Keeping your volunteers happy
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Having young people volunteer with your organisation is rewarding for both parties, but sometimes you might face challenges in managing your volunteers – especially young people who are probably juggling study, family, work and friends already.
This video looks at how to help your volunteers cope with stress and talks to some people who know what it's like trying to juggle commitment. It also looks at the importance of managing your expectations and the expectations of the volunteer. Careful planning and communication is the key to ensuring that both you and your volunteer are happy.
The video has been produced by SYN media, a youth-run media organisation that provides broadcast and training opportunities for young Australians.
Read a transcript of this video
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Transcript
SYN (syn.org.au) – SYN is a youth-run media organisation that provides broadcast and training opportunities for young Australians.
Narrator: If you've already got young people volunteering with your organisation, that's awesome. Now that you have the volunteers, it's time to prepare for some road bumps that might be up ahead. For example, how to help your volunteers cope with stress.
Michael is the executive producer at SYN, responsible for ensuring that programs go to air and that his volunteers are happy. This is how he deals with stress.
Michael Sarlo (Executive producer and volunteer at SYN): I also study and have family priorities and what not so it does get really busy. I guess the best thing that I've probably done in my experience is to kind of share out the load. Because when you are in a leadership position you think you sort of have to do everything yourself and the volunteers just follow but I think it is really about sharing the load and so if things do become a little bit difficult, and you do have some things to do, in my experience the volunteers really want to help out. So they do as much as they can. And you just say, 'Do you mind helping me with this' and kind of distribute the load and it kind of gets done.
Narrator: There are things you can do as a staff member to ensure your volunteers are happy as well.
Joe Toohey (Express Media general manager): Communication is really important. And I think making sure that that volunteer feels that they can come to you with problems and just talk to you and that your going to be there to listen I think is really important. You don't necessarily have to solve all the problems. I think, as someone who is either another volunteer yourself, managing volunteers or as a staff member managing volunteers – but you do need to be able to be accessible and you do need to have those volunteers feel that they can approach you with a problem and just talk it though. Sometimes that means being able to vent and get their frustrations out. Sometimes that means you need to share examples of your own, when you have had similar frustrations.
Thalia Azaria (SYN general manager): Ask them if there is a way for staff and other volunteers can help them. And I think, that ultimately if that volunteer is not happy, they don't have to stay around the organisation. If they aren't enjoying their experience – the number one point of volunteering, I think, is too be happy and to be getting something out of it as well giving something to that organisation that you are volunteering at.
Narrator: Apart from stress and frustrations that volunteers may feel from time to time, there are some other things to keep in mind when it comes to creating a positive work environment for volunteers. For example, what if a volunteer isn't meeting your expectations?
Joe Toohey: Managing your expectations and the expectations of the volunteer – because I think, from my experience, I worked with volunteers at SYN before who have maybe set really ambitious goals for themselves. And just making sure that we are able to keep talking to that persons and saying, 'These goals are really great, but how are we going to manage it if you achieve some of these goals, what are some mid level goals we can put in here as well?'. And just making sure that that communication is opening. I think that not achieving goals isn't a problem with volunteers or it's not as big a problem as not achieving goals and not telling anyone about it, and just struggling away and finding that you are really not keeping up with what you need to be doing as a volunteer or what people think you are doing as a volunteer.
Narrator: Another issue you may encounter is what to do when a volunteer leaves the organisation – how do you ensure that things don't fall apart?
Tahlia Azaria: It's always really important to have a hand over process. So don't finish a position and start the new person in that position after, always start them before. So that they have got time to speak with that volunteer to learn about how they operated, what certain things they did, what the draw backs and the limitations are with that role as well.
Narrator: To keep good volunteers motivated it is important to offer them an ongoing challenge. Tahlia Azaria, SYN's general manager, explains how:
Tahlia Azaria: Be listening to them, and listen to what they are currently doing and what they want to do. Everyone always has great ideas and giving them that time, and remembering that sometimes for a lot of organisations the volunteers are the organisation – so giving them the time to consider their ideas and working with them on a way to execute those ideas can be the challenge in itself. I think setting goals, though, and constantly reviewing them throughout the year and maybe at a six moth period, to make sure that people are reaching those goals and not just setting pie in the sky goals is also really important as well.
Narrator: These are just some of the challenges you might face when taking on young volunteers. Careful planning and communication is the key to ensuring that both you and your volunteer are happy.
Credits
Writer and Producer: Emma Sharp
Director: Steve Varley
Camera Operators: Brianna Piazza and Magda Makowski
Sound Operator: David Valkenet
Editor: Mike Young
Title Design: Caspian Pantea
Music: 'All Night Long' By the Frowning Clouds
Special thanks:
- Tahlia Azaria
- Joe Toohey
- Dan Pejic
- Ashleigh Briggs
- Michael Sarlo
- Mandi O'Brian
- Harley Hefford
- Jonathon Brown
- Vince Bufalino
- Patrick Bridges
- Mawrgan Shaw
- Clare Wynne
This video was made possible with the support of: The Youth Affairs Council of Victoria, The Victorian Volunteer Portal and the Victorian State Government.
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