Volunteers and Technology

Re: RE: Volunteer employee hand book

jcravens42 — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:24:56 GMT

> I think any real line of demarcation between 'online' and 'onsite' volunteers has finally blurred to non-existence - maybe it existed 5-10 years ago, but nowadays almost all 'onsite' volunteers also volunteer in an online capacity.

No argument from me. In fact, I've been saying this all along in talking about online volunteering, well more than 10 years.

> There are too many differences for application of common standards, albeit some standards do cross over.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one, as usual. In my work with several hundred volunteers, both on and online, as well as my research over the years of organizations working with volunteers online and onsite, the standards for managing them are almost entirely the same at organizations that work with all successfully. It's when the standards are different (with a few exceptions) that I've seen problems arise. When I first started working with online volunteers back in 1995, and begain studying online volunteering in depth in 1996, I certainly was expecting the standards to be quite different. But time and again, in my own experience and what I've observed in many, many organizations, this assumption has been proven wrong.

Re: RE: Volunteer employee hand book

jcravens42 — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:17:59 GMT

As noted here (second post on this branch), the "Volunteers and Technology" branch of the TechSoup forum is for discussions and questions about working with technology volunteers at NPOs, and how the Internet connects volunteers with the NPOs that need them (including through online volunteering, though most online volunteers aren't focused on tech issues).

That's a broad topic -- it includes onsite volunteers working on tech issues, online volunteers working on anything, and the networking technology that is used to work with any volunteers, no matter where they are making their contributions. As TechSoup is focused on TECH, this branch of the forum is grounded in tech, although applied quite broadly. So you don't have to loosen" the guidelines of this branch if you want to discuss any "valid questions about volunteers and technology." Ask away.

The "volunteers and technology" branch of the TechSoup forum is not a very widely-read branch, unfortunately, and there are relatively few participants. I have regularly posted about the commuity to the three largest communities for all aspects of volunteer management, tech or not -- CyberVPM, OzVPM, and UKVPMs -- particularly when tech issues have arisen on those communities, but few have come over. I have regularly posted about it to my blog as well, and TechSoup regularly highlights discussions happening here on this branch on its email newsletter. If you want to publicize this branch of the forum via your own channels, by all means, please do so.

It's worth noting that the "big three" volunteer management commnities have many, many more active participants than the Volunteers & Tech community. That's probably why those who work with volunteers are much more attracted to those communities than this branch for posting about issues relating to technology and volunteers. But I think this branch continues to serve a niche, and therefore, it's worth keeping. Also, as I've stated before, I feel that general volunteer management issues that have no association with tech in some way (and I'm quite generous as a moderator in looking for this association) are better placed on any or even all of those fora, both because that respects the stated purpose of this branch of the TechSoup forum and because such questions will get many more answers from those much larger volunteer management communities.

There is a moderator's forum where moderator's issues can be discussed, but I believe one has to be a moderator to have access to it. I would be happy to post a message to the forum on your behalf. Or, if you would like to be a moderator of a forum, I believe all you have to do is contact TechSoup.

Re: RE: Volunteer employee hand book

Sasha — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:05:04 GMT

jcravens42:
I'm not sure that the TechSoup volunteers and tech discussion board is the appropriate place to discuss volunteer management issues in depth.

Hi, Jayne,

I'd like to discuss the value of loosening the limits of discussion some. I think that we are missing the opportunity to help people with valid questions about volunteers and technology. Maybe this is a question to open up, on it's own, for more input, i.e. the scope of discussion to encourage and invite to this forum. Do you know that there is a moderator's forum where we could discuss this at length with other TechSoup moderators?

(P.S. I think users come to this forum with the understanding that they will be able to discuss volunteer management issues. The short description for this forum on the community page reads, "managing, virtual recruiting.')

Best wishes,

Sasha

Re: RE: Volunteer employee hand book

donc — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:03:22 GMT

jcravens42:
just like onsite volunteers, online volunteers need real time, real attention, and real support.

Yes; as do all people working within an organizational context. I think any real line of demarcation between 'online' and 'onsite' volunteers has finally blurred to non-existence - maybe it existed 5-10 years ago, but nowadays almost all 'onsite' volunteers also volunteer in an online capacity. Similarly, a lot of the purely 'online' volunteer projects have (finally?) learned the value of F2F and physical interaction - a lot of these projects now bring people together physically where possible.

But IMO there are still some differences in management approach - and I guess there has to be - for one, non-verbal queues are largely non-existent in the online world. There are too many differences for application of common standards, albeit some standards do cross over. This is to be expected.

Re: RE: Volunteer employee hand book

donc — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:49:34 GMT

jcravens42:
I'm not sure that the TechSoup volunteers and tech discussion board is the appropriate place to discuss volunteer management issues in depth. This board has very specific parameters, and a very limited membership. I think a much better place to discuss volunteer management issues in depth, beyond the parameters of volunteers and technology, are any of these large online communities of volunteer managers:

UKVPMs

OzVPM

CYBERVPM

Hi Jayne - Thanks for the links. OzVPM (Oz as in Au) is a good drop-off point albeit it's only a relatively small list (about 500 or so members from memory compared to >5,000 on some of our larger dedicated NPO forums). I haven't really followed it's UK or US cousins although suspect they are of similar ilk. A lot of good discussion, but also at times a little too self-promotional!

I don't see any issue in carrying these discussions here - technology and management are inherently intertwined and this discussion can only add depth and value to our forums. Of course of most value is the simple fact the topic is being discussed at all!

Cheers, Don

Re: RE: Volunteer employee hand book

jcravens42 — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:57:00 GMT

"I second Don's comment welcoming the opportunity to discuss these volunteer management issues more in depth."

I'm not sure that the TechSoup volunteers and tech discussion board is the appropriate place to discuss volunteer management issues in depth. This board has very specific parameters, and a very limited membership. I think a much better place to discuss volunteer management issues in depth, beyond the parameters of volunteers and technology, are any of these large online communities of volunteer managers:

UKVPMs

OzVPM

CYBERVPM

Re: RE: Volunteer employee hand book

Sasha — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:12:02 GMT

Hi, Jayne,

Thanks, those are the original citations that I read, and got so much from. It looks to me like we are saying the same thing in different ways.

My comments relate to the section on Trust (pg. 4 in the pdf version of The Psychology of Effective Business Communications in Geographically Dispersed Teams).

An excerpt from that sections says,

When members are working in different locations and interacting primarily by telephone or computer, most traditional forms of monitoring and control are not feasible (e.g. people cannot observe the amount of effort or overhear what team members say when they are interacting with others). This ‘behavioural invisibility’ is likely to be associated with added risks such as neglecting others’ interests and mis-anticipation of others’ actions, which can undermine the development of trust.

The study then goes on to make some recommendations to overcome that built in obstacle.

Best wishes,

Sasha

Re: RE: Volunteer employee hand book

jcravens42 — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:51:41 GMT

If you recruit online volunteers without the standards of volunteer management for traditional volunteers, indeed, you will have a lot of online volunteer drop outs. All of my information about working with online volunteers says this again and again -- volunteers online are just as reliable, just as hard-working, just as commited as onsite volunteers, but if, for instance, a volunteer manager creates just a simple expression of interest form and then gives the new volunteer the assignment, rather than giving a new volunteer several steps to complete before he or she is given an assignment, the online volunteers will drop out -- just as onsite volunteers do.

My comments about "The Psychology of Effective..." can be found on my page that identifies research relating to online volunteering and on my blog. The paper affirms my assertions (and those of everyone I've talked to that works with online volunteers successfully) that, just like onsite volunteers, online volunteers need real time, real attention, and real support. I think there's an idea among a lot of people who work with volunteer managers that online volunteers will somehow be entirely self-directed, self-managing and self-motivated -- but if this is rarely true of onsite volunteers, why would it be true of online volunteers?

Re: RE: Volunteer employee hand book

Sasha — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:36:08 GMT

Hi, Jayne,

I second Don's comment welcoming the opportunity to discuss these volunteer management issues more in depth.

jcravens42:
Working with online and offline volunteers, I haven't found this at all. In my experience, the drop out rates have been exactly the same.

This is interesting. I first got my heads-up on some of the problems of virtual volunteering from articles posted through your website.

I spent quite a bit of time reading through the resources and gathering together the considerations and ways to solve those problems, and found that it has helped a lot. One resource I remember finding particularly helpful was The Psychology of Effective
Business Communications in Geographically Dispersed Teams. Do you have any comments on this document? It sounds like your experience, unlike mine, doesn't support it's outcomes.

Thanks,

Sasha

Re: RE: Volunteer employee hand book

donc — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:37:43 GMT

Hi Jayne - Just another thought to add to this rather excellent discussion!

Holding a view that all conflict is negative is generally regarded as a dated view of human interactions within today’s volunteer organisations. Conflict (where it truly exists) can be an inhibitor, but can also be a very productive tool used in personal and organisational growth and development.

One view of conflict (within organizational structures) holds that organizations only achieve objectives by strictly compartmentalising people with specific tasks, roles, responsibilities and functions; that people should only do as they are told, and not question or compete. Taken to the ‘nth degree (specific car parking for senior staff etc.), this form of organizational thinking can lead to a mindset that conflict is inherently ‘bad’ and hence should be ‘suppressed’. This generally applies to and impacts upon everyone in the organization - permanent staff, volunteers, temps, contractors, casuals, shift workers etc… even visitors and other people who interact with the org externally.

Conversely...

Another view holds that competition and conflict are productive forces to be used to stimulate individuals and the organization unit; that these are events that highlight just where the org might be going wrong; how the org can improve. Managers holding this viewpoint tend to build upon and use these interactions to ultimately establish better relationships and organizational opportunities.

It probably comes as no surprise to learn which of these ‘camps’ I fall into :-) – One of our most successful volunteer development and recruitment initiatives involved annual days of competition between groups of volunteers and staff (rather than try and suppress competition and conflict, we encouraged and managed it). People trained for months for these events and competed at a very high level. One of the better outcomes was to see how people personally developed as they learned the difference between conflict and competition and put into practice the lesson that negative interactions can be turned into positive growth opportunities; that what may be perceived as a conflict scenario is usually opportunity for growth and development.

The RFS remains of the most successful organisations in the world in terms of volunteer recruitment and retention (widely acknowledged at national and international seminars etc.) - I think in large measure due to this willingness to recognise and manage these interaction opportunities.

Re: RE: Volunteer employee hand book

donc — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:58:12 GMT

jcravens42:
Conflict between staff and volunteers specifically because of how they self-identify (as volunteers or staff) is incredibly common.

Hi Jayne,

Competition is common between staff and volunteers - whether this should be called 'conflict' is a matter of correctly interpreting the situation on individual basis, although in my experience what some call conflict is usually the same competitiveness that exists between permanent and temporary staff; salaried and non-salaried; part-time and full-time, day-shift and night-shift etc. etc. Anyone in work circumstances that differs from a perceived norm will experience the variables you outline (non attendance at meetings, perceptions of work quality, different car parks etc. etc.). Competition and conflict exists in all areas of organizational engagement - it is the basis of promotion within organizations that people compete for positions - however I do not believe competition/conflict is more prevalent in staff - volunteer relationships than any other organizational relationships.

As I wrote previously, the org I worked with for more that 20 years had 70,000 volunteers and over 700 staff; all of whom were assessed and surveyed at various times for reason of culture identification and organizational development. For a period of time my own role within this org was to assess and manage organizational change and development. Our findings were often different to what consultants and others were promoting in this area (probably to be expected considering we were 'walking the walk' rather than 'talking the talk').

My advice to anyone with a real interest in this topic would be that whilst workshops, books and consultants etc can be informative, the best approach is to volunteer yourself within a large staff/volunteer organization. This way you not only learn, you also have the opportunity to contribute :-)

Re: RE: Volunteer employee hand book

jcravens42 — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 11:01:59 GMT

"Online relationships, as a generalization, take longer to build true trust and fall apart more easily."

Working with online and offline volunteers, I haven't found this at all. In my experience, the drop out rates have been exactly the same.

"That doesn't mean that online volunteers can't be hugely valuable to an organization, even if meeting in person is never a real option. However, there will be limitations, and the more aware of the limitations that everyone is, and the more skilled at working with those limitations, the better the experience will be. Definitely power in knowledge here"

Indeed. For you and others who are learning about online volunteering, The Virtual Volunteering Project remains largest database of information about the practice, and even though it's now several years old and hasn't been updated in a few years, it still provides valuable insights into the practice, based on the input by hundreds of different volunteers and nonprofit organizations. I've compiled every research activity on the project here (additions welcomed), and the revision of the The Virtual Volunteering Guidebook will be released later in 2009 with a great deal of new information about working with volunteers online, complete with many, many examples from a variety of different organizations. I'll post here when it's available (it will be free again). Working with online volunteers is nothing new, and there's a lot of great information from many different people and organizations to help anyone get started.

Re: RE: Volunteer employee hand book

jcravens42 — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:49:27 GMT

"There may be conflict arising from other factors, we are all human after all! – but rarely does this arise purely from a foundation of “staff –v- volunteer” when the roles of staff and volunteers are different."

Conflict between staff and volunteers specifically because of how they self-identify (as volunteers or staff) is incredibly common. I really encourage those of you who don't believe this to please read some of the many, many materials on this subject by volunteerism experts by Susan Ellis, Betty Stallings, Steve McCurley, or the late Mary Merrill. Better yet, attend a workshop on the subject -- your local DOVIA will probably have this workshop once a year, since the subject is so popular among nonprofit organizations. Indeed, role definition can go a long way in preventing conflict between volunteers and staff, but it takes so much more than that; the conflict arises based on perceptions of how work is honored and appreciated, for instance, from where volunteers park to who sits in on certain meetings. It can even arise from studies that assign a dollar value to volunteers hours. It can and does happen, and woe to anyone who works with volunteers and thinks it's something that rarely happens.

Re: RE: Volunteer employee hand book

donc — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 23:37:36 GMT

I also know a number of people who do their schooling on line, and they are also required to spend sometime in person, even though this means significant travel time and costs.

Yes - A few years ago I undertook an IT degree online via distance-ed. My university was over 2,000 km away although I visited several times to maintain physical contact with faculty.

Re: RE: Volunteer employee hand book

Sasha — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:29:54 GMT

donc:
I have no idea what percentage of online volunteers work as 'physical unknowns'

I don't know either. Most of the virtual workers I know do have some physical contact with their workplace. It is in our best interest to maintain this contact, even if it is occasional.

I also know a number of people who do their schooling on line, and they are also required to spend sometime in person, even though this means significant travel time and costs.

Of course, with volunteers, part of the idea is to keep costs low, and volunteers may not want to support the costs themselves, or even be able to. But it will add some issues to the relationship if there is no in person interaction. I think if the relationship and job duties are clearly defined and quite limited, then this works fine. A good example of what I mean by this is our work here as volunteer forum moderators.

donc:
Interestingly I am (on here) an exception - Other than through several voice telecons I am yet to meet anyone from Techsoup in person :-)

I think several of us moderators are in the same boat. I haven't met anyone from TS either, or any of the dedicated volunteers like you. I have suggested to the TS staff, though, that I think it would be great if that happened in some way.! :-)

Sasha