in designing jobs or assigning jobs is:
• Things I would like to learn.
• Skills that I know and would like to share.
• Programs I am interested in having.
• Committees I would like to serve on.
• Offices I am interested in.
Activities
“I Am” – In this exercise participants are given an 8 1/2- x 11-inch sheet of
paper on which they write six statements about who they are. For example: “I
am Sue Smith, I am…”
• an engineer.
• a new resident.
• a fun-loving person.
• a gardener.
• a chocoholic.
• a first generation American.
Yarn Ball – Give everyone a length of yarn (these should be varying
lengths). Ask that they tell the group about themselves, talking for as long
as it takes to wrap the yarn around a finger.
“I Am a Resource” – Ask each member to give their name and tell the
group in what way they could be a resource. “I am Bud Jones, I…”
• speak Spanish.
• am a computer buff.
• am an attorney.
• like to build things.
Suggestions for Presenting
• Select one of the activities to do with members.
• Look at jobs that have been assigned in the club. Are they meeting the needs
of the member they are assigned to?
• Identify two members each month and do the “I Am” activity.
• As a special activity for this program, do the “I Am a Resource” activity.
This information will be very helpful to the officers.
Diane F. Jones, Family Consumer Science Specialist
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