Managing and Preventing Chapter Volunteer Burnout

Because burned-out employees will never volunteer, you must get to the root of the problem: workplace burnout. Raise industry awareness about employee wellbeing. Make the connection for employers between wellbeing-friendly workplaces and employee recruitment and retention.

To prevent and alleviate stress and burnout, offer wellbeing education for professionals and employers. Provide mental health resources: newsletter articles, videos, webinars, job-hunting and career coaching services, and peer support groups.

Committees must have meaningful roles that move the chapter forward and provide a rewarding volunteer experience. Otherwise, sunset them.

Every committee must receive an annual charge from the board that:

•         Outlines their goals and success metrics
•         Keeps volunteers on task by aligning their work with chapter goals
•         Forces them to prioritize and limit the number of projects

In volunteer position descriptions, clarify the hours and skills required, responsibilities, and tasks. Describe the benefits, for example, new skills, experiences, and networking.

Members already have jobs. In the past, “martyr” leaders worked as many hours on the chapter as it took. But members (and their employers) have changed their tune. If chapter leadership requires too much time, members won’t volunteer and volunteers will burn out and quit.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Technology, like Chapter Performance, drastically reduces the time volunteers spend on financial and administrative tasks by centralizing and automating banking, finance, and membership processes. Show chapter leaders you’ve got their back by giving them tools that prevent stress and create a sustainable workload.

Spread the work around. Show volunteer management how to create microvolunteering opportunities—tasks that require less time from members. With microvolunteering, leaders can provide opportunities for others to contribute.

Encourage volunteer leaders to take half a year off for a research sabbatical so they can return to duty refreshed and full of new ideas. While they’re gone, keep them updated about what’s going on in leadership circles.

Let chapter leaders know they’re not alone. Offer a sense of belonging by connecting them with fellow leaders around your chapter network. Host an online community or Slack channel for existing, future, and former chapter leaders where they can talk shop, vent, receive and give advice, share successes, find inspiration, and develop relationships.

Offer to pair up new and veteran chapter leaders by position in an informal mentoring arrangement.

When you alleviate the chapter administrative burden, volunteer leaders have more time to acquire the skills needed for their role. Offer online training for all responsibilities: membership, event planning, education, marketing, finance, sponsorships, governance, and leadership.

Deliver training via live online sessions, videos, discussion forums by position, website resources, and one-page newsletters. In your online community or Slack, remind chapter leaders about these resources.

Offer leadership training to any chapter volunteers considering leadership one day. Interest more members in training by highlighting how they can use these skills in their career—an approach that will appeal to their employers too.

Regularly communicate with chapter leaders. Treat them like the VIPs they are by keeping them in the loop on HQ business. They should be “the first to know.”

Encourage chapters to practice transparent governance. Chapter members should know what their board and committees are doing—this removes the uncertainty about volunteering.

Ask volunteers for their opinions. They should believe that what they experience and think matters to HQ.

As a leadership perk, invite them to professional growth and goal-setting workshops. Help them think intentionally about their careers and the role of volunteering in it.

Cultivate a culture of inclusion and belonging. Identify and remove logistical and psychological barriers to volunteering and leadership that might prevent some members from raising their hand.

Remind volunteers that their chapter wouldn’t exist without them. Describe how their volunteer role contributes to the chapter and association’s mission and goals. Share data demonstrating their collective, group, or individual progress. Thank them individually in newsletters, personal cards and emails, and ringless voicemails.

Invest in making the chapter leader’s job easier with technology that eliminates the drudgery of banking, finance, and membership, and simplifies chapter management and administration. When they spend less time on chapter busywork, they have more time for the volunteer responsibilities they enjoy—making a difference in the lives of their fellow members.