By Adam Froiran and Meg Davis

This is the final part from our manual on volunteer management.

In order to run your organization successfully, a core leadership group can have many advantages. Training volunteers and employees to develop strong leadership skills bolsters your organization’s opportunity for growth and sustainability.  Encouraging leadership at all levels of your organization allows for a greater sharing of responsibility and translates to work or projects being consistent, even if somebody has to drop out.

While it is understandable how some directors desire total control over the public image of their organization, maintaining a one-person image gives the impression that there is little teamwork within the organization and creates an imagery of a dictatorship.  Those in power will not look favorably on an organization with a single face. Developing leaders is a process that can be broken down into various steps: identifying leaders, giving them leadership training, sharing power, preparing them to represent the organization, and reflecting on and evaluating their performance.

Identifying Leaders

In your day to day work, you can identify potential leaders by analyzing volunteers’ skills in terms of leadership qualities.  Once identified, you can work to further strengthen such skills in order to help the individual develop and flourish within the organization.

Desirable leadership qualities can include the following:

Reliability: A volunteer who is dependable and honors their working commitments.

Willingness and Ability to Speak Up: Someone who is able to vocalize their views and opinions on your organization’s matters in a constructive way. A person who is articulate and can make their views clear through effective and memorable
communication techniques.

Compatibility with Others: Possessing the ability to relate to others and to participate in teamwork constructively will encourage positivity within your organization. 

A Following: A leader with potential often has a group of followers who will show up at organization events and activities.

A Personal Style of Leadership: There are all kinds of leaders.  In order to increase the likelihood of successful leadership, try to provide guidance to bring out their individual leadership styles.

A Range of Skills: A leader will have a variety of skills that s/he can use to further the organization’s mission.

If you find any particular leadership skill in one of your volunteers, the next step is to sit down in a one-on-one meeting to see how s/he envisions themselves growing within your organization.  Encourage the individual by pointing out the qualities you see in and offer a new position within the organization.  Be sure that a detailed job description is available to ensure the expected responsibilities are clear from the outset.

Hard work alone does not automatically qualify someone as a leader. Don’t give too much responsibility to someone who is not ready yet. To make up for missing leadership skills, you can counsel the individual on specific weaknesses so they have the opportunity to improve. You could also allocate other more appropriate responsibilities and tasks.

Leadership Preparation

It is essential to find a balance between over-managing and under-managing your volunteers.  The manager should help the volunteer prepare for their new role.  For example, before a volunteer speaks publically on behalf of the organization, you can go over some of the items to highlight in the talk together. Giving the volunteer your perspective will help their creativity and open them up to new ideas.  Prior to an event that involves cooperation between different volunteer groups, it is a good idea to have a one-on-one meeting with each leader, a meeting with all the leaders and then a larger group meeting with all people involved in the event, to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Reflection and Evaluation

After a given period of time when you have seen new leaders use their skills, have a meeting with them to discuss their performance and give feedback on where there is room for improvement.  Always start with positive input before anything negative.  As the volunteer begins to gain more confidence in the new role, you can consider letting them work more independently with minimal instruction from a manager.

As resource for this section we recommend: Joan Minieri and Paul Getsos, Tools for Radical Democracy. 2007, John Wiley & Sons.

Meg Davis is the founder and executive director of Asia Catalyst. Adam Froiran is a recent graduate of Seton Hall University and intern at Asia Catalyst.