Staff and Volunteers: Dealing with the Toxic Volunteer and Screening Volunteers

Hi Chickadees,

So today I say these two resources on twitter and I found them super informative and helpful and I wanted to share them because I thought they might just help you too. I learned so much!

Both of these articles deal with volunteer screening and management. Most day camps have some kind of volunteers and volunteer management can be a crucial aspect to your job description.

Volunteers can be the most amazing resource and the most frustrating part of your job. And trust me when I've said I've had to deal with both types.

When you get a great volunteer they can be simply irreplaceable. We had this one volunteer last summer, Red, and she was fantastic. She was so helpful and willing to get involved. She never complained and was always there to help. I honestly don't know what I would have done without her. I wish I could hire her to be my full time assistant.

But in the past I've also had to deal with the lazy, irresponsible just frustrating volunteer. I hate to say it but sometimes you wish they wouldn't volunteer. But the problem is that sometimes these volunteers have been around longer then you have, they are board members kids, they went to that camp as kids, or they are well liked. So you have to make sure you handle the situation with tact. In her article, The volunteer as bully = the toxic volunteer, Jayne discusses the perfect way to deal with these individuals. She provides a list of tips and tricks to make sure you don't step on too many toes and don't provoke the bully volunteer.

Jayne's Trips and Tricks

• Document everything so that if you have to go to senior management you have evidence of your concerns.
• Be consistent with rules with all volunteers.
• Be willing to loose the bully volunteer and be ready to deal with the backlash with tact and decorum.
• Don't trash talk the volunteer, EVER.
• Look out for misinterpretations or misunderstandings of your actions and correct quickly.
• Don't think the situation will resolve itself on its own. Be proactive.

This is just a brief list of those tips and tricks...head over to her article and read it for yourself to get further information about each of Jayne's tips.

The second article is also written by Jayne and it's about Screening volunteers for attitude. In this article Jayne talks about how you can screen volunteers to make sure you get the best possible ones. Here she provides assessment questions that can help you make sure you get highly-responsible, long-term volunteers with good attitudes. Head over to the article to see the long list of questions Jayne provides.

Here are the actual hyper links...

http://www.charityvillage.com/cv/research/rvol75.html

http://www.charityvillage.com/cv/research/rvol73.html

Special thanks to Jayne Craven's for writing these super helpful articles, Charity Village for posting these articles on your site, and Winning Kids (aka Melodie Bissell - my mom) for tweeting about them.

For other great articles, sites, and resources about providing safe environments for your kids check Winning Kids Twitter Page or website.

I hope and pray you can find dedicated, passionate helpful volunteers this summer.

Yours truly,

The Ditzy Day Camp Director