Volunteers are the backbone of your organization; everything from the basics to the most important tasks depends on them. Be it the simple task of organizing a community event or something as big as strategizing for a fundraising event. So, you must train them well and prepare them for their respective roles so that they can handle them competently.
Even though some volunteers may have the right skill set and experience, you must equip your volunteers with the necessary skills and knowledge about your organization. This way, you can ensure that your volunteers are well-versed in your organization’s culture and their job responsibilities so that they can give their best. Moreover, to give them training, you as an organization should be well-versed in the best way to recruit volunteers. So that you can find the right candidates for your organization. This way, you can also save some time training the basics to the candidates.
The need to give volunteer training to your volunteers can’t be understated. With the help of the right strategies and tips, you can find the perfect fit for your organization, but giving them training is still just as crucial. Furthermore, you should have a well-designed training program for your volunteers, as all of them aren’t equal. For you as an organization, it’s crucial to design all your training programs as per every respective role to make sure you can train them all well. Thus, in this article, we’ll discuss some best practices to help you create a perfect volunteer training program. So, let’s dive in and set your volunteers up for success!
Best Practices and Tips to Design Volunteer Training Programs
1. Understand the Volunteer’s Role
Your volunteer training program is the most important part of your volunteer engagement strategy. So, it’s extremely crucial for you, as an organization, to design it well. To do so, deeply understanding the roles of your volunteers is a must to design a comprehensive and well-articulated training program. So, start by noting down all the roles and their regular responsibilities to get a clear idea of what your volunteers would be doing on a day-to-day basis. Like so, you’ll get to know how to design the training program and the things to include in it.
2. Tailor Training to Different Learning Styles
Not everyone likes to be seated and told about what work they have to do and how they’re expected to do it. So, while designing training modules for your whole program, make sure to include diverse learning methods and styles. This way, you can cater to everyone’s needs and also give them multiple options to learn from. You can consider giving on-the-job training for some modules; visual presentations and hands-on activities are also great ways to teach them. You can even consider group discussions and interactive simulations for some specific modules. Having such diverse and interactive options can make learning fun while training them well.
3. Emphasize Organizational Values and Culture
This is perhaps the most important part of your volunteer training program, as well as from the point of view of your organization’s integrity. Every volunteer in your organization should be well-versed in the core values, mission, and vision of your organization. So, make sure to either have a designated orientation session for this or a specific training module to get them through it. This way, you can ensure your volunteer doesn’t only know but also stands for the core values of your organization. Like so you can also prepare them to represent your organization at community events and projects.
4. Foster Collaboration and Teamwork
Teamwork is crucial for the success of every organization. As a new member of your organization, it can be a bit difficult for them to adjust, and it may take some time for them to acclimate themselves to the new culture and work environment. So, to make it a bit easier for them to socialize and work collaboratively in teams, you can consider adding some designated training modules for the same.
5. Provide Ongoing Support and Feedback
Another important aspect of a good training program is an effective feedback mechanism. As the volunteer progresses in his or her training modules, they must have many doubts to clear. So, you must assign them a designated senior or some other experienced volunteer to help them with their doubts. Moreover, as they start with job responsibilities alongside their volunteer training, there must be some manager or more experienced team member to provide them feedback on their performance.
Final Thoughts
Volunteers are an integral part of your organization, and without them, you can’t work as effectively. So, you must train them well to make sure they are well-equipped with the right skills and knowledge to excel in their role. Moreover, we hope these tips help you design the best training program for your volunteers.
