As a volunteer manager, you want your team to achieve its goals and make a positive impact. But sometimes, things don't go as planned and your team falls behind, loses motivation, or faces challenges. What's the first step you should take to get your team back on track?
Before you can fix anything, you need to understand what's causing the problem. Is it a lack of resources, skills, communication, or clarity? Is it a mismatch between the team's expectations and the reality of the situation? Is it a conflict or a disagreement among team members or stakeholders? To identify the problem, you need to gather feedback from your team and other relevant parties, such as beneficiaries, partners, or donors. You can use surveys, interviews, focus groups, or observation to collect data and insights. Be open-minded, respectful, and empathetic when listening to different perspectives and opinions.
Yes, evaluating the situation is crucial to pinpoint where the team is falling short and to identify the specific challenges being faced. These challenges are rarely singular; instead, they typically manifest as a collection of small hurdles encountered throughout the project. Maintaining focus and staying on track necessitates continuous reevaluation and communication.
Once you have collected enough feedback, you need to analyze it and look for patterns, trends, gaps, or opportunities. You can use tools such as SWOT analysis, root cause analysis, or logic models to help you organize and interpret the data. You want to find out what are the strengths and weaknesses of your team, what are the external factors that affect your team's performance, what are the underlying causes of the problem, and what are the possible solutions or alternatives.
After you have identified and analyzed the problem, you need to set clear and realistic goals for your team to overcome it. You can use the SMART framework to make sure your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, instead of saying "we want to improve our fundraising", you can say "we want to increase our donations by 10% in the next three months by launching a social media campaign and hosting an online event". By setting SMART goals, you can help your team focus on what matters, track their progress, and celebrate their achievements.
Setting SMART goals is essential for leading your team to success. It guarantees responsibility and progress monitoring in addition to providing clarity. Teams can sufficiently connect their activities with strategic objectives using the SMART framework to create time-bound, relevant, measurable, and specified goals. ?This strategy directs people, enabling them to contribute meaningfully to the organization's goal. ??It is essential that leaders openly and honestly communicate their objectives to inspire collaboration and inspiration. ??Using SMART goals as a guide, employees can overcome obstacles, spur creativity, and produce outstanding outcomes. ?
The next step is to communicate your goals and expectations to your team and other stakeholders. You need to explain why the problem is important, how you plan to solve it, and what role each person plays in the process. You also need to encourage feedback, input, and suggestions from your team and other parties. You can use tools such as newsletters, emails, meetings, or online platforms to keep everyone informed and engaged. By communicating and collaborating effectively, you can build trust, alignment, and commitment among your team and stakeholders.
The final step is to monitor and evaluate your team's performance and outcomes. You need to measure and document the results of your actions, compare them with your goals and indicators, and identify what worked well and what didn't. You can use tools such as surveys, reports, dashboards, or testimonials to collect and present your evidence. You also need to share your findings and feedback with your team and other stakeholders, and recognize and reward their efforts and contributions. By monitoring and evaluating your team's performance, you can learn from your experience, improve your practice, and demonstrate your impact.