Bob Wertz

Almost 20 years ago, I was in San Francisco for my first AIGA Leadership Retreat. AIGA is a national organization for design¹ and I was a first-time president for the South Carolina chapter. I’d just finished attending a session on leadership and one of my new friends who’d been a president before pulled me aside and gave me some advice: “This is supposed to be fun. If it stops being fun, ask for help. You are giving up a bunch of your free time and if you aren’t having fun, it’s not worth it.”

I’ve been thinking about that advice a lot lately and I’ve come to a realization. Our volunteer “opportunities” have become unpaid part-time jobs. (Maybe they always were…) We are saddled with job descriptions and expectations. We dedicate our time and energy to a cause because we believe in it, but we manage volunteer organizations following the only model we have: business.

I see it in churches, who are looking for people to fill roles and run programs to keep the organization functioning.

I see it in our professional organizations, like AIGA, where we expect a level of excellence and professionalism on par with what we would expect from our corporate colleagues.

I see it in academia, where professors do a massive amount of additional service work in reviewing journal submissions and organizing conferences.

I see it in recreational youth sports, where people dedicate nights and weekends to coaching kids year-after-year.

I see it in our organizational boards that are increasingly trying to recruit people with particular backgrounds and skill sets to provide professional guidance.

This problem is compounded by how we talk about these volunteer positions:

• You are giving back, not using your free time.

• You are offering your skills and abilities, not providing free labor that other people would pay you for.

• You are providing service to the community, not working for free.

We talk about this volunteer jobs more like a calling, not a job. And that makes it so much harder to separate from a position that is overwhelming.

The result of this structure is almost always burnout. Frustration. We often become stuck in our volunteer positions, unable to find someone to take over the incredibly complex structure or programming we have built or maintained. Unsurprisingly, most people — even if they care about deeply about an organization or cause — are unwilling to step up and commit massive time and energy to a cause when they are already juggling their own jobs and family commitments. The volunteer opportunity that you were excited about is now weighing you down and causing stress and anxiety. It’s no longer fun.

This situation isn’t good for the organizations either. After someone manages to escape from a volunteer position, how often does that person significantly decrease their involvement? I can’t tell you how many people I know who disappear after a long stint on a church council. Or how many former AIGA presidents I know who now have nothing to do with AIGA only a couple of years after their term is over. How many board members step away completely after their service is complete?

The mission of the organization then shifts from serving the community to finding the volunteers to sustain the organization.

We need to rethink volunteer leadership.

The realignment starts at the top. If the leadership of an organization is overworked and burned out, the other volunteers will assume that’s normal. Some will try to emulate the behavior. Others will leave knowing they can’t commit that much. Our presidents, executive directors and other leadership need to model an appropriate work/life/volunteer balance. Working around the clock isn’t always the long-term, sustainable answer.

We need to spend less time crafting our job descriptions and more time building relationships. We’re following the model we know, based on how our business organizations are structured, but I’m not sure that model works in today’s volunteer organization. While we need to make sure expectations are clear, we also need to worry less about the business-like hierarchy and spend more energy on engaging our community. Focus on doing good work, aligned with the mission of the organization.

We need to be realistic about what we are asking people to do. Recruit more people to do smaller jobs instead of asking one person to commit a massive amount of time. Maybe in the past, you recruited one or two people to run an event. Maybe you should instead recruit 5-10 to cover the same amount of work. And if we can’t find the needed volunteers, it is time to scale back the project or event to be more reasonable.

We need to be thankful for the contributions of others, no matter how small. Too often, we thank volunteers by presenting them with opportunities to embrace an ever-increasing volunteer workload. We need to actively discourage overcommitment… and never ask for more than anyone should rationally be able to give.

We need to be thoughtful to fellow volunteers. It’s easy to get frustrated when people drop the ball. We need to check in on each other, be supportive and remember that we are all doing this for free, in our spare time, because we support the same cause and the same mission. We need to be understanding, not judgmental. We need to offer support, not criticism.

Understand the difference between governance and micromanagement. Yes, we need boards to make sure that the money is being handled properly and the mission is well-defined. But the board shouldn’t micromanage everything. We need to let people do the tasks we ask them to do.

Be flexible. Life can change in the blink of an eye. Be flexible with expectations. Be understanding when things don’t turn out the way you wanted. And realize that every volunteer is balancing life and work and family.

And finally, we need to remember to have fun. These organizations and boards that we support, love and commit our time to… they should be enjoyable. And if they aren’t, it’s time to fix them.

Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina. Bob is currently taking a break from board service and volunteer opportunities, after getting burned out.