Why Volunteer Leadership Is Front Seat, Not Back Seat

In recent editions of the Volunteer Management Progress Report, many volunteer management professionals have said they are not able to devote as much time and energy to volunteer engagement as they would like, for two primary (and related) reasons: 1) they have other responsibilities at the organization; and 2) they often don’t have as much influence at work as they believe they should. (See the August 2024 VIS blog post for more information.)

If volunteer leadership and engagement take a back seat at your organization, Lori Gotlieb, founder of Lori Gotlieb Consulting and host of the Volunteer Engagement Matters podcast, offers some suggestions to turn the situation around, starting with defining who volunteer management professionals are.

They are leaders who:

Manage people: They are responsible for making sure all facets of the human resource bucket are working well…getting the right people into the right positions, and training, orienting, supervising, and recognizing their time as a volunteer.

Manage programs and projects: They are an integral part of building texture and depth into the volunteer program through trying new and creative ways to manage people, build on successes, challenge the norm, and evaluate what they do. They work with others to try new and exciting activities that reflect the needs of their communities.

Lead others: They are seen as the “expert” in the field; therefore, they can be confident and represent volunteerism and volunteer management practices, and disseminate what is going on in the world that can have a positive impact through volunteers.

Manage themselves: They keep up to date on research, technology, politics, social, and economic changes so they can proactively build on their programs and respond to the needs of their communities. They also learn about what is happening elsewhere in their organizations, especially the larger ones, where it is more challenging to be part of the conversation.

This cannot be done alone. To be successful, volunteer managers need to:

• Involve others in conversation
• Involve appropriate people in planning and implementation
• Get the vision right
• Understand where they and the organization are at this moment
• For professional development, understand where they want to be, when, why, and how to get there
• Plan development towards those goals
• Develop concrete infrastructures to support volunteers and staff
• Communicate, involve, enable, and facilitate others from the top down
• Utilize tools, templates, and processes to stay on track and evaluate your successes.
• Create short-term wins
• Celebrate successes with others
• Never give up
• Make changes stick

If you are interested in protecting your volunteers through the unique VIS insurance program, please click on the “Get volunteer insurance now” link on the home page, or call 800.222.8920. For more information on VIS’s risk management resources for members and our vendor partners, click on the “Member Benefits” tab.