"What do you do when you have clear procedures about doing something, a chain of events, that should be followed and you give a new chair all the notes and nicely explain that these are the basic required things that need to be done for a function to run smoothly and they do not read it, and do their own thing? Anyone else with this problem? :eek: "
Oh yeah, how 'bout totally loosing the notes? Then starting from scratch to find new vendors for a fundraising comunity event that's been done the same way for ten years before and will never be the same again. Been there done that...now they make copies.
venzmama, I have been lucky to not deal with the type that wants credit without working - with this group at least.
Yeah. It takes all kinds. But I guess I was thinking that if I were armed with different ideas, I might be better prepared or at least less surprized.
Another example, and this post could even go back to making people attend meetings,(in fact, I'm going to copy it there) but my mom was widowed when I was still young and it was just me and her.
She was a member of the PTA but she worked graveyard as a nurse and was sleeping pretty much any time there was a meeting. However, I remember her taking me to the spaghetti dinners and she would stay up some times to chaperone one of my field trips. She worked 60 sometimes 70 hour a week. She didn't have time to volunteer and if she did, she wouldn't have had much time for me.
Neither me or my husband had involved parents. I do so much at school that I just received the teacher voted parent volunteer of the year. And my husband helps out whenever he is in town. That is just the way we are. Even though my mom wasn't involved she had a huge heart and would do ANYthing for ANYbody. We have to decide the best way to support and serve our family as well as our school and that is not the same for every family.
I agree that you need to find what the volunteer is interested in or what their strength is and go with that. We will be trying a parent survey form this year and following up with phone calls.
I think you will have as many "types" of volunteers as you do "types" of people. Isn't it all truly personality related? There are those who work well if they are in charge, those who don't want to be in charge but will do anything you ask, those who are so much in charge they alienate everyone else, and those who want all the recognition but don't do anything. My biggest strength is recognizing the differences and then making my approach based on these differences...this has kept me going the past two years as PTO President and in the past in other positions I've held. Realize that some people will NEVER step up or volunteer for anything and it's best to recognize this and walk away. Wondering why can just drive you nuts!
My advise? It's like fishing...if you throw out a net you never know what you'll bring in and sometimes you get lucky. (Example: a general request for volunteers.) If you bait for a specific fish, then maybe you'll just get that fish. (Ex: Approaching Mrs. X to chair the staff appreciation because she's a great planner and loves to cook.) AND sometimes you spend the whole day fishing and come home empty handed...
Having clear procedures, chain of discision making and purpose for each event alleviates a lot of that tension.
What do you do when you have clear procedures about doing something, a chain of events, that should be followed and you give a new chair all the notes and nicely explain that these are the basic required things that need to be done for a function to run smoothly and they do not read it, and do their own thing? We have tried to keep notes on how events should be done to HELP the new person who comes in to run a function and they disregard it. Errors are made and it is simply because they failed to follow the " basic procedures". To me it is very frustrating that this happens. There is plenty of leeway for doing things a little different so that the new chairperson can have their own "creative flair" to an event. While I do not like to micro manage, sometimes I feel like I have to. Anyone else with this problem? :eek:
For me, I have always wanted to "change the world". I've always had these ideals of how things should be (at least since high school) and until I joined PTA, I never felt as though I was making a difference.
So for me, knowing and seeing that I was making a difference. That is what has motivated me to volunteer. I've been involved with other organizations through the years and although I cared about the outcome, I didn't always have the passion for it. Someone may not volunteer because although they care, they are passionate about something else, and that may take their time.
my 2 cents....
:eek: "
