Building a core team is a consistent process. It does not end with having 10-15 employees on board. It is only the beginning.
Apart from sustaining the current team, you need to ensure they are willing to mentor future core members.
The Employee Experience needs to be fulfilling for volunteers to make that transition. They should feel deeply about the program. Be willing to develop those internal relationships.
Know Your Flock To Inspire Employees
Get to know your volunteer leads. What drives them? Do you know their strengths? What are their weaknesses? What are the areas you can mentor them in? Which are the programs best suited for them to shine through?
Let us say you have employees who play music. Include them with other volunteers. They may be shy at first or simply unsure which program to pick. Get both employee volunteer groups to participate in the one-day NGO event. It is an encouraging platform for employee musicians to exhibit their talent. Evaluate areas they could get serious about volunteering. It could be as simple as teaching a group of children at an orphanage how to play the guitar, write songs, or teach them how to sing.
Inspire Employees By Encouraging Them To Speak Their Mind
There are all types of volunteers to deal with. It takes time and effort to get into their minds and hearts. Create an environment for them to speak their mind. Be upfront with those with expectations that do not fit the current scope. Provide them with an alternative if you are aware.
Find a volunteer match for different programs.
A volunteer may prefer to do a long-term project without the hassles of too much protocol. Such as having to enter into a process-oriented Pro Bono program. Get her directly introduced to a partner NGO. Do what is best in the larger scheme of things. Whichever enables a better employee experience.
Keep your core volunteers informed.
Before an all-employee announcement via email, digital displays, or town hall, your core volunteering team should already be aware. It makes them feel special and wanted.
Knowledge is Power.
Educate them with critical knowledge on revised messaging, policy changes, etc. It gives them a sense of belonging and the need to take action.
Equip to Evangelise...
Provide exclusive social content to share via social media. Everyone loves being Retweeted or Liked? Of course, social vanity does not drive committed volunteers. It enables them to be part of purpose-driven conversations with a larger (external) audience.
Motivate Top-Down to Inspire Employees
Invite senior leaders who are icons and encourage volunteering to motivate top volunteers. Organize 30-minute interactive sessions to drive core messaging. Reiterate organizational culture or inspire them with personal stories. Check with them about what they want to hear from the leaders. It is always great to listen to leaders who resonate with your thinking. It boasts team confidence.
Talk to managers wherever possible. Not every manager supports their team members by taking time out and volunteering. For those who do, chat with them, and get insights into their team members’ volunteer skills and temperaments. Seek advice on how they think their members can be more effective volunteers if there is a particular skill set he wants the team to have. Find which of the CSR offerings makes the most sense for one of his reports to take up.
Employee Volunteering is not a one-way street. Employees benefit by honing skill sets that stay unutilized in their core jobs.
Stir up conversations with senior management on the benefits of employee volunteering towards overall employee and company productivity.
Inspiration will come
These are some avenues one can tap into to inspire a core team. It gets lonely sometimes for core volunteers. That feeling of 'I have to do it alone' can wane their interest quickly and decrease their motivational levels. Be wary of volunteers in your team who are bored. Yet showcase a false sense of commitment only to gain attention. Or those who feel they have nothing else to do. Engage them creatively.
Engaging employees in volunteering is more about grace than fulfilling the law. It is more qualitative than it is about quantity. It is more about the intangibles over the tangible processes implemented. To sum up, provide meaningful experiences that light up a person's inner man.
Comments