Posted on April 22, 2016Your best volunteer just told you they are quitting. They have had enough. Just too much stuff going on.
Yet they were your go to person ...
they did almost everything and, more important, knew how to do everything. Who’s going to pick up the slack, how will a new person figure it out?
80 - 20 rule
I think, unfortunately, the old 80 – 20 rule applies here – in some volunteer scenarios there is always one person who seems to have endless energy and enthusiasm – they end up taking more than their fair share of the work – yes 80% is probably an exaggeration but I’m sure you have all seen it before. In other scenarios a person ends up with the bulk of the work because they just know how to do it – it is easier to just keep doing it than having someone else try to do it.
Now what?
But the day of reckoning has come – they’re leaving. Now what? There is no good answer here – there never is.
Balance
Make sure all your volunteers have an equal load, that more than one person knows how to do every task.
Mobility
Move your volunteers around once in a while – have them switch jobs – so they learn new things, have new experiences, and work with new people.
Why?
You may find the new people asking why do we do that – if the answer is because we’ve always done it thatway and yet no-one can figure out why or what value it adds, then stop doing it.
Important to plan ahead.
Prevent the scenario. Don’t allow a person to be over committed, don’t allow a scenario where one person is the only one who knows how to do something.
Simple
Make sure your tasks are as simple as possible and steps clearly identified.
The result ...
You automatically now have backup people for any given task. You may find that some of the processes get written down, making it easier for the new volunteer to take over.
Common approaches ...
and solutions may start finding their way into all the tasks, instead of everyone doing their own thing, their own way.
All of this benefits the organization and the people.
Change?
Yes people hate change, and like doing what they know how to do, instead of the unknown … but often change is the best thing for everyone and it doesn’t take long for people to adjust, and find themselves glad they did it.
Utilize tools.
And, of course, make use of tools wherever you can, don’t re-invent the wheel and always ask if a manual step can be done quicker and easier.
We are all busy ...
and over committed and it doesn’t matter who you are this equals stress, which eventually catches up to everyone.