My Tip of the Week: Recognize the Under-Recognized Volunteer
Every parent group has several volunteers who quietly, very quietly, are essential to the PTO's success. And yet these volunteers are often thanked least and taken advantage of most of any parents in your school.
I bet you know a few of these moms and dads. They aren't official leaders of your group, but they attend lots of your meetings and -- more important -- they almost always volunteer for your events and say yes when asked to help with almost any task.
You have your leaders who take on a ton of responsibility and also get a lot of credit. You have your outgoing volunteers who might help run one big event and everyone knows it. And then you have these quieter volunteers who simply work really hard under the radar.
Do you recognize these key parents? Or do you just thank your lucky stars that they exist and send them four more jobs to do? I hope it's the former and not the latter. How you treat those volunteers says a lot about your group and about your prospects for recruiting more help. All the parents in school have eyes and see how your group works. If they see a few volunteers constantly working and running around, then those parents will be reluctant to volunteer themselves. They'll rightfully worry about how they'll be treated if they step up.
My advice: Do two things for those quiet volunteers. First, make efforts to thank them both publicly and privately for their key, understated contributions. Second, take pains not to take advantage of their reluctance to say no. The best groups spread the volunteering wide (and even cancel efforts if they can't) rather than placing an undue burden on just a few.
Want some more volunteer insight? Check out these resources on ptotoday.com:
• 25 Ways To Catch and Keep Volunteers
• Treat Your Volunteers Right
• Care and Feeding of Key Volunteers
