Building on one-page profiles with volunteers
Technique
One-page profiles will provide volunteer managers and others with a summary of ‘what’s important to’ and how to provide support to individual volunteers. Having a one-page profile for your volunteers will make it easier for individuals supported by your services, employees and other people they may work with to develop a relationship with them.
One-page profiles help supervisors to effectively communicate with each volunteer. This is not only person-centred, it saves time and confusion.
Methods to gather information and further build on one-page profiles include:
- Individually. One on one.
- In group meetings. Either with other volunteers or with employees. This provides the opportunity for conversation and for people to get to know one another better.
- Side-by-side. If you have a buddy system with other volunteers or employees the two of them can have conversations together to build on one-page profiles.
- Employee coaching. If you are developing person-centred thinking coaches, they are the perfect resource to assist volunteers to build on one-page profiles. This is a great way to connect different people within the organisation and provide coaching experience for staff.
Tips
A one-page profile may need updating if:
- the volunteer is new to the team/organisation and still learning about how they want to be supported within their role.
- the manager or supervisor is unsure about how to support a volunteer in certain situations or feels that there is a gap in communication.
One-page profiles can be developed as part of the recruitment process for new volunteers, and during supervision or team meetings for existing volunteers.
Use building on the ‘appreciation section’ of the one-page profile as an opportunity to gather feedback from others who know and work with the volunteer.
Use the ‘good day and bad day’ tool and the information this captures within a one-page profile. This exercise can be done with a group of volunteers.
Use the priorities of the organisation as a conversation-starter and support the volunteer to consider what is ‘important to’ them about this. One-page profiles can be used to support volunteers to think about how they relate to the mission and values of the organisation.
As a manager or supervisor identify areas where further information will enable you to support the volunteer more effectively. Ask the volunteer where they feel additional support could be provided and capture this within the profile.
Encourage volunteers to reflect on their own one-page profile and ask:
- Does my one-page profile still reflect what is ‘important to’ me as a volunteer and as an individual in general?
- What have I learned about how I want my manager or others to support me?
Use the ‘praise and trouble’ tool to gather information about how the volunteer wants to receive feedback and support.
Additional resources:
- Technique, tips and template - using one-page profiles in volunteer recruitment
- Technique, tips and templates - using ‘important to and for’ in job design and recruitment
- Tips – using the ‘praise and trouble’ tool in supervision.
- Tips – using the ‘good day and bad day’ tool to keep performance on track
Definitions:
The term individual(s) refers to an individual with a disability and their family and/or circle of support.
The terms staff/employee(s) refer to paid or unpaid members of the workforce regardless of their employment relationship with their employer i.e. permanent, casual, full-time, volunteer, etc.
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