Volunteer Management

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Volunteer Management

• Overview of SPARC Research to date
• Phase 2 just starting 1000 1500 interviewed in
  2007, report due in 2008. Tests size of each
  motivational group.
• Clubkit provides information and templates to
  assist volunteers to run clubs, manage events and
  support other volunteers. Available online early
  in July and via NSOs, RSTs and SPARCs website.
• Volunteer Awareness Week 17-23 June includes
• Peter Bush Exhibition
• Television advert
• Group challenge Value the contribution of
  volunteers

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Volunteer programme

• Vote money - 6.5 million over 4 years
• Volunteer programme 3 key projects
• research
• capability building
• promotion

A sport and recreation sector where there is a
high level of volunteering and the contributions
people make through volunteering are actively
supported and valued.
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Purpose of the study
understand motivations for volunteering
identify obstacles to volunteering understand
perspectives of those who volunteer consider
existing volunteers potential volunteers and
lapsed volunteers.
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Not all volunteers are the same
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Link to Dispositions
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Investors Making a Difference

• Fit with Sports Volunteering
• Want to be recognised as having contributed to
  successful outcomes at many levels
• Individual/team/code/club/community/society
• Tied to wellbeing of children, other people,
  their sport and community

• The People
• Willing to give time so others or their sport
  will achieve and be successful
• Investment in physical/emotional/social
• Achievers for themselves and others
• Who want to get back what they have put in
• Results focus and look for help to achieve
  results

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Investors

• I will put them on the right path
• Giving them the best opportunity
• Being able to see people improve
• Getting kids off to a good start
• Getting out of life as much as you can
• Creating opportunities as in making sure the
  sport is happening
• Am I actually doing something that makes a
  difference?

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Improving the SV Experience for Investors

• Acknowledgement for Investors comes from seeing
  and experiencing the results of investment
• You can increase the volunteer experience for
  Investors by ensuring that achievements are made
  explicit

• Educate sports organisations and players on
• The importance of volunteers and the need to
  respect their time and investment
• Use the achievement driver of the Investor to
  give meaning to sports volunteering

A key segment. Communicating to this mindset may
appeal to many.
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Aspirers You get respect

• Fit with Sport Volunteering
• Often strive to reach the top as a coach or
  referee due to their achievement and skill
• Few sought governance, management and
  administrative roles
• for the respect and prestige associated with
  these roles
• The issue may be these roles are positioned quite
  variably and some are very much behind the
  scenes
• Typically not that visible and therefore not seen
  as offering prestige or respect
• Could be an key issue in attracting people to
  these roles?

• The People
• Peoples goal here is to obtain a level of
  respect and prestige
• Need to feel important, recognised appreciated
  and looked up to
• May see volunteering offering particular
  opportunities for recognition and achievement
• Possibly more so than in other areas of their
  lives

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Aspirers

• The players are much more inclined to get
  encouragement and incentives than the coaches and
  managers
• You get respect and everything just gels
• In some ways you feel like you have got some
  mana, as a coach of people. People listen to you
  and look up to you
• I think I used to play netball with her and
  thats quite cool

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Improving Aspirers Experience

• Important that Aspirers get visible expressions
  of appreciation and that their contribution is
  valued
• Often the best rewards and recognition here are
  from peers and those higher up

• For management and administrative roles
• consider how to make these roles more visible
• And build prestige and recognition into these
  roles

Expose Aspirers to high achieving role models
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Cautious but keen 4 Strategies

• Compulsory
• Volunteering
• Roster to coach
• Junior team

• Mentoring
• And Support
• In Roles
• Buddy system
• Taster
• sessions
• Rotate
• through roles

• Training and
• Skill
• Development
• Work with schools
• to encourage
• shape volunteering
• from Teens
• Working with
• groups
• - and managing
• others

• Provide a
• Psychologically
• Safe Volunteering
• Environment
• Be really clear
• about what the
• role requires
• - what are the
• responsibilities
• Volunteer advocacy
• to provide support
• Structures systems
• to provide safety
• such as spectator
• codes of conduct

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Masters Strategies

• Some Masters are not sure of how to apply their
  skills to sports volunteering
• Make explicit exactly what skills you are looking
  for
• Provide opportunity to demonstrate knowledge and
  skills
• Choose for mentoring
• Masters are ideal for testimonials on websites
• With particular attention paid to their skills
  and how these skills were used for volunteering

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Volunteering is a two-way relationship
Needs of organisations
Needs of volunteers
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Volunteering has image problems
POSITIVE
NEGATIVE

• generous people
• dedicated
• caring
• honest and
• full of integrity.

• slave labour
• being treated badly
• little or no respect from sport organisations
• feeling like second class citizens.

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Volunteers want more structure
Good level of operation and organisation.
Policies and processes not too formalised
Not every process will need to be applied to all
volunteers
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The importance of asking
Asking someone to become a volunteer communicates
the belief that someone has something valuable to
offer. Asking also overcomes the Kiwi trait of
modesty and not wanting to be seen as a show
off.
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The importance of leadership

• Volunteers say that strong leadership helps them
  to focus on their roles.
• Good leadership results in some or all of the
  following
• a safe environment
• a supportive and encouraging environment
• a well-run organisation
• clear processes and systems for managing
  volunteers
• manageable volunteer roles
• clarity and certainty about the commitment
  required from volunteers
• volunteers feeling respected and listened to.

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Thanking volunteers
All volunteering is conditional. People want to
feel appreciated for their efforts. Two types
of rewards Implicit rewards recognition is
inferred and inherent in the action. Internal
rewards more important than external
rewards. Explicit rewards recognition is
tangible and stated. We found that people were
not generally looking to be explicitly rewarded
in sport volunteering except for Aspirers.
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Maori and volunteering
There is in fact no Maori word equivalent to
volunteering. Participating in unpaid
activities for Maori is reciprocated by the
overwhelming sense of whanaungatanga and
belonging gained from the experience as well as
the sense of contributing to the well being and
success of the collective whanau group. Maori
participants particularly expressed a strong
sense of the need to invest in rangatahi (Youth)
and invest in Maori development.
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Recommendations for strategy development
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Create a Dialogue with Volunteers

• Provide a system where volunteers are involved in
  decision making
• And their experiences and thoughts are recognised
  and valued
• Layer communication so that opportunites for a
  dialogue occur at club level via
• Newsletters
• Phone contact
• Surveys
• Website
• or workshops gatherings

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Implement Volunteer Advocacy

• Volunteer advocates may have a role in providing
  a more supportive environment
• Will be an investment in recruitment, management
  retention
• To represent volunteers and volunteer concerns
  and negotiate on their behalf
• Policy and process development

• Could also encompass training and development of
  volunteers
• Reward and recognition
• Charged with volunteer satisfaction

Need for role and level of role will vary by
sport organisation
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Execute a Mentoring Policy

• The matching of people so that a mentor supports
  development
• and a mentee gains skills and advice
• Many satisfied existing volunteers mentioned the
  mentoring they had had along the way
• Most often asked for by young people

About access to mentors not necessarily one on one
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Acknowledgement Recognition
Implicit Rewards Recognition inferred And
inherent In action Internal rewards of
volunteering more important
Explicit Rewards Tangible and stated People
generally not looking for a high level of
explicit reward as such except Aspirer mindset
All volunteering is conditional / People want to
feel appreciated
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Rewards and Recognition

• Implicit Rewards
• Consider as implicit rewards
• Volunteer advocacy
• Media advocacy
• Dialogue with Volunteers
• Support to enable tasks to get done
• The buzz of achievement made tangible

• Explicit Rewards
• Consider as explicit rewards
• Regular low level verbal acknowledgement
• Access to sports gear
• Naming rights
• Prizes

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Key Support Messages
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Status of volunteers

• Refer Resource 8 Volunteers, employees and
  contractors
• Responsibility to volunteers
• Due care
• Negligence
• Training
• Job descriptions
• Relevant legislation