VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERIES

MANAGERS' LEARNING CIRCLE WEDNESDAY 11th NOVEMBER 2009

Our topic for the final Circle for 2009 is:

"Collecting and Analysing Data"

Many agencies need to provide evidence that they have faithfully carried out their charter -whether by funding agreement or other contract. Some even have a matrix to fill in regularly to indicate their performance against targets.

This workshop gives managers tools to collect and analyse data for all organisational purposes, including marketing, customer satisfaction, promotion and events.

Think of the variety of uses to which you can put collected data. Peruse the following list, noting the items which are important to you. Your selection will be your personal agenda at the Learning Circle.

• To keep you in touch with what's going on.
• To evaluate program effectiveness.
• To document your own achievements.
• To document volunteer achievements.
• To support volunteers' tax returns, resumes, insurance claims, etc.
• To be accountable.
• To demonstrate community support (funding contract requirements).
• To identify volunteer and paid staff training needs.
• To identify your own personal training needs.
• To determine age, race and other characteristics of all the volunteers.
• To aid in long-range planning.
• To get information to use in recruitment.
• To . . . . . . . . .
• To . . . . . . . . .

I look forward to seeing you at this Circle.

Cheers,

Roger

VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERIES

MANAGERS' LEARNING CIRCLE - WEDNESDAY 14th OCTOBER, 2009



Our topic is:

"Introduction to Risk Management"

Volunteering guru Linda Graff * tells us:

"Greater risks exist, and the potential for liability grows, as the work of volunteers becomes more responsible. The application of a risk management system helps to set boundaries, define what is and what is not acceptable, and keep volunteers and others safe.

Could this happen in YOUR organisation?

• an older adult is a volunteer driver for your organisation; his capabilities seem to be declining recently and you wonder if he is still competent enough to do this risky work for you.
• volunteers are working one-to-one with clients in isolated settings without a supervisor present.
• a young volunteer has accused one of your staff of sexual harassment.
• there seems to be some money missing from the bank account at the local chapter, but nobody is really sure and the treasurer doesn't seem to be available to take your phone calls.
• your board has asked you to recruit volunteers to do work that you think is too dangerous, but they say 'not to worry.'
• you have been very clear with your peer support volunteers about confining their role to information provision only, but you have heard some rumours that they might be starting to give advice to clients."

*"Better Safe . . . Risk Management in Volunteer Programs & Community Service." Linda Graff & Associates 2003

At our Managers' Learning Circle on Wednesday 14th October, we'll begin by asking the question:

"What could kill your organisation?"

Fairly dramatic, eh? Well, we all know of agencies that have gone to the wall, with consequent distress for staff and clients. This workshop helps us to identify potential risks and take steps to avoid them - or at least limit any damage.

One of the bottom lines is that we can lower our insurance premiums if we can convince our insurers that risks have been realistically addressed.

Cheers,

Roger

VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERIES

MANAGERS' LEARNING CIRCLE, Wednesday 16th September 2009

At this circle, we'll consider Conflict Resolution and Negotiation.

As this is fairly meaty, we'll need most of the two hours reserved for this workshop.

Conflict:

We all regularly face conflict. By developing our negotiation skills we can learn to settle disputes so that both parties feel they have gained something; that is, you achieve a win-win resolution of the conflict.

We often have to deal with different attitudes and personalities. (So do they!). We need to do this in a professional way. Our main aim for this section of the circle will be to help circle members develop their own procedure for managing a conflict. We'll be reminded to be sure there is a real problem, and that we are just not in a bad mood.

And, we'll try to identify the real issue or opportunity, not just the symptoms or personalities.

Negotiation:

Negotiation is the most appropriate form of resolving a conflict when both parties believe that not reaching an agreement will be more costly than reaching an agreement.

Each party has to be willing to make concessions in return for concessions from the other party.

We'll make the point that people are most likely to negotiate when they can see a win-win solution is possible.

I look forward to seeing you at the Circle.

Cheers,

Roger

VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERIES

Managers' Learning Circles

"Governance - A Manager's Perspective"

"I don't get any support from my committee."

"My committee won't let me make decisions."

"My committee wants to run the show."

"My committee gives me a free hand , they just rubber-stamp my decisions."

"My committee wouldn't dream of doing any training."

I've heard these comments many times over in the past five years. They all indicate (to me, at least) that things aren't running as they should - or could.

When committees are running the show, the talents - and salary - of the manager are being wasted.

When committees rubber-stamp managers' decisions, the talents and time of the committee are being wasted and the manager is doing the wrong job.

In both these instances accountability for proper use of funding has gone out the window.

So, what to do?

In our next Managers' Learning Circle on 12th August, we'll look at examples of best practice in board/committee functions, and how the relationship between them and the manager is crucial in effectively spending our funding.

If we could only clarify the differing roles of management and committees, we would be making an excellent start, so that's where we'll begin. Of course there are overlaps - the grey areas - and we'll examine them as well.

I invite managers to bring a committee member (or two) along to this Circle, and promise to be gentle with them.

VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERIES

Managers' Learning Circles

At our July Circle, we will be addressing a fundamental issue in organisational life:

"ORGANISATION CLIMATE AND STAFF MORALE"

The Climate of your Organisation is the State of its Health

How staff (volunteer and paid) feel about their jobs, their supervisors, their peers, top management, and many other factors, affects their individual productivity, and collectively the ability of the organisation to achieve its objectives.

Without a formal process, finding out about staff attitudes usually relies on the manager's instincts or staff’s own willingness to communicate upward. But managerial instinct rarely provides the kind of hard data needed for decision-making. And most staff are hesitant to communicate anything but positive information to their supervisors.

We'll examine strategies for building better morale, particularly actions managers/supervisors can take to promote morale among all (paid and unpaid) staff.

We'll also apply volunteer retention principles to examine program strengths and challenges:

One indication that a program is being managed effectively is that volunteers return again and again. Examining volunteer retention principles allows program managers to evaluate their programs. Volunteer turnover can be a serious problem that impacts on the usefulness of an organisation's services.

VOLUNTEER MANAGERS' PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERIES

At our 17th June Managers’ Learning Circle we will be looking at:

PROBLEM SOLVING and DECISION MAKING


To be effective, supervisors and managers need to tackle problems in a systematic and rational manner. Where a problem could have more than one solution, the supervisor/manager must be able to decide the best alternative or option.

Problem solving should be structured and systematic - not a random or ad hoc activity. A systematic approach to problem solving and decision making leads to more efficient solutions.

This approach does not mean that supervisors/managers will not be creative or generate new ideas. On the contrary, it has been found time and again that those who have a systematic approach are more creative in both the identification and solution of problems.


We’ll also consider:

Wrong versus Bad Decisions

Everyone makes mistakes. Indeed, as my old boss used to say: "The person who has made no mistakes has done no work"!

But the fear of making a mistake can sometimes prevent us from making any decision at all. In this case we quickly get the reputation for being indecisive and unable to cope. However, a wrong decision is not necessarily a bad decision.

A wrong decision is one where the chosen action has not solved the problem.

A bad decision is one where the decision making process was irrational, biased, inappropriate or incomplete.

We need to adopt a systematic, logical process for making decisions.

We’ll practise a format to help guide our problem solving and decision making.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERIES

Volunteering ACT's May Managers' Learning Circle will continue the theme "Organisation Development" on Wednesday 20th.

The workshop topic will be "Walking the Talk". Goals are:

 To acquaint participants with the concept of organisational inconsistencies.

 To help participants learn how to identify organisational inconsistencies.

 To allow participants to identify ways to correct and eliminate a variety of organisational inconsistencies.

Organisations typically are not very good at identifying inconsistencies – differences between what the organisation (top management, a manager, a department) says it does and what it actually does. Often, inconsistencies occur between the organisation’s (or a division’s) mission statement and what actually happens in the workplace. In short the organisation does not “walk its talk.”

Unfortunately the inconsistencies that affect our work lives can be sources of great frustration. Those that have become part of an organisation’s culture are counterproductive.

The classic organisational inconsistency begins with a statement by the organisation that something is a top priority when, in fact, the organisation’s actions are contradictory to its stated commitment. An example is a stated commitment to customer service or “quality,” when the organisation’s policies and reward systems do not support taking the time to ensure quality or to serve customers well; and people are rewarded only for processing more cases through the system. In such a case, good customer service or “quality” is not likely to be attained.

I look forward to seeing you at the Circle,

Cheers,

Roger

The Volunteer Management Professional Development Learning Circle series will introduce Organisation Development at the April Circle at Belconnen on Wednesday 22nd.

Organisation development is an educational process by which human resources are continuously identified, allocated, and expanded in ways that make these resources more available to the organisation and, therefore, improve the organisation's problem-solving capabilities.

The most general objective of organisational development - OD - is to develop self-renewing, self-correcting systems of people who learn to organise themselves in a variety of ways according to the nature of their tasks, and who continue to expand the choices available to the organisation as it copes with the changing demands of a changing environment. OD stands for a specific way of looking at the human side of organisational life.

What is OD?

a) A long-range effort to introduce planned change based on a diagnosis which is shared by the members of an organisation.

b) An OD program involves an entire organisation, or a coherent "system" or part thereof.

c) Its goal is to increase organisational effectiveness and enhance organisational choice and self-renewal.

d) The major strategy of OD is to intervene in the ongoing activities of the organisation to facilitate learning and to make choices about alternative ways to proceed.

Throughout 2009 the Circles will aim to provide you with tools to handle various situations from an OD standpoint by introducing topics such as:

Staff Morale and Organisational Climate
Collaborative Problem Solving
Conflict Resolution and Negotiation
Structuring Expectations
Managing Change
Organisation Integration
Strategic and Other Planning

GETTING YOUR MESSAGE ACROSS

Volunteering ACT's next professional development workshop for managers of volunteer programs will:

The Manager's Learning Circle, to be held at Belconnen on Wednesday 18th March from 11.30 to 1.00pm.

These workshops are a free service for the not-for-profit sector.

Now this message business -

A phone call?

A meeting?

Talking with a group?

Talking with one person?


In all of the above instances remember:

(a) to remove barriers between yourself and your audience to enhance credibility;

(b) that your major task is to make sure your audience understands what you are saying; and

(c) to focus on ways to make your message memorable.


You will leave this workshop with a battle plan to achieve the above three goals, so that your next presentation will be dynamic and effective.

Cheers,

Roger