{"id":1052,"date":"2015-10-27T06:41:35","date_gmt":"2015-10-27T01:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/volunteers.org\/?p=1052"},"modified":"2016-01-16T18:38:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-16T13:08:00","slug":"how-to-deal-with-high-maintenance-volunteers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/volunteers.org\/how-to-deal-with-high-maintenance-volunteers\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Deal with High Maintenance Volunteers"},"content":{"rendered":"
Volunteers are amazing people.<\/strong> However, as with any group of people, some volunteers can be a time-drain on your organization, requiring much more one-on-one attention than others donating their efforts. In a word: \u201chigh-maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n This may come in many forms, such as dropping in unexpectedly to see if there are volunteer opportunities or calling to confirm the date and time of their next volunteer date.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a closer look at how to deal with volunteers who seem to require more of your time than others.<\/p>\n A Sticky Situation Keeping Your Sanity<\/strong> High-maintenance volunteers don\u2019t have to stay that way. Evaluate what\u2019s really going on in each case. Many times it\u2019s just that a volunteer\u2019s expectation hasn\u2019t been met in some way and a small change could make all the difference. Spending a little more time in training, learning more about motivation to volunteer, and\/or automating registration and communication can save countless hours and headaches in the long-term.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>So how do you handle this type of volunteer? It goes without saying that time and staff are at a premium at most nonprofits, so hand-holding those individuals is counter-productive. On the other end of the spectrum is \u201cfiring\u201d a volunteer, but that is a worst-case scenario, which could lead to some negative publicity for your organization in the process. The good news is that there are options in between that just might save the day. Below we offer our best advice to volunteer coordinators for managing high-maintenance volunteers.<\/p>\n
\nAlthough the end result is the same, leading to lost time and frustration, there are actually various reasons why these \u201cneedy\u201d volunteers may behave the way they do. Here are some questions to ask yourself to assess the situation and hopefully make it work better for everyone:<\/p>\n\n
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