Handling Volunteer Challenges Gracefully
While volunteers are essential to making athletic charity events successful, working with them also poses unique challenges, especially if conflict arises between the volunteers. Here are some tips for preventing volunteer challenges and gracefully handling those that do arise:
Foster healthy communication. Right from the beginning of charity event planning, be sure to communicate openly and frequently with your volunteers. Have an initial meeting to share the purpose of your organization, goals of the event, anticipated road bumps, and what is expected of volunteers. Also continue to communicate with volunteers on a regular basis, both as a group and as individuals so you can pick up on problems or conflicts before they become serious.
Have a method in place for managing conflicts. How will you address disagreements between volunteers? Will you have a group meeting, a meeting with only those involved, or will you handle matters via email? Many conflicts and challenges stem from volunteers feeling overwhelmed or unsatisfied with the work they are doing for the event. Try to match each volunteer’s unique skills and interests with a task or set of tasks that he or she will enjoy and manage well. This alone could prevent many of the volunteer challenges that occur during athletic charity event planning.
Make it fun. This is a no-brainer. Volunteers want to do good deeds, but they also want to enjoy themselves in the process. Make your meetings fun by offering refreshments and allowing time for socializing either before or after the meetings. Foster a sense of comradeship by focusing on the goals and objectives of your event instead of issues that affect individuals. Finally, model a positive attitude, and this can go a long way toward handling volunteer challenges with grace and creativity.
What are your strategies for handling volunteer challenges while planning athletic charity events? Post a comment to this blog and share your suggestions with other planners.
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