Seven Strategies Keep Volunteers Coming Back

Rebecca Dutton
Home After a Stroke

November 17, 2014

If I live long enough I may need to go to a nursing home.  Nursing home residents who constantly complain or who are hostile find themselves medicated so they are less "anxious."  I do not want the aggravation of seeing my favorite sweater on another resident or being told "we do not do it that way here."  Treating my volunteers with kindness makes it more likely they will continue to help so I can stay in my home longer.  I use 7 strategies to keep my volunteers from burning out (11 years and counting).

1. Prioritize.  I cut down on the number of requests by identifying need versus want.  I need someone to get on a ladder to change the batteries in my smoke detectors.  These detectors are connected to my electrical system that maintains an ear-splitting screech when the battery dies.

2. Build trust.  People do not need special rehab training to know when they are being taken advantage of.  When I ask for help I let my volunteers know I always do everything I can before I contact them.  For example, when I asked Peggy to tape a bag shut so I could return a coat, I explained I had affixed the return label but did not trust my good hand to tape the end of the bag securely.  People feel good about helping when they know they are really needed.  This strategy builds trust.

3. My husband would groan rule.  I cannot ask people to do things that would make a husband groan.  I cannot ask someone to buy a live tree, transport it, drag it into my house, use an axe to trim the base so the tree fits in the stand, and tighten and loosen the tree stand to reposition the tree until it is straight.  After having live trees for my whole life I bought an artificial one.  John takes it out of the box and snaps the 4 pieces together.  This rule helps me identify which tasks I need to pay a handyman to do (e.g. clean out my gutters).

4. Let them choose WHAT to volunteer for.  I e-mail a request and let people choose things they want to do. This makes my request less of a burden.  Peggy who sews repaired the sleeve on my raincoat.  Barbara who is a computer technician volunteered to help me set up the Bluetooth system in my new car.  Parts of a large task a volunteer hates will not get done, but letting people choose what to do means I do not risk rejection because I have asked the wrong person.

5. Let them choose WHEN to volunteer.  After they volunteer I ask them when would be a good time for them.  Everyone has busy lives so it is less of a burden when I fit into their schedule.

6. Make a list and stick to it.  Before someone comes I make a list of the things I need done so my volunteer knows when he or she is done.  I stick to the list instead of looking around and saying "there is one more thing I need you to do."  This list also reminds me to get the materials my volunteer needs.  Before John comes to replace the batteries in my smoke detectors I buy 9-volt batteries.

7. 80% rule.  The 80% rule means some things can be mostly correct rather than perfect.  After my stroke I gave myself permission to not make everything perfect.  For example, I do not make multiple trips around my bed so the bedspread is perfectly straight.  The seam of my bedspread is supposed to be where the edge of the mattress is (see the black line).  I think it is only fair to extend the 80% rule to my volunteers. Nobody wants to hear they did not do something the way I used to do it.

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Seven Strategies Keep Volunteers Coming Back

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Home After a Stroke