This blog is about and for Volunteer Managers. The first thing I would say is Mind Your Language! Are you a volunteer, or a manager? Or both? But if you are paid you are not a 'volunteer' manager. So what should I call you?
This is where we have to start thinking about the real nature of the job, what we do and how we do it. I'll be offering lots more things to think about on this site, so don't go away.
For starters, we need to get a lot more explicit about what we do. Do you really do all the hands-on management and personal supervision of the volunteers in your organisation? Or are you more realistically managing the delivery of services provided by volunteers? If you say yes to the first question, and you have a roll-call of 100+ volunteers, I say whew! no wonder you don't have time to think about the real business of managing volunteers. If you say yes to the second question you will be engaged in all parts of your organisation, working with other staff, developing, negotiating, being creative - and you will be a real manager of volunteer services.
About Me
- Shindig
- Wellington, New Zealand
- You can call me Sue, but I reckon Shindig is a good enough name for getting some thinking, talking, and action when it comes to managing volunteers in the Kiwi context. We could have quite a blogging party. Who am I to talk? I've been volunteering since a very young age. I have been and in and around community organisations ever since, as an employee, a volunteer, a mentor, and even a bit of time in governance. My direct experience of managing volunteers is brief by some standards, just 6 years. But I have become re-tyred, freed from alignment to any organisation, and free to tell you what I think and to float ideas that might get you thinking.
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