Leadership, VM and HR, Volunteer Management

Next Generation VM Leaders

Originally posted in 2016…

I was interested to read the just released ‘2016 Volunteer Management Progress Report’ on the state of the VM professionals. A few snippets from the report that caught my attention:

  • “Many volunteer coordinators are seeking an advocate that can help them educate others about their challenges and needs.”
  • “Some volunteer administrators feel their work is unfairly undervalued and under-resourced when compared to colleagues with similar levels of responsibility, most notably development or fundraising departments.”
  • “Many volunteer managers feel a lack of clear professional identity or standards. They often are charged with a wide variety of roles, in addition to volunteer management, that stretch them in ways that sometimes feel unreasonable.”
  • “Although overwhelmed, not all volunteer coordinators are aware of the free and low-cost support resources that already exist for them.”

On the face of it, it seems that VM professionals have found themselves in a bit of a collective pickle.

A few days previously I was reading the CIPD publication – ‘Next Generation HR’, and found myself being drawn into the report’s findings on the ‘Next Generation’ HR leaders – partners and provocateurs, on pages 17-19. This section described the sort of people the researchers found that were currently delivering great human resource management.

So, partly to encourage myself that there may still be hope for VM professionals, I ended up re-structuring the Next Generation findings and presented them in a volunteer management context.

These are presented below in the list of attributes and areas of impact that VM professionals might have in the future. It tends to give a totally different flavour to the VM progress Report, but might stimulate some collective thoughts…

WHAT ARE THE NEXT GENERATION OF VM LEADERS LIKE?

They are in tune…

  • They have an appreciation of what really makes their organsation tick.
  • They have the capacity to be insightful.
  • They are unusually alert to what is going on and whether a response is merited or an opportunity is presenting itself.
  • They are natural systems thinkers.

They have focus…

  • They have a strong underlying sense of purpose.
  • They have a desire to build organisations that will be built to last.
  • They tend to be patient and build resolve over time and in many and varied ways.
  • They are less inwardly facing and insular than might be the norm for many.

They have impact…

  • They have a lightness of touch and humility which helps them to influence assertive senior leaders.
  • They know how to get a thing done in the organisation, with the particular personalities and interest groups.
  • They have personal savvy to pick the big issues.
  • They have great instincts about how and when to pursue a particular agenda and how to build alliances and momentum.

They have integrity and personal depth…

  • They have connection to some fundamental values such as truth, respect or safety that act as an innate moral compass.
  • They do not lack the courage of their convictions.
  • They have a personal presence and natural authority that goes well beyond their ‘official’ role in VM.
  • They have mastered the art of being themselves, both confident in their abilities and open about their fears.

Overall?

  • They are professional, transparent, insightful and thought-provoking.

WHAT WILL THE NEXT GENERATION OF VM LEADERS DO?

They will encourage debate…

  • They will have capacity to offer organisational insight.
  • They will often explore and stimulate rather than challenge or browbeat (unless this is absolutely necessary).
  • They will engage in difficult conversations or challenge firmly held views with a real lightness of touch.
  • They will often take a conversation beyond the achievement of immediate objectives or targets.
  • They will elevate the debate and look at what really matters,

They will find new and tailored solutions…

  • They demonstrate an unusual ability to be real provocateurs, encouraging new ways of operating or new areas of strategic focus.
  • They will focus on what is possible for the organisation.
  • They will join up the dots in ways that others might not and spot the critical insight in a world of ‘information’.
  • They will draw on wide experience, networks and an understanding of the macro trends and how they affect the organisation of which they are a part.

They will influence and inspire…

  • They will often be successful at influencing people who are more senior in the hierarchy.
  • They will operate with subtlety and sophistication.
  • They will develop the right to transcend the traditional hierarchical relationship and offer a viewpoint or stimulate and challenge firmly held world views or opinions.
  • They will ignite the leadership ambition within the organisation even when the going is tough.
  • They will reconnect leaders to what matters and build resolve through a deep connection to the agenda rather than a short-term provocation or jolt.
  • They will be able to step into difficult territory without upsetting people.

HOW WILL THE NEXT GENERATION OF VM LEADERS PERCEIVED BY OTHERS?

  • They will be positioned in the minds of other senior leaders such that they have real share of voice and influence.
  • They will not be seen as mavericks or marginalised for challenging, or taking an unfashionable point of view.
  • They will be very much an individual first and a role second in the eyes of many they are influencing.
  • They will build trust and removes anxieties about hidden agendas or the feeling of being judged.
  • They will be thought of as worth listening to.