Volunteer Engagement

Peggy Hutcheson, CEO of The Odyssey Group and co-chair IEEE-USA Innovation Institute gave a dynamic presentation on how a great leader engages the volunteers, what the challenges may be and how to overcome them.

She began with engaging the attendees in an exercise by splitting them into groups and having them address the four basic questions that beg the response to "volunteer engagement".

What is leadership challenge for you?
Why should anyone be lead by you?
What is one thing you know about engaging volunteers?
What makes a leader great (not just good)?

Of course there were various responses but the items that were common among all groups responses was motivation. Besides sharing a vision, inspiring others to believe in your vision and getting them excited to contribute was the key to engaging the volunteers.

She also shared the "Ten things I’ve learned"
1. Volunteer for what you are passionate about
- Where you want to make a difference
- Whom you want to serve
- How do you want to work
2. Build a collaborative environment in which others can give and receive based on their interests and goals.
3. Listen, listen, listen.
- Hear from all your groups
- Pay attention to what is said and what isn’t
- Know your listening skills and liabilities
- Are you listening when…you’ve heard it all before, information is coming from chronic whiner, you know the answer before the person is finished speaking, the person doesn’t know how things work, it’s difficult to concentrate because the person speaks slowly, rambles, or has other distracting mannerisms and one “horse” rider – single focused and can’t see beyond that one issue.

Peggy Challenged attendees to consider – true listening skills…

4. You can’t do it all…so focus on a few key things that will make a difference.
a. What brings the group together
b. What is the main vision?
Know the difference between success and fulfillment!

Success- the achievement of something desired, planned or attempted – accomplishment
Fulfillment- to develop the full potentional of something. A sense of satisfaction.

It’s good to have success but if not fulfillment, it’s difficult to keep people engaged…they burn out.
5. Make it easy for others to succeed and reward them when they do. WIIFM (What's in it for me)?
6. Over-communicate—both about the big stuff and little stuff…remind people!!! People need to hear the message again and again.
7. This is volunteer work – make it more fun than the same old work. – each person is different; food helps; laughter is welcome.
8. Success requires structure and organization.
- Manage meetings and events
- Think through the details
- Plan and follow-up
9. Be clear – about your vision, expectations, results you desire – and what you think it will take to get there.
Allow people to network and give them structure. Help them get to the vision.
10. Look for talent and develop it.
- Coaching and mentoring are part of your job.
- Find your successor and prepare him or her.
What would you add? – Effective volunteer leadership
Keeping young engineers involved is a challenge – get them connected to network via conferences etc.

Peggy ended the presentation with few thoughts to challenge us in understanding why we are here.

Where is my sandbox in “IEEE” and how do I move around to others when it’s time. Each volunteer should know and understand their reasons for being involved and what makes it fulfulling for them.

Thank You Peggy for a wonderful informative and engaging presentation.