[davidbanham]

Figure out why people show up. This may be homogenous across the group, but more likely there are two or three main categories.

Then, ensure you’re making space for them to get the thing they’re showing up for. Show a direct connection to how what they’re doing supports the outcome they’re trying to achieve. Show clearly that without them performing this task, the outcome they’re invested in will be compromised.

This game is all carrot, no stick. The only threat you have is that you might forbid them from continuing to counter their time, and that’s usually gated behind a pretty laborious process.

If someone’s primary reason is something like “I want to protect my community” then you can probably rely on them to keep their nose to the grindstone on less-fun tasks. If their driver is “I like having coffee with other other volunteers in between working” then they’re still an asset, but you probably need to hand them short simple tasks.

Expect attrition in the group and always ensure you’ve got new blood coming in. Be prepared for tasks to get dropped on the floor if someone gets busy or bored. If something absolutely must happen no matter what, that’s a job for a paid member of staff or it needs to be distributed amongst a large group with a sophisticated collaborative structure.

Source: volunteer firefighter that manages an equipment maintenance team and spends way too much of his time doing stuff because he loves it.

[jhogendorn]

These are all great, although they're more concepts than implementable things. I see a lot of mirrors in my own experiences for sure.

Our volunteers seem to fall into:

  * Obsessive Crazy People (myself): Very committed, for no discernable reason. Organisation survives because a few people are like this at any time.
  * I Want Control: Someone wants to exercise their will or way of doing things over an area or similar. Put a bridle on them and lets go
  * I Enjoy Tinkering: I like to help out and scratch my itches, but I wont commit to anything specifically and its mostly about fun and following my personal interests.
  * I Will Volunteer for X: A discount, kibble, free soft drink. Extrinsicaly motivated by some external factor or gamification.
  * Saints: I just want to help and give back.

So I see some overlap in your descriptions there. Attrition and Job handover is super tricky. Or really, formalising the training of things is a whole big job in itself, so often people get thrown into things and told to swim. Not great, but as a firefighter you probably know sometimes its hard to know which fire to fight...

Do you have any suggestions re sophisticated collaborative structures?