Effective Volunteer Supervision

Becoming a better supervisor. January 2012 Module 3 of 4

Created by C.Piggott

Volunteer Leadership Training

Some words that could describe the traits of an effective supervisor are planning, communicating,

leading, and problem solving.

Help is a key word. You must offer it and ask for it.

As a supervisor, you can’t do everything required by your organization or program.

In large part, you must learn to do your job by getting your volunteers and agency partners to

do the work.

Effective Volunteer Supervision

Effective Volunteer Supervision

1. Communicator - Active listening; providing feedback; conflict management.

2. Advisor /Problem solving - coaching volunteers.3. Team Builder - Building a collaborative team environment.4. Planner/Manager Planning - work; setting priorities/

delegating tasks; managing time; managing meeting.5. Community Partnership - Assessing community needs;

building and sustaining collaboration; public relation.

Supervisors spend about 75 percent of their time engaged in two activities-talking and listening.

The three critical communication skills you must call on if you hope to be a helper and a leader are:

Active listening

Providing feedback

Conflict management

The Communicator

Active listening

First, you need to listen to understand—What is this person

expressing to me about how she or he is thinking and feeling?

Second, you need to check to see if the person with

whom you are interacting understands the meaning or the message of what you are saying in response. The greater the diversity of your volunteer group (or

staff), the more challenging clear communication becomes because everyone filters what

they hear differently.

Providing Feedback

You communicate work expectations to volunteers.

You have volunteers express their expectations for support from you, from agency partners, and from other

volunteers.

You explain who assesses their performance and how that information is communicated, and to whom.

Last, but not least, you describe the consequences tied to the process. There are rules of the game and

you explain how to play by them.

Conflict Management

You communicate work expectations to volunteers.

You have volunteers express their expectations for support from you, from agency partners, and from other

volunteers.

You explain who assesses their performance and how that information is communicated, and to whom.

Last, but not least, you describe the consequences tied to the process. There are rules of the game and

you explain how to play by them.

By helping your volunteers accurately identify their problems and then determining viable solutions together,

you will be fulfilling one of your most important supervisory functions.

The three critical skills you must call on if you hope to be a helper and a leader are:

„Problem solving

„ Coaching

„Helping volunteers build commitment

Advisor /Problem solving

Problem Solving

By helping your volunteers accurately identify their problems and determining viable solutions, you will be

fulfilling one of your most important supervisory functions

Supervisors with strong advisory skills create ways to make the

process truly collaborative. This means you must resist the urge

to take over and dictate solutions.

CoachingCoaching means unlocking volunteer’s potential and

helping them improve their problem-solving and planning skills.

The goal is to help volunteers learn rather than to teach them.

Your role as a coach is to help volunteers define their personal and professional goals and provide them with the information, resources, knowledge, and skills they

need.

Your resources are your knowledge, skills, and ability and the world of other training, coaching, and teaching

resources in the community.

Helping volunteers build commitment

It is critical that you understand what your members/volunteers want to get out of their

assignments and what motivates them to do their job well.

Different people will be motivated by different things, depending upon what they value. What might be a risk

to one person may be rewarding to another.

Once you begin learning about your volunteers’ internal incentives (what they want for themselves, not what you want for them), you can help them find ways to achieve their

personal rewards while helping the program accomplish its goals.

1. They are clear about their mission, values, and goals and can see them in action.

2. They feel appreciated for their contributions.3. They are competent and confident. 4. They have influence over developing their roles

in the program.5. Their personal goals are met

One way to help members/volunteers sustain their energy level and commitment is to build a

supportive, high-energy organizational culture.

Volunteers are likely to develop their commitment to program

goals when:

Most volunteer supervisors work with plans that cover a period of one year or less.

Depending on your organization and assignment, you may be asked to participate in the development

of programs and projects which address the strategies of your agency and national office.

A program is defined as a set of activities which accomplish broad objectives over a relatively long

period. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Planner and Manager

1. Goals—an overall broad but clear statement of what you want to achieve in a given period of time.

2. Objectives—similar to goals but more specific and focused on short-term results needed to meet the long-term goal. Objectives should be “SMART:” specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound.

3. Tasks or Activities—steps you need to do in order to reach your objectives They have influence over developing their roles in the program.

4. Resources—human, physical, or monetary resources you will need to complete the tasks/activities.

5. Monitoring/Evaluation Plan—checkpoints for measuring your progress on the tasks and your overall success in reaching the project’s objectives.

Project plans usually include the following components:

• Build and maintain collaborative relationships because community members (individuals, organizations, and

agencies) know more about their problems than anyone.

• The more you involve community members in defining and developing your service activities, the more they will buy into the project and sustain their efforts over

the long term

• Community partners increase your program’s potential to offer better services and accomplish things neither group could do alone because you are pooling your

ideas and energy along with other resources.

Community Partnership

•Supervising volunteers isn't much different from supervising paid employees. If you do it well, you will keep the best volunteers coming back to give their

time. 

• Supervising volunteers can be time-consuming, but it is investing in the future of our organization. It is

volunteers who always add value both to direct client service and to the necessary support work. And, it is

fulfilled volunteers who spread the word in the community about all the good work done in that

particular organization

In conclusion

You have now completed Module 3 of the KAVCO Volunteer Leadership Training. Please follow this link

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DK35Y8Q

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GHM5DWZ to complete the quiz.

Resources

•http://www.nonprofit champion.com/cycleofvolunteermanagement.html.•http://www.citizensinformationboard.ie/publications/voluntary_sector/

managing_volunteers/3introductionvm_publications_voluntary_managing.html

•http://www.nationalserviceresources.org/•http://www.slideshare.net/FamilyForce/the-volunteer-management-cycle

•www.energizeinc.com/art/subj/Reten.html•www.ecivc.net/Presentations/Siebold.pdf