Once you have recruited your volunteers, it is important to think about retention strategies and how to keep them motivated in your Project. You should also give volunteers opportunities to get involved in decision making for your project – by doing this, you’ll be cultivating the next crop of Project Leaders and make your hand-over easier.

Enthusiasm dips. Setbacks occur. Personalities clash. As a Project Leader, you’ll need to keep other volunteers motivated through the ups and the downs. If you follow the strategies mentioned in this page, you’ll be on the way to keeping the volunteers motivated.

In addition, be prepared to show a bit of enthusiasm and lead from the front. Find out why different people have got involved in the first place and think about how you can sustain these different sets of interests.

Build confidence

It’s important to do as much as you can to build up the confidence of your volunteer team. Some of the ways you can do this are:

  • Run practice lessons / sessions with other volunteers.
  • Pair them up with previous volunteers.
  • Take time to find out what they’re interested in and think about whether this might be accommodated within the project.
  • Let them know after each session how they’ve done – highlight the difference they’ve been making.
  • Accompany your volunteers to their first session.
  • Enable volunteers to share their experiences and ask lots of questions.
  • Signpost volunteers to the Volunteering Service if they feel they need more support in their volunteering.

Keep volunteers informed and involved

You can do this by holding regular feedback sessions with them. These are an opportunity for both you and the volunteers to raise any issues they may have.

What type of session you have will depend upon the project. For example, during a one-off conservation event, it will probably only be necessary to informally ask volunteers during the day whether they are happy with what they are doing and if they have any questions or comments. There may also be an informal feedback session after the event. For a project where volunteers are visiting and befriending an older person once a week, the requirement is greater – a Project Leader should meet volunteers at least once a month and keep in touch via email regularly in between meetings.

The sessions might be one-to-one, or could possibly be done as a group as long as the volunteers feel that they also have the opportunity to talk in private with you.

The sorts of questions you can ask to obtain feedback include:

  • How are you finding volunteering at the moment?
  • What do you enjoy?
  • What don’t you enjoy?
  • How do you think the project is going as a whole?
  • Is there anything we can do to make your role easier?
  • Is there any further training you need?
  • Are there any other tasks you’re interested in taking on?

It is also important to give feedback, this is a skill which you will need to develop as a Project Leader. When giving feedback consider the following:

  • Don’t forget to talk about the successes the volunteers have had!
  • If you are offering constructive criticism to a volunteer, it is best to sandwich this between two pieces of praise.
  • Always end your session on a piece of positive feedback.
  • Lastly, always remember to give the volunteers an opportunity to ask you questions and raise issues.

Feedback sessions are not the only form of support that you should offer. Volunteers must be aware that they can approach you, other Project Leaders or Volunteering Service staff if they need to talk about their volunteering without waiting for the next session. Giving feedback is a skill which you will need to develop as a Project Leader.

Other ideas to keep volunteers involved are:

  • Have a quick debrief after each session to get some feedback.
  • Ensure that volunteers are invited to meetings, are sent minutes, and are given plenty of advance notice of events.
  • Encourage volunteers to sign-up to a weekly schedule. Volunteers are more likely to stay committed to the project when they have a weekly engagement.
  • Every so often you might like to send around an email telling everyone about progress on the project.
  • Or you could set up a WhatsApp group to enable volunteers to keep in touch with one another. Please ensure you are complying with GDPR guidance.
  • If you’ve not heard from a volunteer for a while, give them a phone call.

Delegate

It’s all too easy to get into a situation where a few people are doing all the work. Sometimes it just seems easier to do it yourself; other times you can get worried about losing control over the project.

But it’s important that you get used to delegating, not just because this lightens the load on you, but also because it gives volunteers more of a stake in the project if they’ve got more to do.

When delegating, think about:

  • Which skills or experiences the volunteers want to pick up.
  • What skills they already have.
  • Are there more experienced volunteers who might work alongside newer ones on a particular task?
  • Who might be interested in becoming a Project Leader?
  • Who has free time and energy?

Be careful not to rely on just giving tasks to the keen volunteers. The less engaged ones might just be waiting for the right thing to come along.

You’ll get a better sense of who to delegate to, and how to do it, if you keep in contact with your volunteers and meet them regularly.

Delegating tasks is also a great way to prepare your volunteers for taking on the Project Leader role, next academic year.

Your pool of volunteers will be the best way to recruit new leaders and you can start preparing them for this position from the start by offering opportunities to take on roles with more responsibility, such as Team Leader, and mentoring them throughout the course of the academic year.  Putting plans in place now will support you with the recruitment of new Project Leaders later on!

Don’t forget to have fun!

Volunteering can be demanding – so please find time to also have some fun. After a session, suggest a trip to a café or the pub, and organise regular socials for the volunteers. You should also make sure that your volunteers are aware of the Volunteering Society socials – these are a great way of meeting other student volunteers.

Think of other ways of making the volunteering an enjoyable and sociable experience. Most importantly, have fun!

Last updated 4 months ago Read time 5 mins