Yellowfire Press

Setting Achievable Goals

In All-Volunteer Groups @
@ -- permission for use-with-acknowledgment
.

 By Ivan Scheier
Yellowfire Press
1989

Introduction

SETTING ACHIEVABLE GOALS IN ALL-VOLUNTEER GROUPS

Examples of all-volunteer groups include:

-most neighborhood organizations
-many church or synagogue groups
-networks, support systems
-service clubs
-club groups of all kinds
-auxiliaries, "Friends of
-advocacy or issue-oriented groups
-virtually every committee or task force
-most common interest groups'
-many professional associations, especially local ones
-recreation groups
-boards, insofar as they operate without staff support
-many local chapters or branches of national organizations
-a 'goodly number of co-ops
-most fraternal organizations
-many newly created service programs

Clearly, these all-volunteer groups comprise a major part of the volunteer sector, including much that is on the cutting edge of compassionate enterprise and growth in quality of life. Yet, surprisingly little is known about the effective functioning of the all-volunteer group. Far more attention has been paid to situations in which, volunteers are supported and/or supervised by paid staff, notably, volunteer programs in agencies. Still, there must be a substantial difference in appropriate methods and strategies between the two cases: the one in which staff are available for follow-through and continuity, and the other in which part-time, unpaid people, many of them extremely busy elsewhere, have only each other to rely on. This is true even when members of an all-volunteer group function as paid staff outside the group, e.g., in a local association of volunteer coordinators.

For the all-volunteer group, one special challenge is setting realistic goals, goals which motivate and move membership towards achievable purpose.

 Where all-volunteer group goals are not owned by members, who else will achieve them (except possibly a small over-worked and complaining cadre of group leaders)? And when incautious aspiration far outstrips actual capability, what is there to fall back on? Not staff; there is not staff. Not money; there usually isn't much money. And so the sad cycle of frustration and failure continues.

To deal with this frustration in all-volunteer, a membership input process has been developed and field tested. This process is designed to:

1. convert passive membership to active participation;
2.promote ownership of the organization's programs by its members;
3.avoid over-extending the organization, to the point where it effectively accomplishes nothing;
4.prevent people from "dumping" goals on the organization while doing nothing to help accomplish these goals.

The annual planning or kickoff meeting is a good time to run the process. A large number of members can be expected to attend, and the process works best in person. However, participation by mail can also be offered to absentee members in good standing who have valid reasons for absence from the meeting. The complete process might well extend over two meetings, the first for collecting member contributions, and the second for reporting results and reaching decisions on group goals.

At the meeting, each member independently completes a three-part member contribution sheet. Go over the instructions for each part until participant understanding is reasonably assured.

Instructions for Part 1.

WHAT I THINK OUR ORGANIZATION SHOULD BE DOING

1.What are the three top subjects, projects, or goals on which our group should be working? Be as specific as you can.
2.For each goal, list at least three do-able steps to implement progress in this area. These must be things which are realistically within the capabilities of our organization. Note: No suggestion will be considered unless-accompanied by at least three do-able steps.
3.Put a check mark next to any do-able step in which you would personally be willing to invest significant amounts of time.

Member input should ultimately be written down, though it can first be discussed as long as necessary.

Part I might look something like this for a member of a solar power advocacy group

Goal A. Educational Campaign in Local Junior and Senior High School

Step 1: Secure support of superintendent of schools and principals of target schools.
Step.2: Design curriculum. Select content, develop teaching aids, etc
Step 3: Recruit and train presenters.

Goal B:
Present a "Solar Fair" next year in conjunction with the annual ---- County Fair

1.Gain support of County Fair Board.
2.Raise $3,000 in addition to our regular budget.

Goal C:
Train people in a low-income neighborhood to construct their own low- cost solar collectors

1.Select target neighborhood.
2.Purchase, or get donated, materials sufficient to make 50 low-cost solar collectors.
3.Develop a simple manual and slide show on how to build your own low-cost solar collector.
4.Recruit and train a corps of trainers to present workshops in the target neighborhood.
5.Select accessible neighborhood sites for the workshops.

Instructions for Part II of the member input process.

PART II:

MY CONTRIBUTIONS AND CAUTIONS
1.List 5-7 fairly specific things which you like to do, enjoy doing,
can do pretty well, and which might be of help to our organization.
Don't worry too much about this last one; you'd be surprised how wide
a range of talents might be of use to us in one situation or another.

Also, these "glad gives" need not be directly related to any of your goals or steps in Part I (though they may be). [Please note: if the group wishes, glad gives may also include donations of materials or facilities (food, clothing, etc.)]

2.List at least 3 or 4 of your main "no-no's," things you definitely do not want to be asked to do. Again, be as specific as you can. The process facilitator should provide examples of glad gives and no-no's before asking participants to complete Part II.

Examples are given below, and there is much more on glad gives in Yellowfire Press: The New People Approach Handbook (1981).

Sample Part II input

Glad Gives

- I enjoy writing and am quite an effective writer.
- I like selling and am pretty good at it.
- I'm a good carpenter and enjoy it.
- I make great salads and enjoy doing so.
- I’m good at statistics and like to work with numbers
- I enjoy working with young people and feel that I communicate well with them.

No-No's

I hate taking notes at meetings.
I don't like asking people for money face-to-face, even in a good cause.
I refuse to work in smoke-filled rooms.
Please don't ask me to do any public speaking.

Instructions for Part III of-the membership input process

PART III

TIME INVESTMENT
Please indicate below the number of hours per month you predict you will have available for one of our group programs which you consider important. There is a definite expectation that you would have something like this much time available for a project you suggested in Part I, or a similar project. You may also indicate separately the time you have already committed to our group in general areas such as board or committee work, duties as an officer, etc.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Estimated Number Of hours	12	20	20	20	20	20	9	9	16	16	16	12

CHOOSING THE GOALS

A task force now reviews the collected input sheets and reports conclusions back to membership. The conditions described below are not rigid formulae; rather, they are flexible guidelines to which reasonable exceptions maybe taken.

Note, too, that members should be made well aware of these guidelines before completing their membership input sheets.

Suggested goals for the group (Part I) do not count, or count for less:

1.if these goals are outside the overall mission and purposes of the organization;
2.insofar as the goal statement is unclear, ambiguous, internally inconsistent;
3.if not accompanied by at least three do-able steps (This would eliminate Goal B in our Part I example);
4.if-proposed by a person who fails to offer the group any (or enough) glad gives in Part II;
5.if proposed by a person who has little or no time to give to the group (Part III).

The last two guidelines are flexible. Thus, they could be eased for a member with a long and loyal history of contribution to the group. Nor, ideally, should any guideline be the basis for arbitrarily wiping out any member's goal suggestion, without first giving that person some opportunity to correct the guideline failure and thus qualify their goal.

Goals which pas the above screening receive even more weight insofar as:

1.There are "participation promise" checkmarks on their do-able steps. In our Part I example, Goal C would have more weight than Goal A for this reason.
2. People suggesting the Goals predict they have more time to give to important group projects (Part III).
3.There are relatively large supplies of glad gives relevant to implementation of the goal (Part 11).
[The individual member's profile of glad gives and no-no's will also be useful generally as guidance to effective delegation by group leaders.]
4.The goal, or a similar one, has been suggested independently by other members.

 OTHER READINGS

Volunteers: Their Reasons and Rewards, with particular reference to all-volunteer organizations. Charles Bonjean the Hogg Foundation, 1984, 23 pp. Direct inquiries to your nearest Junior League Chapter.

Activating Your Local Association Of Volunteer Coordinators. A-few reasons people who have lots of other places to go might decide instead to attend your meeting, or even join your Association. Yellowfire Press, 1985.

Divide the Job, Delegate the Work: Here’s How. Yellowfire Press, 1985

Group Formation: A Guide to the Development of Successful Groups, Press.

 Please Note: This outline will be expanded to become part of a book published in late 1990 by ENERGIZE ASSOCIATES, 5450 Wissahickon Ave, Philadelphia, PA. 19144.

THE MEMBERSHIP INPUT PROCESS

For All or Mainly Volunteer Groups

I.The purposes of the Member Input Process are to:

1.Convert passive membership to active participation
2.Promote ownership of the organization's program by its members
3.Avoid over-extending the organization, to the point where it effectively accomplishes nothing
4.Prevent people 'dumping' goals on the organization while doing nothing to help accomplish these goals

Each member is independently fills out a three-part membership input sheet.

II.What our organization should be doing

1. What are the three top subjects or topics we should be working on? Be as specific as you can.
2. For each topic, list at least three do-able steps to implement progress in this subject area. These must be things which are realistically within the capabilities of our organization. Note: No topic suggestion will be considered unless accompanied by at least three do-able steps.
3. Put a check mark next to any do-able step in which you would personally be willing to invest significant amounts of your time.

III.Time I might have to invest in a project for our group, if I thought that project was significant. These are estimates only at this point and not commitments.

Window of Work

V.A task force takes the collected membership input sheets and

1.Counts and collates suggested topics. No topics are accepted unless accompanied by at least three doable steps. Topics checked by a member are counted twice.
2. Which of the top-count topics has most checks, and glad gives or quests from members who have shown they have time to invest.

The above suggests directions for a member-owned and realistic program.

 

MEMBERSHIP INPUT PROCESS

Here is-an abbreviated example of how a process like this might evolve, adapted from work with the INFFA Volunteers of Ecuador in summer, 1988.

One of Marias (M) goals was: I think we ought to be teaching children to read and write. Her steps to the goal and participation checks were:

___Find volunteers willing to teach the children
___Get books and other learning materials
___Get cooperation of school teachers
___Get small gifts to reward children who do good work

One of Cesar's (C) goals was: I think we ought to teach children to add and subtract. His steps to that goal and participation checks were:

___Get cooperation of school teachers
___ cooperation of children and their parents
___ Raise _____ money (about $3,000 in U. S. equivalent)

Among other participant responses, there was a significant pattern supporting the same kind of goal. Moreover, there seemed quite realistic breakdown of steps needed to achieve the goal, with hopeful coverage of participation check-S, indicating that this group could in fact achieve this goal.

The goal -- actually a combination of Maria's and Cesar's - was therefore accepted for further development, which included thinking through the steps-to-goal in even greater detail, and bringing in a larger group to sign off on these steps with participation checks. In addition to Maria (M) and Ceasar (C) whose participation checks are carried forward in the more complete goal-achievement design, we now also have Rosa (R) and Juan (J). To distinguish among them, each now signs on in terms of their own initial.

 Teach Children (10-15 years old) To Read and Write and also Add and Subtract (Note: This is simpler version of a Work Assignment Grid)

R___Find out how many children need this
R___Identify who these children are
J___Get cooperation of their parents, family
?___Get cooperation of the children
X___Get cooperation of the church
C___Get cooperation of school teachers
C___Train the volunteers in how to teach reading and arithmetic to children
M___Get books, writing, and other materials to use in teaching the children
X___Match volunteers and children
J___Raise _________ money (about $3,000 U. S.)
M___Get small gifts to reward children who do good work in the program
M___Get small gifts for volunteers
?___Coordinate the overall effect

The object of course, is to get all steps 'covered', if possible by people who are glad to do this ('glad gifts') or at least willing. It is also good to have some back-up or redundancy in the system, in case one person doesn't come through on their piece of the action.

What can be done with steps that are over-covered; too many people want to do that task? One frequent good move here is to team the work; another is to take the person who is busiest elsewhere in the achievement grid, and move that person elsewhere.

What can be done with steps that are over-covered? Among the possibilities here are:

*Decide that component isn't crucial and eliminate it (the two) Vs above)
*Broaden your search for volunteers to seek someone who wants to do it. *Team it
*Rotate people in and out of it
*Pay somebody to do it
*Rate it, but do it anyhow

Return to Main Table of Contents

Ivan Scheier
Stillpoint
607 Marr
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, 87901
Tel (505) 894-1340
Email: ivan@zianet.com

For comments and editing suggestions please contact Mary Lou McNatt mlmcnatt@indra.com