HR Council News
A People Lens: 101 Ways to Move Your Organization Forward
May 1, 2009
On May 1, Volunteer Vancouver launched a new book entitled A People Lens: 101 Ways to Move Your Organization Forward. On its pages, you will find unique roles and the stories of volunteers working with non-profit organizations. While each story is uniquely compelling, and each lesson learned is different, the underlying message – over and over again – is the incredible power that people have to move organizations forward. The following is an overview of A People Lens: 101 Ways to Move Your Organization Forward provided by Volunteer Vancouver.
A People Lens
From Recruitment Strategists to Branding Specialists, from Communications Dynamos to Grant Writing Wizards, the book includes a wide range of success stories. The goal is to demonstrate to organizations the vast number of ways volun
teers can be employed in order to further their mission. Some
stories are told from the volunteer’s perspective, and others from the organizational perspective, but all offer insight and direction for anyo
ne considering how to more effectively engage people. The book also contains perspectives from sector thought-leaders, and is sprinkled with best-practice tips and tools to get you started!
Why we wrote this book
“The word “volunteer” is a pay designation. Full-stop.”
Colleen Kelly, Executive Director, Volunteer Vancouver
We wrote (actually, our team of skilled volunteer writers wrote) this book because we see that the current structures and practices are not effective in working with today’s “new volunteer”. As a sector, we continue to seek traditional volunteers we want to involve in traditional ways—doing repetitive jobs that are often deemed unimportant. These volunteers are in limited supply. As Barney Ellis-Perry states in his perspective, “Not-for-profit organizations are, in my view, struggling to create meaningful positions that truly challenge and address the needs of today’s volunteers. They are having a hard time going to where the volunteer is.”
Beginning to engage people for their heads, not only their hearts and hands, is a major shift in thinking. It requires organizational leaders to be intentional and strategic about involving all the people and their talents. We believe it requires a new definition for volunteering. We must build and grow an organizational structure that engages a new kind of workforce. We need to deliberately determine which people have the skills and talents our organizations require to deliver our missions. It means rethinking our workforces. And, it means this people-first approach must be an important part of our boardroom discussions.
Like so many leadership issues, how we frame the issue can mean the difference between success and failure. If we view our workforce as only those we employ for money (like the private sector), then it is normal to focus on paid employee-only deliverables. If we rethink the nature of our organizations, and believe we exist for the community we serve, then the community becomes our workforce—because they need our organizations to succeed. Implementing this philosophy means our organizations can strive to have a ratio of volunteer to staff contributions of at least 2:1, meaning the strategic engagement of volunteers could double our existing workforce.
It means we must dream BIG about our missions and definitions of success. What goals could we accomplish…what products or services could we offer the community if we were to access a giant pool of highly-skilled, responsible, passionate, free talent?
It is the role of the Executive Director/CEO to focus on ALL the people available to deliver the organization’s mission. It is about creating a strong organization, a strong employment brand—and really cool, interesting, meaningful roles that will ignite the passion within our community’s available talent pool. There will be some talent we pay for with money and some we pay in other important, often intangible, ways. It is about finding the right payment, and it is always about understanding that “volunteer” is merely a pay designation (not a department or position description).
A People Lens is about turning some of our traditional thinking on its side. It’s about viewing your organization through a people lens first, before a financial or budgetary lens. The approach recognizes the changing face of the available talent, and enables not-for-profit leaders to create and grow values-based, effective, sustainable and dynamic organizations.
How can your organization get started?
- Order a copy of A People Lens: 101 Ways to Move Your Organization Forward.
- Refer to it whenever you or someone in your organization is tempted to say “we can’t do that,” or “we’re unable to find the volunteers we need.”
- Reject the myth that there is a shortage of volunteers. Instead, do some strategic thinking about how to engage the many passionate, talented people who want to be involved in community.
- Ensure your organization has an over-arching mandate to create and maintain a fully integrated human resources program that provides meaningful, mission-based opportunities.
- Stop making the distinction between paid and unpaid people at your organization.
- Measure volunteer engagement and satisfaction as a key metric in your organization, alongside funds raised and services delivered.
- Put one of these generative questions on the agenda at your next board meeting: "We all pay lip service to the idea that people are our most valuable resource. Does our organization really act like that is true? What evidence would you have that people are the most valuable resource in our organization? How much time do we spend on developing people? Is there an opportunity for all of our board members to learn how to be great?"
- Choose one of the 101 ways (or create your own!); strategically engage a volunteer – or two, or ten – and truly move your organization forward.
- Share your stories with us! Tell us how your organization has recruited and retained the “next generation” of volunteers; share some of your innovative position titles, and how a “people-first” philosophy is moving your organization forward at peoplelens@volunteervancouver.ca.
