How do you create successful volunteer training?

1 Assess your needs

Before you start planning your volunteer training, you need to assess the needs of your organization, your volunteers, and your beneficiaries. What are the goals and objectives of your volunteer program? What are the skills, knowledge, and attitudes that your volunteers need to perform their tasks and contribute to your mission? What are the challenges and risks that your volunteers may face or pose in their work? How do you measure and evaluate the effectiveness of your volunteer training? By answering these questions, you can identify the gaps and opportunities for your volunteer training and set clear and realistic expectations for yourself and your volunteers.

3 Develop your content

The next step is to develop your content for your volunteer training. Your content should be relevant, engaging, and accessible for your volunteers. You can use various sources and formats to create your content, such as existing materials, external experts, videos, podcasts, quizzes, games, and so on. You can also use the ADDIE model to guide your content development process. The ADDIE model stands for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. It helps you to align your content with your needs, objectives, and outcomes.

4 Deliver your training

The delivery of your volunteer training is equally important as the content. You want to make sure that your training is well-organized, well-facilitated, and well-received by your volunteers. You can use various strategies and techniques to deliver your training effectively, such as setting clear agendas and ground rules, using interactive and participatory methods, providing feedback and recognition, and creating a safe and supportive learning environment. You can also use various tools and platforms to deliver your training, such as Zoom, Google Classroom, Moodle, Slack, and so on.

5 Evaluate your training

The last step is to evaluate your training and its impact. You want to know if your training achieved its goals and objectives, if your volunteers learned and applied what they learned, and if your training improved the quality and impact of their work. You can use various methods and indicators to evaluate your training, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, tests, portfolios, and so on. You can also use the Kirkpatrick model to guide your evaluation process. The Kirkpatrick model consists of four levels of evaluation: reaction, learning, behavior, and results. It helps you to measure the satisfaction, knowledge, performance, and outcomes of your training.