Volunteers are the life-blood of non-profits.

They are typically passionate about the cause, are committed to sharing their experience and time to the success of the organization, and often work alongside paid employees – for free.

As an organization, it can be tempting to fill your time sheet with scores of volunteers. But how can you be sure that the volunteers are effective and efficient? Can you use goal setting with volunteers to engage them in the work of your organization?

Setting goals for volunteers seems counterintuitive. They’re volunteering their time, so it may seem presumptuous to set a list of criteria that you want them to work toward.

However, the principle, ‘Without a vision, the people perish,” holds true for both volunteers and paid positions. If you’re attempting to integrate a successful volunteer program into your organization, it may be time to set some goals. What benefit does setting goals have for your volunteers?

Goals give direction

For paid employees, goal setting is an effective strategy to provide direction and motivation to pursue a specific milestone. For volunteers, this is an even more critical component to successful volunteering. Ambiguous directions, such as ‘assisting staff’ or ‘helping clients’ offers little in vision about the purpose of the volunteer program.

In a domino effect, ambiguous job responsibilities can lead to lackluster recruits, which can lead to dissatisfaction with the organization, which can lead to reduced funding for volunteers, and so on. Instead of hoping your volunteers ‘figure out’ what the direction of their position should be, provide clear instruction through setting goals.

Goals support the mission of the organization

Each organization has its own purpose and mission. To achieve those goals, the organization needs people with a particular set of skills to reach accomplish the mission. By stating goals clearly, current, and potential volunteers will know if they are a suitable match for the mission of the organization. This works to eliminate volunteers who may have a different priority than the organization, and to help screen potential volunteers for the skills that you need to reach your goals.

Goals enrich recruitment

Individuals looking to connect with an organization through volunteering are often looking for purpose. They want to feel as though they have contributed to a cause they believe in, and that their efforts are not in vain. Describing goals to potential volunteer recruits allows them to see exactly what type of impact their efforts will have, and helps engage them in the work of the organization. When offered the opportunity to participate in a specific function of the organization, people will respond.

Goals offer recognition opportunities

Perhaps even more than paid employees, volunteers thrive on recognition. They want to feel appreciated, and will blossom in an environment that prioritizes acknowledgement. Effective goal setting will provide your organization with measurable components that can be used to reward and recognize volunteers.

Goals improve organizations

Using goal setting with volunteers ensures that they align with the mission of the organization, and further ensures that they know they role they are to play. Organizations can use goal setting as a means of developing skills in their volunteers, and can lead to greater satisfaction among the volunteers. As a result, the entire organization will improve, creating a cascade of success. An improved volunteer corps can be the difference between a successful organization and an unsuccessful one. The missing piece? Goal setting.

“I was too ambitious with my goals, am I a failure?"

Goal setting can be a valuable tool for development. Whether the goal is personal or professional, goals can help propel you to accomplish more than you expected and move closer to accomplishing your dreams. Moving forward and reaching milestones signifies accomplishment and success. We celebrate our achievements and want to broadcast them to the world. But what about our failures? What happens when you review your milestones and have fallen short? Is it time to give up?

Failure is part of the process

“When we give ourselves permission to fail, we, at the same time,
give ourselves permission to excel.” - Eloise Ristad

Some of the most effective growth and success happens after failure. In many ways, experiencing failure early can actually be a relief. A failure is inevitable, and there is a certain amount of uncertainty in not knowing when or where the failure will occur. Once it happens, and you push forward, it can be a relief to know that it’s ‘out of the way’.  

Failure reinforces commitment

“No human ever became interesting by not failing. The more you fail and recover and improve, the better you are as a person. Ever meet someone who’s always had everything work out for them with zero struggle? They usually have the depth of a puddle. Or they don’t exist.” - Chris Hardwick

One of the most important benefits of failure is that it can re-define your commitment to your goal. It can cause you to ‘double down’ on reaching your goal, more determined than ever to succeed in spite of any temporary failures. A failure can also help you see that a goal may not be as important to you originally thought.

Failure can lead to new discoveries

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” - Thomas A. Edison

Part of dealing with failure is maintaining the right perspective. If each setback or failure is used as a learning experience, they can help you find better ways to reach your goal, ultimately making you more successful. When kept in the proper framework, a failure can be one of the most important things to happen along the path to success.  With a new discovery, the original goal may change. You may find that your failure led you to a better method or idea. Instead of focusing on the failure, focus on what new development can come from the failure.

Failure is not fatal

“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat.
It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by
saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.” - Denis Waitley

If you’ve experienced a failure, congratulations! It means that you’ve attempted to do something. That alone puts you ahead of many of your acquaintances and indicates that you’re on the path to success. Take heart when you review your milestones and find that you’ve fallen short. Evaluate the setback: What can you learn from it? How can you avoid the same setback in the future? Do you need to adjust your milestone?

Don’t be afraid of failure. When your accomplishments don’t meet your milestones, don’t be discouraged. Re-assess, re-engage and re-commit to your goals.

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” - Winston Churchill

The My Big Idea™ Personal Goal Setting Workshops are an excellent step to make your next endeavor a success. For those with staff or a team, consider the Professional Goal Setting Workshops for you and your team. Any questions? Contact us to find out which is the best workshop for you.

Personal goal setting can be a powerful tool. For the high achiever, setting goals can be another means of marking accomplishments along the way to success. Understanding the importance of goals is essential, but can be paralyzing to one who is focused on being a success. With a list of possible goals to work on, which ones are the most important? Where should you start to make the most difference in your life?

With a history of high achieving, the pressure of getting things ‘right’ can be almost overwhelming. Finding the correct goal to work on may seem like an exercise in futility. According to most studies, however, there is no ‘right goal’ to start with. The decision of where to start in personal development is entirely up to the individual, but there are a few key areas that will provide maximum effectiveness and can help you find direction in your goal setting.

Begin with yourself

With a list of potential goals, it seems counterproductive to focus on yourself. However, a wise person realizes the value in taking care of yourself first before attempting to improve any other areas. Much like one is admonished to administer oxygen to oneself first in the event of an airline crash, before attempting to help any small children, the first step in personal development is to take care of the person.

Under the premise of taking care of yourself, goals can include a healthy lifestyle, such as losing weight, eating better, beginning an exercise program, or getting more sleep. Whatever aspect of personal care you chose to prioritize, set a personal goal that will enable you to monitor your progress.

Personal care has two distinct aspects: body care and energy. If you don’t have enough energy, you will be ill-equipped to take on additional projects and goals. Often, changing your lifestyle and habits can help to improve your energy levels, and allow you to shift your attention to other areas. An improvement in your health can also create an improvement in your attitude. Your health has a direct impact on your mental state, creating a cycle of positivity that can generate more success.

Look for a short-term goal

Particularly when the list of potential goals is long, setting long-term goals can be daunting. To generate momentum, set attainable short-term goals. Short term goals should be able to be completed within a year, and can include personal development aspects such as enrichment courses, travel and adventure, educational classes and more. Once you have completed one goal, set another that can be completed quickly and easily. You’ll find that success breeds more success, and the feelings of self-satisfaction will propel you to work towards other dreams.

When faced with the prospect of choosing personal goals, select ones that can position you for future success. Not only will it motivate you to continue working on your goals, it will help you stay motivated when things get difficult. Not sure where to start? Start with yourself – and the rest will follow.

You’ll find a lot of insight and clarity by taking part in the Personal Goal Setting Workshops Any questions? Contact us for an informational (no pressure) conversation to learn more about your requirements and to set you up with the right length of workshop for you.