WOS Volunteer Development Newsletters
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This Issue: September, 2006
Recruiting, Mentoring and Retaining
the Right People
It is that time again when clubs are getting ready to start
registration for the 2006-2007 skating season. This is a time
we need to approach with enthusiasm of what we as the skating
community can do for young athletes coming to our clubs and schools.
This is an opportune time to get people thinking of the gifts
and talents that they
have and will share with your club. We depend on volunteers and
the challenge is to maximize the recruiting of volunteers, involve
them effectively and keep them
engaged.
Once you know what you would like your volunteers to accomplish,
you need to be
as clear as possible in articulating what the volunteers’
responsibilities are and where these fit within your club. We
can get the best effort from our volunteers when they “have
clearly defined roles, understand those roles, and feel a sense
of confidence in their ability to fulfill their role.”
Volunteer involvement is typically done in time-limited chunks,
on a one-time, ongoing, or sporadic basis. The challenge is to
design opportunities that meet the needs and constraints of volunteers
and that still allow the work to get done. This requires creativity
and good planning.
A good volunteer description includes:
- name the assignment
- purpose of the assignment
- task to be undertaken
- time commitment
- skill requirements
- training and development support offered
- supervision structure (to whom volunteer reports; feed back
mechanisms)
- authority and decision making structure; and
- supporting policies
A clearly written volunteer description not only clarifies what
you need done, but
also the responsibility of the volunteer to the club.
The attached document [PDF]
has been provided to our Clubs with thanks to www.volunteer.ca.
I am interested in any suggestions or topics that would
be of interest and beneficial to the athletes, club boards
and volunteers. Also please forward to me you favourite
fundraising event you have been a part of. These will
be compiled and shared.
Please contact me, Karen Edwards, WO Volunteer Development
at gkedwards847@hotmail.com
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