don't stop me now day1 c
TRANSCRIPT
VSVA’s – what works for you?
Rory Port
Visitor Services Officer, Lanhydrock
Lanhydrock 2009
X 274 volunteersX 158 room guidesX 210,000+ visitors X 36.7% volunteer recommendation
1 x VSO to manage all things front of house.
= one very stressed VSO!= volunteers feeling unloved = inconsistency in service standards – VSO could only be in one place at a time= no time for long-term thinking or strategic planning
Background – 2 key drivers!
2 key reasons for re-thinking the structure of our volunteer management
1. Improving volunteer survey results – just 20% ‘strongly agreed’ that they were being well organised and managed
2. Reduce the operational demands on VSO in day to day running of the House
After consideration, I felt the obvious solution was to installa version of VVM.
What we were already doing that was working?
Book Shop volunteer co-ordinator
Education volunteer co-ordinator
Buggy Driver volunteer co-ordinators
Living History volunteer co-ordinator
The key, why ‘VSVA’ and not VVM?
VVM wouldn’t have worked at Lanhydrockbecause.
Our volunteers didn’t want to be ‘managed’ by other volunteers.
What are my top tips for success?
1.Tailor a solution that will be accepted and supported
2.Recruit the right people!
How did we go about introducing the concept
We had the full support of our GM
Consulted and obtained ‘buy in’ from our Room Guide Representatives
Recruited - internally and externally
Rolled out to all our volunteers during our 2011pre-season briefing days
New structure, what would it look like?
X6 ‘Visitor Services Volunteer Assistants’
These volunteers (VSVA’s) would act as assistants to the VSO
VSO
Room Guides
Liaison Representatives
VSVA’s
VSVA’s areas of responsibility
Each VSVA was assigned a specialist field based on their skills from:– X2 Communications (inc. newsletter)– X2 Admin– Social Calendar– Training (inc. mentoring)
In addition, general duties included:– Pager cover/first response (inc. disabled access)– Radio cover– Rotas– PMV’s and wheelchairs– Rota relief– Opening set up
What have the benefits been?
1. Better organised and managed volunteers
2. Better communication between staff and volunteers
3. Volunteers feeling and getting more involved
4. Volunteers more supported
5. Allow the VSO to provide more strategic support across the property
6. To provide challenging volunteering opportunities
7. Improve visitor experience
What are our volunteers saying now?
2011 volunteer survey results confirmed that 39% of our volunteers now ‘strongly agree’ that they are being well organised and managed, almost double that of 2009 (20%) - VSVA’s being introduced must have played a part.
Top Tips for success!
1. Think about what works for your property and introduce something that will suit your existing team
2. Involve the volunteers right from the start –have a volunteer representative involved in making the decisions
3. Get your key volunteers on side – representatives etc – and use them to pass on the key reasons/messages.
4. Pick the right people! If you are recruiting a person for each day, make sure their approach matches the attitude of the day
I would like to pay tribute to my team of VSVA’s.