Effective change management: 8 tips to encourage employee volunteerism
In this article, we’ll explore 8 ways that nonprofits with high rates of volunteerism effectively encourage and retain their high-quality volunteers. By examining these strategies, organizations can adopt similar approaches to effectively manage change within their teams.
Let’s start with this simple truth:
Change management is really about encouraging volunteerism.
In 2008, David Snowden, a globally acknowledged KM expert, published what has since become known as his seven principles of knowledge management. While they’re all applicable to how knowledge is shared and used, there is one principle with notable relevance to change management:
“Knowledge can only be volunteered; it cannot be conscripted.”
Snowden expands by explaining that you can’t make someone share what they know because you can’t objectively measure if they have and to what extent. You can measure what you can observe, such as a document being shared, something being spoken, or a task being performed, but there is no way to truly fully measure what an individual knows and how much of that is being shared versus withheld.
This is closely linked to change management because, in addition to volunteering what they know, people volunteer what they DO and how they do it.
Every day, every hour, every minute, everyone makes decisions and takes action (or not) based on what they know, what they’ve experienced, the information and data they consume, and the sense they make of the current context. Decisions such as…
what’s relevant or not,
what’s actionable or not,
who or what gets attention,
what to learn more about,
what software tools to use,
and even what to enter in a metadata field when saving a file into SharePoint.
In essence, we volunteer ourselves to everything we do. That means we also volunteer ourselves to change. We DECIDE how much of ourselves to devote to something. How much to change or resist change.
This also means we can look to charitable and non-profit organizations, which rely heavily on volunteers, to inform or validate strategies for managing organizational change.
8 proven strategies to encourage volunteerism
Organizations that excel at enrolling and retaining high-quality volunteers devote time and attention to the following:
Having a profound understanding about what drives their volunteers
Everyone is a bit different and volunteers for different reasons, ranging from altruism, to connecting with community or wanting to develop new knowledge and skills.
Knowing what motivates and is important to others is vital to shaping an experience they can connect with.
A motivating cause (that is clearly communicated)
Charitable and nonprofit organizations rally people and effort around a clear cause or mission. They use storytelling as a mechanism for sharing the cause or mission and painting a clear picture of the benefits of achieving their goals.
Assisting volunteers’ onboarding and knowledge building
There is a lot of movement in volunteer organizations, whether in and out, or across initiatives, roles and positions. And a key motive for many people to volunteer is adding to their skill set. Onboarding new volunteers and upskilling them as quickly as possible is critical for success.
Everyone must have the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills to change and work differently and to have organizational barriers to change removed.
Flexibility to accommodate busy lives
Much volunteer work is done over and above a regular job or set of responsibilities. Charitable and nonprofits structure work, roles and teams in ways that support participation and volunteerism in all forms and not constrain it.
Effectively managing organizational change requires recognizing that everyone’s readiness for change is different, and the type and nature of support available must be flexible and meet the needs as they are. The approach to implement the change must also be flexible to accommodate conflicting priorities and unplanned events.
Prioritizing for successful action
Managers and supervisors must have a good understanding of, and empathy for the priorities, successes, challenges and personal context for their staff. Senior leaders and stakeholders must have the same at the aggregate level across the organization. These insights will inform how to best contextualize, communicate, and motivate change.
Encouraging belonging
Social connection to others and a sense of team and shared goals have long been recognized as vital for tackling complex problems by providing an environment of mutual support and learning and a sense of being part of something bigger than the self. Volunteer-based organizations devote significant time and energy to create opportunities for connection, friendship and fun.
Communicate, communicate, communicate
Volunteer-based organizations understand that volunteers need open lines of communication with their leaders and their peers to better contribute and focus their valuable time on what is important, to identify and get help resolving challenges and to collaborate and coordinate with others. Communicating mission success and impact is equally vital for volunteers to understand that what they are doing is making a difference.
The case for change, along with benefits and value, must be clearly communicated by change sponsors so that those affected by the change can understand why it is important and support it through their individual actions.
Recognize, recognize, recognize
And finally, rewarding and recognizing contributions and successes small and large on the way to the final change goal should be celebrated, recognized and rewarded to provide encouragement and a sense of accomplishment.
Volunteer-based organizations appreciate that every volunteer is a “flight risk,” and they can leave at any time for any reason. So, part of an effective volunteer culture is not just to offer verbal appreciation for contribution, but also to have a more formalized or ritualized recognition approaches ranging from the personal, like thank you parties and anniversary gifts, to more formal, publicized recognition awards.
To conclude
Encouraging volunteerism is a powerful strategy for managing change and engaging employees effectively. By adopting these 8 proven techniques from successful volunteer-based organizations, your team can better navigate change and achieve lasting success.
At Gravity Union, we support our clients with practical approaches and tools to help encourage volunteerism in support of M365 technology-based change projects. Contact us if you need support with change management or influencing key stakeholders.
