What drives volunteers to volunteer their time, funds and/or manpower to specific causes and organisations? Well, one key driver is passion. People who volunteer are usually very passionate about a particular cause. They feel an inner "push" to get involved and to want to contribute their expertise, experience and skills towards making a difference and having an impact, which drives them to seek out volunteer opportunities above and beyond their day-to-day jobs and activities.
For example, passionate gardeners may be inspired to volunteer with gardening clubs or community gardens. Those who love children, or pets, may flock to volunteer with orphanages or animal shelters. Cycling enthusiasts may be drawn to cycling clubs, while some are inspired to reach out to the disadvantaged by participating in soup kitchens, organising donation drives for refugee shelters, etc etc.
So, let's assume for the purposes of this article, that you are one of those passionate individuals who have just come on board as a volunteer with the organisation of your choice. Things are going well in your selected role, and you feel you might be able to take on a bit more. Or, (more often than not :-) your fellow volunteers and group leaders approach you to ask if you could fill a new role or take on an additional one. This is not at all uncommon, as small volunteer-run organisations are nearly always under-resourced in some way or the other, whether from the perspective of manpower, funding or support structures such as office space, etc - and must always be on a sharp look-out for capable new volunteers! :-)
Fast-forward to your situation - you're being asked whether you can take on a new or expanded role and (before really thinking it through! :-) you find yourself saying a bold "Yes!" :-)
The next thing that usually happens is that, exactly 3 seconds after the word "Yes" has left your lips, you start to panic. ""Oh no what have I done! I don't know how to do what I said I would! I can't do it! What do I do now?? Help!!":-)
OK, first things first, calm down and do not panic any longer...help is at hand :-)
If you feel that you would like to accept the new role but are really not sure whether you can do the job, read on for some helpful tips :-)
For example, passionate gardeners may be inspired to volunteer with gardening clubs or community gardens. Those who love children, or pets, may flock to volunteer with orphanages or animal shelters. Cycling enthusiasts may be drawn to cycling clubs, while some are inspired to reach out to the disadvantaged by participating in soup kitchens, organising donation drives for refugee shelters, etc etc.
So, let's assume for the purposes of this article, that you are one of those passionate individuals who have just come on board as a volunteer with the organisation of your choice. Things are going well in your selected role, and you feel you might be able to take on a bit more. Or, (more often than not :-) your fellow volunteers and group leaders approach you to ask if you could fill a new role or take on an additional one. This is not at all uncommon, as small volunteer-run organisations are nearly always under-resourced in some way or the other, whether from the perspective of manpower, funding or support structures such as office space, etc - and must always be on a sharp look-out for capable new volunteers! :-)
Fast-forward to your situation - you're being asked whether you can take on a new or expanded role and (before really thinking it through! :-) you find yourself saying a bold "Yes!" :-)
The next thing that usually happens is that, exactly 3 seconds after the word "Yes" has left your lips, you start to panic. ""Oh no what have I done! I don't know how to do what I said I would! I can't do it! What do I do now?? Help!!":-)
OK, first things first, calm down and do not panic any longer...help is at hand :-)
If you feel that you would like to accept the new role but are really not sure whether you can do the job, read on for some helpful tips :-)
First, adjust your mindset. Push fear out of the equation and focus on taking up the new role as a challenge. Even if you feel you don't have the skills or experience to take it on, that does not mean you can't learn at least some or most parts of the job. Push yourself to take up the challenge to learn and master something new, and be confident that you can. Check out this inspiring TED Talk on adopting a growth mindset and pushing beyond your boundaries and comfort zone.
Secondly, find out exactly what the role entails. Is there someone who is already serving in that role? If so, have a chat with that person and find out the full scope of the job, as well as what challenges that person faced, how they overcame the challenges, whether there are any precedents or templates or standard operating procedures already in place, to make the job more structured and easier to manage. If there are, all you really need to do is compile what is already in place, think about how you could customise it to your own requirements, and work out how you can use it or perhaps improve upon it, to get the job done.
If you're being asked to take up a new role and no one has been handling it all this while, your job gets a little harder but, it's still not impossible. It just means that you have to contribute the extra effort to create a system with which to handle the role. One of the ways to create a system where none existed before, is to map out all the processes that go behind each deliverable that makes up the task, break them down into detailed steps, and then link all the steps together to form a process flow according what needs to happen when. There are tonnes of articles on how to do things like this online. For starters, here's a link to an article on how to learn new skills in less time.
Another tip would be to talk to other stakeholders involved in the various key processes and tasks that intersect with your role. Today, virtually no job exists in isolation in any organisation, let alone a small volunteer-run non-profit organisation. In fact, an individual volunteer in a small non-profit organisation could actually end up doing multiple jobs across the spectrum of tasks required. So, talk to other people involved in other roles. Identify where the touchpoints are ie. at which point in the process flow a task moves from them to you and vice versa. Find out from them what problems they've faced on the ground and ask for input and feedback on how to improve things. Incorporate all this feedback into the design of your workflow and scope of work.
Hope you find the above tips useful and, happy volunteering :-)
Comments, questions or requests to cover particular topics, do email me at spiral1701@gmail.com.
Secondly, find out exactly what the role entails. Is there someone who is already serving in that role? If so, have a chat with that person and find out the full scope of the job, as well as what challenges that person faced, how they overcame the challenges, whether there are any precedents or templates or standard operating procedures already in place, to make the job more structured and easier to manage. If there are, all you really need to do is compile what is already in place, think about how you could customise it to your own requirements, and work out how you can use it or perhaps improve upon it, to get the job done.
If you're being asked to take up a new role and no one has been handling it all this while, your job gets a little harder but, it's still not impossible. It just means that you have to contribute the extra effort to create a system with which to handle the role. One of the ways to create a system where none existed before, is to map out all the processes that go behind each deliverable that makes up the task, break them down into detailed steps, and then link all the steps together to form a process flow according what needs to happen when. There are tonnes of articles on how to do things like this online. For starters, here's a link to an article on how to learn new skills in less time.
Another tip would be to talk to other stakeholders involved in the various key processes and tasks that intersect with your role. Today, virtually no job exists in isolation in any organisation, let alone a small volunteer-run non-profit organisation. In fact, an individual volunteer in a small non-profit organisation could actually end up doing multiple jobs across the spectrum of tasks required. So, talk to other people involved in other roles. Identify where the touchpoints are ie. at which point in the process flow a task moves from them to you and vice versa. Find out from them what problems they've faced on the ground and ask for input and feedback on how to improve things. Incorporate all this feedback into the design of your workflow and scope of work.
Next, once you've mapped out the scope of work required, match each task to your skill sets and honestly assess the extent to which you can personally handle it. As in any job, you'll find that there are some tasks that you excel in, some tasks that you are average at, and some tasks that you really don't know how to do at all. For example, if you have no knowledge in accounting and bookkeeping, taking on the job of Treasurer of the registered society is probably not going to work out so well for you when the time comes to prepare the accounts:-).
Even if you're faced with a role you really can't take on from a practical point of view, don't be tempted to give on the role altogether. You could still agree to take on part of the role, by carving out tasks that you can do or rather, can learn to do by stretching yourself and putting in some effort. Using the Treasurer example, perhaps you could still assist the organisation by taking on some of the subsidiary functions of the Treasury role - like doing data entry for receipts and reimbursement claims, tracking online donations, or helping to issue to receipts to members, donors and suppliers - even if the actual accounts are signed off on by someone else with the requisite knowledge. Who knows, in the process, you could learn and gain some valuable new skills and experiences :-)
Even if you're faced with a role you really can't take on from a practical point of view, don't be tempted to give on the role altogether. You could still agree to take on part of the role, by carving out tasks that you can do or rather, can learn to do by stretching yourself and putting in some effort. Using the Treasurer example, perhaps you could still assist the organisation by taking on some of the subsidiary functions of the Treasury role - like doing data entry for receipts and reimbursement claims, tracking online donations, or helping to issue to receipts to members, donors and suppliers - even if the actual accounts are signed off on by someone else with the requisite knowledge. Who knows, in the process, you could learn and gain some valuable new skills and experiences :-)
Comments, questions or requests to cover particular topics, do email me at spiral1701@gmail.com.
