I believe in writing out a job description, not just for paid staff, but even for volunteers. Why? Because agreement prevents disagreement. Let me explain what I mean…
When volunteers sign up to serve they ought to be committing to a certain set of responsibilities. You ought to print them a copy of what they are agreeing to do by signing up to serve. This agreement on the front end prevents disagreement on the back end. You see, when you aren’t clear about what they are committing to, they will often unintentionally head off in the wrong direction. You’ll find you and them disagreeing on what they should be doing. You’ll be wanting them to do one thing but in reality they will be doing something else entirely. And when that happens, it’s actually your fault, not theirs. After all, it’s impossible to be on the same page about something if that page doesn’t exist. If you haven’t clearly articulated what you expect, you can’t then blame the volunteer for not living up to your expectations (Well, technically you can, but it won’t go well!).
Please don’t hear me saying that if you clearly communicate your expectations up front, you will never have volunteers that head in the wrong direction. That’s not what I’m saying at all! What I am saying is that there won’t be as big of a disagreement when you correct wrong behavior if you have an agreed upon standard to follow.
We have very few volunteers at New Day that head in the wrong direction because we try very hard to be clear about what’s expected on the front end. But when, from time to time, a volunteer does head in the wrong direction, we have a written out job description (that they agreed to) that we use as the standard to bring them back to. We gently point out what they are doing that’s wrong and then remind them of the standard they agreed to. If they are willing to correct their behavior we let them continue to serve. If not, we thank them for their service but let them know they will need to step down. People get frustrated (and disagreements ensue) when they are told they are breaking a standard that you have never communicated to them. But it’s been my experience that people take it pretty well when you simply remind them of something they already agreed to but haven’t lived up to.
Again, agreement (on the front end) prevents disagreement (on the back end).