Volunteer work is a rewarding experience that benefits the individuals offering their time, their parent company, and the community. These mutual benefits drive large companies and small businesses alike to incorporate community service. However, participating in community service that benefits teams is not as simple as most companies make it out to be.
There are key factors to be mindful of when arranging, engaging, and concluding volunteer opportunities. Without these steps, you run the risk of dampening motivation and wasting work time on a task that a nonprofit organization feels obligated to give you.
Here is a list of what needs to be checked off before planning your next group volunteer opportunity and how it builds teamwork.
Giving is an Honor, Not an Obligation
Companies that feel obligated to provide opportunities for volunteering miss out. Obligation towards something makes it feel like a bothersome task instead of an enjoyable and beneficial experience. This attitude can be spread to the team members whom the opportunity is intended to benefit, resulting in an overall lack of desire to participate.
The team member chosen to lead volunteer opportunities should be someone who understands that the ability to give back to the community is an honor. This positive view drives leaders to find the appropriate task for their team and teams to desire volunteer opportunities. Once a mutual desire is established teams are more likely to attend as a whole and unify their efforts towards a single cause.
There Is No Limit On Giving
Setting up volunteer opportunities takes time and effort. As a result, many teams only participate in one or two opportunities every year. Volunteer events can be fulfilling regardless of how often they are completed. However, there are no restrictions on the number of times a team can volunteer. So why not participate in community service year-round?
The more regular volunteering becomes, the more challenges and lessons team members will experience. Teams face highs and lows, members change, and so do projects. Community service is most effective as a team-building tactic during or soon after such a change has taken place. It provides the opportunity for teams to adapt and grow.
Tip: Initiate volunteer opportunities anytime a new member joins a team, when morale gets low, or when team bonds seem to be weak. Also, take feedback from teams about how often they would like to participate.
Diversify Opportunities
Employees should feel motivated to complete the volunteer work they are participating in. Motivation ensures team members are putting forth their best efforts as a unit. This motivation is the result of a passion for the cause they are supporting.
Not everyone has the same values and passions. This can make it difficult to find a single perfect volunteer opportunity, so it’s a good thing you don’t have to. There are endless options for volunteer work. Offer opportunities in a variety of areas and allow employees to choose the ones they feel most passionate about.
Motivation is contagious and team members who care about similar values will bond with each other. Placing a team in a situation to support a mutual passion reinforces communication, team bonds, and unified motivation. The experience can be beneficial even if a few members are not as passionate as others. This gap in the drive to complete a task exercises the sharing of motivation, a skill that is required to keep groups pushing forward.
Ensure Inclusive Activities
Inclusivity should be considered during volunteer opportunities just as it is considered in the workplace. The physical ability of each team member to partake in volunteer activities and the avoidance of known allergens are just a few ways to ensure all participants are included. Team leaders and members need to be aware of and advocate for each other’s needs when necessary. Creating an inclusive volunteer experience encourages individuals to practice self advocation and for team members to exercise their awareness of other’s needs.
Once a volunteer opportunity is inclusive to all team members they will be able to focus their efforts exclusively on achieving their goal of supporting the chosen nonprofit’s needs.
Focus On Charity Needs
Charities may not always need assistance, or they may only need assistance in highly specific areas of their work. Reaching out to a charity specifically for a team-building opportunity can lead them to provide a low priority task if they feel obligated to work with you. This can make the team work around that task feel underwhelming and leave team members feeling uninvolved.
Instead, ask organizations what they require when designing a community service opportunity. They will be more likely to specify important tasks and then you can discern which tasks your team is capable of collaborating on and benefiting from. Sometimes charities won’t have any immediate tasks so it is best to keep in touch with a few different organizations and plan for future collaboration.
Provide Opportunities For Conversation
Communication is a key component of team development. It keeps tasks running smoothly and prevents major conflict. The volunteer opportunities that teams attend should exercise the importance of communication.
Charity events that must be accomplished as a team, tasks that keep team members within a conversational distance, and breaks for discussion are all great ways to foster communication. Even if volunteering is going well and individuals begin to have personal conversations it is still a positive exercise of communication. It can even result in the formation of personal connections between team members.
Facilitate Reflection
The most impactful parts of any team-building exercises are often recognized during times of reflection. After completing a volunteer opportunity where team members used communication, planning, shared motivation, and other important team-building skills their performance and results should be made apparent.
Hopefully, everything went wonderfully and positive teamwork reinforced useful skills during the volunteer opportunity. However, there is also the chance that a few complications arose during the course of charity work. Both of these scenarios are opportunities to learn lessons and encourage growth as a team. One of the most motivational ways to reflect on community service is to show the group the impact their work had on the community and celebrate the accomplishment.
Taking time outside of the workplace to collaborate on volunteer efforts is a mutually beneficial endeavor. It offers team development in a multitude of ways while giving back to the community. If your team or a team you know of is struggling to grow through volunteer opportunities reach out to a professional in executive consulting. Team building through volunteer work is an opportunity you don’t want to miss out on.
Citations:
- Bowen, G. (2009). Comparison of Service-Learning and Employee Volunteering Programs. Barry University. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Glenn_Bowen/publication/320912284_A_Comparison_of_Service-Learning_and_Employee_Volunteering_Programs/links/5a023b65a6fdcc55a15a9ca8/A-Comparison-of-Service-Learning-and-Employee-Volunteering-Programs.pdf
- Wong, A. (2004). Leading and motivating virtual teams in volunteer organizations. Antioch University Seattle :https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.489.4442&rep=rep1&type=pdf