Tom Intven
LO President

Ten years ago, Mel Gibson starred with Helen Hunt in a popular movie What Women Want. After being struck by lightning, he magically developed the ability to hear women’s thoughts. He then began to react to them proactively and appropriately in order to achieve success in business and in love.

Landscape Ontario’s longstanding success is founded on the spirit of volunteerism. There is a downside of volunteerism, and it’s burnout, especially at the chapter level. After serving in almost every position on the local chapter board, some twice, I realize the importance of re-energizing the spirit of volunteerism in our members.

In these rapidly changing times, I believe more than ever, we need to address the question with our volunteers. Like Mel Gibson, we need to ask: “What do our volunteers want?”
 

Motivation

McClelland and Atkinson, two Harvard researchers, say motivation comes from within. The researchers suggest there are three distinct motivational types among people who volunteer in associations: Achievers, Affilliators, and Power People.

Achievers require accomplishment and results. They set goals and solve problems. They want to know where they are going and hate to have their time wasted. They are organized, willing to take modest risks, and tend to be articulate.

Affilliators are ‘people’ people. Sensitive, nurturing and caring, they crave interaction and love being part of a community. They are greeters and conversation starters.
Power People think about having an impact on people and outcomes. They think in the long-term and are good strategists. Social power people are enablers, and want to influence and impact others in a win-win way.

Regardless of the motivation type, or the engagement level, it is important that first we understand what our volunteers want, and then try our best to give them that in order to keep them energized and engaged.

From researchers like Joanne Fitz, and upon my own reflection, I have come up with a list of things that volunteers want, and that we, as an association, should provide at a high level in order to recruit, engage, motivate and continuously energize our volunteers:

1. Volunteers want to experience a sense of achievement or success. Many of our volunteers are motivated by achievement. Nothing is more important to energize the spirit of volunteerism, than giving the sense of success from effort. And, nothing deflates energy quicker than when a volunteer feels his or her activity failed. Our record at Landscape Ontario has such a great success record, that most of our volunteers experience success. We still need to review our processes and stay focused on this area.
2. Volunteers want to be appreciated and recognized. It is so important to show appreciation and to recognize our volunteers. We do this in many ways: by publishing names in the magazines, feeding our volunteers, and presenting awards. One of the most effective ways to show appreciation is by personally thanking our volunteers.
3. Volunteers want to make a difference. Many of our long-serving volunteers have said the reason they have given for so long is that they want to make a difference. They have left a legacy that has provided building blocks that created the Landscape Ontario of today. This desire to make a difference is rooted deep in the makeup of these volunteers.
4. Volunteers want to know up-front how much time the job will take. Time is one of our biggest obstacles to engagement. We are all time starved, especially in these changing times. We will be looking at the time element in the future and how to make LO’s activities work within your timeframe.
5. Volunteers want communication at every level and between every group. It is vital to maintaining engagement. This is a challenge in a large multi-faceted organization like LO, with nine chapters, ten sectors, 25 staff and so many committees, events and activities. Technology will need to be used effectively in order to keep all our volunteers informed about what is going on, especially the progress of issues in which they are involved. It’s that sense of achievement which comes into play here.
6. Volunteers want to be socially connected. They want to feel part of the group. The sense of belonging is one of the strongest human sociological driving forces. We can all work to include everyone. At the next LO function, reach out to someone you don’t know and introduce yourself.  
7. Volunteers want to feel welcomed. Let’s make sure that at the beginning of our meetings, and at every available opportunity, that we make our members and guests feel welcome. It’s just common sense and good manners.
8. Volunteers want you to be prepared for them. To all those in a leadership role — our committee chairs, and staff — let’s keep this in mind going forward. A little preparation goes a long way, not only to having a good meeting, but also to fulfil a basic requirement by our volunteers.
9. Volunteers want good training. This goes back to the desire to achieve success and be effective. Volunteers need to be properly oriented in order to have the tools for success. We must never assume that new volunteers are at the same level of knowledge. Our governance meetings are a must-attend for our fully engaged volunteers.
10. One observation I have made over the years, is how truly passionate our volunteers are about Landscape Ontario. We must ensure that they serve in the areas that they are most passionate about. Further, we must encourage members who are passionate to come forward and fulfil their passion through volunteering.
11. A healthy dose of good clean fun and humour should be an important part of every gathering. Used appropriately and in the right portion, fun and humour help to clear the mind of our problems, connect us and revitalize us.

It’s not enough for the leadership of LO to simply ask for your volunteer time and energy. We are obliged to fulfil your volunteer wants in order to keep you fulfilled, engaged and energized. We, the board, and staff, will continue to examine the systems in place to ensure that in the long term, Landscape Ontario fulfils these wants and thus, maintains and energizes the spirit of volunteerism among our members.

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Tom Intven may be reached at 519-631-1008, or tintven@landscapeontario.com.