Environmental Leadership Institute

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Environmental Leadership Institute

• Leadership Development
• Volunteer Management Motivation, Retention, and
  Feedback

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Leadership Ladder
Mentors/Advisors
Responsible for the functioning of the
organization usually elected
Officers
Chairing an Event or Committee
Important step in commitment
Taking on Responsibility
This is when theyre likely to come back!
Showing Up
Recruitment
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Volunteer Management

• Review how did you recruit these people? What
  needs were you trying to meet?
• Consider what are they expecting?
• Prepare your timeline and plan your meetings
• Build a Team
• Know the strengths and weaknesses of each member
• Treat everyone as an equal
• Communicate
• Trust each other to complete tasks

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Motivating Members

• Keep in mind individual needs
• A sense of belonging
• Create group norms and set expectations
• Share in planning the group goals
• Create goals that are within reach

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Motivating Members cont.

• Keeping members active
• Make them brainstorm
• Let them make a significant contribution
• Help them set individual goals they can reach
• Communicate between meetings
• Give them resources to draw on

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Motivating Members cont.

• Why Members Lose Interest
• Not learning or accomplishing
• Confused about goals or purpose
• Feel their opinions are not needed
• Feel they are not appreciated
• Meetings lack organization
• Other commitments can be a factor, so it is
  critical to counteract the above list!

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The Leadership Ladder

• Helps table at an event
• Attends forum
• Attends phonebank

• Coordinates table for 1-2 hours (trains others)
• Coordinates logistics (sign in, food, set up)
• Trains 1-2 new volunteer to PB

• Coordinates one tabling event location,
  recruits volunteers
• Helps create plan for the event
• Helps PB for event turn out
• Runs phonebank training
• Helps write script

• Schedules all tabling events
• Trains leaders
• Develops materials
• Recruitment coordinator for event
• Schedules and runs PB
• Recruits phoners
• IDs other to lead training
• Takes care of logistics

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Movin on Up The AIIT Cycle
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Ask
Find out what matters to potential volunteers.
Why do they care about your causes? Why do they
act? Why did they seek you out?
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Inform
Let the person know how your issue relates to his
or her thoughts, values and interests. Provide
some organizational history. Offer resources
(materials, other people) that will help him or
her accomplish a goal.
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Involve
Find a way to involve them. Try to have each
volunteer leave with something concrete to do, a
timeframe to do it in, and a person, meeting or
committee to report back to.
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Thank
Its crucial to let volunteers know you genuinely
appreciate them and what theyre doing. Thank
them when you ask them and when they complete
their task.
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and the Cycle Starts again!
Each time through the cycle, you make a larger
ask, thus moving them up the leadership ladder!
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Examples of how it works

• Example 1
• Ask a potential why shes interested in climate
  change and where she learned about it
• Inform her about the power of students to reduce
  the global warming impact of the university, and
  actions that have recently been taken
• Involve her by inviting her to attend your next
  group meeting.
• Thank her for attending.
• Example 2
• Ask her to come to the next event
• Inform her about the details of the event.
• At the event, involve her by asking her to help
  with a specific task for the next event or
  meeting
• Thank her for playing such an important role in
  making the event successful.

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Examples (cont.)

• Example 3
• Ask her if she would be willing to help organize
  the next event.
• Inform her of what would be involved in
  organizing an event.
• Involve her by asking her to take the lead on the
  next project and involve her in the leadership
  and planning of the group
• Thank her for coordinating the event.
• Example 4
• Ask her where she sees herself fitting into the
  organization next year.
• Inform her about club elections and vacancies for
  office
• Involve her asking her to run for office for the
  next year
• Thank her for stepping up
• You just elected a sophomore who can now
  effectively help lead the group!

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Some Principles to Stick To

• Plan ahead
• Know who's graduating, who's studying abroad,
  who's on the verge of getting burnt out, and
  who's got skills and could take on a larger role.
• Build personal connections
• Phone contact is better than email, face-to-face
  interactions are better than phone contact.
• You have to know people well in order to trust
  that they'll do a good jobtoo many leaders don't
  trust others enough to share responsibilities.
• Follow-up quickly Once youve made the
  connection, follow up quickly and get them
  involved.
• Build your organization and leadership through
  campaign actions
• The best groups dont just meet, they are out
  taking action.
• Keep your profile high and positive on campus

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Feedback

• Feedback is communicating to a member or group
  how their behavior has affected us or other
  people.
• Feedback is offering valuable information that
  will be useful to another person making decisions
  about how to behave.
• Feedback is not criticism. Criticism is
  evaluative feedback is descriptive. It also,
  allows us to build and maintain communication
  with others.
• Feedback provides the individual with
  information that can be used in performing
  personal evaluation.

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How to give good feedback

• Sandwich positive comment, constructive comment,
  positive comment
• Talk to them as a friend or colleague
• Offer them help/specific solutions and offer
  specific instances dont generalize!
• Use I feel statements
• Should be given face-to-face, dont e-mail
• Stick to one issue dont make your feedback
  session about everything that they are doing
  wrong
• Make sure its immediate dont delay the
  feedback. Give feedback after a meeting or right
  after the event where you can pull them aside.
• Intend to be helpful dont attack or embarrass
  someone!
• Make feedback a two-way conversation invite
  feedback in addition to giving feedback
• Positive 80, negative 20

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How to receive feedback

• Invite feedback it is an opportunity to better
  yourself!
• Listen to everything the person has to say.
  Dont jump in to it.
• Repeat back what was said so they can more
  clearly state something or clarify
• Listen to the message, dont worry about the
  messenger.
• Keep an open mind to criticism.
• Dont take it personally.
• Be willing to learn.
• Appreciate the effort someone took to give you
  feedback thank them!
• When someone criticizes you, theyre telling you
  about themselves as well.
• Dont use the word but it negates everything
  you say before it! Ex I think you are an
  amazing person, but you smell funny.

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Any Questions?