Leading and Managing Volunteers

The more I manage and work with organizations, the more the subject of leadership becomes interesting to me. There is only so much an individual can accomplish, but leading a team or an organization multiplies that ability greatly. More than that, it fascinates me to watch strong leaders in action (particularly because they are few and far between).

Recently I led a project of volunteers. It wasn’t the first volunteer project I had led, but it was the biggest in scope. I was reminded that leading and managing volunteers is one of the biggest challenges a project manager faces. Below are some lessons that came very much to the front and center during this project.

When leading volunteers:

• The vision & mission become all-important as a motivational tools. Tie everything back to those, and keep them front and center.
• It is crucial to try and get everyone involved. Some people may choose to sit on the sidelines, but make sure they have every opportunity to get plugged in.
• Be generous with praise.
• Assign specific names to specific responsibilities, and give people real ownership over the areas where they are tasked.
• Do your best to describe the desired outcome and let your team figure out how to do it.
• While planning is necessary, it’s often best not to try and over-plan projects staffed by volunteers. Instead, do your best to recruit competent people and empower them to solve problems within the project’s constraints.
• Don’t ask anything of your team that you are not willing to do yourself.

While these lessons might apply to many projects, they seem to be particularly relevant to project teams comprised of volunteers.

What lessons have you learned about working with volunteers?