When I last wrote about finding future leaders a few years ago, I was hearing from association leaders about how burned out they were. That post naturally focused on how building a leadership pipeline—along with some other important steps—alleviates burnout.
These days, I hear a lot of talk about member engagement, especially about bridging the gap between gaining and retaining members, and separately about where and how to find future leaders.
What I find interesting is that association leaders often don’t see the connection between member engagement and the next generation of leaders. I think that’s because it seems like such a huge leap between being a new member who has just joined and is getting their feet wet and being an experienced, involved leader who knows enough to think strategically about the organization and, well, lead.
The fact is, you can’t have one without the other: Every experienced, involved leader you know—even you—was once a newbie who wasn’t sure when the next meeting was. And that’s the connection between—and the secret to—both member engagement and finding future leaders for your association: You don’t start with leaders. You start with new members and grow them into volunteers by fully and deeply engaging them with your organization. Then you grow those volunteers into leaders.
Before we get into how to do that, I’m going to make a statement that may surprise or even shock you: Right now, at this very moment, you have enough volunteers to grow into leaders. Don’t believe me? Read on.
You Do Have Enough Volunteers
Unless you are a very small association—I’ll address below what to do if that’s you—then you absolutely do have enough volunteers.
Let me repeat that: Unless you are a very small association, you absolutely do have enough volunteers. Right now. At this very moment. The problem is that you haven’t activated them.
I’ve been working with associations for a long time—more than twenty years—and I see it over and over again: There are people in every association who really want to get involved. They just don’t know how, or they’re too scared.
This is great news! It means that instead of having to figure out where to find more people, all you have to do is tap into the people you already have. How do you do that? First, make sure your members are having an amazing experience and are getting real value from their membership. Check out my blog Leveling Up Your Member Engagement to learn more.
Then, make it easy to volunteer, to be successful at volunteering and to move into leadership.
Make It Easy to Volunteer.
Some people are natural volunteers; when they join an organization, they look for opportunities to get involved right away. If all people, or even most people, were like that, I wouldn’t need to write this article; you’d be bombarded by volunteers.
But most people don’t jump in like that, especially when they’re new to an organization. They need help. Sometimes, they’re not even sure if you need volunteers.
Take a second to ask yourself:
- If I was a new member, would I know what areas our association needs volunteers in?
- Would I know why volunteering is important, to the organization and to me personally?
- Would I know how to sign up?
Most leaders have been around for so long that the answers are obvious to them. The answers usually aren’t so obvious to new members. If you’re not sure how well your organization is doing at communicating the what, why and how of volunteering, go find a new member or two to ask. I think you’ll find that there’s room for improvement.
So, how do you get the word out? Here’s a handful of proven methods:
- Include a Call for Volunteers section in every issue of your newsletter where you list committees and volunteer activities looking for volunteers, and the specific kind of volunteers or skills they need.
- Distribute a flyer at every event that lists committees and their needs and that includes a QR code people can use to sign up.
- Include time on every meeting agenda to highlight volunteer opportunities, especially pressing needs.
- Hold an event for people who are interested in volunteering, to share the who, what, where, when and how of getting involved.
- Celebrate volunteers by giving out fun volunteer awards.
- Give Board members, committee chairs and staff a goal of recruiting one new volunteer each quarter.
- Encourage a bit of friendly competition between committees by challenging them to come up with the best one-minute spiel on why someone should join their committee instead of another one.
In all of your communications about volunteer opportunities, be specific about what kind of volunteers you need, what the time commitment is, how to sign up, and—especially—what volunteers get out of volunteering.
Let’s focus for a minute on the benefits of volunteering and why communicating them is so important.
People don’t join associations because they want to volunteer. They join associations because they’re looking for value. They want to get results. That means that if you want people to step up, you need to make sure they’re getting what they want.
And what do members want? They want to bring in more business, of course. They also want connections, community, education and advocacy. One of the most effective ways they can get all of that—including more business—is by becoming volunteers and leaders who deliver those results to the rest of the membership.
So sell that. At every meeting or event, have a volunteer or leader share their story about what they do as a volunteer or leader, how they got involved and why it’s valuable to them personally and professionally.
A quick sidebar here: The benefits of volunteering aren’t already obvious and can be surprising. Two examples that come to mind both involve Golf Committees at different associations:
A member of a Golf Committee, we’ll call him Travis, recently told me how an association friend had been encouraging him to get on the committee, even though he hated golf. The friend finally talked Travis into it by pointing out that you don’t get on the Golf Committee to play golf; you join the committee—any committee—to build relationships. Since the people Travis wanted to build relationships with happened to be on the Golf Committee, he finally joined, did meet the people he wanted to meet and now absolutely loves serving on the committee.
At another association, a man we’ll call Jason joined the committee planning the annual golf tournament. When the time for the tournament finally came around, an important family obligation popped up and Jason couldn’t attend. He was disappointed—unlike Travis, he did love golf—but the real surprise for him was that he got new business anyway. He didn’t need to attend the tournament to network and build relationships; he had already done that during the planning process, not just with committee members but by getting to know the tournament attendees he was matching up.
Personal stories like these bring the benefits of volunteering to life for members. When they understand how volunteering for your organization truly can change their business and their life, they’ll line up to get involved.
Make it Easy to Be Successful.
Getting your members excited about volunteering and letting them know how to volunteer is the first step. Helping them be successful at volunteering is the next. Volunteers who have a great experience do more than get things done for your organization; they are also great ambassadors for volunteering. Volunteers who get overwhelmed, feel unappreciated or otherwise have a bad experience won’t be volunteers for long, and may even discourage others from volunteers.
Here are a few ways to set new volunteers up for success:
- Ease volunteers in by offering short, lowcommitment volunteer opportunities that don’t require pre-work. Monthly meetings and special events are full of these kinds of opportunities: helping set up, staffing the registration desk, meeting and greeting affiliates, hosting the speaker.
- Ensure volunteers feel welcomed, valued and supported by the chair or leader of the committee or activity they join.
- Set up a mentor program, matching new volunteers with experienced volunteers who can show them the ropes, answer questions, provide encouragement and feedback, and help them identify more involved volunteer opportunities that are right for them and, eventually, move into leadership.
One final point about making it easy to volunteer: It should be easy to volunteer and to keep volunteering at all levels, including the leadership level. Even volunteers who are rocking event planning or chairing a committee can be intimidated by a deeper time commitment or a more leadership-focused role because they’re not sure they have the skills they need. That’s where methods for cultivating leaders from your volunteer force can be invaluable.
Make It Easy to Move Into Leadership.
When I talk to business owners and managers, I tell them that business doesn’t just bring itself in. They need eight to 10 marketing, networking and selling strategies—and hope, wish and pray don’t count. The same goes for associations: Leaders don’t materialize out of nowhere. You can’t hope, wish and pray for them to show up and step up. That’s because many people don’t see themselves as leaders, even though they could be great ones.
Here are five steps that enable you to identify, recruit, develop and support your future leaders:
- Cultivate an energetic, engaged, empowered volunteer force. That’s what we’ve been talking about so far.
- Communicate that you need future leaders. The same way you need to let members know that you need volunteers, you need to let volunteers know that you need leaders. Especially in associations where leadership has been in place for a long time or you have a few people rotating between positions, volunteers might not realize there is a place for them. Be specific about what skills and interests you’re looking for. Do you need someone with a finance background? Someone who enjoys planning events? Someone who understands the needs and communication styles of millennials?
- Seek out and vet potential future leaders. Not everyone will make a great leader for your association. Your volunteer mentors and current leadership should get to know volunteers—what kind of person they are, what they want out of their business, their life and the association—and identify those they think have strong leadership potential.
- Recruit future leaders. Again, don’t wait around for someone to volunteer. Once you have someone in mind, actively recruit them. Invite them to participate in a Future Leader Orientation or a series of seminars on what it means to be a leader and how to become a leader in your association.
- Develop all of your leaders. Even when someone is interested in becoming a leader—sometimes even when someone is already a leader—they may worry that they don’t have the right next set of skills they need. Worries about public speaking or dealing with conflict, for instance, hold a lot of people back. Offer a mentoring program and leadership-related workshops and trainings to all of your leaders, current and future.
But What About Small Associations?
At one of my national talks, I chatted with an association leader who asked me how he could find more volunteers. I was going to tell him what I said here earlier: You already have enough volunteers; you just need to activate them. Luckily, I first asked how many members he has. The answer? Twelve, spread across several states. I had to ask him to repeat himself. Only 12 members?!
Turns out this is a new chapter, so it’s not surprising that they have so few members. Since 12 members isn’t actually enough to source all the volunteers he needs, his first job is to grow his chapter. The more members you have, the more potential volunteers you have.
In fact, even if you lead a big chapter, growing your membership—and your volunteer pool—should always be a priority because you will always have people leaving or needing to step back because of career or life changes. New members bring fresh energy and enthusiasm; they also bring a fresh eye, which can lead to new ideas and improvement. So, first things first: If you want to grow your inventory volunteers and future leaders, grow your membership. I talk about growing your chapter in my blog 5 Strategies to Grow Your Chapter. You can also
Also check out my podcast episode How to Grow an Engaged Membership, which talks about cultivating future volunteers and leaders.
The Connection Between Members, Volunteers and Future Leaders
Before we wrap up, I’d like to go back to my statement about member engagement being connected to future leaders. There are really three types of members, and we’ve talked about all of them in this article: new, existing and veteran. When you deliver value to each type, new members become existing members who volunteer and serve on committees, and existing members become veteran members who move into mentor and leadership roles. Together, all three types keep your association growing and thriving.
When you make it easy to volunteer, easy to be successful as a volunteer and easy to move into leadership, you get a synergy going that keeps your association growing and thriving—and delivering even more value to your members, your industry and your community.
I would love to help you make this happen for your association. Please
