February Everyone Ready Volunteer Management Topic now online: Volunteer Performance Assessment"

From AFSWiki

As of February 21, the latest Everyone Ready® online volunteer management training topic, "Volunteer Performance Assessment: Assuring the Best from Each Volunteer" is available. All AFS-USA volunteers and staff can access the monthly Everyone Ready® topics online, via the "Resources" tab in Global Link.

Additional information about the latest topic is attached, below.

Upcoming "Everyone Ready" topics are as follows:

• Demonstrating the Impact of Volunteer Involvement, Seminar, Mar 2011
• Informal Volunteer Recognition: Creating a Culture of Appreciation, Self-Instruction Guide, Apr 2011
• Volunteer-related Issues in Risk Management, Seminar, May 2011
• Just a Click Away: Making the Most of Volunteer Resources on the Web, Self-Instruction Guide, Jun 2011
• Welcoming Diversity in Volunteer Participation, Seminar, Jul 2011
• OUR Volunteer Program: The Management Team Approach to Enhancing Volunteer Programs, Self-Instruction Guide, Aug 2011
• Designing Work for Today's Volunteers, Seminar, Sep 2011
• It Takes Two to Tango: Building Successful Relationships Between Volunteers and Paid Staff, Self-Instruction Guide, Oct 2011
• Keeping Volunteers Motivated (So They Stay!), Seminar, Nov 2011
• Turning Single Days of Service into Longer Volunteer Involvement, Self-Instruction Guide, Dec 2011
• Building and Sustaining Strong Volunteer Leadership, Seminar, Jan 2012
• Reports with Clout: Showing the Impact of Volunteers, Self-Instruction Guide, Feb 2012

New Featured Topic! Volunteer Performance Assessment: Assuring the Best from Each Volunteer Begins Feb. 21, 2011...and then available 24/7

Introduction to this Month's Topic

Many organizations assess the success that their overall volunteer program achieves. On the other hand, they tend to overlook the performance of the individual volunteers who, collectively, make the program a success. This Guide examines how volunteer performance evaluations can open avenues of communication and mutually benefit the volunteers and the organization alike.

In this Guide, trainer Andy Fryar covers:

• Why it is appropriate and even important to evaluate the performance of volunteers
• The principles of performance assessments and how to conduct them effectively
• How to deal with possible negatives that are identified in the evaluation process
• How to make evaluation a normal, positive part of the volunteering experience - even a form of recognition
• How this Topic Relates to You
• Performance evaluations often evoke negative feelings in all of us. Perhaps the words "evaluation" or "assessment" conjure up memories of report cards in our youth. For whatever reason, many of us wish to avoid giving or receiving evaluations - and it may even feel wrong to give this type of feedback to unpaid volunteers. This Guide will help you re-focus on the positive outcomes of mutual performance assessments, when done properly.

Thought Provokers

As you read this Guide, consider...

• How is volunteer appraisal dealt with in your organization? Is it expected and welcomed by volunteers or only ever conducted when something goes wrong?
• What is your own comfort level when it comes to conducting assessments with your team, especially in a situation where the volunteer's performance is not up to the required standard?
• Volunteers want to know if their efforts make a difference. Taking the time to talk through how things are going proves the volunteer's work matters. It also permits you to troubleshoot any small problems before they become big ones. And maybe you'll learn how to improve things for everyone else, too.