Volunteers are special people.  They agree to do a lot of work that you and I would only do if someone paid us.  They save organizations, time, money, benefits, energy and a host of other things.  Often they are our biggest supporters.
Yet we don’t always treat them that way.  We can easily lose sight of what drives them, what motivates them.  This isn’t a condemnation of us.  We often have good intentions to work with volunteers, but we are busy too.  And sometimes volunteer things get pushed to the bottom…
When …

A while back we discussed the benefits of Realistic Job Previews.  Well not everyone works in industry and hires employees.  Sometimes what we really need to do is bring in volunteers.  This is the case for churches, political campaigns, community outreach and a wide variety of other activities.
As anyone who’s lead volunteers knows, one of the hardest things to do is keep them motivated and committed.  Part of this challenge comes from the volunteers themselves.  They lead busy, hectic lives with wives, boyfriends, kids, friends, work etc….  Sometimes the last …