STEPHANIE DO
MANAGING NONPROFITS AND AN UNPAID WORKFORCE THROUGH ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP
The unique aspect of nonprofits is the ability to attract volunteers to aid in its mission. The key to success is the volunteer who provides a valuable resource without compensation. My journey down the community service pathway taught me that managing and motivating an unpaid workforce requires an adaptive leadership style. This adaptive style goes beyond adjusting to the individual; it includes modifying charitable organizations, functioning on scant resources, to thrive with volunteers.
Figure 1. Situational Leadership model depicting leadership style and levels of employee development (Ftsn, 2019). Leaders should alter influencing behaviors to match the follower’s development level. Each color pairs a leadership style with a level of follower readiness. CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of the keys to adaptive leadership is the ability of the leader to adjust when necessary. MGMT 403: Leadership in Organizations provided an opportunity for me to analyze my management style, through the development of a career leadership plan, to find areas of strength and opportunities for improvement. One management theory applied in my leadership self-assessment is Hershey, Blanchard, and Johnson’s situational leadership. Situational leadership encourages leaders to adapt their management style to better suit the current circumstances. The leaders exercise adaptability by understanding abilities of followers and adjusting according to follower needs. Leadership style is determined by follower readiness, as seen in Figure 1, which is measured based on ability and willingness, or lack thereof.
I directed many student volunteers while working with Cocky’s Reading Express. Often, instructions given on the bus regarding tasks seemed ineffective. Instead of passing out materials amongst the crowd, some students congregated near the doors. Despite instructions on procedures at reading events, some volunteers disregard details that could undermine the impact of the event. The situational leadership theory allowed me to react to these situations differently by suggesting my current instruction was inappropriate for all students. Careful examination allowed me to place students in all four follower categories of situational leadership: the willing and able, the willing and unable, the unwilling but able, and the unwilling and unable. Students who were willing and able were often returning volunteers knowledgeable of the duties and procedures. Those who were willing but unable needed instruction on what to do. Those who were unwilling but able needed to be paired with tasks that would most appeal to them. New volunteers expressing unwillingness benefited from frequent, specific instructions and opportunities demonstrating the importance of the mission and volunteer support.
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Adaptation should not be limited to personal, introspective transformations. Sustainable and impactful change within organizations is dependent on groups of people. Follower engagement is necessary to identify issues leaders may overlook. Thus, employee and volunteer knowledge are valuable assets worth using and distributing. The organizational mindset can shift, from depending on a few great leaders to succeed to empowering all members to share responsibility for success, if it values the contributions of followers. Input from many can provide information that allows organizations to improve and grow. Several concepts from my knowledge management course were applicable when attempting to harness volunteering input.
SLIS 410: Knowledge Management introduced knowledge management as a process by which knowledge and people are connected. This process creates a continuous cycle that begins with knowledge created from an individual, leads to a refined version validated by the group, and results in the diffusion of accepted knowledge. One of our readings by Serban and Luan (2002) best described the concept of knowledge management through the model depicted in Figure 2. The knowledge management process allows organizations to create, use, and share knowledge more intelligently. Often, there can be a disconnect between what the leaders believe and what the followers know. An organization in
Figure 2. Knowledge management figure from Serban & Luan (2002)’s overview.
one of our case studies believed “the best organizations do not depend on great leaders,” thus it shifted its culture to include knowledge of lower level employees. Utilizing and sharing experiences and expertise of all employees can create an organization that is more innovative, flexible, adaptive, completive, and resilient.
Realizing the value of knowledge, I devised ways for members of Rotaract, a student service organization, to share and communicate in ways that allowed the organization to capture all types of information from all users. Previously, GroupMe and email were the preferred methods of communicating. GroupMe limited communications to links, text, video, images, and polls. Also, emails could only be accessed by parties included in the address. Slack, with the addition of several applications, allowed Rotaract to share messages and documents regardless of format. The creation of channels for the committees, the boards, and the general chat helped digitize and organize information so others may access it later. Having access to knowledge of past members provides a foundation for future members to reference. Utilizing input from volunteers allowed
The Slack group created for Rotaract to help facilitate knowledge management.
Rotaract to manage future events better despite differences in organizational responsibility, availability, and experience. Sharing the expertise and experiences of all volunteers provides an opportunity for any service organization to adapt.
Another way to encourage adaptivity is to look at decisions and actions in retrospect, throughout the organization, to determine what can be improved. Subordinates may recognize problems leaders overlook. Getting feedback encourages participation and investment in the organization. Organizations need to ask “why” more often. It is time to create new ways of doing something if the traditional method does not support the mission.
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ARMY 102: Introduction to the Army taught the value of After-Action Reviews (AAR) to determine best practices and lessons learned. Leaders seek constructive feedback on negative and positive aspects of the group’s performance. AARs provide an opportunity to discover, clarify, and understand the consequences of issues encountered during the event. Such discussions should result in ideas of what the team can do differently in the future.
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I noticed many organizations encountered the same issues regularly. Within Rotaract, several actions were duplicated because input from volunteers was not recorded. CRE sometimes struggles to manage volunteers that vastly outnumber staff. Initially, I opted for traditional AAR format to solicit feedback from members in Rotaract. I realized, over a semester, a casual review in the form of one to one or peer-led discussions was more effective with college students. Both organizations benefited from constructive feedback after events. A member of Rotaract believed the organization’s recruitment was weak due to a lack of information and materials available. As a result, brochures and service projects’ samples were acquired to show the community what the organization does. For example, a volunteer at CRE noticed other volunteers were busy playing on their phones during the event. She suggested providing crafts so students can engage with children entertainingly. Thanks to this feedback, CRE has an activity box with instructions to involve all volunteers.
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Service opportunities through the community service pathway provided valuable lessons on leadership in organizations with fewer resources. Volunteers are a valuable source of help, providing labor and knowledge to help nonprofits fulfill charitable missions. Applying experiences from my coursework in management, knowledge management, and military leadership to my service work helped me to realize the value of adaptability. Meaningful change has led to growth in the form of more effective volunteer management, a process to record and evaluate volunteer knowledge, and changes as a result of constructive feedback.​
REFERENCES
Ftsn. (2019). Figure of situational leadership. [Figure]. Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Figure_of_Situational_
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Serban, A. M., & Luan, J. (2002). Overview of knowledge management. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2002(113), 5-
16. https://doi.org/10.1002/ir.34
ADDITIONAL ARTIFACTS
My response to a case study, from KM 410: Knowledge Management, examining a company’s implementation of a knowledge management strategy to promote innovation.
Excerpts from my Career Leadership Plan developed in MGMT 403: Leadership in Organizations.
JotForm was one of many applications used in Rotaract's knowledge management process. This project proposal form allows members to share ideas. Submissions are saved for future reference.