Providing Supervision for Staff and Volunteers

Jan 01, 2000

Contributed by Eric Wadud and Jenette Nagy Edited by Bill Berkowitz and Jerry Schultz

What is providing supervision for staff and volunteers? Supervision, in general, is a means of directing, supporting, and keeping abreast of the work done by those who you are responsible for. The duties of a supervisor may include training new workers, assigning and creating projects, making sure plans are being carried out effectively, providing support, assisting with projects or activities, and carrying out disciplinary action. These duties may vary from day to day. Your staff is your paid workforce. They have a fairly concrete set of responsibilities, depending on their position in your organization. Your volunteers, on the other hand, are unpaid workers, there to help your organization for a variety of personal reasons. Therefore, staff may require more structured and stringent supervision than volunteers. However, staff supervision may also be more variable, because there are generally different levels of staff (such as senior, mid-level, and junior) than those that exist for volunteers.

Why should you supervise staff and volunteers? There are lots of benefits to be gained from good supervision of your staff and volunteers. For example:

A well-supervised staff does a better job, making your job easier in the end, and at the same time making your agency more effective.

Poor or shoddy performance may go unnoticed for a while, but somebody will eventually notice, whether it's the director of your organization or someone from the community.

Adequate supervision can help to recognize and change potential problems, such as staff burnout, before they become actual problems.

Supervision, coupled with constructive feedback, can result in better employees who feel they are a more fully integrated part of the group. Again, the end result of this is a stronger, more effective organization.

When should you provide supervision? You should provide supervision for staff and volunteers from the time they start at your organization and continue to do so indefinitely, although this supervision should certainly become more relaxed and more supportive as time goes on. Particularly when a staff member or volunteer starts at your organization, supervision should be clearly defined. This way, the new member understands what is expected, and whether or not his/her supervisors are happy with his/her performance.

Remember, in community-based work, staff members often spend a lot of time together. This should not be a substitute for a specific time for staff or volunteers to sit down and meet with their supervisor to discuss their work.

How do you supervise staff and volunteers? As we noted previously, staff and volunteer members are actually two distinct groups of people, and therefore supervision of staff and volunteers can require two different supervision styles.

Who should supervise staff members and volunteers? One basic difference between the supervision of staff and volunteers is staff generally require more structured supervision, as they are certainly more accountable for the tasks they have assigned to them than are volunteers. Staff supervision will have more variability as well, simply because there are usually more levels of staff (senior, mid-level, and junior).

Volunteers, on the other hand, may be intentionally non-hierarchical, so traditional supervision may not apply. That is, no one may have the right to supervise another, at least directly or formally. Supervision, with volunteers, is therefore much more delicate, sensitive, and soft. Otherwise feelings are likely to get hurt, and conflicts may arise.

The most important thing to remember when nominating someone to supervise is to make sure that they have adequate training and experience. Supervisors are often chosen because they excel at their position. But it's important to remember that while such a person can often learn to be an excellent supervisor, they aren't just born with great supervisory knowledge. A thorough training session can make a world of difference.

What should supervision training cover? Some topics that might be in a supervision training session include:

How to involve all volunteers and staff members effectively

How to enhance the value of volunteers to a program and to the paid employees

How to include all volunteers and staff members in program planning and decision making

How to evaluate performance

How to provide performance feedback to volunteers and staff

How to hold volunteers and staff members accountable for job performance

How to help workers avoid burnout How to create a climate in which volunteers and staff will be most productive

How to build teams that include both volunteers and paid employees

How to minimize tension between paid staff and volunteers

Directing those you supervise Once you know who is going to supervise whom in your organization, it's time to go about the business of supervision. The first task in supervision is directing those under you. The following steps will help you in directing both your staff and volunteers.

1. When a person first makes the commitment to work for your organization, give them a written explanation that clearly delineates their responsibilities, what is expected, etc. Particularly (but not uniquely) for volunteers, this might take place in a note thanking them for joining your organization.

2. Give them an orientation program, which will include:

The background of your organization

Projects your organization is currently involved in

A brief introduction to other staff and volunteers, and their general responsibilities

Location of supplies, equipment, and facilities

3. Make sure that training is thorough and clear for every worker, no matter what their task; a lack of training causes misunderstandings and may cause poor performance.

4. For specific projects, make sure that the worker:

Knows and accepts his/her responsibility for the project

Knows how his/her responsibilities "fit in" to the big picture

Has appropriate assistance available and knows how to get it

Keeping abreast of those you supervise The next task for the supervisor is keeping track of your volunteers and paid staff, and knowing what they are working on. The following tips may help you keep abreast.

1. Keep a file for every staff member or volunteer which includes:

Progress on their assigned projects, tasks, or duties

A job description (preferably signed by the director and worker, but certainly seen and understood by both)

For volunteers, keep a record of the hours they can volunteer

Any written evaluations of the worker's performance

2. Try to keep a balance between supervising workers and allowing them a certain amount of autonomy. Let them know that they are valued and trusted members of your team.

Supporting those you supervise In addition to knowing what your staff and volunteers are doing, you should be working with them as well. This includes giving them new responsibilities, and keeping communication with them open. The following tips will all help make your supervision more effective and your organization more productive.

1. Constantly challenge workers to try new things and accept new responsibility. Delegate responsibility whenever you can. By encouraging professional growth, you will have staff members and volunteers who really want to work for your organization, and that is what can help your agency take off.

2. Make sure that the lines of communication are wide open. This is absolutely necessary to ensure satisfied, dependable staff and volunteers who get the job done and make your organization successful. To ensure effective communication:

a) Make sure you are an active listener, that is, that you focus all your attention on the speaker, making sure there are no distractions, and that you are concentrating on the message the speaker is trying to get across.

b) Try to keep those you are talking to from taking the defensive. A great way to do this is by using "I" instead of "you" to start sentences. For example, "I'm not sure I understand the approach you're taking on the media campaign. Could you explain it to me?" is sure to get a clearer, more open response than "You aren't getting anywhere on the media project, are you?"

c) Make sure communication is complete; never assume that staff member or volunteers know what is supposed to be done or how you feel about a certain issue.

3. Provide regular feedback both formally and informally to those you supervise. Formal feedback may take place on an annual, biannual, or quarterly written evaluation forms. Informal feedback may be much more relaxed, such as a simple "Hey! That looks great! Have you thought about adding this?" when going by someone's desk. For an example of an employee evaluation form, see the Tools Section.

When providing formal feedback (either oral or written), you should strive to:

Describe a worker's behavior instead of judging it.

Always appraise workers on how they are meeting or exceeding clear, predetermined standards

Praise, praise, praise, the worker for strong or increased performance

Decide whether other forms of feedback, such as self-assessment or peer review, would be appropriate at your organization to complement supervisory feedback.

4. Sometimes, even in the best of agencies, a staff member or volunteer isn't working up to potential or is causing disciplinary problems. In either situation, be sure to:

Cool off first. Words spoken in the heat of the moment often become personal criticism instead of an objective comment on the offense.

Watch your attitude. Be mentally prepared: this is a chance to find out why she is not working as well as you might like. You may be able to find out what makes her "tick," and in doing so, find a way to transform a mediocre worker into a fantastic employee.

Seek privacy. Don't confront the employee or volunteer in a degrading manner.

Disciplining those that you supervise Occasions do arise that require a supervisor to step in and deal with the problem. You should have set guidelines to cope with any problem that may surface.

1. If the problem is poor job performance, you should:

Clearly state what it is that you find deficient. Give specific examples. "You're not working hard enough," isn't as helpful as, "You often don't have the newsletter articles written by the weekly deadline." It's also harder for the employee to refute.

Give the employee the opportunity to describe his/her perspective, and really listen to what he has to say. It may well be there are reasons for the problem that you aren't aware of.

Note the requirements to fix the problem; then solicit employee ideas on corrective measures.

Notify the employee of the consequences of continuing problems.

Monitor the employee's progress and use progressive discipline (again, that has been clearly defined to him/her in advance) if the employee fails to correct the problem.

2. If the problem is a policy violation, you should:

Listen. Give the employee the chance to explain their actions. You may want to deal very differently with the problem if it occurred for different reasons. For example, the employee who took a four-hour lunch because his three year old broke her arm and he forgot to call might elicit more of your sympathy than the employee who took a four-hour lunch for that great sale at JC Penny's.

Act objectively. Concentrate on dealing with the offense.

Assume responsibility. Do not hide behind the rules or apologize for what you are doing. Your job is to enforce the rules.

Give a clear warning that defines what will happen if such behavior happens again. Be sympathetic, but also be firm.

The second time something of a similar nature happens, the consequences defined earlier should be carried out in an immediate, consistent, and impersonal manner.

Role of the person being supervised The supervisors are not the only ones in your group who have responsibilities to the group. The following are some of the responsibilities of a good employee or volunteer.

Be open and honest with other members of the organization regarding intent, goals, needs, and skills.

Understand the requirements of time and duties of assignments before accepting them, and fulfill the commitment to the best of your ability.

Work to deserve being treated as a recognized and respected member of the team.

Take the commitment seriously enough to participate in planning and evaluating the program and in training and learning opportunities.

Share ideas with other members.

View other members as allies that can be learned from.

Respect the confidentiality of the organization and it's clients.

Seek and accept honest feedback on performance.

Serve as goodwill ambassadors for your organization and it's services to the community.

Be informed of change when it is needed.

This resource is provided by the Community Toolbox. Go to http://ctb.lsi.ukans.edu/ for more information.

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