Volunteer Power News - Number 58
Author: Thomas W. McKee
"Volunteer Power News" Monthly Newsletter
© 2008 Advantage Point Systems Publishing
A warm welcome to all volunteer managers-those of you who recruit, motivate and mobilize volunteer workers.
You are receiving this newsletter because you signed up or asked to be on the list. Please recommend this e-mail newsletter or ezine to anyone who is interested in volunteer management.
If this newsletter was forwarded to you and you'd like to receive your own personal issue each month, please subscribe to receive free tips on how to recruit, manage and motivate volunteers.
View this issue on our website
But, would you believe that Stanford University Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School recommends emotional pleas over factual pleas for getting people to care? I was surprised by their recommendation for getting people involved.
I just read a new book last week on an airplane-it is a fast read and I was so taken with this book that my airline trip of two legs from the Midwest to the West Coast flew by (any book that can do that is worth far more than the price of the book).
Chip and Dan Heath's book, Made to Stick, Why some Ideas Survive and Others Die, is a must for any leader. They share an interesting experiment at Carnegie Mellon University to try and decide if people respond to helping "one" or the "masses".
The researchers offered five dollars to participants who had just completed a survey (the survey was insignificant). Upon completion of the survey each participant received along with their five dollars an envelope with a request for a charity-request letter giving them an opportunity to donate some of their five dollars to Save the Children.
The researchers tested two versions of the request letter. As you read these, ask, "Which one would you respond to?" and then ask, "Which one did the people in the test respond to?"
Version One:
In the words of Mother Teresa, "If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will." It seems that most people have something in common with Mother Teresa. When it comes to our hearts, one individual trumps the masses. But the researchers concluded something else, and this is what is significant for us. When people put on their analytical hat, they're less likely to think emotionally.
The authors are not against the use of statistics. After all Chip Heath is a professor at Stanford and Dan Heath is a former researcher at Harvard. They are used to facts and statistics. But what the brothers are saying is that for people to act, they need more emotion. Just because people believe there is a problem does not mean that people care enough to act. The brothers say, "This chapter is not about pushing people's emotional buttons, like some kind of movie tearjerker. Rather, the goal of making messages ‘emotional' is to make people care. Feelings inspire people to act." The message must move from the head to the heart.
What was true for Mother Teresa is good advice for the volunteer manager when it comes to recruiting. Why do people volunteer? Is it the masses or is it the one?
The 21st century volunteers want to make a difference, they don't want to just make a contribution. When you present your recruiting brochures, your letters, your speeches and most of all your one-on-one pitches, tell your Rokia stories. Focus on the emotional story of how they can help one person.
I follow this simple outline:
Follow the benefit by stating what you want: "I could use your help to . . ."
And then tell the story.
In your recruiting training with your volunteer mangers, use this outline to have people develop their presentations and stories.
The two volunteer management factors:
Stage one: Recruiting Stage - The curious observer
Stage two: The Passionate Beginner - channeling all that passion
Stage Three: The Talented Veteran - Delegation Stage
Stage Four: The Dependable Leader - Empowerment Stage
IN STOCK! CLICK HERE FOR MORE
ABOUT THIS BOOK AND TO GET A COPY
(FREE U.S. SHIPPING!)
Here's a glimpse of the Table of Contents:
Introduction: The Common Predicament
Where It All Begins
SECTION ONE: THE VOLUNTEER RECRUITER
Chapter 1: Who Is the New Breed of Volunteer?
A Profile of the 21st Century Volunteer
Chapter 2: Recruiting the New Breed of Volunteers
The "Courting" Relationship
Chapter 3: Finding the New Breed of Volunteers (Not Scaring Them Away)
The Seven Deadly Sins of Recruiting Volunteers
Chapter 4: Tapping into Two New Breeds of Volunteers
Retiring "Boomers" and "Generation @"
SECTION TWO: THE VOLUNTEER MANAGER
Chapter 5: Motivating the New Breed of Volunteers
Discover Three Levels of Motivation
Chapter 6: Empowering Volunteers to Do It Their Way
Move from Delegation to Empowerment
Chapter 7: Managing the Virtual Volunteer
Virtual Volunteers and Using Technology
Chapter 8: Managing High Maintenance Volunteers
Performance Coaching the Volunteer from Hell
SECTION THREE: THE VOLUNTEER LEADER
Chapter 9: Leading the Successful Volunteer Organization
Mobilize the Collective Power of Volunteers
Chapter 10: A Leadership Case Study
A Fable of How to Do It Right
SECTION FOUR: RESOURCES
CLICK HERE
FOR MORE ABOUT
THIS BOOK AND TO GET A COPY
Plan Your Future
When the World
Keeps Changing
Get Tom's Inspiring Book
THEY DON'T PLAY
MY MUSIC ANYMORE!
As we try to navigate the 21st Century in this increasingly fast-paced and technology-driven world, many people are drowning in our culture of unremitting change. In the innovative book, They Don't Play My Music Anymore, Thomas McKee presents a creative approach to facing personal and professional change. He offers eight essential principles that can help you gain the confidence to face an unknown future. Using these techniques, you will develop a new thinking frame by which to approach your future with hope and confidence as you learn to embrace change instead of merely reacting to it.
Tom's Eight Principles
Will Help You Gain the Confidence
To Face an Unknown Future
"In a world where change seems to be happening faster than the five miles every second the Space Shuttle travels, They Don't Play My Music Anymore offers a practical, common sense approach to not only surviving this frenetic pace of change, but building and growing from it. Incorporating Tom's methodology as I chose to make a change in my profession has helped me map out and launch into new adventures in many ways as exciting as the three space missions I flew. I very highly recommend applying these principles!"
Who Takes the Fall When Your
Keynote Speaker is Just
Okay?...
You Do!
Tom McKee is a leading volunteer management speaker, trainer and consultant. You can reach Tom at (916) 987-0359 or
e-mail him at tom@volunteerpower.com. Other articles and free resources are available
at www.volunteerpower.com
For more articles by Thomas McKee, visit the Articles section on our website.
Author: Thomas W. McKee
"Volunteer Power News" Monthly Newsletter
© 2008 Advantage Point Systems Publishing
A warm welcome to all volunteer managers-those of you who recruit, motivate and mobilize volunteer workers.
You are receiving this newsletter because you signed up or asked to be on the list. Please recommend this e-mail newsletter or ezine to anyone who is interested in volunteer management.
If this newsletter was forwarded to you and you'd like to receive your own personal issue each month, please subscribe to receive free tips on how to recruit, manage and motivate volunteers.
View this issue on our website
In This Issue
- Featured Article: The Power of Emotions - Forget your statistics and use the power of one when you recruit.
- New Volunteer Power Workshop - The Balancing Act: How to balance the two volunteer management factors-trust and guidance
- Order Tom's Books -
- Hear Tom McKee Live Listen to an MP3 of a ten-minute sample keynote presentation by Tom McKee, The Power of Volunteer Passion
Featured Article: The Power of
Emotions -- Thomas W. McKee Feelings inspire people to act-not facts
Perhaps one reason that your recruiting numbers are down is that you are not using emotional pleas to get
volunteers. That sentence really turns me off. Do I have to resort to emotions rather than substance to
recruit? I don't like that.But, would you believe that Stanford University Graduate School of Business and Harvard Business School recommends emotional pleas over factual pleas for getting people to care? I was surprised by their recommendation for getting people involved.
I just read a new book last week on an airplane-it is a fast read and I was so taken with this book that my airline trip of two legs from the Midwest to the West Coast flew by (any book that can do that is worth far more than the price of the book).
Chip and Dan Heath's book, Made to Stick, Why some Ideas Survive and Others Die, is a must for any leader. They share an interesting experiment at Carnegie Mellon University to try and decide if people respond to helping "one" or the "masses".
The researchers offered five dollars to participants who had just completed a survey (the survey was insignificant). Upon completion of the survey each participant received along with their five dollars an envelope with a request for a charity-request letter giving them an opportunity to donate some of their five dollars to Save the Children.
The researchers tested two versions of the request letter. As you read these, ask, "Which one would you respond to?" and then ask, "Which one did the people in the test respond to?"
Version One:
- Food shortages in Malawi are affecting more than 3 million children. In Zambia, severe rainfall deficits have resulted in a 42 percent drop in maize production from 2000.
- As a result, an estimated 3 million Zambians face hunger.
- Four million Angolans-one third of the population-have been forced to flee their homes.
- More than 11 million people in Ethiopia need immediate food assistance.
- Any money you donate will go to Rokia, a seven-year-old girl from Mali, Africa. Rokia is desperately poor and faces the threat of severe hunger or even starvation. Her life will be changed for the better as a result of your financial gift. With your support, and the support of other caring sponsors, Save the Children will work with Rokia's family and other members of the community to help feed and educate her and provide basic medical care and hygiene education.
In the words of Mother Teresa, "If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will." It seems that most people have something in common with Mother Teresa. When it comes to our hearts, one individual trumps the masses. But the researchers concluded something else, and this is what is significant for us. When people put on their analytical hat, they're less likely to think emotionally.
The authors are not against the use of statistics. After all Chip Heath is a professor at Stanford and Dan Heath is a former researcher at Harvard. They are used to facts and statistics. But what the brothers are saying is that for people to act, they need more emotion. Just because people believe there is a problem does not mean that people care enough to act. The brothers say, "This chapter is not about pushing people's emotional buttons, like some kind of movie tearjerker. Rather, the goal of making messages ‘emotional' is to make people care. Feelings inspire people to act." The message must move from the head to the heart.
What was true for Mother Teresa is good advice for the volunteer manager when it comes to recruiting. Why do people volunteer? Is it the masses or is it the one?
The 21st century volunteers want to make a difference, they don't want to just make a contribution. When you present your recruiting brochures, your letters, your speeches and most of all your one-on-one pitches, tell your Rokia stories. Focus on the emotional story of how they can help one person.
I follow this simple outline:
- Benefit - Why
- Expectation - What
- Story - The Rokia story
Follow the benefit by stating what you want: "I could use your help to . . ."
And then tell the story.
In your recruiting training with your volunteer mangers, use this outline to have people develop their presentations and stories.
New Volunteer Power Workshop: The Balancing Act
-- Thomas W. McKee How to balance the two volunteer management factors: trust and guidance
Workshop Objective:- Since every year American volunteers donate roughly about $20 billion hours of their time and the annual estimated dollar value on that donated time is about $225 billion (www.networksforgood.org), you will learn how to stir up, mobilize, excite and motivate volunteers to take an active, committed role in your mission.
- At the end of this workshop you will know how to balance the hands-on management (guidance) you need to use with your volunteers with how much trust you can give to your volunteers. Bottom line: How much decision making authority do I give to my volunteers who want to be empowered?
The two volunteer management factors:
- Trust: Trust is an attitude. It involves the amount of confidence you have in your volunteers so that you don't worry about their actions. You feel free in turning them loose. The more trust you have the more sleep you get at night.
- Guidance: Guidance is a behavior. It involves the hands-on direction you give to your volunteers in their problem-solving and decision making.
Stage one: Recruiting Stage - The curious observer
The three reasons people volunteer
Permission recruiting
Permission recruiting
Stage two: The Passionate Beginner - channeling all that passion
Communicate expectations five ways
Use the effective position charter
Train the beginner
Hold accountable
Recognize and reward
Use the effective position charter
Train the beginner
Hold accountable
Recognize and reward
Stage Three: The Talented Veteran - Delegation Stage
Delegation vs. empowerment
Why volunteers lose their passion
Re-energize the bored, tired, and discouraged volunteer
Manage the high-maintenance volunteer
Why volunteers lose their passion
Re-energize the bored, tired, and discouraged volunteer
Manage the high-maintenance volunteer
Stage Four: The Dependable Leader - Empowerment Stage
How to empower without dropping the ball
Evaluation
Evaluation
Tom's Books:
The New Breed and/or They Don't Play My Music Anymore
IN STOCK! CLICK HERE FOR MORE
ABOUT THIS BOOK AND TO GET A COPY
(FREE U.S. SHIPPING!)
Here's a glimpse of the Table of Contents:
Introduction: The Common Predicament
Where It All Begins
SECTION ONE: THE VOLUNTEER RECRUITER
Chapter 1: Who Is the New Breed of Volunteer?
A Profile of the 21st Century Volunteer
Chapter 2: Recruiting the New Breed of Volunteers
The "Courting" Relationship
Chapter 3: Finding the New Breed of Volunteers (Not Scaring Them Away)
The Seven Deadly Sins of Recruiting Volunteers
Chapter 4: Tapping into Two New Breeds of Volunteers
Retiring "Boomers" and "Generation @"
SECTION TWO: THE VOLUNTEER MANAGER
Chapter 5: Motivating the New Breed of Volunteers
Discover Three Levels of Motivation
Chapter 6: Empowering Volunteers to Do It Their Way
Move from Delegation to Empowerment
Chapter 7: Managing the Virtual Volunteer
Virtual Volunteers and Using Technology
Chapter 8: Managing High Maintenance Volunteers
Performance Coaching the Volunteer from Hell
SECTION THREE: THE VOLUNTEER LEADER
Chapter 9: Leading the Successful Volunteer Organization
Mobilize the Collective Power of Volunteers
Chapter 10: A Leadership Case Study
A Fable of How to Do It Right
SECTION FOUR: RESOURCES
- Sample Position Charter
- Sample Project Charter
- Interview Guide for Hiring a Paid "Volunteer Manager"
- Sample Questionnaire for Virtual Volunteers
- Sample Board Code of Conduct
- Strategic Planning Retreat - Agenda of Questions
- SWOT Analysis Form
- Ice-Breakers and Openers
- Team Building Activities
- Sample Training Exercise-A Case Study:
THIS BOOK AND TO GET A COPY
Plan Your Future
When the World
Keeps Changing
Get Tom's Inspiring Book
THEY DON'T PLAY
MY MUSIC ANYMORE!
As we try to navigate the 21st Century in this increasingly fast-paced and technology-driven world, many people are drowning in our culture of unremitting change. In the innovative book, They Don't Play My Music Anymore, Thomas McKee presents a creative approach to facing personal and professional change. He offers eight essential principles that can help you gain the confidence to face an unknown future. Using these techniques, you will develop a new thinking frame by which to approach your future with hope and confidence as you learn to embrace change instead of merely reacting to it.
Tom's Eight Principles
Will Help You Gain the Confidence
To Face an Unknown Future
"In a world where change seems to be happening faster than the five miles every second the Space Shuttle travels, They Don't Play My Music Anymore offers a practical, common sense approach to not only surviving this frenetic pace of change, but building and growing from it. Incorporating Tom's methodology as I chose to make a change in my profession has helped me map out and launch into new adventures in many ways as exciting as the three space missions I flew. I very highly recommend applying these principles!"
Rick Searfoss, NASA Astronaut
and Space Shuttle Commander
and Space Shuttle Commander
Hear Tom McKee Live:
Listen to an MP3 of a ten-minute sample keynote presentation by Tom McKee, The Power of Volunteer Passion
Keynote Speaker is Just
Okay?...
You Do!
You can count on Thomas McKee for any size group. He has spoken to over one half million people in Europe, Africa
and the United States over the past 35 years and has worked with some of America's top corporations, organizations
and associations.
(More info about Tom here)For more articles by Thomas McKee, visit the Articles section on our website.
Resource Highlight:
Take a Peek at Our New Website
The New VolunteerPower.com is live! Words cannot describe it... take a peek for yourself!
www.VolunteerPower.com
Subscribe: If this newsletter was forwarded to you and you'd like to receive your own personal
issue each month, please subscribe to receive
free tips on how to recruit, manage and motivate volunteers.
You're receiving this recurring mailing because you either directly subscribed to the list, signed up on our website, or emailed a request to be subscribed. Volunteer Power respects your privacy: We won't rent, sell, or share your email address with any company, organization, or individual.
Please recommend this e-mail newsletter or Ezine to anyone who is interested in volunteer management. Thank you for reading this month's issue of Volunteer Power News!
You're receiving this recurring mailing because you either directly subscribed to the list, signed up on our website, or emailed a request to be subscribed. Volunteer Power respects your privacy: We won't rent, sell, or share your email address with any company, organization, or individual.
Please recommend this e-mail newsletter or Ezine to anyone who is interested in volunteer management. Thank you for reading this month's issue of Volunteer Power News!
© 2008 Volunteer Power