Supporting and Supervising Volunteers Workshop

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Supporting and Supervising VolunteersWorkshop

• Tuesday 11th Nov 2008

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Objectives

• To share good practice about supporting and
  supervising volunteers.
• To explore the range of different support needs
  different volunteers might have
• To develop ways of meeting support needs of each
  volunteer

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Introductions

• Katie Simpson GoldStar Team katie.simpson_at_tribal
  group.co.uk
• Sandy Lo Wai Yin sandy_lo_at_waiyin.org.uk
• Sue Xin Wai Yin
• xiu_xin_at_waiyin.org.uk

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What is GoldStar?

• Office of the Third Sector funded, national
  project promoting good practice in managing
  inclusive volunteering among groups who are
  traditionally excluded
• 46 Exemplar projects
• Website www.goldstar.org.uk
• Research Good Practice Handbook (available on
  the web site or as a free hard copy)
• Free/subsidised live good practice events

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About Wai Yin

• A registered charity organisation.
• Company Limited by Guarantee
• Mission To provide outstanding services to the
  Chinese and other communities to promote full
  participation in British life
• A number of projects are running at the moment
• Roles of volunteers

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Volunteers at Wai Yin Categories of volunteers

• Service-user turned volunteers, e.g. Elderly,
  Mental Health, Youth, Adult Education, Employment
  Women Construction Solutions Projects
• Individuals proactively approaching us, e.g.
  university students, graduates
• Common goal of volunteering personal development
  
• One-off, short term, long term
• Diversity of projects tasks

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Development of Volunteering Project

• 1988 4 volunteers (Chinese women) founded Wai
  Yin
• 2001 Volunteer Working Group established
  volunteer policies procedures developed
• 2006 Funding from GoldStar Volunteering Fund a
  full time volunteering project coordinator
• 2008 Volunteering Toolkit published
  disseminated

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Volunteer Management

• Identify the volunteer roles
• Recruitment
• Interview Induction
• Matching volunteers to work
• Training
• Supervision Support
• Retention Motivation
• Reward

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Support and Supervision Critical Success Factors

• Assessing Support Needs
• Peer and Mentor Support
• Monitoring volunteer progress
• Effective Communication

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Exercises Discussion
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Case Study 1

• (1) Mary is a 35-year old Chinese woman who has
  been living in the UK for 20 years. Shes been
  suffering depression and does not work but
  receives income support. She lives in a
  semi-detached house alone and stays at home all
  day long. She is educated to primary school
  level only and knows some basic English. Her
  social worker refers her to a café bar
  volunteering programme, which is intended to
  provide opportunities to people with mental
  health problems . The café bar rents a kitchen
  of a day centre and runs 3 days a week. It cooks
  and sells Chinese meals to whoever goes to the
  day centre.

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Discussion Group Case Study 1

• What might motivate the volunteer in the case
  study?
• What skills and abilities is she offering, or
  wants to develop?
• What problems or barriers might she face?
• What areas might she need support with?
• What could we do to support this volunteer?

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Case Study 2

• (2) You are a volunteer coordinator in Wai Yin.
  The receptionist requires a volunteer to cover
  her occasionally. She needs someone who speaks
  fluent Cantonese, English Mandarin. Due to the
  short notice, you only managed to get someone
  (Helen) who speaks good Cantonese and English,
  with good Mandarin listening skills, but not
  spoken Mandarin. Helen started working at
  reception independently after staying with the
  receptionist for a few hours. After a few days,
  you get complaints from other staff saying Helen
  is watching drama online when she is not busy and
  also you get complaints from service users saying
  Helen is not helpful.

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Discuss the following questions

• Consider the 2nd case study
• What factors caused these problems?
• How do you think the volunteer feels?
• What problems or barriers might she face?
• What areas might they need support with?
• What could we do to improve the situation?

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Basic volunteer management principles staff
should know

• Develop awareness about how to use volunteers
• Make sure the volunteer has something to do
• Be prepared when volunteers arrive
• Have a place for them to work
• Thank them for doing it
• Allow your volunteers to ask questions freely