Whether delivering services, providing pro bono support, governing as a board member, or sending advocacy emails, volunteers play vital roles in mission-fulfillment. Regardless of where leaders of volunteers fall on an org chart, their success relies not only on nurturing positive relationships between volunteers and the organization but also on nurturing effective partnerships internally with other staff. If your responsibilities include recruiting, screening, training, supporting, recognizing, tracking, and/or advocating for volunteers who work with others in the organization, then you likely wear many “hats.”
Which of the following “hats” do you wear?
Administrative Expert? Strategic Partner? Volunteer Champion? Change Agent?
If you wear all of them, you are not alone. Like most leaders of volunteers, you wear multiple hats because functioning as an internal partner requires it. Being an internal partner means making the case for others to engage volunteers strategically, influencing others despite having no authority over their work, developing systems for others to follow, and coaching colleagues whom you don’t supervise.
How can you do all that? We now have a free, downloadable guide to help you build up these internal partnering muscles. Featuring insights and resources to help you nurture internal partnerships, Internal Partnering to Enhance Volunteer Engagement will help ensure volunteers are engaged and supported across the organization. With these tools, you can reflect on how well you balance perspectives (yours and those of your colleagues), map out the relationships that would be important to influence, hone your persuasion skills, and effectively train your colleagues to engage volunteers effectively.
Want to balance all these hats, while still getting your work done? Become an effective internal partner. The eToolkit can help.