Leadership gets a new look: to identify and develop volunteers, you need to know something about who they are. Find out what tomorrow's leaders want and what trends are shaping the volunteer experience.

VOLUNTEERING IS NO EASY TASK, AND THAT'S LIKELY PART OF THE REASON that recruiting and involving volunteer leaders in association work--while as essential as ever--isn't getting any easier.

"Volunteers have to keep changing and adapting and have the ability to work with different kinds of people," says Katherine Campbell, executive director of the Association for Volunteer Administration, Richmond, Virginia, whose members have responsibility for mobilizing, recruiting, and managing volunteers. "Good time management and good communication skills are essential. It's also important that [volunteer leaders] have a balance between a healthy respect for knowledge of past and history and an openness to current thinking, new information, and different ways of doing things," she contends. "That's a tough balance to maintain, but very critical these days."

Attracting future leaders is as much about knowing what you want as it is about knowing what members are hoping to gain-that's another challenge inherent to attracting and engaging volunteer leaders. "People are looking for either a chance to have new experiences or growth or skill development in something beyond their day-to-day jobs," Campbell contends. "Ultimately the volunteer experience may position them for a career change. It can give them some clout to use to move on, or it can be a way to develop a network in a wide geographical area. In a way, it can give somebody a competitive edge in terms of advocating his or her own value.

"The success of a volunteer experience is going to be largely determined by whether that experience meets the person's expectations," she continues. "The more we know about those expectations, the better we can try to meet them and ensure that the volunteer remains motivates."

The needs of today's time-crunched members, such as shorter-term commitments, may require associations to examine their traditional notions of volunteer service and how to attract those members to leadership positions. And identifying and developing future volunteer leaders requires a commitment from the highest levels of the organization.

Cultivating leadership skills and passing on knowledge to the next generation is "a major responsibility of the current leadership," asserts Annette Petrick, CAE, president, Petrick Outsourcing Unlimited, Inc., Woodstock, Virginia. "It's difficult for volunteers to understand that. It really is important to accept that one of your responsibilities is to turn over the knowledge that you have, which can be very ethereal."

Petrick's comment underscores another reality of recruiting and retaining skilled volunteers: changing demographics and their implications. The number of Americans age 45-64, who will reach 65 across the next two decades, has increased by 34 percent since 1990, according to data from AARP, Washington, D.C. Many organizations are facing a high turnover rate due to retirement, which means that tomorrow's leaders could look a lot different--and think differently about their commitment and role within the organization.

Searching for star potential

Sometimes it's the simplest step that gets the job done: Tell your members you need them. If asked, 63 percent of people will volunteer, compared with 25 percent who volunteer without being asked, according to Independent Sector's Giving and Volunteering in the United States 2001.

"We created a kiosk for one organization's annual meeting that had high-energy photographs of people doing committee work and put up a sign asking for people who wanted to get involved," Petrick explains. Members filled out cards indicating their level of interest, which ranged from "ready to give back" to "give me more details" to "not interested." The organization got 175 cards back and 80 percent expressed the highest level of interest. "The association obviously had not been conveying to its members that it was looking for people in leadership," she notes. "What we found out in working with the members was that they need to know how to get integrated in the association." Petrick helped the organization change its committee structure to include associate committee members, which resulted in some of those members serving on the board.

Match talents to needs. Petrick's group also learned that members wanted the association to know more about them. "Many people had volunteer experience outside of the association realm, but people with those skills were going right by because the association wasn't aware of it," Petrick says. The board gave Petrick full reign to make members' profiles more accessible.

Determining what qualities you are looking for in a leader will also make it easier to spot potential talent. "Associations are looking for sparkplugs--people who will draw other people to the organization and get them excited," Petrick believes. "They are looking for someone who is passionate about the organization, someone who knows the ropes and how to get things done, and someone of integrity."

Define the duties. "I think an involved board member is what you really want," says William Pawlucy, CAE, senior vice president, business and trade associations, Association Headquarters, Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. "A big mistake that associations make is not giving volunteers a job description before they begin," says Pawlucy, who has served as executive director of several associations. "They need to know their responsibilities from the beginning. It can be tough to find good volunteers who put their all into it and don't have their own agendas." Pawlucy hands out pamphlets with job descriptions to board members prior to elections and in board transition meetings.

Be open to opportunities. Campbell admits that as an association with a staff of only two, AVA has struggled with the challenge of recruiting new volunteer leaders. "One way of dealing with that is through the committee structure," she points out. "Working committees are a breeding ground for future leaders. That's where we often identify someone rising to the top because he or she has done a really good job as a chair or committee member. Suddenly that person is on your radar screen and you can tap him or her for something else."

Another vehicle for finding potential leaders, she continues, is through conversations with members. "It pays to have that extended conversation. I write down names of people we can invite to become more involved. Often when you ask, people are really flattered, and then you don't feel like you're begging."

Nurturing the next generation

Once associations identify future volunteer leaders, they must offer specific training programs, insists Petrick. "Too often an association calls it leadership training when they review the manual that tells people how to send in dues," she notes. "That's orientation; it's necessary, but it's not leadership training." She also advises executives not to assume that volunteers know the ropes.

"Be sure you're teaching them the behavior of leadership," she says. "The other big thing is making promises--leaders need to follow through when they have made a promise on behalf of the organization."

Campbell agrees that training is necessary and that it's essential for current leaders to be involved in those efforts. "That's part of making it a welcome climate and sharing the knowledge base," she points out. "It makes new leaders feel included and gives them power."

Reaching out. The United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania (UWSEPA), Philadelphia, works with volunteers to identify participants for its young leaders program, which includes networking opportunities and activities focused on community service. During the several weeks of training, participants learn what it means to be a good member of a nonprofit board and they hear from community leaders who talk about the value of volunteering. At the end of the training, United Way helps place these young people on boards.

"We ask community leaders to host a lunch with the CEO of a major company so that person can share his or her journey and talk about how to work your way up," explains Christine James-Brown, president and CEO of UWSEPA. "It gives the volunteers an opportunity to hear about leadership firsthand and ask what it means to that individual. It also gives them exposure to CEOs."

Devoting this level of energy to volunteer development is a no-brainer for UWSEPA, says James-Brown, because "our volunteer base is as critical to us as our paid staff. We need to put the same type of thinking and resources around unpaid staff." Part of that commitment includes understanding the best way to work with volunteers and what types of training are most effective.

"We provide tours of organizations for the board to learn more about what's going on in the community, as well as board training and orientation and ongoing communication with staff," she continues. "We're learning more and more that you have to be much more focused on outcomes and the 'so what?' of what you are doing. Someone can be on a board and never really know the business of the organization."

For that reason, the organization is stepping up its efforts to integrate volunteers and broaden their experience by creating cross-departmental teams. "We want them to see the organization in a much more holistic way and not just get locked in one area," James-Brown adds. "We need to be tied into the talents and interests of the next leaders to make sure they have other opportunities for development outside of the organization." Inspired by President Bush's State of the Union address last January, in which he announced the formation of the USA Freedom Corps as part of the administration's attempt to bolster society's interest in volunteerism, UWSEPA created a Web site (www.volunteerway.org) that guides people to volunteer opportunities in the Delaware Valley community.

Holding on to a good thing

Involving members in a volunteer capacity takes work, but holding their interest can be a real challenge. Petrick believes that easing volunteers into the role is the best approach. "Give them small, easy jobs up front and don't overwhelm them with assignments," she advises. "For example, ask if you can profile them on your Web site or ask them to write a short article. Don't scare them off. If they like what they see, they will become more involved."

Most associations aren't going to have the pipeline filled with willing volunteers continually, says Campbell, but she acknowledges, "generating a climate where the members feel heard and feel supported, and have a sense that there is an openness to new ideas--that does a lot to generate interest and encourage people to stay involved." Clearly defining expectations and instilling confidence in potential leaders can also produce an upswing, she adds.

Evolving expectations. Shifting demographic trends may make it necessary for your organization to modify its approach to volunteerism and how you structure leadership opportunities. Leadership styles among generations have to be reconciled, but as Association Headquarters' Pawlucy concedes, such differences are often difficult to overcome. "I do see older board members fighting for the respect they want to get," he says. "A lot of times boards are self-perpetuating; they pick people just like them. But I've also seen other boards that are more open to change."

Keeping younger leaders interested in their volunteer roles isn't achieved by piling on the responsibilities, he adds. "The expectation now with today's boards and prospective board members is that they really don't want to put in unnecessary time. Volunteers need to have ownership of the association. I see a shift where the staff is taking the lead, and that's not healthy. You have to have a good balance."

Volunteers are less interested in long-term commitments and serving in a designated role for an entire year, and are more willing to work on one project and see it through to completion, contends Pawlucy. "Boards are recognizing that you can't have a standing committee set up forever," he observes. "The more you give board members to do, the more they tend not to come back. I think what's happening is that short-term projects with a result at the end is what gets people involved."

Campbell agrees that changing demographic trends are influencing members' expectations about volunteer leadership, which means that associations need to honestly evaluate the makeup of their boards. (See sidebar, "Mirror, Mirror: Does Your Board Reflect a Diverse Membership?") "We have to find ways to invite younger folks and people from different parts of our field who we may not have involved before," she says. "We need to show them that they can be part of the action and that the existing leadership is open and willing to work with them. That means sending targeted messages--it's not going to happen by sitting back and waiting."

Campbell echoes Pawlucy's advice about understanding what motivates younger leaders to serve. "Young people are drawn to service and getting involved, but they need to see a payoff," she believes. "Immediate follow-up is necessary to put them to work or they will move on to another volunteer opportunity. They are eager to get to work and to start making things happen sooner rather than later. They want a more immediate benefit and they want to see the results of their efforts. And that's good for organizations that may have become a little too content with moving slowly or not being results-oriented. It's a healthy challenge."

Taking care of business

Two years ago, The American Cancer Society (ACS), Atlanta, was facing a problem: Their leadership roster was waning. Although the focus was on staff, ACS's situation is applicable to volunteer development. As the senior-level managers were examining the long-term staff leadership picture for the organization, they realized that many of the current staff were approaching retirement age, which meant that within five years, ACS would see a 50 percent turnover rate at the senior field level. To address the situation, the organization launched an initiative to identify and develop future staff leaders, with the intent of eventually broadening the program to include volunteer leadership.

"The program grew pretty rapidly to inserting those [staff] people who were identified into a fairly aggressive learning and development training mode geared at senior leadership," explains Clint Clampitt, ACS national vice president of field operations. "This framework will be applicable for developing volunteer leaders." ACS's efforts to provide ongoing learning development and to attract people to leadership roles are already paying off, according to Clampitt: "We're getting people who are stepping up and saying, 'I want to be a future leader.'"

A broader vision. For ACS, a necessary evaluation of the leadership qualities that the organization wanted to attract coincided with a tremendous reorganization in which the society collapsed a field structure from 57 to 17 divisions. "We knew we needed to look for leaders who truly could be strategic and visionary in their thinking," Clampitt says. "Most of [the senior leadership] had become very good operationally; that was our strong suit. We needed to add to the portfolio good strategic vision leadership. We were looking for people who could bring along the history and the culture of the organization, but also a broader vision of operating and a more corporate mentality."

After conducting detailed research and analysis on best practices for leadership development, ACS identified nine staff positions that occur across the organization that needed to be filled and determined what skills were necessary to make someone successful in each role. Those skills became the criteria for anyone interested in applying, Clampitt explains. Once the applicant pool was narrowed down, an outside organization administered a tool to gauge leadership potential among the remaining candidates.

The initiative is "truly helping us to identify candidates who are indicating their own desire in moving forward in their careers and improving their leadership development and capabilities," Clampitt observes. "It's allowing the organization to have closer, one-on-one contact with those individuals and to provide them with more directed learning and development opportunities geared toward where the organization is going in the next 15 years. And it is allowing the senior leadership to interact on a more personal basis with potential future leaders."

Potential leaders meet on a regular basis with the existing leaders to improve relationship building. Some of the organization's current leaders act as mentors in a more structured setting. As part of their development opportunities, potential leaders participated in work groups that spent seven months dissecting actual organizational issues and providing recommendations that ACS plans to implement. "It was a huge learning opportunity for them, being that involved in real-life issues," Clampitt says. "And organizationally, we got some real issues resolved."

Another ACS initiative that prepares future leaders for their roles is an executive development series geared at exposing people to specific areas of business development, such as financial management. ACS also pairs future leaders with executive coaches who help them create individual development plans. Clampitt says ACS's next step is to implement this training and development program at the senior volunteer leadership level.

A little praise goes a long way

One obvious--and essential--method of retaining volunteers is to recognize and reward their efforts and to thank them for their commitment to your association. That includes providing volunteers with the opportunity to grow within the organization, suggests Pawlucy. "Another reward is knowing that the association recognizes you as an expert, that they are getting value from you, and that you are able to help," he adds.

Clampitt says that ACS is still working on developing a reward system, perhaps in the form of accreditation, but for now he thinks ACS's future leaders feel that their contributions are making a difference. "We've tried to give these individuals opportunities that help them grow, and also recognize that they are part of this group and that they are people we feel have leadership capabilities," Clampitt says. "These people feel that they are an integral part of the future work of the organization."

Recognition does matter, but as Campbell points out, "the more important question is, what kind of recognition matters most to people? Putting names in a newsletter or on a Web site, sending a personal note, writing a letter to someone's boss...I think those things are more meaningful than a plaque or certificate. A lot of people today feel that the personal touch is missing, so this is one way you can feed that."

RELATED ARTICLE: Mirror, Mirror: DOES YOUR BOARD REFLECT A DIVERSE MEMBERSHIP?

In today's business climate, it's a topic that every executive is attuned to: diversity. An association's board of directors must reflect the makeup of the membership, which is likely to include people of different backgrounds, ethnicities, ages, and interests. If your board has been homogeneous in the past, it's time to broaden your horizons and welcome new faces and voices--and the ideas that spring from interactions among different groups. At the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, creating a more diverse volunteer base has been a commitment and a challenge for more than 20 years, says President and CEO Christine James-Brown.

"Diversity is not just ethnic; it includes diversity in thinking," she says. "It's a challenge to really provide volunteer opportunities and involvement that will match the changes occurring in society, so we have to work at it all the time. One of the things we've found is that you have to reach out and build relationships with different groups. You've got to have that deliberate strategy." The organization developed a Hispanic leadership program to teach up-and-coming leaders what it means to be a representative of the Latino community.

"The challenge for us is that it's tough to start an initiative for people of color, because the United Way is supposed to be about everybody," she continues. "We have to personalize how we're understood by different groups. Personalization and relationship building will move us forward."

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE. Last year, the California Society of Certified Public Accountants (CalCPA), Redwood City, put together a diversity task force to evaluate its efforts to be an inclusive organization. The task force established three objectives, the first of which was to "incorporate diversity into the leadership of CalCPA such that it is more representative of the membership." Vincent C. Chin, associate director of member relations and staff liaison to the task force, says the formation of the task force was a directive from the board chair and CEO, who recognized increased diversity as a visible and critical issue.

The process began with understanding the makeup of the membership in terms of gender, national origin, ethnicity, and professional segment. "Once you understand the makeup of your membership, you identify members with leadership qualities, provide leadership training, and then integrate those members into the leadership," Chin explains. "The first step was looking at the ethnicity of the current membership. We do know that there is a growing segment of Asian women coming into the profession. That segment is growing faster than any other."

Although the initiative is still in the implementation phase, Chin says that programs at the local level seem to be most effective in reaching out to potential leaders. "Our plan is to look at our community, determine who our members are and how diverse they are, and figure out how to get those professionals involved."

TAKING TRAINING TO THE Next Level

GEORGE M. BINDER 

Leadership Professional Engineer is a leadership development program designed to encourage, strengthen, and build the professional careers and the civic involvement of entry-, mid-, and upper-level engineers. This is being accomplished through organized career-training sessions and networking with business and community contacts and peers, as well as interactive meetings with community decision makers.

The Leadership PE program grew out of an idea expressed at our 1997 past presidents' breakfast held at our annual convention. The past presidents wanted to do something that would encourage younger engineers to make their professional society a priority and a part of their professional activities. A year later, we selected the charter class of Leadership PE. Three organizations--the Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers, Frankfort, the Kentucky Consulting Engineers Council, Frankfort, and the Kentuckiana Post of the Society of American Military Engineers, Louisville--came together to jointly sponsor the program, and the designing task force included members (past presidents) of all three organizations.

Participation in Leadership PE is limited to 15 individuals per class. Participants must be either engineers-in-training or professional engineers. Participants are required to complete an application with letters of reference and commitment from their employers, and they must pay a $600 registration fee plus travel expenses and overnight accommodations. The program covers on-site costs and meals with help from a few sponsors. The year following participation in the Leadership PE program, individuals are required to serve in one of the three sponsoring organizations, at least at the committee level.

Each class is selected to participate in seven specially designed leadership experiences across an eight-month period. The experience begins with a three-day orientation program followed by five 1 1/2-day sessions and culminates in a graduation ceremony at our annual convention. The sessions evolve from year to year but remain focused on providing instruction and experiences that develop leaders. At first, past presidents conducted all the sessions, but the program has evolved to include Leadership PE alumni.

The program's success has exceeded our expectations. The first three classes participated in all 21 sessions without a single absence. There are few, if any, of our committees functioning today that don't have Leadership PE alumni serving on them. Alumni are managing five of the seven sessions of the Leadership PE program; have served as chairs of our major program committees and on our foundation board of directors; and are providing leadership in our organizations at several levels. With the graduation of our fourth class in April 2002, we have 51 Leadership PE alumni.

The success of the program can be attributed to several factors. One critical factor is the environment created at every session, which encourages networking; togetherness; and commitment to each other, the program, and the organizations. Another factor is the planned and unplanned interaction with leaders in the engineering profession. The participants have cited this opportunity to interact with seasoned professionals as a highlight of the experience. One staff person maintains contact with the participants, communicates expectations and logistics, and attends each session. This personal touch is a big factor in attracting them to volunteer activities in the organizations.

George M. Binder is executive director of the Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers and the Kentucky Consulting Engineers Council, both based in Frankfort.

E-mail: george@kyengcenter. org.

Resources

For more ideas about developing future leaders and specific training programs, consider the following sources:

* www.petrickoutsourcing.com. Click on "Leadership Training" on the lefthand navigation bar to link to 10 training models. President Annette Petrick, CAE, indicates that ongoing training is a current trend, often through a listserver where the training facilitator will communicate with participants every few weeks and offer reading materials or topics for discussion.

* The Association for Volunteer Administration (www.avaintl.org). Click on "Resources" to access publications, Web sites, and names of trainers and consultants, as well as links to related organizations. AVA Executive Director Katherine Campbell notes that leaders have expressed interest in learning more about the ethical principles of working with volunteers. The organization's Professional Ethics Training Kit (2001, AVA) can be used as a model to facilitate an organization's decision-making process and includes a PowerPoint presentation, handouts, and case studies. Visit AVA's Web site to order the publication, which is $65 for non-AVA members.

The following resources are available from ASAE. To order, contact ASAE's Member Service Center at 202-371-0940 or 888-950-ASAE; or e-mail [e-mail].

* Volunteers--How to Get Them, How to Keep Them, by Helen Little (1999, ASAE). This resource outlines the 12 basic needs of volunteers and explains how to meet those needs. Request product AMP-250332 ($24.95).

* The Volunteer Management Handbook, edited by Tracy Daniel Connor (1999, ASAE). Offers guidance on topics such as recruitment, training, retention, and recognition. Request product AMP-210991 ($34.95).

* The Center for Creative Leadership Handbook of Leadership Development, by Cynthia D. McCauley, Russ S. Moxley, and Ellen Van Velsor (1998, ASAE). Get tips on implementing programs, evaluating the impact of leadership development programs, dealing with diversity issues, and more. Request product AMP-250290 ($75).

Jane Eisinger is associate editor of ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT. E-mail: [e-mail].