Can You Push a String Without Bending It?

Volunteer Development

Everyone in business – any business – knows that their number one asset is their people. And the best organizations have great leaders to manage those people into a well-oiled, productive team that executes the mission beyond expectations. But what happens when a GREAT leader of a successful company is asked to be the leader of a non-profit where most of your staff are volunteers?

As a CEO of a non-profit you can get by with whatever management style has made you successful on the corporate side in directing your paid staff on the non-profit side. But you can’t use that same management style to direct your volunteers. Remember? They are YOUR boss. The dilemma is that all those bosses are key volunteers in making your association (and you, the CEO) successful. It is up to you as the GREAT leader to find their passion and align it with the job you need accomplished for the association.

Joanne Fritz in About.com categorizes volunteers into three types: Achievers, Affiliators and Influencers. You need all three types of volunteers but they are motivated quite differently. Read Ms. Fritz’s descriptions at http://nonprofit.about.com/od/volunteers/a/motivatevols.htm.

Tom McKee, an acknowledged management speaker for Volunteer Power, has several valuable suggestions on motivating volunteers, including feedback, recognition, rewards and training. Read about it at http://www.volunteerpower.com/articles/motivate.asp.

Even GREAT leaders in the corporate world struggle to become GREAT leaders in the non-profit world, which is why the profession of association management is an acknowledged field unto itself.

In my experience managing volunteers it has always felt like I was pushing a string across the table while trying to keep it guided straight towards the goal. Frustrating and slow? Yes, of course. But, it-is-what-it-is and a GREAT non-profit CEO must know that it is their responsibility, regardless, to make it happen.