Four issues affecting volunteer based organizations are time poverty, responsiveness, technology, and changing expectations. If you are in a position of working with volunteers, either in a leadership role with a volunteer association or as a salaried professional volunteer manager, these issues create new challenges for how we recruit, train and retain volunteers.
Time Poverty:
For several years research studies across the county have reported that individuals repeatedly identify a "lack of time" as the number one barrier orobstacle to volunteering. Respondents say "I'm too busy," or "I have too little time," or "I cannot make a long term commitment."At the Red Cross National Summit on Volunteerism Dr. Nora Silver termed this phenomenon "time poverty."
People today feel increasing pressures and demands for their time. Time is becoming a precious commodity and people are saying they just don't have enough hours in a day or week to do all the things they must/want to do. And there is a lingering perception that volunteer work requires a long-term commitment. While we know there are many ways for people to become engaged in short term activities, it is still true that many volunteer positions require an ongoing commitment.
I consistently hear all volunteer groups and associations complaining because of the lack of people willing to assume leadership roles. Organizations find it easy to recruit volunteers for special events, but difficult to draw those same volunteers into ongoing positions.
The Gallup poll reports and all time high in the numbers of people volunteering. This is exciting, because it means more and more people are being exposed to the world of volunteering. It also reports that people are continuing an eight-year trend of volunteering fewer hours per month. This means we have fewer and fewer people committing to long term volunteer work and more and more people engaging in episodic activities that occur one or two times per year. In atime of "time poverty" people are increasingly weighing their "return on investment." They are seriously gauging what is required of them and what they will get in return for that investment of time and energy.
I do not think the issue of time poverty is a passing trend. People will continue to feel pressures for their time. Our challenge as leaders of volunteer groups and managers of volunteer programs is to find ways to change what we are asking people to do. To designer smaller, easier, more flexible options, to consider shared responsibility and shared leadership, to create family and friends options, and to clearly identify and promote the personal benefits of volunteering.
Responsiveness:
We are living in a time when people expect answers, information, and resources to be available NOW! We seem to live in a constant state of immediacy. Fax machines, e-mail and the Internet have helped to create an expectation that communication should happen instantaneously.
When I stated my business seven years ago people would call me to talk about an upcoming conference and ask me to submit a proposal. I would usually work on it in the next day or so, and then mail it off. Today the norm is for someone to send me an e-mail 20 minutes before his or her committee meeting requesting an immediate proposal from me. I find myself sending an e-mail and then feeling impatient when I do not receive a response within minutes. My expectation isthat the other person is sitting at their computer waiting for my message!
I work extensively with libraries in Ohio and they are an institution that has been significantly impacted by the Internet. Patrons today want 24-hour/7 day a week access to information, reference and resources. Libraries are struggling with how to meet this ever-increasing demand for services and access. Thisis equally true of today's volunteers. If you have an application on your web site there is an expectation that someone will respond to an inquiry immediately.
Volunteers want immediate access to information, resources and people. They expect you to supply them with answers promptly. They want easy, quick waysto do training. They expect instant access to you. And, they expect you to keepthem well informed of all that is happening. A monthly newsletter may no longerbe sufficient. Our challenge is to find ways to communicate information and resources quickly and equitably to all volunteers.
Technology:
Technology has certainly caused the challenge of responsiveness. It hasintroduced us to whole new ways of work and has also created even larger gaps between those who have technology and those who do not have it.
Increasing we are challenged to engage technology to help us change howwe are doing business. Chat rooms and list serves offer us opportunities to link volunteers, share information and encourage dialogue. Web sites offer new options for marketing programs and positions. Teleconferencing, video conferencing,satellite transmissions, compressed video and desktop video offer new methods of communication for meetings and trainings. Web based trainings and CD ROMs offer new venues for off site, one-to-one training. Virtual meetings, digital members and virtual volunteers are new ways of doing business and encouraging participation.
All of these create unique challenges for combining high-tech methods of doing business with the high-touch needs of people to make human contact in anincreasingly interpersonal world. There is no uniform way of doing things today. We have to use multiple formats to engage today's volunteers. In addition, thenonprofit world must cope with limited funding for technology. We do not tend to have the latest, best, fastest software and hardware.
Changing Expectations:
Volunteers and association members have changing expectations of what they want from volunteer service. We have a younger generation that is more entrepreneurial and less likely to be attracted to large, bureaucratic structure. They want the freedom to try new things in new ways. They are technologically literate and prefer to use technology. Unlike their parents, they do not see technology as impersonal or cold. Indeed, they see technology as a means of connecting to a global world in new ways. They are comfortable searching for answers and information on the web. They are comfortable working alone or in virtual teams.
This is in stark contract to an older generation that likes coming together to solve problems. They like working in teams to explore alternatives and identify strategies. They are comfortable making commitments and assuming leadership roles. They often like things the way they are and are reluctant to implement change. An even older generation prefers conformity, uniformity and order. They are not always comfortable with technology and often see it as highly impersonal.
Each generation has differing expectation of volunteer service and the challenge for us is to bring these diverse generations together into a single organization through multiple options and opportunities. We must spend time understanding the unique needs and styles of our volunteers and constituents and create way for each to receive personal satisfaction and reward. We must examine our recognitions systems to be inclusive of the one-hour virtual volunteer or the long-term direct service volunteer. We have to be careful about the subtle messages we send to new volunteers about long-term commitment and dedication. We are challenge to look at how we do training, how we communicate and how we blend new and veteran volunteers.
Pioneering Leaders:
Leading and managing volunteers in today's world is hard work. There are no simple, standard answers for recruiting and retaining volunteers. Each volunteer leader and each volunteer manger must look carefully at how the four issues identified here affect their ability to attract and keep volunteers.
I believe we are called to be pioneering leaders and creating new models for volunteer engagement. I am reminded of an earlier generation of pioneers who set out to explore our young country without maps or roads. They crossed the frontier and created paths for others to follow. They faced incredible obstacleswith creativity and ingenuity. They opened doors for future generations.
Today we are called to find new, diverse ways of increasing communication, providing education, attracting younger volunteers, utilizing technology andrespecting people's limited time. We are the pioneers seeking innovative forms of engagement and new ways of doing business in a time poverty world.