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Outdoor Site and Facility Management
Tools for Creating Memorable Places
by Wynne Whyman
232 Pages, 8.5
Your site and facilities, whether a beautiful building, a welcoming camp setting, or a natural wilderness area, are a large part of what draws participants to your property. They are also your largest financial investment, so proper management of them is crucial. Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places is a comprehensive resource for staff, board members, management, and owners charged with the complex and challenging task of managing and maintaining properties. The book offers a step-by-step property management plan that will help you to provide the safe environment and positive atmosphere so important to creating memorable experiences for your participants.
Rather than focus on the technical skills of facility maintenance or site development, this book offers a broad perspective of property management. It introduces an integrated systems approach to the management of a variety of organizations, such as overnight and day camps, conference centers, outdoor learning centers, government parks, dude and guest ranches, commercial camp grounds, schools, not-for-profit organizations, and religious organizations. You'll have creative strategies to manage day-to-day operations, such as these:
-Planning and forecasting
-Board and administrator responsibilities
-Working with volunteers
-Natural resource management
-Hiring staff
-Budgeting and financial oversight
-Time management
-Record keeping
-Risk management
You'll also find practical advice to help you make sound decisions and form solutions that are tailored to your unique property.
The book spends a chapter on each of the key components of property management and includes 48 practical tools, such as forms and checklists; practical techniques and examples; sample job descriptions; a glossary; and a list of the indicators of successful management discussed in the chapter.
The bound-in CD-ROM contains the following features:
-65 editable forms and checklists, including maintenance schedules, staffing needs charts, inspection forms, financial plans, feedback forms, and strategic planning
-A list of editable job descriptions that you can use for defining job responsibilities and establishing the hiring process
-A comprehensive list of resources, including Web sites, articles, and books, so you can easily find specialized information and local resources
With Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places, you'll gain a complete picture of your property's physical, ecological, financial, and personnel assets. Most important, you'll discover the best way to manage your property and ultimately increase the equity of your assets and the marketability and long-term viability of your operation.
Chapter 1. Place: Integrating Program and Property
Place
-Conceptual Framework: ITS
-Integrating Property and Program
-Setting Priorities for Property and Program
-A Sustainable Organization
-Putting It All Together
Chapter 2. Participants: A Welcoming Invitation
-Mission and Participants' Needs
-Opportunities to Educate
-Positive Attitudes Toward Site and Facilities
-Creating Your Memorable Place
Chapter 3. People: Your Greatest Asset
-Working Together—Creating Memories
-A Pivotal Role: The Administrator
-Staffing for Success
-A Treasured Resource: Volunteers
-Volunteer Boards
-Your People = Your Success
Chapter 4. Land: Surveying Your Options
-Nature of Property Ownership
-Rights to Water and Mineral Resources
-Conservation Easements
-Mapping Your Site
-Future Options
Chapter 5. Grounds: Creating Your Setting
-Crafting Your Overall Grounds Philosophy
-Wayfinding: Beyond Signage and Maps
-Art of Lawns and Landscaping
-Transportation Infrastructure: A Means to Move People
-Fences: Defining Areas of Use
-Walk-Throughs and Inspections: Taking a Fresh Perspective
-The Network of Your Utilities
-Scheduling Site Maintenance
-Impressions That Last
Chapter 6. Natural Resources: Inspiration, Education, and Stewardship
-Starting With an Ecological Management Framework
-Crafting Your Natural Resources Management Philosophy
-Taking a Natural Resources Inventory
-Implementing Natural Resources Projects
-Beyond Nature Identification
-Your Memorable Place
Chapter 7. Facilities: Your Visible Identity
-Atmosphere: Reinforcing Your Mission and Values
-Sustainable Practices for Facilities
-Safety Measures
-Cleaning and Janitorial
-Managing Facility Maintenance
-Working With Contractors
-Facilities: Your Valuable Assets
Chapter 8. Time: Making the Most of It
-Learning to Be Proactive
-Changing How You Spend Your Time
-Saving Time by Planning Ahead
-Capitalizing on Each Person's Unique Skills
-Making Planning a Priority for All
-Status and Priorities of Long-Term Planning
-Cycles of Your Operation
-Time to Create Your Memorable Place
Chapter 9. Finances: Constructing Your Future
-Four Perspectives
-Crafting a Budget
-Preparing for the Future
-Financing Your Mission
Chapter 10. Records: At Your Fingertips
-Whose Job Is It?
-Keep or Purge?
-Organizing Information So You Can Find It
-Preserving Your Records
-Cataloging What You Have
-Creating Backup Records
-Managing Your Archives
-Developing Integrated Procedures
-Electronic Record Keeping
-Getting Professional Assistance
-Finding What You Need
Chapter 11. Risk: Managing to Be Prepared
-Site and Facility Risk
-What Is Risk Management?
-Safety First
Wynne Whyman, MA, MSS, is currently president of Callippe Solutions LLC and a design faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) in Colorado. She has extensive experience working with camps and managing property. She earned a Master of Special Studies degree in computer education and applied communication from Denver University and a master of arts degree in information and learning technologies from the University of Colorado at Denver.
Careful planning helps rec departments make most of volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor.
A Treasured Resource: Volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers may already be involved in your organization, in parent groups in schools, alumni groups, and service project groups. In addition, some people are looking for ways to improve the local community, service clubs are looking for worthwhile projects, high school students need community service hours for graduation, corporations want to sponsor community days, Girl Scouts want to do Gold projects, Boy Scouts want to do Eagle projects, people in national service organizations are looking for volunteer opportunities, and people need to perform community service hours required by the courts. Each of these groups of volunteers represents people with unique experiences, expectations, and needs. As a result, you may work differently with each group as you manage your site and facility projects.
Most volunteers are motivated by a true desire to make a difference. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor. Be aware of the following volunteer trends when selecting and designing volunteer projects:
- Volunteer time is limited, and sometimes decreasing. According to an Independent Sector report, Giving and Volunteering in the United States (2001), 44 percent of the adult population volunteered 3.6 hours per week, a total that may be divided among many organizations. In the 2004 Canadian study, National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, 45 percent of the population volunteered an average of 3.2 hours per week. (Mandatory community service is included in these estimates.)
- People who volunteer often want shorter-term or one-time activities rather than long-term commitments.
- Regulations are specifying the types and boundaries of some volunteer work.
- Through the use of technology, volunteers across the country can do volunteer work at home.
There is some new vocabulary to reflect these changes such as episodic volunteers for short-term volunteers and virtual volunteers for volunteers who work at a distance. When soliciting volunteers, use language that speaks to their needs. In addition to describing the work, describe how the work will be done, such as, "work with a team to tear down the old drywall" or, "learn new skills from our team captain extraordinaire." You'll also want to describe the impact the work will have on the participants, such as "taking down the old fence will clear the way for the next crew to install a playground fence that will be safer for the children."
Keep in mind that people volunteer for many reasons. It is not just about the work getting done; people are looking to feel a sense of accomplishment, do something much needed for participants, learn a new skill, or meet people with similar values. Organizations benefiting from the work of volunteers must give something back to those volunteers, while keeping an eye on the mission of the organization. Invite volunteers to join in the activities by enthusiastically expressing your appreciation and showing them how they can connect.
When people think of site and facility volunteers, they commonly think of physical projects: painting, cleaning, electrical work, and so on. However, an effective volunteer program for site and facilities can include work such as cooking a meal for the work crew, being a photographer, or conducting research on the Internet at home. Others may wish to contribute gifts in kind or send a check. Other volunteers are interested in planning, organizing, or governance committee work. Consider all forms of volunteering in your planning. Clearly define the volunteer opportunities available and outline the time requirements for each.
To keep your volunteers feeling valued, strive to place them in jobs that best use their talents. A useful method is to briefly describe the projects that need to be done and allow volunteers to sign on for specific projects. This helps establish a clear understanding between the organization and the volunteer. When you use a chart similar to tool 3.5, potential volunteers have a clear understanding of their commitment, the value and importance of the project, and the expectations of the project.
Volunteers come to organizations in a variety of ways. Some call, e-mail, or send a resume when they move to town. Others you may actively recruit because of the skills you know they have. A general organizational interest survey is helpful if you have many volunteers to keep track of. The types of site and facility questions you can include are shown in tool 3.6. You may also decide to combine the interest survey with a volunteer application to include a photograph release and background check.
The interest survey can help you determine the depth and breadth of a volunteer's skills. After discussions with the volunteer for clarification, you are ready to verify any specialized skills by verifying photocopies of licenses and certifications, performing reference checks, or having a tryout period with an initial project.
When you collect volunteer information, it is essential to have a process in place for accessing and using the data. For example, if you need plumbing help, you need to be able to easily use your list or database to find volunteers with plumbing licenses without looking at every paper form. Being organized gives you a short list from which to choose.
Volunteers should be successful, and their projects should be worthwhile to the organization. The last thing you want is for a staff member to have to redo a volunteer project because it was not done well. This is frustrating for volunteers and staff alike. Thus, select, design, and supervise projects so all can be successful.
A high-quality volunteer program can add depth, value, support, and financial savings to the organization. However, a successful volunteer program doesn't just happen. It takes hard work by the volunteer coordinator, volunteers, and staff. The program is not just about getting the work done successfully; it is also about focusing on the volunteers themselves. The organization needs to care for the volunteers, use their strengths, respect their time, and provide a fantastic experience-all while keeping the needs of the organization in mind.
The tasks for organizing a volunteer program can be grouped into five parts as described in Working Effectively With Volunteers below.
Working Effectively With Volunteers
There are five points for managing your volunteer program to make it stellar.
Preparation
- Develop and implement a clear risk management plan for volunteer work. (See chapter 11 for risk management concerns in working with volunteers.)
- Investigate and clarify regulations and codes pertinent to the projects.
- Develop an annual volunteer project chart that includes the details of timing, specific skills required, and number of people needed (see tool 3.5). Include direct project work (skilled and general work) and indirect work (first aid, photography, cooking, publicity, article writing, database work, virtual research). Where possible, schedule tasks around the volunteer's schedule, provide flexibility, and offer options. Include appropriate projects for youth and older adults. Can a nonskilled crew prepare the materials for the skilled labor a week prior?
- Develop an annual wish list of gift-in-kind needs, including supplies and materials for work projects.
- Prepare written materials, such as job descriptions, a photography release, agreements (expected hours, milestones, benchmarks, and project begin and end dates), applications, and a volunteer handbook (with policies and procedures).
- Do you need a volunteer planning committee?
Invitation
- Coordinate with the publicity person to highlight volunteer opportunities and their beneficial impact on participants. Publish in newsletters and on the Web, send e-mails, and post on strategically located bulletin boards.
- Collect volunteer applications. Input information in a volunteer database.
- Use screening techniques: Check licensing, verify work experience, gather references. Verify skills using an external source when appropriate.
- Match volunteers' work styles and philosophies to the organization's mission, needs, and strategic plan.
- Confirm project information to volunteers, including dates and times, meal(s), materials to bring, and clothing.
- Sign written agreements as appropriate.
- Hold an orientation and give general information about the organization: its mission, policies, and procedures; the impact of the volunteer program; and benefits. This may be done at the start of the project work.
Project Work
- Don't waste a volunteer's time. Be completely organized when volunteers arrive to work. Have tools and supplies assembled and prepared as appropriate.
- In case of emergency, have communication equipment, a first aid box, and an emergency vehicle ready.
- Conduct a training specific to the project, including expectations, the availability of first aid, project hazards, and skill training.
- Plan for volunteers to be supervised by skilled people who focus on the safety of volunteers and the quality of work. Choose team leaders who have the required leadership skills, and provide leader orientation for those leading large groups or projects. Designate a "technical expert" to assist as necessary. For instance, a team leader who is a professional painter may act as the technical expert on preparing aged wood siding for repainting. Figure 3.2 illustrates a possible supervisory structure using paid or volunteer supervisory staff with volunteer workers on a short-term project.
Wrap-Up
- Clean up, gather tools, collect trash, and protect work that isn't quite finished.
- Gather volunteer feedback about their experiences using a project evaluation such as shown in tool 3.7. Provide a way for volunteers to turn in the evaluation anonymously to make sure you get the "real scoop." Be sure to address any complaints immediately. The compiled information can be used in newsletter articles, as an evaluation tool, and as data for planning other events. Comments given under the "what was the most rewarding" section make great additions to the publicity for your next volunteer opportunity.
- Evaluate volunteers, as applicable.
- Keep records, including the number of volunteers, the total hours worked, and any incidents that occurred. Summarize volunteer evaluations and project evaluations. Use the results to improve the next project and strengthen your volunteer initiatives.
Recognition
- Express appreciation to each volunteer. Volunteers should feel good about the contributions they've made.
- Publicize the work that the volunteers have done in newsletters and on the Web.
- Plan for volunteer recognition awards or events.
- Hang signs or plaques on the project highlighting volunteer work.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Time management important component of property management plan
Abraham Lincoln once said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.” A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Abraham Lincoln once said, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe." A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Smart time management is key to implementing your property management plan. Managing your time well delivers a range of benefits, some of them obvious, some less so. It improves your overall efficiency; it provides valuable strategic advantages; and it makes space for logical, creative thinking.
This chapter provides tips and tricks for effective time management. You will learn to do more in less time, be an efficient planner, and capitalize on each person's unique skills.
Learning to Be Proactive
You know the feeling. You're sitting at your desk, and you look at the clock. "Three o'clock already?! Where does the time go?" Another day spent working hard, but the tasks are not all done.
In the midst of all the activities, you may find yourself falling into task-focused thinking. Your list of repairs and maintenance keeps growing, so you focus more and more on running around trying to get each thing done. Or, you get bogged down in either-or scenarios, saying, for example, "I have time to do only the repairs. The more time I spend doing the repairs, the less time I have for preventive maintenance. But the more I do repairs, the more I need to do preventive maintenance."
If the majority of your time is spent doing and not planning, your work life might have a chaotic feel to it. It doesn't have to. If you feel as though you're just moving from one crisis to another-don't worry. You can change that by learning to deal with the tasks at hand in a systematic way. To have enough time on a regular basis to reflect, regroup, and plan, you need to be proactive rather than reactive.
Planning the use of your time is important because your time is valuable. Your skills should not be wasted on tasks done inefficiently or tasks that others could do. This is where planning comes in. Can you combine tasks to do them more efficiently? Can you delegate certain tasks to others? Can you devise a system to find staff or participants to help with some aspects of maintenance?
Using creative strategies to free yourself from the hands-on work will buy you time to spend on proactive work. With planning, you can identify, schedule, and perform preventive maintenance rather than being forced to react to the latest breakdown. Your focus can switch from doing specific tasks to keeping everything flowing smoothly, which is a better use of your specialized skills.
You will, of course, need to spend some extra time setting up the procedures, priorities, and work flow and discussing options with your team. As you will soon find out, however, planning time is time well spent.
Changing How You Spend Your Time
The next time you ask, "Where does the time go?" try answering the question for yourself. Keep a diary of how you spent your time for a whole week, or use your personal business organizer, such as a PDA or day planner, to refresh your memory, and compile your hours using the list provided in tool 8.1.
Because each person's job is unique and each organization does things differently, there are no rules for determining how much time spent in each category is enough. However, it is important to look at the bigger picture and review the list of hours spent at various categories of tasks. Are you doing work that matches your skills? Are you doing the work you were hired to do? Do the hours reflect the priorities of the job and the organization? Have you spent time doing proactive work?
Now look at your list at a finer level of detail: Which category of tasks takes up the most time? Do your hours for that category reflect reactions to complaints or last-minute requests? Which category seems to be the most frustrating? You need to take care of the reactive types of tasks, especially when there are health and safety concerns, but make a point of addressing the reasons you end up in reactive mode, and look for alternative strategies to use in the future.
If there is an area in which you would like to spend less time, choose a priority task from the list and set a goal for completion. List three specific actions that will help you accomplish this goal. For example, under "Maintenance and repairing-Facilities and Equipment," you might set as a goal, "Find ways to do things differently to save me time." Here are three specific actions you could take to move you toward that goal:
• I will find one volunteer to help five hours a month.
• With one staff person, I will discuss a task and ask for his or her suggestions for a different approach.
• I will read a book or listen to an electronic book on how to delegate tasks effectively.
When you take actions or make intentional changes in how you use your precious time, you become more proactive and less reactive. You become more effective in the work you do, and more significantly, you find the time to accomplish the important work. The important work cannot wait until tomorrow; the future of your organization's site and facilities depends on your ability to consistently find the time to address the important items.
Saving Time by Planning Ahead
Considering the range of management tasks and responsibilities you must master to be successful, you may frequently feel like the circus juggler trying to keep six assorted implements flying through the air. Even an excellent time manager may have to do some fancy juggling to keep everything airborne.
You can buy a lot of time by combining similar everyday tasks. If a project must be done on the third floor, the person can also bring tools for a project on the second floor so he won't have to return to gather more tools. Making a shopping list rather than going to the store separately for every item also saves time.
Clearly, saving time starts with planning. Another trick is to think ahead and let others help with the work at hand. For example, although the property manager may be convenient to lead a tour, a knowledgeable board member could lead the tour instead. If new lightbulbs and stepping stools are available in the main office, staff can replace the lightbulbs themselves without having to call maintenance workers. This saves time for maintenance workers to focus on projects that require more specialized skills -which is what they were hired to do.
A third way to plan ahead is to have an inventory on hand of commonly needed parts and supplies. However, this will only work if you install uniform fixtures, appliances, and equipment. Things like standard filter sizes and identical door handles allow you to have a smaller inventory on hand. With standard fixtures, maintenance workers can quickly ascertain what they need to do a job, and staff need only learn a few procedures rather than many.
The few seconds you save today can add up to minutes that add up to hours that add up to days of time saved over the course of a year. Come up with creative shortcuts and see how much time you can save.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Tips and tools for grounds walk-throughs
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you’ll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities.
Walk-Throughs and Inspections: Taking a Fresh Perspective
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you'll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities. These walk-throughs will give you opportunities to perform visual inspections, examine work done previously, confirm the need for scheduled work, check safety conditions, uncover additional work to be done, and discover unknown participant wear. They may also highlight an already observed deterioration made worse by hail, wind, heat, or cold.
How often should you check things? Your state's regulations and accreditation standards and guidelines provide a starting point. Use your risk management plan (see chapter 11) and your general knowledge of the site and facilities, the participant volume, and the severity of the weather in your region to determine your walk-through schedule. For example, you may conduct a walk-through twice a year-once after the rainy season and once after the hot summer-to note the impact of severe weather conditions. It would also be a good idea to take a look during a rainstorm to see how effectively water moves throughout the property. You may have an outside expert come out just once a year. You'll need to determine the timing and scheduling of the various walk-throughs listed in this book based on your unique property.
For a large property, the property director may be a general licensed contractor and would be qualified to perform the walk-through inspection. For a smaller property, the majority of the walk-through inspections might need to be completed by an outside expert. This is because the staff person responsible for maintenance may be hired only to perform light maintenance and custodial work and may not have the skill set needed for inspections.
The following are important considerations for all walk-throughs:
• Select carefully the person or people for each of the walk-throughs in this book; make decisions based on their assessment skills and expertise. Before engaging an outside inspector, be sure to check her background, certifications, insurance coverage, skills, and knowledge of your type of operation.
• Take note of areas where a professional may be needed or required for a part of the walk-through. A licensed inspector would be used when regulations require one, when the walk-through person is not qualified for a particular inspection, or when called for by the risk management plan. Often this professional will provide his own form; the items listed in the checklist are simply a reminder that the task needs to be completed. Examples of experts you may call include a forester and an electrical inspector.
• Although an on-site person may have the skills to conduct the walk-through, it can be helpful to ask an external person to conduct a walk-through to get a fresh perspective. In addition, an external person can be seen as having more authority, which helps to support a case for a project within the organization.
• Determine whether it is appropriate for the administrator to accompany the inspector during a walk-through. Her firsthand observations can be helpful for future discussions and planning sessions. You may decide, however, that it is more useful to have the administrator review the walk-through and inspection summary reports with the site personnel at a later date.
• Have the property director accompany the external inspector on the site tour to see the needs through his eyes and gather as much information as possible. Ask questions, but do not direct or try to influence him. You want to ensure his objectivity. Listen and learn from a fresh perspective, but also discuss any areas of concern. When he completes his written inspection report, you will know which areas need immediate corrective action and which areas you can incorporate into your work plan.
• Prepare a written report of your walk-though. This is important from a risk management perspective and because you need to document accurately the work needing to be done.
Remember, your staff and participants can be your unofficial inspectors on a daily basis. By training them to be observant and making it easy to submit written maintenance requests, you are never the only set of eyes looking at the conditions.
Scheduling Your Grounds Walk-Through
The previous section described the importance of walk-throughs, their value, and who should conduct them. For your property, decide the best person(s) to perform the grounds walk-through. To get a bird's-eye view of the elements in this grounds section, use tool 5.1. It includes a common set of items to examine, which is easy to modify to meet your needs.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Careful planning helps rec departments make most of volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor.
A Treasured Resource: Volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers may already be involved in your organization, in parent groups in schools, alumni groups, and service project groups. In addition, some people are looking for ways to improve the local community, service clubs are looking for worthwhile projects, high school students need community service hours for graduation, corporations want to sponsor community days, Girl Scouts want to do Gold projects, Boy Scouts want to do Eagle projects, people in national service organizations are looking for volunteer opportunities, and people need to perform community service hours required by the courts. Each of these groups of volunteers represents people with unique experiences, expectations, and needs. As a result, you may work differently with each group as you manage your site and facility projects.
Most volunteers are motivated by a true desire to make a difference. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor. Be aware of the following volunteer trends when selecting and designing volunteer projects:
- Volunteer time is limited, and sometimes decreasing. According to an Independent Sector report, Giving and Volunteering in the United States (2001), 44 percent of the adult population volunteered 3.6 hours per week, a total that may be divided among many organizations. In the 2004 Canadian study, National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, 45 percent of the population volunteered an average of 3.2 hours per week. (Mandatory community service is included in these estimates.)
- People who volunteer often want shorter-term or one-time activities rather than long-term commitments.
- Regulations are specifying the types and boundaries of some volunteer work.
- Through the use of technology, volunteers across the country can do volunteer work at home.
There is some new vocabulary to reflect these changes such as episodic volunteers for short-term volunteers and virtual volunteers for volunteers who work at a distance. When soliciting volunteers, use language that speaks to their needs. In addition to describing the work, describe how the work will be done, such as, "work with a team to tear down the old drywall" or, "learn new skills from our team captain extraordinaire." You'll also want to describe the impact the work will have on the participants, such as "taking down the old fence will clear the way for the next crew to install a playground fence that will be safer for the children."
Keep in mind that people volunteer for many reasons. It is not just about the work getting done; people are looking to feel a sense of accomplishment, do something much needed for participants, learn a new skill, or meet people with similar values. Organizations benefiting from the work of volunteers must give something back to those volunteers, while keeping an eye on the mission of the organization. Invite volunteers to join in the activities by enthusiastically expressing your appreciation and showing them how they can connect.
When people think of site and facility volunteers, they commonly think of physical projects: painting, cleaning, electrical work, and so on. However, an effective volunteer program for site and facilities can include work such as cooking a meal for the work crew, being a photographer, or conducting research on the Internet at home. Others may wish to contribute gifts in kind or send a check. Other volunteers are interested in planning, organizing, or governance committee work. Consider all forms of volunteering in your planning. Clearly define the volunteer opportunities available and outline the time requirements for each.
To keep your volunteers feeling valued, strive to place them in jobs that best use their talents. A useful method is to briefly describe the projects that need to be done and allow volunteers to sign on for specific projects. This helps establish a clear understanding between the organization and the volunteer. When you use a chart similar to tool 3.5, potential volunteers have a clear understanding of their commitment, the value and importance of the project, and the expectations of the project.
Volunteers come to organizations in a variety of ways. Some call, e-mail, or send a resume when they move to town. Others you may actively recruit because of the skills you know they have. A general organizational interest survey is helpful if you have many volunteers to keep track of. The types of site and facility questions you can include are shown in tool 3.6. You may also decide to combine the interest survey with a volunteer application to include a photograph release and background check.
The interest survey can help you determine the depth and breadth of a volunteer's skills. After discussions with the volunteer for clarification, you are ready to verify any specialized skills by verifying photocopies of licenses and certifications, performing reference checks, or having a tryout period with an initial project.
When you collect volunteer information, it is essential to have a process in place for accessing and using the data. For example, if you need plumbing help, you need to be able to easily use your list or database to find volunteers with plumbing licenses without looking at every paper form. Being organized gives you a short list from which to choose.
Volunteers should be successful, and their projects should be worthwhile to the organization. The last thing you want is for a staff member to have to redo a volunteer project because it was not done well. This is frustrating for volunteers and staff alike. Thus, select, design, and supervise projects so all can be successful.
A high-quality volunteer program can add depth, value, support, and financial savings to the organization. However, a successful volunteer program doesn't just happen. It takes hard work by the volunteer coordinator, volunteers, and staff. The program is not just about getting the work done successfully; it is also about focusing on the volunteers themselves. The organization needs to care for the volunteers, use their strengths, respect their time, and provide a fantastic experience-all while keeping the needs of the organization in mind.
The tasks for organizing a volunteer program can be grouped into five parts as described in Working Effectively With Volunteers below.
Working Effectively With Volunteers
There are five points for managing your volunteer program to make it stellar.
Preparation
- Develop and implement a clear risk management plan for volunteer work. (See chapter 11 for risk management concerns in working with volunteers.)
- Investigate and clarify regulations and codes pertinent to the projects.
- Develop an annual volunteer project chart that includes the details of timing, specific skills required, and number of people needed (see tool 3.5). Include direct project work (skilled and general work) and indirect work (first aid, photography, cooking, publicity, article writing, database work, virtual research). Where possible, schedule tasks around the volunteer's schedule, provide flexibility, and offer options. Include appropriate projects for youth and older adults. Can a nonskilled crew prepare the materials for the skilled labor a week prior?
- Develop an annual wish list of gift-in-kind needs, including supplies and materials for work projects.
- Prepare written materials, such as job descriptions, a photography release, agreements (expected hours, milestones, benchmarks, and project begin and end dates), applications, and a volunteer handbook (with policies and procedures).
- Do you need a volunteer planning committee?
Invitation
- Coordinate with the publicity person to highlight volunteer opportunities and their beneficial impact on participants. Publish in newsletters and on the Web, send e-mails, and post on strategically located bulletin boards.
- Collect volunteer applications. Input information in a volunteer database.
- Use screening techniques: Check licensing, verify work experience, gather references. Verify skills using an external source when appropriate.
- Match volunteers' work styles and philosophies to the organization's mission, needs, and strategic plan.
- Confirm project information to volunteers, including dates and times, meal(s), materials to bring, and clothing.
- Sign written agreements as appropriate.
- Hold an orientation and give general information about the organization: its mission, policies, and procedures; the impact of the volunteer program; and benefits. This may be done at the start of the project work.
Project Work
- Don't waste a volunteer's time. Be completely organized when volunteers arrive to work. Have tools and supplies assembled and prepared as appropriate.
- In case of emergency, have communication equipment, a first aid box, and an emergency vehicle ready.
- Conduct a training specific to the project, including expectations, the availability of first aid, project hazards, and skill training.
- Plan for volunteers to be supervised by skilled people who focus on the safety of volunteers and the quality of work. Choose team leaders who have the required leadership skills, and provide leader orientation for those leading large groups or projects. Designate a "technical expert" to assist as necessary. For instance, a team leader who is a professional painter may act as the technical expert on preparing aged wood siding for repainting. Figure 3.2 illustrates a possible supervisory structure using paid or volunteer supervisory staff with volunteer workers on a short-term project.
Wrap-Up
- Clean up, gather tools, collect trash, and protect work that isn't quite finished.
- Gather volunteer feedback about their experiences using a project evaluation such as shown in tool 3.7. Provide a way for volunteers to turn in the evaluation anonymously to make sure you get the "real scoop." Be sure to address any complaints immediately. The compiled information can be used in newsletter articles, as an evaluation tool, and as data for planning other events. Comments given under the "what was the most rewarding" section make great additions to the publicity for your next volunteer opportunity.
- Evaluate volunteers, as applicable.
- Keep records, including the number of volunteers, the total hours worked, and any incidents that occurred. Summarize volunteer evaluations and project evaluations. Use the results to improve the next project and strengthen your volunteer initiatives.
Recognition
- Express appreciation to each volunteer. Volunteers should feel good about the contributions they've made.
- Publicize the work that the volunteers have done in newsletters and on the Web.
- Plan for volunteer recognition awards or events.
- Hang signs or plaques on the project highlighting volunteer work.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Time management important component of property management plan
Abraham Lincoln once said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.” A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Abraham Lincoln once said, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe." A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Smart time management is key to implementing your property management plan. Managing your time well delivers a range of benefits, some of them obvious, some less so. It improves your overall efficiency; it provides valuable strategic advantages; and it makes space for logical, creative thinking.
This chapter provides tips and tricks for effective time management. You will learn to do more in less time, be an efficient planner, and capitalize on each person's unique skills.
Learning to Be Proactive
You know the feeling. You're sitting at your desk, and you look at the clock. "Three o'clock already?! Where does the time go?" Another day spent working hard, but the tasks are not all done.
In the midst of all the activities, you may find yourself falling into task-focused thinking. Your list of repairs and maintenance keeps growing, so you focus more and more on running around trying to get each thing done. Or, you get bogged down in either-or scenarios, saying, for example, "I have time to do only the repairs. The more time I spend doing the repairs, the less time I have for preventive maintenance. But the more I do repairs, the more I need to do preventive maintenance."
If the majority of your time is spent doing and not planning, your work life might have a chaotic feel to it. It doesn't have to. If you feel as though you're just moving from one crisis to another-don't worry. You can change that by learning to deal with the tasks at hand in a systematic way. To have enough time on a regular basis to reflect, regroup, and plan, you need to be proactive rather than reactive.
Planning the use of your time is important because your time is valuable. Your skills should not be wasted on tasks done inefficiently or tasks that others could do. This is where planning comes in. Can you combine tasks to do them more efficiently? Can you delegate certain tasks to others? Can you devise a system to find staff or participants to help with some aspects of maintenance?
Using creative strategies to free yourself from the hands-on work will buy you time to spend on proactive work. With planning, you can identify, schedule, and perform preventive maintenance rather than being forced to react to the latest breakdown. Your focus can switch from doing specific tasks to keeping everything flowing smoothly, which is a better use of your specialized skills.
You will, of course, need to spend some extra time setting up the procedures, priorities, and work flow and discussing options with your team. As you will soon find out, however, planning time is time well spent.
Changing How You Spend Your Time
The next time you ask, "Where does the time go?" try answering the question for yourself. Keep a diary of how you spent your time for a whole week, or use your personal business organizer, such as a PDA or day planner, to refresh your memory, and compile your hours using the list provided in tool 8.1.
Because each person's job is unique and each organization does things differently, there are no rules for determining how much time spent in each category is enough. However, it is important to look at the bigger picture and review the list of hours spent at various categories of tasks. Are you doing work that matches your skills? Are you doing the work you were hired to do? Do the hours reflect the priorities of the job and the organization? Have you spent time doing proactive work?
Now look at your list at a finer level of detail: Which category of tasks takes up the most time? Do your hours for that category reflect reactions to complaints or last-minute requests? Which category seems to be the most frustrating? You need to take care of the reactive types of tasks, especially when there are health and safety concerns, but make a point of addressing the reasons you end up in reactive mode, and look for alternative strategies to use in the future.
If there is an area in which you would like to spend less time, choose a priority task from the list and set a goal for completion. List three specific actions that will help you accomplish this goal. For example, under "Maintenance and repairing-Facilities and Equipment," you might set as a goal, "Find ways to do things differently to save me time." Here are three specific actions you could take to move you toward that goal:
• I will find one volunteer to help five hours a month.
• With one staff person, I will discuss a task and ask for his or her suggestions for a different approach.
• I will read a book or listen to an electronic book on how to delegate tasks effectively.
When you take actions or make intentional changes in how you use your precious time, you become more proactive and less reactive. You become more effective in the work you do, and more significantly, you find the time to accomplish the important work. The important work cannot wait until tomorrow; the future of your organization's site and facilities depends on your ability to consistently find the time to address the important items.
Saving Time by Planning Ahead
Considering the range of management tasks and responsibilities you must master to be successful, you may frequently feel like the circus juggler trying to keep six assorted implements flying through the air. Even an excellent time manager may have to do some fancy juggling to keep everything airborne.
You can buy a lot of time by combining similar everyday tasks. If a project must be done on the third floor, the person can also bring tools for a project on the second floor so he won't have to return to gather more tools. Making a shopping list rather than going to the store separately for every item also saves time.
Clearly, saving time starts with planning. Another trick is to think ahead and let others help with the work at hand. For example, although the property manager may be convenient to lead a tour, a knowledgeable board member could lead the tour instead. If new lightbulbs and stepping stools are available in the main office, staff can replace the lightbulbs themselves without having to call maintenance workers. This saves time for maintenance workers to focus on projects that require more specialized skills -which is what they were hired to do.
A third way to plan ahead is to have an inventory on hand of commonly needed parts and supplies. However, this will only work if you install uniform fixtures, appliances, and equipment. Things like standard filter sizes and identical door handles allow you to have a smaller inventory on hand. With standard fixtures, maintenance workers can quickly ascertain what they need to do a job, and staff need only learn a few procedures rather than many.
The few seconds you save today can add up to minutes that add up to hours that add up to days of time saved over the course of a year. Come up with creative shortcuts and see how much time you can save.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Tips and tools for grounds walk-throughs
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you’ll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities.
Walk-Throughs and Inspections: Taking a Fresh Perspective
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you'll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities. These walk-throughs will give you opportunities to perform visual inspections, examine work done previously, confirm the need for scheduled work, check safety conditions, uncover additional work to be done, and discover unknown participant wear. They may also highlight an already observed deterioration made worse by hail, wind, heat, or cold.
How often should you check things? Your state's regulations and accreditation standards and guidelines provide a starting point. Use your risk management plan (see chapter 11) and your general knowledge of the site and facilities, the participant volume, and the severity of the weather in your region to determine your walk-through schedule. For example, you may conduct a walk-through twice a year-once after the rainy season and once after the hot summer-to note the impact of severe weather conditions. It would also be a good idea to take a look during a rainstorm to see how effectively water moves throughout the property. You may have an outside expert come out just once a year. You'll need to determine the timing and scheduling of the various walk-throughs listed in this book based on your unique property.
For a large property, the property director may be a general licensed contractor and would be qualified to perform the walk-through inspection. For a smaller property, the majority of the walk-through inspections might need to be completed by an outside expert. This is because the staff person responsible for maintenance may be hired only to perform light maintenance and custodial work and may not have the skill set needed for inspections.
The following are important considerations for all walk-throughs:
• Select carefully the person or people for each of the walk-throughs in this book; make decisions based on their assessment skills and expertise. Before engaging an outside inspector, be sure to check her background, certifications, insurance coverage, skills, and knowledge of your type of operation.
• Take note of areas where a professional may be needed or required for a part of the walk-through. A licensed inspector would be used when regulations require one, when the walk-through person is not qualified for a particular inspection, or when called for by the risk management plan. Often this professional will provide his own form; the items listed in the checklist are simply a reminder that the task needs to be completed. Examples of experts you may call include a forester and an electrical inspector.
• Although an on-site person may have the skills to conduct the walk-through, it can be helpful to ask an external person to conduct a walk-through to get a fresh perspective. In addition, an external person can be seen as having more authority, which helps to support a case for a project within the organization.
• Determine whether it is appropriate for the administrator to accompany the inspector during a walk-through. Her firsthand observations can be helpful for future discussions and planning sessions. You may decide, however, that it is more useful to have the administrator review the walk-through and inspection summary reports with the site personnel at a later date.
• Have the property director accompany the external inspector on the site tour to see the needs through his eyes and gather as much information as possible. Ask questions, but do not direct or try to influence him. You want to ensure his objectivity. Listen and learn from a fresh perspective, but also discuss any areas of concern. When he completes his written inspection report, you will know which areas need immediate corrective action and which areas you can incorporate into your work plan.
• Prepare a written report of your walk-though. This is important from a risk management perspective and because you need to document accurately the work needing to be done.
Remember, your staff and participants can be your unofficial inspectors on a daily basis. By training them to be observant and making it easy to submit written maintenance requests, you are never the only set of eyes looking at the conditions.
Scheduling Your Grounds Walk-Through
The previous section described the importance of walk-throughs, their value, and who should conduct them. For your property, decide the best person(s) to perform the grounds walk-through. To get a bird's-eye view of the elements in this grounds section, use tool 5.1. It includes a common set of items to examine, which is easy to modify to meet your needs.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Careful planning helps rec departments make most of volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor.
A Treasured Resource: Volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers may already be involved in your organization, in parent groups in schools, alumni groups, and service project groups. In addition, some people are looking for ways to improve the local community, service clubs are looking for worthwhile projects, high school students need community service hours for graduation, corporations want to sponsor community days, Girl Scouts want to do Gold projects, Boy Scouts want to do Eagle projects, people in national service organizations are looking for volunteer opportunities, and people need to perform community service hours required by the courts. Each of these groups of volunteers represents people with unique experiences, expectations, and needs. As a result, you may work differently with each group as you manage your site and facility projects.
Most volunteers are motivated by a true desire to make a difference. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor. Be aware of the following volunteer trends when selecting and designing volunteer projects:
- Volunteer time is limited, and sometimes decreasing. According to an Independent Sector report, Giving and Volunteering in the United States (2001), 44 percent of the adult population volunteered 3.6 hours per week, a total that may be divided among many organizations. In the 2004 Canadian study, National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, 45 percent of the population volunteered an average of 3.2 hours per week. (Mandatory community service is included in these estimates.)
- People who volunteer often want shorter-term or one-time activities rather than long-term commitments.
- Regulations are specifying the types and boundaries of some volunteer work.
- Through the use of technology, volunteers across the country can do volunteer work at home.
There is some new vocabulary to reflect these changes such as episodic volunteers for short-term volunteers and virtual volunteers for volunteers who work at a distance. When soliciting volunteers, use language that speaks to their needs. In addition to describing the work, describe how the work will be done, such as, "work with a team to tear down the old drywall" or, "learn new skills from our team captain extraordinaire." You'll also want to describe the impact the work will have on the participants, such as "taking down the old fence will clear the way for the next crew to install a playground fence that will be safer for the children."
Keep in mind that people volunteer for many reasons. It is not just about the work getting done; people are looking to feel a sense of accomplishment, do something much needed for participants, learn a new skill, or meet people with similar values. Organizations benefiting from the work of volunteers must give something back to those volunteers, while keeping an eye on the mission of the organization. Invite volunteers to join in the activities by enthusiastically expressing your appreciation and showing them how they can connect.
When people think of site and facility volunteers, they commonly think of physical projects: painting, cleaning, electrical work, and so on. However, an effective volunteer program for site and facilities can include work such as cooking a meal for the work crew, being a photographer, or conducting research on the Internet at home. Others may wish to contribute gifts in kind or send a check. Other volunteers are interested in planning, organizing, or governance committee work. Consider all forms of volunteering in your planning. Clearly define the volunteer opportunities available and outline the time requirements for each.
To keep your volunteers feeling valued, strive to place them in jobs that best use their talents. A useful method is to briefly describe the projects that need to be done and allow volunteers to sign on for specific projects. This helps establish a clear understanding between the organization and the volunteer. When you use a chart similar to tool 3.5, potential volunteers have a clear understanding of their commitment, the value and importance of the project, and the expectations of the project.
Volunteers come to organizations in a variety of ways. Some call, e-mail, or send a resume when they move to town. Others you may actively recruit because of the skills you know they have. A general organizational interest survey is helpful if you have many volunteers to keep track of. The types of site and facility questions you can include are shown in tool 3.6. You may also decide to combine the interest survey with a volunteer application to include a photograph release and background check.
The interest survey can help you determine the depth and breadth of a volunteer's skills. After discussions with the volunteer for clarification, you are ready to verify any specialized skills by verifying photocopies of licenses and certifications, performing reference checks, or having a tryout period with an initial project.
When you collect volunteer information, it is essential to have a process in place for accessing and using the data. For example, if you need plumbing help, you need to be able to easily use your list or database to find volunteers with plumbing licenses without looking at every paper form. Being organized gives you a short list from which to choose.
Volunteers should be successful, and their projects should be worthwhile to the organization. The last thing you want is for a staff member to have to redo a volunteer project because it was not done well. This is frustrating for volunteers and staff alike. Thus, select, design, and supervise projects so all can be successful.
A high-quality volunteer program can add depth, value, support, and financial savings to the organization. However, a successful volunteer program doesn't just happen. It takes hard work by the volunteer coordinator, volunteers, and staff. The program is not just about getting the work done successfully; it is also about focusing on the volunteers themselves. The organization needs to care for the volunteers, use their strengths, respect their time, and provide a fantastic experience-all while keeping the needs of the organization in mind.
The tasks for organizing a volunteer program can be grouped into five parts as described in Working Effectively With Volunteers below.
Working Effectively With Volunteers
There are five points for managing your volunteer program to make it stellar.
Preparation
- Develop and implement a clear risk management plan for volunteer work. (See chapter 11 for risk management concerns in working with volunteers.)
- Investigate and clarify regulations and codes pertinent to the projects.
- Develop an annual volunteer project chart that includes the details of timing, specific skills required, and number of people needed (see tool 3.5). Include direct project work (skilled and general work) and indirect work (first aid, photography, cooking, publicity, article writing, database work, virtual research). Where possible, schedule tasks around the volunteer's schedule, provide flexibility, and offer options. Include appropriate projects for youth and older adults. Can a nonskilled crew prepare the materials for the skilled labor a week prior?
- Develop an annual wish list of gift-in-kind needs, including supplies and materials for work projects.
- Prepare written materials, such as job descriptions, a photography release, agreements (expected hours, milestones, benchmarks, and project begin and end dates), applications, and a volunteer handbook (with policies and procedures).
- Do you need a volunteer planning committee?
Invitation
- Coordinate with the publicity person to highlight volunteer opportunities and their beneficial impact on participants. Publish in newsletters and on the Web, send e-mails, and post on strategically located bulletin boards.
- Collect volunteer applications. Input information in a volunteer database.
- Use screening techniques: Check licensing, verify work experience, gather references. Verify skills using an external source when appropriate.
- Match volunteers' work styles and philosophies to the organization's mission, needs, and strategic plan.
- Confirm project information to volunteers, including dates and times, meal(s), materials to bring, and clothing.
- Sign written agreements as appropriate.
- Hold an orientation and give general information about the organization: its mission, policies, and procedures; the impact of the volunteer program; and benefits. This may be done at the start of the project work.
Project Work
- Don't waste a volunteer's time. Be completely organized when volunteers arrive to work. Have tools and supplies assembled and prepared as appropriate.
- In case of emergency, have communication equipment, a first aid box, and an emergency vehicle ready.
- Conduct a training specific to the project, including expectations, the availability of first aid, project hazards, and skill training.
- Plan for volunteers to be supervised by skilled people who focus on the safety of volunteers and the quality of work. Choose team leaders who have the required leadership skills, and provide leader orientation for those leading large groups or projects. Designate a "technical expert" to assist as necessary. For instance, a team leader who is a professional painter may act as the technical expert on preparing aged wood siding for repainting. Figure 3.2 illustrates a possible supervisory structure using paid or volunteer supervisory staff with volunteer workers on a short-term project.
Wrap-Up
- Clean up, gather tools, collect trash, and protect work that isn't quite finished.
- Gather volunteer feedback about their experiences using a project evaluation such as shown in tool 3.7. Provide a way for volunteers to turn in the evaluation anonymously to make sure you get the "real scoop." Be sure to address any complaints immediately. The compiled information can be used in newsletter articles, as an evaluation tool, and as data for planning other events. Comments given under the "what was the most rewarding" section make great additions to the publicity for your next volunteer opportunity.
- Evaluate volunteers, as applicable.
- Keep records, including the number of volunteers, the total hours worked, and any incidents that occurred. Summarize volunteer evaluations and project evaluations. Use the results to improve the next project and strengthen your volunteer initiatives.
Recognition
- Express appreciation to each volunteer. Volunteers should feel good about the contributions they've made.
- Publicize the work that the volunteers have done in newsletters and on the Web.
- Plan for volunteer recognition awards or events.
- Hang signs or plaques on the project highlighting volunteer work.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Time management important component of property management plan
Abraham Lincoln once said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.” A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Abraham Lincoln once said, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe." A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Smart time management is key to implementing your property management plan. Managing your time well delivers a range of benefits, some of them obvious, some less so. It improves your overall efficiency; it provides valuable strategic advantages; and it makes space for logical, creative thinking.
This chapter provides tips and tricks for effective time management. You will learn to do more in less time, be an efficient planner, and capitalize on each person's unique skills.
Learning to Be Proactive
You know the feeling. You're sitting at your desk, and you look at the clock. "Three o'clock already?! Where does the time go?" Another day spent working hard, but the tasks are not all done.
In the midst of all the activities, you may find yourself falling into task-focused thinking. Your list of repairs and maintenance keeps growing, so you focus more and more on running around trying to get each thing done. Or, you get bogged down in either-or scenarios, saying, for example, "I have time to do only the repairs. The more time I spend doing the repairs, the less time I have for preventive maintenance. But the more I do repairs, the more I need to do preventive maintenance."
If the majority of your time is spent doing and not planning, your work life might have a chaotic feel to it. It doesn't have to. If you feel as though you're just moving from one crisis to another-don't worry. You can change that by learning to deal with the tasks at hand in a systematic way. To have enough time on a regular basis to reflect, regroup, and plan, you need to be proactive rather than reactive.
Planning the use of your time is important because your time is valuable. Your skills should not be wasted on tasks done inefficiently or tasks that others could do. This is where planning comes in. Can you combine tasks to do them more efficiently? Can you delegate certain tasks to others? Can you devise a system to find staff or participants to help with some aspects of maintenance?
Using creative strategies to free yourself from the hands-on work will buy you time to spend on proactive work. With planning, you can identify, schedule, and perform preventive maintenance rather than being forced to react to the latest breakdown. Your focus can switch from doing specific tasks to keeping everything flowing smoothly, which is a better use of your specialized skills.
You will, of course, need to spend some extra time setting up the procedures, priorities, and work flow and discussing options with your team. As you will soon find out, however, planning time is time well spent.
Changing How You Spend Your Time
The next time you ask, "Where does the time go?" try answering the question for yourself. Keep a diary of how you spent your time for a whole week, or use your personal business organizer, such as a PDA or day planner, to refresh your memory, and compile your hours using the list provided in tool 8.1.
Because each person's job is unique and each organization does things differently, there are no rules for determining how much time spent in each category is enough. However, it is important to look at the bigger picture and review the list of hours spent at various categories of tasks. Are you doing work that matches your skills? Are you doing the work you were hired to do? Do the hours reflect the priorities of the job and the organization? Have you spent time doing proactive work?
Now look at your list at a finer level of detail: Which category of tasks takes up the most time? Do your hours for that category reflect reactions to complaints or last-minute requests? Which category seems to be the most frustrating? You need to take care of the reactive types of tasks, especially when there are health and safety concerns, but make a point of addressing the reasons you end up in reactive mode, and look for alternative strategies to use in the future.
If there is an area in which you would like to spend less time, choose a priority task from the list and set a goal for completion. List three specific actions that will help you accomplish this goal. For example, under "Maintenance and repairing-Facilities and Equipment," you might set as a goal, "Find ways to do things differently to save me time." Here are three specific actions you could take to move you toward that goal:
• I will find one volunteer to help five hours a month.
• With one staff person, I will discuss a task and ask for his or her suggestions for a different approach.
• I will read a book or listen to an electronic book on how to delegate tasks effectively.
When you take actions or make intentional changes in how you use your precious time, you become more proactive and less reactive. You become more effective in the work you do, and more significantly, you find the time to accomplish the important work. The important work cannot wait until tomorrow; the future of your organization's site and facilities depends on your ability to consistently find the time to address the important items.
Saving Time by Planning Ahead
Considering the range of management tasks and responsibilities you must master to be successful, you may frequently feel like the circus juggler trying to keep six assorted implements flying through the air. Even an excellent time manager may have to do some fancy juggling to keep everything airborne.
You can buy a lot of time by combining similar everyday tasks. If a project must be done on the third floor, the person can also bring tools for a project on the second floor so he won't have to return to gather more tools. Making a shopping list rather than going to the store separately for every item also saves time.
Clearly, saving time starts with planning. Another trick is to think ahead and let others help with the work at hand. For example, although the property manager may be convenient to lead a tour, a knowledgeable board member could lead the tour instead. If new lightbulbs and stepping stools are available in the main office, staff can replace the lightbulbs themselves without having to call maintenance workers. This saves time for maintenance workers to focus on projects that require more specialized skills -which is what they were hired to do.
A third way to plan ahead is to have an inventory on hand of commonly needed parts and supplies. However, this will only work if you install uniform fixtures, appliances, and equipment. Things like standard filter sizes and identical door handles allow you to have a smaller inventory on hand. With standard fixtures, maintenance workers can quickly ascertain what they need to do a job, and staff need only learn a few procedures rather than many.
The few seconds you save today can add up to minutes that add up to hours that add up to days of time saved over the course of a year. Come up with creative shortcuts and see how much time you can save.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Tips and tools for grounds walk-throughs
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you’ll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities.
Walk-Throughs and Inspections: Taking a Fresh Perspective
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you'll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities. These walk-throughs will give you opportunities to perform visual inspections, examine work done previously, confirm the need for scheduled work, check safety conditions, uncover additional work to be done, and discover unknown participant wear. They may also highlight an already observed deterioration made worse by hail, wind, heat, or cold.
How often should you check things? Your state's regulations and accreditation standards and guidelines provide a starting point. Use your risk management plan (see chapter 11) and your general knowledge of the site and facilities, the participant volume, and the severity of the weather in your region to determine your walk-through schedule. For example, you may conduct a walk-through twice a year-once after the rainy season and once after the hot summer-to note the impact of severe weather conditions. It would also be a good idea to take a look during a rainstorm to see how effectively water moves throughout the property. You may have an outside expert come out just once a year. You'll need to determine the timing and scheduling of the various walk-throughs listed in this book based on your unique property.
For a large property, the property director may be a general licensed contractor and would be qualified to perform the walk-through inspection. For a smaller property, the majority of the walk-through inspections might need to be completed by an outside expert. This is because the staff person responsible for maintenance may be hired only to perform light maintenance and custodial work and may not have the skill set needed for inspections.
The following are important considerations for all walk-throughs:
• Select carefully the person or people for each of the walk-throughs in this book; make decisions based on their assessment skills and expertise. Before engaging an outside inspector, be sure to check her background, certifications, insurance coverage, skills, and knowledge of your type of operation.
• Take note of areas where a professional may be needed or required for a part of the walk-through. A licensed inspector would be used when regulations require one, when the walk-through person is not qualified for a particular inspection, or when called for by the risk management plan. Often this professional will provide his own form; the items listed in the checklist are simply a reminder that the task needs to be completed. Examples of experts you may call include a forester and an electrical inspector.
• Although an on-site person may have the skills to conduct the walk-through, it can be helpful to ask an external person to conduct a walk-through to get a fresh perspective. In addition, an external person can be seen as having more authority, which helps to support a case for a project within the organization.
• Determine whether it is appropriate for the administrator to accompany the inspector during a walk-through. Her firsthand observations can be helpful for future discussions and planning sessions. You may decide, however, that it is more useful to have the administrator review the walk-through and inspection summary reports with the site personnel at a later date.
• Have the property director accompany the external inspector on the site tour to see the needs through his eyes and gather as much information as possible. Ask questions, but do not direct or try to influence him. You want to ensure his objectivity. Listen and learn from a fresh perspective, but also discuss any areas of concern. When he completes his written inspection report, you will know which areas need immediate corrective action and which areas you can incorporate into your work plan.
• Prepare a written report of your walk-though. This is important from a risk management perspective and because you need to document accurately the work needing to be done.
Remember, your staff and participants can be your unofficial inspectors on a daily basis. By training them to be observant and making it easy to submit written maintenance requests, you are never the only set of eyes looking at the conditions.
Scheduling Your Grounds Walk-Through
The previous section described the importance of walk-throughs, their value, and who should conduct them. For your property, decide the best person(s) to perform the grounds walk-through. To get a bird's-eye view of the elements in this grounds section, use tool 5.1. It includes a common set of items to examine, which is easy to modify to meet your needs.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Careful planning helps rec departments make most of volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor.
A Treasured Resource: Volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers may already be involved in your organization, in parent groups in schools, alumni groups, and service project groups. In addition, some people are looking for ways to improve the local community, service clubs are looking for worthwhile projects, high school students need community service hours for graduation, corporations want to sponsor community days, Girl Scouts want to do Gold projects, Boy Scouts want to do Eagle projects, people in national service organizations are looking for volunteer opportunities, and people need to perform community service hours required by the courts. Each of these groups of volunteers represents people with unique experiences, expectations, and needs. As a result, you may work differently with each group as you manage your site and facility projects.
Most volunteers are motivated by a true desire to make a difference. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor. Be aware of the following volunteer trends when selecting and designing volunteer projects:
- Volunteer time is limited, and sometimes decreasing. According to an Independent Sector report, Giving and Volunteering in the United States (2001), 44 percent of the adult population volunteered 3.6 hours per week, a total that may be divided among many organizations. In the 2004 Canadian study, National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, 45 percent of the population volunteered an average of 3.2 hours per week. (Mandatory community service is included in these estimates.)
- People who volunteer often want shorter-term or one-time activities rather than long-term commitments.
- Regulations are specifying the types and boundaries of some volunteer work.
- Through the use of technology, volunteers across the country can do volunteer work at home.
There is some new vocabulary to reflect these changes such as episodic volunteers for short-term volunteers and virtual volunteers for volunteers who work at a distance. When soliciting volunteers, use language that speaks to their needs. In addition to describing the work, describe how the work will be done, such as, "work with a team to tear down the old drywall" or, "learn new skills from our team captain extraordinaire." You'll also want to describe the impact the work will have on the participants, such as "taking down the old fence will clear the way for the next crew to install a playground fence that will be safer for the children."
Keep in mind that people volunteer for many reasons. It is not just about the work getting done; people are looking to feel a sense of accomplishment, do something much needed for participants, learn a new skill, or meet people with similar values. Organizations benefiting from the work of volunteers must give something back to those volunteers, while keeping an eye on the mission of the organization. Invite volunteers to join in the activities by enthusiastically expressing your appreciation and showing them how they can connect.
When people think of site and facility volunteers, they commonly think of physical projects: painting, cleaning, electrical work, and so on. However, an effective volunteer program for site and facilities can include work such as cooking a meal for the work crew, being a photographer, or conducting research on the Internet at home. Others may wish to contribute gifts in kind or send a check. Other volunteers are interested in planning, organizing, or governance committee work. Consider all forms of volunteering in your planning. Clearly define the volunteer opportunities available and outline the time requirements for each.
To keep your volunteers feeling valued, strive to place them in jobs that best use their talents. A useful method is to briefly describe the projects that need to be done and allow volunteers to sign on for specific projects. This helps establish a clear understanding between the organization and the volunteer. When you use a chart similar to tool 3.5, potential volunteers have a clear understanding of their commitment, the value and importance of the project, and the expectations of the project.
Volunteers come to organizations in a variety of ways. Some call, e-mail, or send a resume when they move to town. Others you may actively recruit because of the skills you know they have. A general organizational interest survey is helpful if you have many volunteers to keep track of. The types of site and facility questions you can include are shown in tool 3.6. You may also decide to combine the interest survey with a volunteer application to include a photograph release and background check.
The interest survey can help you determine the depth and breadth of a volunteer's skills. After discussions with the volunteer for clarification, you are ready to verify any specialized skills by verifying photocopies of licenses and certifications, performing reference checks, or having a tryout period with an initial project.
When you collect volunteer information, it is essential to have a process in place for accessing and using the data. For example, if you need plumbing help, you need to be able to easily use your list or database to find volunteers with plumbing licenses without looking at every paper form. Being organized gives you a short list from which to choose.
Volunteers should be successful, and their projects should be worthwhile to the organization. The last thing you want is for a staff member to have to redo a volunteer project because it was not done well. This is frustrating for volunteers and staff alike. Thus, select, design, and supervise projects so all can be successful.
A high-quality volunteer program can add depth, value, support, and financial savings to the organization. However, a successful volunteer program doesn't just happen. It takes hard work by the volunteer coordinator, volunteers, and staff. The program is not just about getting the work done successfully; it is also about focusing on the volunteers themselves. The organization needs to care for the volunteers, use their strengths, respect their time, and provide a fantastic experience-all while keeping the needs of the organization in mind.
The tasks for organizing a volunteer program can be grouped into five parts as described in Working Effectively With Volunteers below.
Working Effectively With Volunteers
There are five points for managing your volunteer program to make it stellar.
Preparation
- Develop and implement a clear risk management plan for volunteer work. (See chapter 11 for risk management concerns in working with volunteers.)
- Investigate and clarify regulations and codes pertinent to the projects.
- Develop an annual volunteer project chart that includes the details of timing, specific skills required, and number of people needed (see tool 3.5). Include direct project work (skilled and general work) and indirect work (first aid, photography, cooking, publicity, article writing, database work, virtual research). Where possible, schedule tasks around the volunteer's schedule, provide flexibility, and offer options. Include appropriate projects for youth and older adults. Can a nonskilled crew prepare the materials for the skilled labor a week prior?
- Develop an annual wish list of gift-in-kind needs, including supplies and materials for work projects.
- Prepare written materials, such as job descriptions, a photography release, agreements (expected hours, milestones, benchmarks, and project begin and end dates), applications, and a volunteer handbook (with policies and procedures).
- Do you need a volunteer planning committee?
Invitation
- Coordinate with the publicity person to highlight volunteer opportunities and their beneficial impact on participants. Publish in newsletters and on the Web, send e-mails, and post on strategically located bulletin boards.
- Collect volunteer applications. Input information in a volunteer database.
- Use screening techniques: Check licensing, verify work experience, gather references. Verify skills using an external source when appropriate.
- Match volunteers' work styles and philosophies to the organization's mission, needs, and strategic plan.
- Confirm project information to volunteers, including dates and times, meal(s), materials to bring, and clothing.
- Sign written agreements as appropriate.
- Hold an orientation and give general information about the organization: its mission, policies, and procedures; the impact of the volunteer program; and benefits. This may be done at the start of the project work.
Project Work
- Don't waste a volunteer's time. Be completely organized when volunteers arrive to work. Have tools and supplies assembled and prepared as appropriate.
- In case of emergency, have communication equipment, a first aid box, and an emergency vehicle ready.
- Conduct a training specific to the project, including expectations, the availability of first aid, project hazards, and skill training.
- Plan for volunteers to be supervised by skilled people who focus on the safety of volunteers and the quality of work. Choose team leaders who have the required leadership skills, and provide leader orientation for those leading large groups or projects. Designate a "technical expert" to assist as necessary. For instance, a team leader who is a professional painter may act as the technical expert on preparing aged wood siding for repainting. Figure 3.2 illustrates a possible supervisory structure using paid or volunteer supervisory staff with volunteer workers on a short-term project.
Wrap-Up
- Clean up, gather tools, collect trash, and protect work that isn't quite finished.
- Gather volunteer feedback about their experiences using a project evaluation such as shown in tool 3.7. Provide a way for volunteers to turn in the evaluation anonymously to make sure you get the "real scoop." Be sure to address any complaints immediately. The compiled information can be used in newsletter articles, as an evaluation tool, and as data for planning other events. Comments given under the "what was the most rewarding" section make great additions to the publicity for your next volunteer opportunity.
- Evaluate volunteers, as applicable.
- Keep records, including the number of volunteers, the total hours worked, and any incidents that occurred. Summarize volunteer evaluations and project evaluations. Use the results to improve the next project and strengthen your volunteer initiatives.
Recognition
- Express appreciation to each volunteer. Volunteers should feel good about the contributions they've made.
- Publicize the work that the volunteers have done in newsletters and on the Web.
- Plan for volunteer recognition awards or events.
- Hang signs or plaques on the project highlighting volunteer work.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Time management important component of property management plan
Abraham Lincoln once said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.” A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Abraham Lincoln once said, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe." A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Smart time management is key to implementing your property management plan. Managing your time well delivers a range of benefits, some of them obvious, some less so. It improves your overall efficiency; it provides valuable strategic advantages; and it makes space for logical, creative thinking.
This chapter provides tips and tricks for effective time management. You will learn to do more in less time, be an efficient planner, and capitalize on each person's unique skills.
Learning to Be Proactive
You know the feeling. You're sitting at your desk, and you look at the clock. "Three o'clock already?! Where does the time go?" Another day spent working hard, but the tasks are not all done.
In the midst of all the activities, you may find yourself falling into task-focused thinking. Your list of repairs and maintenance keeps growing, so you focus more and more on running around trying to get each thing done. Or, you get bogged down in either-or scenarios, saying, for example, "I have time to do only the repairs. The more time I spend doing the repairs, the less time I have for preventive maintenance. But the more I do repairs, the more I need to do preventive maintenance."
If the majority of your time is spent doing and not planning, your work life might have a chaotic feel to it. It doesn't have to. If you feel as though you're just moving from one crisis to another-don't worry. You can change that by learning to deal with the tasks at hand in a systematic way. To have enough time on a regular basis to reflect, regroup, and plan, you need to be proactive rather than reactive.
Planning the use of your time is important because your time is valuable. Your skills should not be wasted on tasks done inefficiently or tasks that others could do. This is where planning comes in. Can you combine tasks to do them more efficiently? Can you delegate certain tasks to others? Can you devise a system to find staff or participants to help with some aspects of maintenance?
Using creative strategies to free yourself from the hands-on work will buy you time to spend on proactive work. With planning, you can identify, schedule, and perform preventive maintenance rather than being forced to react to the latest breakdown. Your focus can switch from doing specific tasks to keeping everything flowing smoothly, which is a better use of your specialized skills.
You will, of course, need to spend some extra time setting up the procedures, priorities, and work flow and discussing options with your team. As you will soon find out, however, planning time is time well spent.
Changing How You Spend Your Time
The next time you ask, "Where does the time go?" try answering the question for yourself. Keep a diary of how you spent your time for a whole week, or use your personal business organizer, such as a PDA or day planner, to refresh your memory, and compile your hours using the list provided in tool 8.1.
Because each person's job is unique and each organization does things differently, there are no rules for determining how much time spent in each category is enough. However, it is important to look at the bigger picture and review the list of hours spent at various categories of tasks. Are you doing work that matches your skills? Are you doing the work you were hired to do? Do the hours reflect the priorities of the job and the organization? Have you spent time doing proactive work?
Now look at your list at a finer level of detail: Which category of tasks takes up the most time? Do your hours for that category reflect reactions to complaints or last-minute requests? Which category seems to be the most frustrating? You need to take care of the reactive types of tasks, especially when there are health and safety concerns, but make a point of addressing the reasons you end up in reactive mode, and look for alternative strategies to use in the future.
If there is an area in which you would like to spend less time, choose a priority task from the list and set a goal for completion. List three specific actions that will help you accomplish this goal. For example, under "Maintenance and repairing-Facilities and Equipment," you might set as a goal, "Find ways to do things differently to save me time." Here are three specific actions you could take to move you toward that goal:
• I will find one volunteer to help five hours a month.
• With one staff person, I will discuss a task and ask for his or her suggestions for a different approach.
• I will read a book or listen to an electronic book on how to delegate tasks effectively.
When you take actions or make intentional changes in how you use your precious time, you become more proactive and less reactive. You become more effective in the work you do, and more significantly, you find the time to accomplish the important work. The important work cannot wait until tomorrow; the future of your organization's site and facilities depends on your ability to consistently find the time to address the important items.
Saving Time by Planning Ahead
Considering the range of management tasks and responsibilities you must master to be successful, you may frequently feel like the circus juggler trying to keep six assorted implements flying through the air. Even an excellent time manager may have to do some fancy juggling to keep everything airborne.
You can buy a lot of time by combining similar everyday tasks. If a project must be done on the third floor, the person can also bring tools for a project on the second floor so he won't have to return to gather more tools. Making a shopping list rather than going to the store separately for every item also saves time.
Clearly, saving time starts with planning. Another trick is to think ahead and let others help with the work at hand. For example, although the property manager may be convenient to lead a tour, a knowledgeable board member could lead the tour instead. If new lightbulbs and stepping stools are available in the main office, staff can replace the lightbulbs themselves without having to call maintenance workers. This saves time for maintenance workers to focus on projects that require more specialized skills -which is what they were hired to do.
A third way to plan ahead is to have an inventory on hand of commonly needed parts and supplies. However, this will only work if you install uniform fixtures, appliances, and equipment. Things like standard filter sizes and identical door handles allow you to have a smaller inventory on hand. With standard fixtures, maintenance workers can quickly ascertain what they need to do a job, and staff need only learn a few procedures rather than many.
The few seconds you save today can add up to minutes that add up to hours that add up to days of time saved over the course of a year. Come up with creative shortcuts and see how much time you can save.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Tips and tools for grounds walk-throughs
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you’ll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities.
Walk-Throughs and Inspections: Taking a Fresh Perspective
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you'll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities. These walk-throughs will give you opportunities to perform visual inspections, examine work done previously, confirm the need for scheduled work, check safety conditions, uncover additional work to be done, and discover unknown participant wear. They may also highlight an already observed deterioration made worse by hail, wind, heat, or cold.
How often should you check things? Your state's regulations and accreditation standards and guidelines provide a starting point. Use your risk management plan (see chapter 11) and your general knowledge of the site and facilities, the participant volume, and the severity of the weather in your region to determine your walk-through schedule. For example, you may conduct a walk-through twice a year-once after the rainy season and once after the hot summer-to note the impact of severe weather conditions. It would also be a good idea to take a look during a rainstorm to see how effectively water moves throughout the property. You may have an outside expert come out just once a year. You'll need to determine the timing and scheduling of the various walk-throughs listed in this book based on your unique property.
For a large property, the property director may be a general licensed contractor and would be qualified to perform the walk-through inspection. For a smaller property, the majority of the walk-through inspections might need to be completed by an outside expert. This is because the staff person responsible for maintenance may be hired only to perform light maintenance and custodial work and may not have the skill set needed for inspections.
The following are important considerations for all walk-throughs:
• Select carefully the person or people for each of the walk-throughs in this book; make decisions based on their assessment skills and expertise. Before engaging an outside inspector, be sure to check her background, certifications, insurance coverage, skills, and knowledge of your type of operation.
• Take note of areas where a professional may be needed or required for a part of the walk-through. A licensed inspector would be used when regulations require one, when the walk-through person is not qualified for a particular inspection, or when called for by the risk management plan. Often this professional will provide his own form; the items listed in the checklist are simply a reminder that the task needs to be completed. Examples of experts you may call include a forester and an electrical inspector.
• Although an on-site person may have the skills to conduct the walk-through, it can be helpful to ask an external person to conduct a walk-through to get a fresh perspective. In addition, an external person can be seen as having more authority, which helps to support a case for a project within the organization.
• Determine whether it is appropriate for the administrator to accompany the inspector during a walk-through. Her firsthand observations can be helpful for future discussions and planning sessions. You may decide, however, that it is more useful to have the administrator review the walk-through and inspection summary reports with the site personnel at a later date.
• Have the property director accompany the external inspector on the site tour to see the needs through his eyes and gather as much information as possible. Ask questions, but do not direct or try to influence him. You want to ensure his objectivity. Listen and learn from a fresh perspective, but also discuss any areas of concern. When he completes his written inspection report, you will know which areas need immediate corrective action and which areas you can incorporate into your work plan.
• Prepare a written report of your walk-though. This is important from a risk management perspective and because you need to document accurately the work needing to be done.
Remember, your staff and participants can be your unofficial inspectors on a daily basis. By training them to be observant and making it easy to submit written maintenance requests, you are never the only set of eyes looking at the conditions.
Scheduling Your Grounds Walk-Through
The previous section described the importance of walk-throughs, their value, and who should conduct them. For your property, decide the best person(s) to perform the grounds walk-through. To get a bird's-eye view of the elements in this grounds section, use tool 5.1. It includes a common set of items to examine, which is easy to modify to meet your needs.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Careful planning helps rec departments make most of volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor.
A Treasured Resource: Volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers may already be involved in your organization, in parent groups in schools, alumni groups, and service project groups. In addition, some people are looking for ways to improve the local community, service clubs are looking for worthwhile projects, high school students need community service hours for graduation, corporations want to sponsor community days, Girl Scouts want to do Gold projects, Boy Scouts want to do Eagle projects, people in national service organizations are looking for volunteer opportunities, and people need to perform community service hours required by the courts. Each of these groups of volunteers represents people with unique experiences, expectations, and needs. As a result, you may work differently with each group as you manage your site and facility projects.
Most volunteers are motivated by a true desire to make a difference. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor. Be aware of the following volunteer trends when selecting and designing volunteer projects:
- Volunteer time is limited, and sometimes decreasing. According to an Independent Sector report, Giving and Volunteering in the United States (2001), 44 percent of the adult population volunteered 3.6 hours per week, a total that may be divided among many organizations. In the 2004 Canadian study, National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, 45 percent of the population volunteered an average of 3.2 hours per week. (Mandatory community service is included in these estimates.)
- People who volunteer often want shorter-term or one-time activities rather than long-term commitments.
- Regulations are specifying the types and boundaries of some volunteer work.
- Through the use of technology, volunteers across the country can do volunteer work at home.
There is some new vocabulary to reflect these changes such as episodic volunteers for short-term volunteers and virtual volunteers for volunteers who work at a distance. When soliciting volunteers, use language that speaks to their needs. In addition to describing the work, describe how the work will be done, such as, "work with a team to tear down the old drywall" or, "learn new skills from our team captain extraordinaire." You'll also want to describe the impact the work will have on the participants, such as "taking down the old fence will clear the way for the next crew to install a playground fence that will be safer for the children."
Keep in mind that people volunteer for many reasons. It is not just about the work getting done; people are looking to feel a sense of accomplishment, do something much needed for participants, learn a new skill, or meet people with similar values. Organizations benefiting from the work of volunteers must give something back to those volunteers, while keeping an eye on the mission of the organization. Invite volunteers to join in the activities by enthusiastically expressing your appreciation and showing them how they can connect.
When people think of site and facility volunteers, they commonly think of physical projects: painting, cleaning, electrical work, and so on. However, an effective volunteer program for site and facilities can include work such as cooking a meal for the work crew, being a photographer, or conducting research on the Internet at home. Others may wish to contribute gifts in kind or send a check. Other volunteers are interested in planning, organizing, or governance committee work. Consider all forms of volunteering in your planning. Clearly define the volunteer opportunities available and outline the time requirements for each.
To keep your volunteers feeling valued, strive to place them in jobs that best use their talents. A useful method is to briefly describe the projects that need to be done and allow volunteers to sign on for specific projects. This helps establish a clear understanding between the organization and the volunteer. When you use a chart similar to tool 3.5, potential volunteers have a clear understanding of their commitment, the value and importance of the project, and the expectations of the project.
Volunteers come to organizations in a variety of ways. Some call, e-mail, or send a resume when they move to town. Others you may actively recruit because of the skills you know they have. A general organizational interest survey is helpful if you have many volunteers to keep track of. The types of site and facility questions you can include are shown in tool 3.6. You may also decide to combine the interest survey with a volunteer application to include a photograph release and background check.
The interest survey can help you determine the depth and breadth of a volunteer's skills. After discussions with the volunteer for clarification, you are ready to verify any specialized skills by verifying photocopies of licenses and certifications, performing reference checks, or having a tryout period with an initial project.
When you collect volunteer information, it is essential to have a process in place for accessing and using the data. For example, if you need plumbing help, you need to be able to easily use your list or database to find volunteers with plumbing licenses without looking at every paper form. Being organized gives you a short list from which to choose.
Volunteers should be successful, and their projects should be worthwhile to the organization. The last thing you want is for a staff member to have to redo a volunteer project because it was not done well. This is frustrating for volunteers and staff alike. Thus, select, design, and supervise projects so all can be successful.
A high-quality volunteer program can add depth, value, support, and financial savings to the organization. However, a successful volunteer program doesn't just happen. It takes hard work by the volunteer coordinator, volunteers, and staff. The program is not just about getting the work done successfully; it is also about focusing on the volunteers themselves. The organization needs to care for the volunteers, use their strengths, respect their time, and provide a fantastic experience-all while keeping the needs of the organization in mind.
The tasks for organizing a volunteer program can be grouped into five parts as described in Working Effectively With Volunteers below.
Working Effectively With Volunteers
There are five points for managing your volunteer program to make it stellar.
Preparation
- Develop and implement a clear risk management plan for volunteer work. (See chapter 11 for risk management concerns in working with volunteers.)
- Investigate and clarify regulations and codes pertinent to the projects.
- Develop an annual volunteer project chart that includes the details of timing, specific skills required, and number of people needed (see tool 3.5). Include direct project work (skilled and general work) and indirect work (first aid, photography, cooking, publicity, article writing, database work, virtual research). Where possible, schedule tasks around the volunteer's schedule, provide flexibility, and offer options. Include appropriate projects for youth and older adults. Can a nonskilled crew prepare the materials for the skilled labor a week prior?
- Develop an annual wish list of gift-in-kind needs, including supplies and materials for work projects.
- Prepare written materials, such as job descriptions, a photography release, agreements (expected hours, milestones, benchmarks, and project begin and end dates), applications, and a volunteer handbook (with policies and procedures).
- Do you need a volunteer planning committee?
Invitation
- Coordinate with the publicity person to highlight volunteer opportunities and their beneficial impact on participants. Publish in newsletters and on the Web, send e-mails, and post on strategically located bulletin boards.
- Collect volunteer applications. Input information in a volunteer database.
- Use screening techniques: Check licensing, verify work experience, gather references. Verify skills using an external source when appropriate.
- Match volunteers' work styles and philosophies to the organization's mission, needs, and strategic plan.
- Confirm project information to volunteers, including dates and times, meal(s), materials to bring, and clothing.
- Sign written agreements as appropriate.
- Hold an orientation and give general information about the organization: its mission, policies, and procedures; the impact of the volunteer program; and benefits. This may be done at the start of the project work.
Project Work
- Don't waste a volunteer's time. Be completely organized when volunteers arrive to work. Have tools and supplies assembled and prepared as appropriate.
- In case of emergency, have communication equipment, a first aid box, and an emergency vehicle ready.
- Conduct a training specific to the project, including expectations, the availability of first aid, project hazards, and skill training.
- Plan for volunteers to be supervised by skilled people who focus on the safety of volunteers and the quality of work. Choose team leaders who have the required leadership skills, and provide leader orientation for those leading large groups or projects. Designate a "technical expert" to assist as necessary. For instance, a team leader who is a professional painter may act as the technical expert on preparing aged wood siding for repainting. Figure 3.2 illustrates a possible supervisory structure using paid or volunteer supervisory staff with volunteer workers on a short-term project.
Wrap-Up
- Clean up, gather tools, collect trash, and protect work that isn't quite finished.
- Gather volunteer feedback about their experiences using a project evaluation such as shown in tool 3.7. Provide a way for volunteers to turn in the evaluation anonymously to make sure you get the "real scoop." Be sure to address any complaints immediately. The compiled information can be used in newsletter articles, as an evaluation tool, and as data for planning other events. Comments given under the "what was the most rewarding" section make great additions to the publicity for your next volunteer opportunity.
- Evaluate volunteers, as applicable.
- Keep records, including the number of volunteers, the total hours worked, and any incidents that occurred. Summarize volunteer evaluations and project evaluations. Use the results to improve the next project and strengthen your volunteer initiatives.
Recognition
- Express appreciation to each volunteer. Volunteers should feel good about the contributions they've made.
- Publicize the work that the volunteers have done in newsletters and on the Web.
- Plan for volunteer recognition awards or events.
- Hang signs or plaques on the project highlighting volunteer work.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Time management important component of property management plan
Abraham Lincoln once said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.” A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Abraham Lincoln once said, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe." A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Smart time management is key to implementing your property management plan. Managing your time well delivers a range of benefits, some of them obvious, some less so. It improves your overall efficiency; it provides valuable strategic advantages; and it makes space for logical, creative thinking.
This chapter provides tips and tricks for effective time management. You will learn to do more in less time, be an efficient planner, and capitalize on each person's unique skills.
Learning to Be Proactive
You know the feeling. You're sitting at your desk, and you look at the clock. "Three o'clock already?! Where does the time go?" Another day spent working hard, but the tasks are not all done.
In the midst of all the activities, you may find yourself falling into task-focused thinking. Your list of repairs and maintenance keeps growing, so you focus more and more on running around trying to get each thing done. Or, you get bogged down in either-or scenarios, saying, for example, "I have time to do only the repairs. The more time I spend doing the repairs, the less time I have for preventive maintenance. But the more I do repairs, the more I need to do preventive maintenance."
If the majority of your time is spent doing and not planning, your work life might have a chaotic feel to it. It doesn't have to. If you feel as though you're just moving from one crisis to another-don't worry. You can change that by learning to deal with the tasks at hand in a systematic way. To have enough time on a regular basis to reflect, regroup, and plan, you need to be proactive rather than reactive.
Planning the use of your time is important because your time is valuable. Your skills should not be wasted on tasks done inefficiently or tasks that others could do. This is where planning comes in. Can you combine tasks to do them more efficiently? Can you delegate certain tasks to others? Can you devise a system to find staff or participants to help with some aspects of maintenance?
Using creative strategies to free yourself from the hands-on work will buy you time to spend on proactive work. With planning, you can identify, schedule, and perform preventive maintenance rather than being forced to react to the latest breakdown. Your focus can switch from doing specific tasks to keeping everything flowing smoothly, which is a better use of your specialized skills.
You will, of course, need to spend some extra time setting up the procedures, priorities, and work flow and discussing options with your team. As you will soon find out, however, planning time is time well spent.
Changing How You Spend Your Time
The next time you ask, "Where does the time go?" try answering the question for yourself. Keep a diary of how you spent your time for a whole week, or use your personal business organizer, such as a PDA or day planner, to refresh your memory, and compile your hours using the list provided in tool 8.1.
Because each person's job is unique and each organization does things differently, there are no rules for determining how much time spent in each category is enough. However, it is important to look at the bigger picture and review the list of hours spent at various categories of tasks. Are you doing work that matches your skills? Are you doing the work you were hired to do? Do the hours reflect the priorities of the job and the organization? Have you spent time doing proactive work?
Now look at your list at a finer level of detail: Which category of tasks takes up the most time? Do your hours for that category reflect reactions to complaints or last-minute requests? Which category seems to be the most frustrating? You need to take care of the reactive types of tasks, especially when there are health and safety concerns, but make a point of addressing the reasons you end up in reactive mode, and look for alternative strategies to use in the future.
If there is an area in which you would like to spend less time, choose a priority task from the list and set a goal for completion. List three specific actions that will help you accomplish this goal. For example, under "Maintenance and repairing-Facilities and Equipment," you might set as a goal, "Find ways to do things differently to save me time." Here are three specific actions you could take to move you toward that goal:
• I will find one volunteer to help five hours a month.
• With one staff person, I will discuss a task and ask for his or her suggestions for a different approach.
• I will read a book or listen to an electronic book on how to delegate tasks effectively.
When you take actions or make intentional changes in how you use your precious time, you become more proactive and less reactive. You become more effective in the work you do, and more significantly, you find the time to accomplish the important work. The important work cannot wait until tomorrow; the future of your organization's site and facilities depends on your ability to consistently find the time to address the important items.
Saving Time by Planning Ahead
Considering the range of management tasks and responsibilities you must master to be successful, you may frequently feel like the circus juggler trying to keep six assorted implements flying through the air. Even an excellent time manager may have to do some fancy juggling to keep everything airborne.
You can buy a lot of time by combining similar everyday tasks. If a project must be done on the third floor, the person can also bring tools for a project on the second floor so he won't have to return to gather more tools. Making a shopping list rather than going to the store separately for every item also saves time.
Clearly, saving time starts with planning. Another trick is to think ahead and let others help with the work at hand. For example, although the property manager may be convenient to lead a tour, a knowledgeable board member could lead the tour instead. If new lightbulbs and stepping stools are available in the main office, staff can replace the lightbulbs themselves without having to call maintenance workers. This saves time for maintenance workers to focus on projects that require more specialized skills -which is what they were hired to do.
A third way to plan ahead is to have an inventory on hand of commonly needed parts and supplies. However, this will only work if you install uniform fixtures, appliances, and equipment. Things like standard filter sizes and identical door handles allow you to have a smaller inventory on hand. With standard fixtures, maintenance workers can quickly ascertain what they need to do a job, and staff need only learn a few procedures rather than many.
The few seconds you save today can add up to minutes that add up to hours that add up to days of time saved over the course of a year. Come up with creative shortcuts and see how much time you can save.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Tips and tools for grounds walk-throughs
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you’ll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities.
Walk-Throughs and Inspections: Taking a Fresh Perspective
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you'll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities. These walk-throughs will give you opportunities to perform visual inspections, examine work done previously, confirm the need for scheduled work, check safety conditions, uncover additional work to be done, and discover unknown participant wear. They may also highlight an already observed deterioration made worse by hail, wind, heat, or cold.
How often should you check things? Your state's regulations and accreditation standards and guidelines provide a starting point. Use your risk management plan (see chapter 11) and your general knowledge of the site and facilities, the participant volume, and the severity of the weather in your region to determine your walk-through schedule. For example, you may conduct a walk-through twice a year-once after the rainy season and once after the hot summer-to note the impact of severe weather conditions. It would also be a good idea to take a look during a rainstorm to see how effectively water moves throughout the property. You may have an outside expert come out just once a year. You'll need to determine the timing and scheduling of the various walk-throughs listed in this book based on your unique property.
For a large property, the property director may be a general licensed contractor and would be qualified to perform the walk-through inspection. For a smaller property, the majority of the walk-through inspections might need to be completed by an outside expert. This is because the staff person responsible for maintenance may be hired only to perform light maintenance and custodial work and may not have the skill set needed for inspections.
The following are important considerations for all walk-throughs:
• Select carefully the person or people for each of the walk-throughs in this book; make decisions based on their assessment skills and expertise. Before engaging an outside inspector, be sure to check her background, certifications, insurance coverage, skills, and knowledge of your type of operation.
• Take note of areas where a professional may be needed or required for a part of the walk-through. A licensed inspector would be used when regulations require one, when the walk-through person is not qualified for a particular inspection, or when called for by the risk management plan. Often this professional will provide his own form; the items listed in the checklist are simply a reminder that the task needs to be completed. Examples of experts you may call include a forester and an electrical inspector.
• Although an on-site person may have the skills to conduct the walk-through, it can be helpful to ask an external person to conduct a walk-through to get a fresh perspective. In addition, an external person can be seen as having more authority, which helps to support a case for a project within the organization.
• Determine whether it is appropriate for the administrator to accompany the inspector during a walk-through. Her firsthand observations can be helpful for future discussions and planning sessions. You may decide, however, that it is more useful to have the administrator review the walk-through and inspection summary reports with the site personnel at a later date.
• Have the property director accompany the external inspector on the site tour to see the needs through his eyes and gather as much information as possible. Ask questions, but do not direct or try to influence him. You want to ensure his objectivity. Listen and learn from a fresh perspective, but also discuss any areas of concern. When he completes his written inspection report, you will know which areas need immediate corrective action and which areas you can incorporate into your work plan.
• Prepare a written report of your walk-though. This is important from a risk management perspective and because you need to document accurately the work needing to be done.
Remember, your staff and participants can be your unofficial inspectors on a daily basis. By training them to be observant and making it easy to submit written maintenance requests, you are never the only set of eyes looking at the conditions.
Scheduling Your Grounds Walk-Through
The previous section described the importance of walk-throughs, their value, and who should conduct them. For your property, decide the best person(s) to perform the grounds walk-through. To get a bird's-eye view of the elements in this grounds section, use tool 5.1. It includes a common set of items to examine, which is easy to modify to meet your needs.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Careful planning helps rec departments make most of volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor.
A Treasured Resource: Volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers may already be involved in your organization, in parent groups in schools, alumni groups, and service project groups. In addition, some people are looking for ways to improve the local community, service clubs are looking for worthwhile projects, high school students need community service hours for graduation, corporations want to sponsor community days, Girl Scouts want to do Gold projects, Boy Scouts want to do Eagle projects, people in national service organizations are looking for volunteer opportunities, and people need to perform community service hours required by the courts. Each of these groups of volunteers represents people with unique experiences, expectations, and needs. As a result, you may work differently with each group as you manage your site and facility projects.
Most volunteers are motivated by a true desire to make a difference. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor. Be aware of the following volunteer trends when selecting and designing volunteer projects:
- Volunteer time is limited, and sometimes decreasing. According to an Independent Sector report, Giving and Volunteering in the United States (2001), 44 percent of the adult population volunteered 3.6 hours per week, a total that may be divided among many organizations. In the 2004 Canadian study, National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, 45 percent of the population volunteered an average of 3.2 hours per week. (Mandatory community service is included in these estimates.)
- People who volunteer often want shorter-term or one-time activities rather than long-term commitments.
- Regulations are specifying the types and boundaries of some volunteer work.
- Through the use of technology, volunteers across the country can do volunteer work at home.
There is some new vocabulary to reflect these changes such as episodic volunteers for short-term volunteers and virtual volunteers for volunteers who work at a distance. When soliciting volunteers, use language that speaks to their needs. In addition to describing the work, describe how the work will be done, such as, "work with a team to tear down the old drywall" or, "learn new skills from our team captain extraordinaire." You'll also want to describe the impact the work will have on the participants, such as "taking down the old fence will clear the way for the next crew to install a playground fence that will be safer for the children."
Keep in mind that people volunteer for many reasons. It is not just about the work getting done; people are looking to feel a sense of accomplishment, do something much needed for participants, learn a new skill, or meet people with similar values. Organizations benefiting from the work of volunteers must give something back to those volunteers, while keeping an eye on the mission of the organization. Invite volunteers to join in the activities by enthusiastically expressing your appreciation and showing them how they can connect.
When people think of site and facility volunteers, they commonly think of physical projects: painting, cleaning, electrical work, and so on. However, an effective volunteer program for site and facilities can include work such as cooking a meal for the work crew, being a photographer, or conducting research on the Internet at home. Others may wish to contribute gifts in kind or send a check. Other volunteers are interested in planning, organizing, or governance committee work. Consider all forms of volunteering in your planning. Clearly define the volunteer opportunities available and outline the time requirements for each.
To keep your volunteers feeling valued, strive to place them in jobs that best use their talents. A useful method is to briefly describe the projects that need to be done and allow volunteers to sign on for specific projects. This helps establish a clear understanding between the organization and the volunteer. When you use a chart similar to tool 3.5, potential volunteers have a clear understanding of their commitment, the value and importance of the project, and the expectations of the project.
Volunteers come to organizations in a variety of ways. Some call, e-mail, or send a resume when they move to town. Others you may actively recruit because of the skills you know they have. A general organizational interest survey is helpful if you have many volunteers to keep track of. The types of site and facility questions you can include are shown in tool 3.6. You may also decide to combine the interest survey with a volunteer application to include a photograph release and background check.
The interest survey can help you determine the depth and breadth of a volunteer's skills. After discussions with the volunteer for clarification, you are ready to verify any specialized skills by verifying photocopies of licenses and certifications, performing reference checks, or having a tryout period with an initial project.
When you collect volunteer information, it is essential to have a process in place for accessing and using the data. For example, if you need plumbing help, you need to be able to easily use your list or database to find volunteers with plumbing licenses without looking at every paper form. Being organized gives you a short list from which to choose.
Volunteers should be successful, and their projects should be worthwhile to the organization. The last thing you want is for a staff member to have to redo a volunteer project because it was not done well. This is frustrating for volunteers and staff alike. Thus, select, design, and supervise projects so all can be successful.
A high-quality volunteer program can add depth, value, support, and financial savings to the organization. However, a successful volunteer program doesn't just happen. It takes hard work by the volunteer coordinator, volunteers, and staff. The program is not just about getting the work done successfully; it is also about focusing on the volunteers themselves. The organization needs to care for the volunteers, use their strengths, respect their time, and provide a fantastic experience-all while keeping the needs of the organization in mind.
The tasks for organizing a volunteer program can be grouped into five parts as described in Working Effectively With Volunteers below.
Working Effectively With Volunteers
There are five points for managing your volunteer program to make it stellar.
Preparation
- Develop and implement a clear risk management plan for volunteer work. (See chapter 11 for risk management concerns in working with volunteers.)
- Investigate and clarify regulations and codes pertinent to the projects.
- Develop an annual volunteer project chart that includes the details of timing, specific skills required, and number of people needed (see tool 3.5). Include direct project work (skilled and general work) and indirect work (first aid, photography, cooking, publicity, article writing, database work, virtual research). Where possible, schedule tasks around the volunteer's schedule, provide flexibility, and offer options. Include appropriate projects for youth and older adults. Can a nonskilled crew prepare the materials for the skilled labor a week prior?
- Develop an annual wish list of gift-in-kind needs, including supplies and materials for work projects.
- Prepare written materials, such as job descriptions, a photography release, agreements (expected hours, milestones, benchmarks, and project begin and end dates), applications, and a volunteer handbook (with policies and procedures).
- Do you need a volunteer planning committee?
Invitation
- Coordinate with the publicity person to highlight volunteer opportunities and their beneficial impact on participants. Publish in newsletters and on the Web, send e-mails, and post on strategically located bulletin boards.
- Collect volunteer applications. Input information in a volunteer database.
- Use screening techniques: Check licensing, verify work experience, gather references. Verify skills using an external source when appropriate.
- Match volunteers' work styles and philosophies to the organization's mission, needs, and strategic plan.
- Confirm project information to volunteers, including dates and times, meal(s), materials to bring, and clothing.
- Sign written agreements as appropriate.
- Hold an orientation and give general information about the organization: its mission, policies, and procedures; the impact of the volunteer program; and benefits. This may be done at the start of the project work.
Project Work
- Don't waste a volunteer's time. Be completely organized when volunteers arrive to work. Have tools and supplies assembled and prepared as appropriate.
- In case of emergency, have communication equipment, a first aid box, and an emergency vehicle ready.
- Conduct a training specific to the project, including expectations, the availability of first aid, project hazards, and skill training.
- Plan for volunteers to be supervised by skilled people who focus on the safety of volunteers and the quality of work. Choose team leaders who have the required leadership skills, and provide leader orientation for those leading large groups or projects. Designate a "technical expert" to assist as necessary. For instance, a team leader who is a professional painter may act as the technical expert on preparing aged wood siding for repainting. Figure 3.2 illustrates a possible supervisory structure using paid or volunteer supervisory staff with volunteer workers on a short-term project.
Wrap-Up
- Clean up, gather tools, collect trash, and protect work that isn't quite finished.
- Gather volunteer feedback about their experiences using a project evaluation such as shown in tool 3.7. Provide a way for volunteers to turn in the evaluation anonymously to make sure you get the "real scoop." Be sure to address any complaints immediately. The compiled information can be used in newsletter articles, as an evaluation tool, and as data for planning other events. Comments given under the "what was the most rewarding" section make great additions to the publicity for your next volunteer opportunity.
- Evaluate volunteers, as applicable.
- Keep records, including the number of volunteers, the total hours worked, and any incidents that occurred. Summarize volunteer evaluations and project evaluations. Use the results to improve the next project and strengthen your volunteer initiatives.
Recognition
- Express appreciation to each volunteer. Volunteers should feel good about the contributions they've made.
- Publicize the work that the volunteers have done in newsletters and on the Web.
- Plan for volunteer recognition awards or events.
- Hang signs or plaques on the project highlighting volunteer work.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Time management important component of property management plan
Abraham Lincoln once said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.” A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Abraham Lincoln once said, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe." A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Smart time management is key to implementing your property management plan. Managing your time well delivers a range of benefits, some of them obvious, some less so. It improves your overall efficiency; it provides valuable strategic advantages; and it makes space for logical, creative thinking.
This chapter provides tips and tricks for effective time management. You will learn to do more in less time, be an efficient planner, and capitalize on each person's unique skills.
Learning to Be Proactive
You know the feeling. You're sitting at your desk, and you look at the clock. "Three o'clock already?! Where does the time go?" Another day spent working hard, but the tasks are not all done.
In the midst of all the activities, you may find yourself falling into task-focused thinking. Your list of repairs and maintenance keeps growing, so you focus more and more on running around trying to get each thing done. Or, you get bogged down in either-or scenarios, saying, for example, "I have time to do only the repairs. The more time I spend doing the repairs, the less time I have for preventive maintenance. But the more I do repairs, the more I need to do preventive maintenance."
If the majority of your time is spent doing and not planning, your work life might have a chaotic feel to it. It doesn't have to. If you feel as though you're just moving from one crisis to another-don't worry. You can change that by learning to deal with the tasks at hand in a systematic way. To have enough time on a regular basis to reflect, regroup, and plan, you need to be proactive rather than reactive.
Planning the use of your time is important because your time is valuable. Your skills should not be wasted on tasks done inefficiently or tasks that others could do. This is where planning comes in. Can you combine tasks to do them more efficiently? Can you delegate certain tasks to others? Can you devise a system to find staff or participants to help with some aspects of maintenance?
Using creative strategies to free yourself from the hands-on work will buy you time to spend on proactive work. With planning, you can identify, schedule, and perform preventive maintenance rather than being forced to react to the latest breakdown. Your focus can switch from doing specific tasks to keeping everything flowing smoothly, which is a better use of your specialized skills.
You will, of course, need to spend some extra time setting up the procedures, priorities, and work flow and discussing options with your team. As you will soon find out, however, planning time is time well spent.
Changing How You Spend Your Time
The next time you ask, "Where does the time go?" try answering the question for yourself. Keep a diary of how you spent your time for a whole week, or use your personal business organizer, such as a PDA or day planner, to refresh your memory, and compile your hours using the list provided in tool 8.1.
Because each person's job is unique and each organization does things differently, there are no rules for determining how much time spent in each category is enough. However, it is important to look at the bigger picture and review the list of hours spent at various categories of tasks. Are you doing work that matches your skills? Are you doing the work you were hired to do? Do the hours reflect the priorities of the job and the organization? Have you spent time doing proactive work?
Now look at your list at a finer level of detail: Which category of tasks takes up the most time? Do your hours for that category reflect reactions to complaints or last-minute requests? Which category seems to be the most frustrating? You need to take care of the reactive types of tasks, especially when there are health and safety concerns, but make a point of addressing the reasons you end up in reactive mode, and look for alternative strategies to use in the future.
If there is an area in which you would like to spend less time, choose a priority task from the list and set a goal for completion. List three specific actions that will help you accomplish this goal. For example, under "Maintenance and repairing-Facilities and Equipment," you might set as a goal, "Find ways to do things differently to save me time." Here are three specific actions you could take to move you toward that goal:
• I will find one volunteer to help five hours a month.
• With one staff person, I will discuss a task and ask for his or her suggestions for a different approach.
• I will read a book or listen to an electronic book on how to delegate tasks effectively.
When you take actions or make intentional changes in how you use your precious time, you become more proactive and less reactive. You become more effective in the work you do, and more significantly, you find the time to accomplish the important work. The important work cannot wait until tomorrow; the future of your organization's site and facilities depends on your ability to consistently find the time to address the important items.
Saving Time by Planning Ahead
Considering the range of management tasks and responsibilities you must master to be successful, you may frequently feel like the circus juggler trying to keep six assorted implements flying through the air. Even an excellent time manager may have to do some fancy juggling to keep everything airborne.
You can buy a lot of time by combining similar everyday tasks. If a project must be done on the third floor, the person can also bring tools for a project on the second floor so he won't have to return to gather more tools. Making a shopping list rather than going to the store separately for every item also saves time.
Clearly, saving time starts with planning. Another trick is to think ahead and let others help with the work at hand. For example, although the property manager may be convenient to lead a tour, a knowledgeable board member could lead the tour instead. If new lightbulbs and stepping stools are available in the main office, staff can replace the lightbulbs themselves without having to call maintenance workers. This saves time for maintenance workers to focus on projects that require more specialized skills -which is what they were hired to do.
A third way to plan ahead is to have an inventory on hand of commonly needed parts and supplies. However, this will only work if you install uniform fixtures, appliances, and equipment. Things like standard filter sizes and identical door handles allow you to have a smaller inventory on hand. With standard fixtures, maintenance workers can quickly ascertain what they need to do a job, and staff need only learn a few procedures rather than many.
The few seconds you save today can add up to minutes that add up to hours that add up to days of time saved over the course of a year. Come up with creative shortcuts and see how much time you can save.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Tips and tools for grounds walk-throughs
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you’ll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities.
Walk-Throughs and Inspections: Taking a Fresh Perspective
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you'll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities. These walk-throughs will give you opportunities to perform visual inspections, examine work done previously, confirm the need for scheduled work, check safety conditions, uncover additional work to be done, and discover unknown participant wear. They may also highlight an already observed deterioration made worse by hail, wind, heat, or cold.
How often should you check things? Your state's regulations and accreditation standards and guidelines provide a starting point. Use your risk management plan (see chapter 11) and your general knowledge of the site and facilities, the participant volume, and the severity of the weather in your region to determine your walk-through schedule. For example, you may conduct a walk-through twice a year-once after the rainy season and once after the hot summer-to note the impact of severe weather conditions. It would also be a good idea to take a look during a rainstorm to see how effectively water moves throughout the property. You may have an outside expert come out just once a year. You'll need to determine the timing and scheduling of the various walk-throughs listed in this book based on your unique property.
For a large property, the property director may be a general licensed contractor and would be qualified to perform the walk-through inspection. For a smaller property, the majority of the walk-through inspections might need to be completed by an outside expert. This is because the staff person responsible for maintenance may be hired only to perform light maintenance and custodial work and may not have the skill set needed for inspections.
The following are important considerations for all walk-throughs:
• Select carefully the person or people for each of the walk-throughs in this book; make decisions based on their assessment skills and expertise. Before engaging an outside inspector, be sure to check her background, certifications, insurance coverage, skills, and knowledge of your type of operation.
• Take note of areas where a professional may be needed or required for a part of the walk-through. A licensed inspector would be used when regulations require one, when the walk-through person is not qualified for a particular inspection, or when called for by the risk management plan. Often this professional will provide his own form; the items listed in the checklist are simply a reminder that the task needs to be completed. Examples of experts you may call include a forester and an electrical inspector.
• Although an on-site person may have the skills to conduct the walk-through, it can be helpful to ask an external person to conduct a walk-through to get a fresh perspective. In addition, an external person can be seen as having more authority, which helps to support a case for a project within the organization.
• Determine whether it is appropriate for the administrator to accompany the inspector during a walk-through. Her firsthand observations can be helpful for future discussions and planning sessions. You may decide, however, that it is more useful to have the administrator review the walk-through and inspection summary reports with the site personnel at a later date.
• Have the property director accompany the external inspector on the site tour to see the needs through his eyes and gather as much information as possible. Ask questions, but do not direct or try to influence him. You want to ensure his objectivity. Listen and learn from a fresh perspective, but also discuss any areas of concern. When he completes his written inspection report, you will know which areas need immediate corrective action and which areas you can incorporate into your work plan.
• Prepare a written report of your walk-though. This is important from a risk management perspective and because you need to document accurately the work needing to be done.
Remember, your staff and participants can be your unofficial inspectors on a daily basis. By training them to be observant and making it easy to submit written maintenance requests, you are never the only set of eyes looking at the conditions.
Scheduling Your Grounds Walk-Through
The previous section described the importance of walk-throughs, their value, and who should conduct them. For your property, decide the best person(s) to perform the grounds walk-through. To get a bird's-eye view of the elements in this grounds section, use tool 5.1. It includes a common set of items to examine, which is easy to modify to meet your needs.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Careful planning helps rec departments make most of volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor.
A Treasured Resource: Volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers may already be involved in your organization, in parent groups in schools, alumni groups, and service project groups. In addition, some people are looking for ways to improve the local community, service clubs are looking for worthwhile projects, high school students need community service hours for graduation, corporations want to sponsor community days, Girl Scouts want to do Gold projects, Boy Scouts want to do Eagle projects, people in national service organizations are looking for volunteer opportunities, and people need to perform community service hours required by the courts. Each of these groups of volunteers represents people with unique experiences, expectations, and needs. As a result, you may work differently with each group as you manage your site and facility projects.
Most volunteers are motivated by a true desire to make a difference. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor. Be aware of the following volunteer trends when selecting and designing volunteer projects:
- Volunteer time is limited, and sometimes decreasing. According to an Independent Sector report, Giving and Volunteering in the United States (2001), 44 percent of the adult population volunteered 3.6 hours per week, a total that may be divided among many organizations. In the 2004 Canadian study, National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, 45 percent of the population volunteered an average of 3.2 hours per week. (Mandatory community service is included in these estimates.)
- People who volunteer often want shorter-term or one-time activities rather than long-term commitments.
- Regulations are specifying the types and boundaries of some volunteer work.
- Through the use of technology, volunteers across the country can do volunteer work at home.
There is some new vocabulary to reflect these changes such as episodic volunteers for short-term volunteers and virtual volunteers for volunteers who work at a distance. When soliciting volunteers, use language that speaks to their needs. In addition to describing the work, describe how the work will be done, such as, "work with a team to tear down the old drywall" or, "learn new skills from our team captain extraordinaire." You'll also want to describe the impact the work will have on the participants, such as "taking down the old fence will clear the way for the next crew to install a playground fence that will be safer for the children."
Keep in mind that people volunteer for many reasons. It is not just about the work getting done; people are looking to feel a sense of accomplishment, do something much needed for participants, learn a new skill, or meet people with similar values. Organizations benefiting from the work of volunteers must give something back to those volunteers, while keeping an eye on the mission of the organization. Invite volunteers to join in the activities by enthusiastically expressing your appreciation and showing them how they can connect.
When people think of site and facility volunteers, they commonly think of physical projects: painting, cleaning, electrical work, and so on. However, an effective volunteer program for site and facilities can include work such as cooking a meal for the work crew, being a photographer, or conducting research on the Internet at home. Others may wish to contribute gifts in kind or send a check. Other volunteers are interested in planning, organizing, or governance committee work. Consider all forms of volunteering in your planning. Clearly define the volunteer opportunities available and outline the time requirements for each.
To keep your volunteers feeling valued, strive to place them in jobs that best use their talents. A useful method is to briefly describe the projects that need to be done and allow volunteers to sign on for specific projects. This helps establish a clear understanding between the organization and the volunteer. When you use a chart similar to tool 3.5, potential volunteers have a clear understanding of their commitment, the value and importance of the project, and the expectations of the project.
Volunteers come to organizations in a variety of ways. Some call, e-mail, or send a resume when they move to town. Others you may actively recruit because of the skills you know they have. A general organizational interest survey is helpful if you have many volunteers to keep track of. The types of site and facility questions you can include are shown in tool 3.6. You may also decide to combine the interest survey with a volunteer application to include a photograph release and background check.
The interest survey can help you determine the depth and breadth of a volunteer's skills. After discussions with the volunteer for clarification, you are ready to verify any specialized skills by verifying photocopies of licenses and certifications, performing reference checks, or having a tryout period with an initial project.
When you collect volunteer information, it is essential to have a process in place for accessing and using the data. For example, if you need plumbing help, you need to be able to easily use your list or database to find volunteers with plumbing licenses without looking at every paper form. Being organized gives you a short list from which to choose.
Volunteers should be successful, and their projects should be worthwhile to the organization. The last thing you want is for a staff member to have to redo a volunteer project because it was not done well. This is frustrating for volunteers and staff alike. Thus, select, design, and supervise projects so all can be successful.
A high-quality volunteer program can add depth, value, support, and financial savings to the organization. However, a successful volunteer program doesn't just happen. It takes hard work by the volunteer coordinator, volunteers, and staff. The program is not just about getting the work done successfully; it is also about focusing on the volunteers themselves. The organization needs to care for the volunteers, use their strengths, respect their time, and provide a fantastic experience-all while keeping the needs of the organization in mind.
The tasks for organizing a volunteer program can be grouped into five parts as described in Working Effectively With Volunteers below.
Working Effectively With Volunteers
There are five points for managing your volunteer program to make it stellar.
Preparation
- Develop and implement a clear risk management plan for volunteer work. (See chapter 11 for risk management concerns in working with volunteers.)
- Investigate and clarify regulations and codes pertinent to the projects.
- Develop an annual volunteer project chart that includes the details of timing, specific skills required, and number of people needed (see tool 3.5). Include direct project work (skilled and general work) and indirect work (first aid, photography, cooking, publicity, article writing, database work, virtual research). Where possible, schedule tasks around the volunteer's schedule, provide flexibility, and offer options. Include appropriate projects for youth and older adults. Can a nonskilled crew prepare the materials for the skilled labor a week prior?
- Develop an annual wish list of gift-in-kind needs, including supplies and materials for work projects.
- Prepare written materials, such as job descriptions, a photography release, agreements (expected hours, milestones, benchmarks, and project begin and end dates), applications, and a volunteer handbook (with policies and procedures).
- Do you need a volunteer planning committee?
Invitation
- Coordinate with the publicity person to highlight volunteer opportunities and their beneficial impact on participants. Publish in newsletters and on the Web, send e-mails, and post on strategically located bulletin boards.
- Collect volunteer applications. Input information in a volunteer database.
- Use screening techniques: Check licensing, verify work experience, gather references. Verify skills using an external source when appropriate.
- Match volunteers' work styles and philosophies to the organization's mission, needs, and strategic plan.
- Confirm project information to volunteers, including dates and times, meal(s), materials to bring, and clothing.
- Sign written agreements as appropriate.
- Hold an orientation and give general information about the organization: its mission, policies, and procedures; the impact of the volunteer program; and benefits. This may be done at the start of the project work.
Project Work
- Don't waste a volunteer's time. Be completely organized when volunteers arrive to work. Have tools and supplies assembled and prepared as appropriate.
- In case of emergency, have communication equipment, a first aid box, and an emergency vehicle ready.
- Conduct a training specific to the project, including expectations, the availability of first aid, project hazards, and skill training.
- Plan for volunteers to be supervised by skilled people who focus on the safety of volunteers and the quality of work. Choose team leaders who have the required leadership skills, and provide leader orientation for those leading large groups or projects. Designate a "technical expert" to assist as necessary. For instance, a team leader who is a professional painter may act as the technical expert on preparing aged wood siding for repainting. Figure 3.2 illustrates a possible supervisory structure using paid or volunteer supervisory staff with volunteer workers on a short-term project.
Wrap-Up
- Clean up, gather tools, collect trash, and protect work that isn't quite finished.
- Gather volunteer feedback about their experiences using a project evaluation such as shown in tool 3.7. Provide a way for volunteers to turn in the evaluation anonymously to make sure you get the "real scoop." Be sure to address any complaints immediately. The compiled information can be used in newsletter articles, as an evaluation tool, and as data for planning other events. Comments given under the "what was the most rewarding" section make great additions to the publicity for your next volunteer opportunity.
- Evaluate volunteers, as applicable.
- Keep records, including the number of volunteers, the total hours worked, and any incidents that occurred. Summarize volunteer evaluations and project evaluations. Use the results to improve the next project and strengthen your volunteer initiatives.
Recognition
- Express appreciation to each volunteer. Volunteers should feel good about the contributions they've made.
- Publicize the work that the volunteers have done in newsletters and on the Web.
- Plan for volunteer recognition awards or events.
- Hang signs or plaques on the project highlighting volunteer work.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Time management important component of property management plan
Abraham Lincoln once said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.” A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Abraham Lincoln once said, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe." A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Smart time management is key to implementing your property management plan. Managing your time well delivers a range of benefits, some of them obvious, some less so. It improves your overall efficiency; it provides valuable strategic advantages; and it makes space for logical, creative thinking.
This chapter provides tips and tricks for effective time management. You will learn to do more in less time, be an efficient planner, and capitalize on each person's unique skills.
Learning to Be Proactive
You know the feeling. You're sitting at your desk, and you look at the clock. "Three o'clock already?! Where does the time go?" Another day spent working hard, but the tasks are not all done.
In the midst of all the activities, you may find yourself falling into task-focused thinking. Your list of repairs and maintenance keeps growing, so you focus more and more on running around trying to get each thing done. Or, you get bogged down in either-or scenarios, saying, for example, "I have time to do only the repairs. The more time I spend doing the repairs, the less time I have for preventive maintenance. But the more I do repairs, the more I need to do preventive maintenance."
If the majority of your time is spent doing and not planning, your work life might have a chaotic feel to it. It doesn't have to. If you feel as though you're just moving from one crisis to another-don't worry. You can change that by learning to deal with the tasks at hand in a systematic way. To have enough time on a regular basis to reflect, regroup, and plan, you need to be proactive rather than reactive.
Planning the use of your time is important because your time is valuable. Your skills should not be wasted on tasks done inefficiently or tasks that others could do. This is where planning comes in. Can you combine tasks to do them more efficiently? Can you delegate certain tasks to others? Can you devise a system to find staff or participants to help with some aspects of maintenance?
Using creative strategies to free yourself from the hands-on work will buy you time to spend on proactive work. With planning, you can identify, schedule, and perform preventive maintenance rather than being forced to react to the latest breakdown. Your focus can switch from doing specific tasks to keeping everything flowing smoothly, which is a better use of your specialized skills.
You will, of course, need to spend some extra time setting up the procedures, priorities, and work flow and discussing options with your team. As you will soon find out, however, planning time is time well spent.
Changing How You Spend Your Time
The next time you ask, "Where does the time go?" try answering the question for yourself. Keep a diary of how you spent your time for a whole week, or use your personal business organizer, such as a PDA or day planner, to refresh your memory, and compile your hours using the list provided in tool 8.1.
Because each person's job is unique and each organization does things differently, there are no rules for determining how much time spent in each category is enough. However, it is important to look at the bigger picture and review the list of hours spent at various categories of tasks. Are you doing work that matches your skills? Are you doing the work you were hired to do? Do the hours reflect the priorities of the job and the organization? Have you spent time doing proactive work?
Now look at your list at a finer level of detail: Which category of tasks takes up the most time? Do your hours for that category reflect reactions to complaints or last-minute requests? Which category seems to be the most frustrating? You need to take care of the reactive types of tasks, especially when there are health and safety concerns, but make a point of addressing the reasons you end up in reactive mode, and look for alternative strategies to use in the future.
If there is an area in which you would like to spend less time, choose a priority task from the list and set a goal for completion. List three specific actions that will help you accomplish this goal. For example, under "Maintenance and repairing-Facilities and Equipment," you might set as a goal, "Find ways to do things differently to save me time." Here are three specific actions you could take to move you toward that goal:
• I will find one volunteer to help five hours a month.
• With one staff person, I will discuss a task and ask for his or her suggestions for a different approach.
• I will read a book or listen to an electronic book on how to delegate tasks effectively.
When you take actions or make intentional changes in how you use your precious time, you become more proactive and less reactive. You become more effective in the work you do, and more significantly, you find the time to accomplish the important work. The important work cannot wait until tomorrow; the future of your organization's site and facilities depends on your ability to consistently find the time to address the important items.
Saving Time by Planning Ahead
Considering the range of management tasks and responsibilities you must master to be successful, you may frequently feel like the circus juggler trying to keep six assorted implements flying through the air. Even an excellent time manager may have to do some fancy juggling to keep everything airborne.
You can buy a lot of time by combining similar everyday tasks. If a project must be done on the third floor, the person can also bring tools for a project on the second floor so he won't have to return to gather more tools. Making a shopping list rather than going to the store separately for every item also saves time.
Clearly, saving time starts with planning. Another trick is to think ahead and let others help with the work at hand. For example, although the property manager may be convenient to lead a tour, a knowledgeable board member could lead the tour instead. If new lightbulbs and stepping stools are available in the main office, staff can replace the lightbulbs themselves without having to call maintenance workers. This saves time for maintenance workers to focus on projects that require more specialized skills -which is what they were hired to do.
A third way to plan ahead is to have an inventory on hand of commonly needed parts and supplies. However, this will only work if you install uniform fixtures, appliances, and equipment. Things like standard filter sizes and identical door handles allow you to have a smaller inventory on hand. With standard fixtures, maintenance workers can quickly ascertain what they need to do a job, and staff need only learn a few procedures rather than many.
The few seconds you save today can add up to minutes that add up to hours that add up to days of time saved over the course of a year. Come up with creative shortcuts and see how much time you can save.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Tips and tools for grounds walk-throughs
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you’ll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities.
Walk-Throughs and Inspections: Taking a Fresh Perspective
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you'll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities. These walk-throughs will give you opportunities to perform visual inspections, examine work done previously, confirm the need for scheduled work, check safety conditions, uncover additional work to be done, and discover unknown participant wear. They may also highlight an already observed deterioration made worse by hail, wind, heat, or cold.
How often should you check things? Your state's regulations and accreditation standards and guidelines provide a starting point. Use your risk management plan (see chapter 11) and your general knowledge of the site and facilities, the participant volume, and the severity of the weather in your region to determine your walk-through schedule. For example, you may conduct a walk-through twice a year-once after the rainy season and once after the hot summer-to note the impact of severe weather conditions. It would also be a good idea to take a look during a rainstorm to see how effectively water moves throughout the property. You may have an outside expert come out just once a year. You'll need to determine the timing and scheduling of the various walk-throughs listed in this book based on your unique property.
For a large property, the property director may be a general licensed contractor and would be qualified to perform the walk-through inspection. For a smaller property, the majority of the walk-through inspections might need to be completed by an outside expert. This is because the staff person responsible for maintenance may be hired only to perform light maintenance and custodial work and may not have the skill set needed for inspections.
The following are important considerations for all walk-throughs:
• Select carefully the person or people for each of the walk-throughs in this book; make decisions based on their assessment skills and expertise. Before engaging an outside inspector, be sure to check her background, certifications, insurance coverage, skills, and knowledge of your type of operation.
• Take note of areas where a professional may be needed or required for a part of the walk-through. A licensed inspector would be used when regulations require one, when the walk-through person is not qualified for a particular inspection, or when called for by the risk management plan. Often this professional will provide his own form; the items listed in the checklist are simply a reminder that the task needs to be completed. Examples of experts you may call include a forester and an electrical inspector.
• Although an on-site person may have the skills to conduct the walk-through, it can be helpful to ask an external person to conduct a walk-through to get a fresh perspective. In addition, an external person can be seen as having more authority, which helps to support a case for a project within the organization.
• Determine whether it is appropriate for the administrator to accompany the inspector during a walk-through. Her firsthand observations can be helpful for future discussions and planning sessions. You may decide, however, that it is more useful to have the administrator review the walk-through and inspection summary reports with the site personnel at a later date.
• Have the property director accompany the external inspector on the site tour to see the needs through his eyes and gather as much information as possible. Ask questions, but do not direct or try to influence him. You want to ensure his objectivity. Listen and learn from a fresh perspective, but also discuss any areas of concern. When he completes his written inspection report, you will know which areas need immediate corrective action and which areas you can incorporate into your work plan.
• Prepare a written report of your walk-though. This is important from a risk management perspective and because you need to document accurately the work needing to be done.
Remember, your staff and participants can be your unofficial inspectors on a daily basis. By training them to be observant and making it easy to submit written maintenance requests, you are never the only set of eyes looking at the conditions.
Scheduling Your Grounds Walk-Through
The previous section described the importance of walk-throughs, their value, and who should conduct them. For your property, decide the best person(s) to perform the grounds walk-through. To get a bird's-eye view of the elements in this grounds section, use tool 5.1. It includes a common set of items to examine, which is easy to modify to meet your needs.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Careful planning helps rec departments make most of volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor.
A Treasured Resource: Volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers may already be involved in your organization, in parent groups in schools, alumni groups, and service project groups. In addition, some people are looking for ways to improve the local community, service clubs are looking for worthwhile projects, high school students need community service hours for graduation, corporations want to sponsor community days, Girl Scouts want to do Gold projects, Boy Scouts want to do Eagle projects, people in national service organizations are looking for volunteer opportunities, and people need to perform community service hours required by the courts. Each of these groups of volunteers represents people with unique experiences, expectations, and needs. As a result, you may work differently with each group as you manage your site and facility projects.
Most volunteers are motivated by a true desire to make a difference. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor. Be aware of the following volunteer trends when selecting and designing volunteer projects:
- Volunteer time is limited, and sometimes decreasing. According to an Independent Sector report, Giving and Volunteering in the United States (2001), 44 percent of the adult population volunteered 3.6 hours per week, a total that may be divided among many organizations. In the 2004 Canadian study, National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, 45 percent of the population volunteered an average of 3.2 hours per week. (Mandatory community service is included in these estimates.)
- People who volunteer often want shorter-term or one-time activities rather than long-term commitments.
- Regulations are specifying the types and boundaries of some volunteer work.
- Through the use of technology, volunteers across the country can do volunteer work at home.
There is some new vocabulary to reflect these changes such as episodic volunteers for short-term volunteers and virtual volunteers for volunteers who work at a distance. When soliciting volunteers, use language that speaks to their needs. In addition to describing the work, describe how the work will be done, such as, "work with a team to tear down the old drywall" or, "learn new skills from our team captain extraordinaire." You'll also want to describe the impact the work will have on the participants, such as "taking down the old fence will clear the way for the next crew to install a playground fence that will be safer for the children."
Keep in mind that people volunteer for many reasons. It is not just about the work getting done; people are looking to feel a sense of accomplishment, do something much needed for participants, learn a new skill, or meet people with similar values. Organizations benefiting from the work of volunteers must give something back to those volunteers, while keeping an eye on the mission of the organization. Invite volunteers to join in the activities by enthusiastically expressing your appreciation and showing them how they can connect.
When people think of site and facility volunteers, they commonly think of physical projects: painting, cleaning, electrical work, and so on. However, an effective volunteer program for site and facilities can include work such as cooking a meal for the work crew, being a photographer, or conducting research on the Internet at home. Others may wish to contribute gifts in kind or send a check. Other volunteers are interested in planning, organizing, or governance committee work. Consider all forms of volunteering in your planning. Clearly define the volunteer opportunities available and outline the time requirements for each.
To keep your volunteers feeling valued, strive to place them in jobs that best use their talents. A useful method is to briefly describe the projects that need to be done and allow volunteers to sign on for specific projects. This helps establish a clear understanding between the organization and the volunteer. When you use a chart similar to tool 3.5, potential volunteers have a clear understanding of their commitment, the value and importance of the project, and the expectations of the project.
Volunteers come to organizations in a variety of ways. Some call, e-mail, or send a resume when they move to town. Others you may actively recruit because of the skills you know they have. A general organizational interest survey is helpful if you have many volunteers to keep track of. The types of site and facility questions you can include are shown in tool 3.6. You may also decide to combine the interest survey with a volunteer application to include a photograph release and background check.
The interest survey can help you determine the depth and breadth of a volunteer's skills. After discussions with the volunteer for clarification, you are ready to verify any specialized skills by verifying photocopies of licenses and certifications, performing reference checks, or having a tryout period with an initial project.
When you collect volunteer information, it is essential to have a process in place for accessing and using the data. For example, if you need plumbing help, you need to be able to easily use your list or database to find volunteers with plumbing licenses without looking at every paper form. Being organized gives you a short list from which to choose.
Volunteers should be successful, and their projects should be worthwhile to the organization. The last thing you want is for a staff member to have to redo a volunteer project because it was not done well. This is frustrating for volunteers and staff alike. Thus, select, design, and supervise projects so all can be successful.
A high-quality volunteer program can add depth, value, support, and financial savings to the organization. However, a successful volunteer program doesn't just happen. It takes hard work by the volunteer coordinator, volunteers, and staff. The program is not just about getting the work done successfully; it is also about focusing on the volunteers themselves. The organization needs to care for the volunteers, use their strengths, respect their time, and provide a fantastic experience-all while keeping the needs of the organization in mind.
The tasks for organizing a volunteer program can be grouped into five parts as described in Working Effectively With Volunteers below.
Working Effectively With Volunteers
There are five points for managing your volunteer program to make it stellar.
Preparation
- Develop and implement a clear risk management plan for volunteer work. (See chapter 11 for risk management concerns in working with volunteers.)
- Investigate and clarify regulations and codes pertinent to the projects.
- Develop an annual volunteer project chart that includes the details of timing, specific skills required, and number of people needed (see tool 3.5). Include direct project work (skilled and general work) and indirect work (first aid, photography, cooking, publicity, article writing, database work, virtual research). Where possible, schedule tasks around the volunteer's schedule, provide flexibility, and offer options. Include appropriate projects for youth and older adults. Can a nonskilled crew prepare the materials for the skilled labor a week prior?
- Develop an annual wish list of gift-in-kind needs, including supplies and materials for work projects.
- Prepare written materials, such as job descriptions, a photography release, agreements (expected hours, milestones, benchmarks, and project begin and end dates), applications, and a volunteer handbook (with policies and procedures).
- Do you need a volunteer planning committee?
Invitation
- Coordinate with the publicity person to highlight volunteer opportunities and their beneficial impact on participants. Publish in newsletters and on the Web, send e-mails, and post on strategically located bulletin boards.
- Collect volunteer applications. Input information in a volunteer database.
- Use screening techniques: Check licensing, verify work experience, gather references. Verify skills using an external source when appropriate.
- Match volunteers' work styles and philosophies to the organization's mission, needs, and strategic plan.
- Confirm project information to volunteers, including dates and times, meal(s), materials to bring, and clothing.
- Sign written agreements as appropriate.
- Hold an orientation and give general information about the organization: its mission, policies, and procedures; the impact of the volunteer program; and benefits. This may be done at the start of the project work.
Project Work
- Don't waste a volunteer's time. Be completely organized when volunteers arrive to work. Have tools and supplies assembled and prepared as appropriate.
- In case of emergency, have communication equipment, a first aid box, and an emergency vehicle ready.
- Conduct a training specific to the project, including expectations, the availability of first aid, project hazards, and skill training.
- Plan for volunteers to be supervised by skilled people who focus on the safety of volunteers and the quality of work. Choose team leaders who have the required leadership skills, and provide leader orientation for those leading large groups or projects. Designate a "technical expert" to assist as necessary. For instance, a team leader who is a professional painter may act as the technical expert on preparing aged wood siding for repainting. Figure 3.2 illustrates a possible supervisory structure using paid or volunteer supervisory staff with volunteer workers on a short-term project.
Wrap-Up
- Clean up, gather tools, collect trash, and protect work that isn't quite finished.
- Gather volunteer feedback about their experiences using a project evaluation such as shown in tool 3.7. Provide a way for volunteers to turn in the evaluation anonymously to make sure you get the "real scoop." Be sure to address any complaints immediately. The compiled information can be used in newsletter articles, as an evaluation tool, and as data for planning other events. Comments given under the "what was the most rewarding" section make great additions to the publicity for your next volunteer opportunity.
- Evaluate volunteers, as applicable.
- Keep records, including the number of volunteers, the total hours worked, and any incidents that occurred. Summarize volunteer evaluations and project evaluations. Use the results to improve the next project and strengthen your volunteer initiatives.
Recognition
- Express appreciation to each volunteer. Volunteers should feel good about the contributions they've made.
- Publicize the work that the volunteers have done in newsletters and on the Web.
- Plan for volunteer recognition awards or events.
- Hang signs or plaques on the project highlighting volunteer work.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Time management important component of property management plan
Abraham Lincoln once said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.” A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Abraham Lincoln once said, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe." A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Smart time management is key to implementing your property management plan. Managing your time well delivers a range of benefits, some of them obvious, some less so. It improves your overall efficiency; it provides valuable strategic advantages; and it makes space for logical, creative thinking.
This chapter provides tips and tricks for effective time management. You will learn to do more in less time, be an efficient planner, and capitalize on each person's unique skills.
Learning to Be Proactive
You know the feeling. You're sitting at your desk, and you look at the clock. "Three o'clock already?! Where does the time go?" Another day spent working hard, but the tasks are not all done.
In the midst of all the activities, you may find yourself falling into task-focused thinking. Your list of repairs and maintenance keeps growing, so you focus more and more on running around trying to get each thing done. Or, you get bogged down in either-or scenarios, saying, for example, "I have time to do only the repairs. The more time I spend doing the repairs, the less time I have for preventive maintenance. But the more I do repairs, the more I need to do preventive maintenance."
If the majority of your time is spent doing and not planning, your work life might have a chaotic feel to it. It doesn't have to. If you feel as though you're just moving from one crisis to another-don't worry. You can change that by learning to deal with the tasks at hand in a systematic way. To have enough time on a regular basis to reflect, regroup, and plan, you need to be proactive rather than reactive.
Planning the use of your time is important because your time is valuable. Your skills should not be wasted on tasks done inefficiently or tasks that others could do. This is where planning comes in. Can you combine tasks to do them more efficiently? Can you delegate certain tasks to others? Can you devise a system to find staff or participants to help with some aspects of maintenance?
Using creative strategies to free yourself from the hands-on work will buy you time to spend on proactive work. With planning, you can identify, schedule, and perform preventive maintenance rather than being forced to react to the latest breakdown. Your focus can switch from doing specific tasks to keeping everything flowing smoothly, which is a better use of your specialized skills.
You will, of course, need to spend some extra time setting up the procedures, priorities, and work flow and discussing options with your team. As you will soon find out, however, planning time is time well spent.
Changing How You Spend Your Time
The next time you ask, "Where does the time go?" try answering the question for yourself. Keep a diary of how you spent your time for a whole week, or use your personal business organizer, such as a PDA or day planner, to refresh your memory, and compile your hours using the list provided in tool 8.1.
Because each person's job is unique and each organization does things differently, there are no rules for determining how much time spent in each category is enough. However, it is important to look at the bigger picture and review the list of hours spent at various categories of tasks. Are you doing work that matches your skills? Are you doing the work you were hired to do? Do the hours reflect the priorities of the job and the organization? Have you spent time doing proactive work?
Now look at your list at a finer level of detail: Which category of tasks takes up the most time? Do your hours for that category reflect reactions to complaints or last-minute requests? Which category seems to be the most frustrating? You need to take care of the reactive types of tasks, especially when there are health and safety concerns, but make a point of addressing the reasons you end up in reactive mode, and look for alternative strategies to use in the future.
If there is an area in which you would like to spend less time, choose a priority task from the list and set a goal for completion. List three specific actions that will help you accomplish this goal. For example, under "Maintenance and repairing-Facilities and Equipment," you might set as a goal, "Find ways to do things differently to save me time." Here are three specific actions you could take to move you toward that goal:
• I will find one volunteer to help five hours a month.
• With one staff person, I will discuss a task and ask for his or her suggestions for a different approach.
• I will read a book or listen to an electronic book on how to delegate tasks effectively.
When you take actions or make intentional changes in how you use your precious time, you become more proactive and less reactive. You become more effective in the work you do, and more significantly, you find the time to accomplish the important work. The important work cannot wait until tomorrow; the future of your organization's site and facilities depends on your ability to consistently find the time to address the important items.
Saving Time by Planning Ahead
Considering the range of management tasks and responsibilities you must master to be successful, you may frequently feel like the circus juggler trying to keep six assorted implements flying through the air. Even an excellent time manager may have to do some fancy juggling to keep everything airborne.
You can buy a lot of time by combining similar everyday tasks. If a project must be done on the third floor, the person can also bring tools for a project on the second floor so he won't have to return to gather more tools. Making a shopping list rather than going to the store separately for every item also saves time.
Clearly, saving time starts with planning. Another trick is to think ahead and let others help with the work at hand. For example, although the property manager may be convenient to lead a tour, a knowledgeable board member could lead the tour instead. If new lightbulbs and stepping stools are available in the main office, staff can replace the lightbulbs themselves without having to call maintenance workers. This saves time for maintenance workers to focus on projects that require more specialized skills -which is what they were hired to do.
A third way to plan ahead is to have an inventory on hand of commonly needed parts and supplies. However, this will only work if you install uniform fixtures, appliances, and equipment. Things like standard filter sizes and identical door handles allow you to have a smaller inventory on hand. With standard fixtures, maintenance workers can quickly ascertain what they need to do a job, and staff need only learn a few procedures rather than many.
The few seconds you save today can add up to minutes that add up to hours that add up to days of time saved over the course of a year. Come up with creative shortcuts and see how much time you can save.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Tips and tools for grounds walk-throughs
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you’ll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities.
Walk-Throughs and Inspections: Taking a Fresh Perspective
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you'll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities. These walk-throughs will give you opportunities to perform visual inspections, examine work done previously, confirm the need for scheduled work, check safety conditions, uncover additional work to be done, and discover unknown participant wear. They may also highlight an already observed deterioration made worse by hail, wind, heat, or cold.
How often should you check things? Your state's regulations and accreditation standards and guidelines provide a starting point. Use your risk management plan (see chapter 11) and your general knowledge of the site and facilities, the participant volume, and the severity of the weather in your region to determine your walk-through schedule. For example, you may conduct a walk-through twice a year-once after the rainy season and once after the hot summer-to note the impact of severe weather conditions. It would also be a good idea to take a look during a rainstorm to see how effectively water moves throughout the property. You may have an outside expert come out just once a year. You'll need to determine the timing and scheduling of the various walk-throughs listed in this book based on your unique property.
For a large property, the property director may be a general licensed contractor and would be qualified to perform the walk-through inspection. For a smaller property, the majority of the walk-through inspections might need to be completed by an outside expert. This is because the staff person responsible for maintenance may be hired only to perform light maintenance and custodial work and may not have the skill set needed for inspections.
The following are important considerations for all walk-throughs:
• Select carefully the person or people for each of the walk-throughs in this book; make decisions based on their assessment skills and expertise. Before engaging an outside inspector, be sure to check her background, certifications, insurance coverage, skills, and knowledge of your type of operation.
• Take note of areas where a professional may be needed or required for a part of the walk-through. A licensed inspector would be used when regulations require one, when the walk-through person is not qualified for a particular inspection, or when called for by the risk management plan. Often this professional will provide his own form; the items listed in the checklist are simply a reminder that the task needs to be completed. Examples of experts you may call include a forester and an electrical inspector.
• Although an on-site person may have the skills to conduct the walk-through, it can be helpful to ask an external person to conduct a walk-through to get a fresh perspective. In addition, an external person can be seen as having more authority, which helps to support a case for a project within the organization.
• Determine whether it is appropriate for the administrator to accompany the inspector during a walk-through. Her firsthand observations can be helpful for future discussions and planning sessions. You may decide, however, that it is more useful to have the administrator review the walk-through and inspection summary reports with the site personnel at a later date.
• Have the property director accompany the external inspector on the site tour to see the needs through his eyes and gather as much information as possible. Ask questions, but do not direct or try to influence him. You want to ensure his objectivity. Listen and learn from a fresh perspective, but also discuss any areas of concern. When he completes his written inspection report, you will know which areas need immediate corrective action and which areas you can incorporate into your work plan.
• Prepare a written report of your walk-though. This is important from a risk management perspective and because you need to document accurately the work needing to be done.
Remember, your staff and participants can be your unofficial inspectors on a daily basis. By training them to be observant and making it easy to submit written maintenance requests, you are never the only set of eyes looking at the conditions.
Scheduling Your Grounds Walk-Through
The previous section described the importance of walk-throughs, their value, and who should conduct them. For your property, decide the best person(s) to perform the grounds walk-through. To get a bird's-eye view of the elements in this grounds section, use tool 5.1. It includes a common set of items to examine, which is easy to modify to meet your needs.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Careful planning helps rec departments make most of volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor.
A Treasured Resource: Volunteers
Volunteers are a cherished resource for any organization. Volunteers may already be involved in your organization, in parent groups in schools, alumni groups, and service project groups. In addition, some people are looking for ways to improve the local community, service clubs are looking for worthwhile projects, high school students need community service hours for graduation, corporations want to sponsor community days, Girl Scouts want to do Gold projects, Boy Scouts want to do Eagle projects, people in national service organizations are looking for volunteer opportunities, and people need to perform community service hours required by the courts. Each of these groups of volunteers represents people with unique experiences, expectations, and needs. As a result, you may work differently with each group as you manage your site and facility projects.
Most volunteers are motivated by a true desire to make a difference. Volunteers can be your ace in the hole, enabling projects to be completed that might otherwise languish because of lack of funds or labor. Be aware of the following volunteer trends when selecting and designing volunteer projects:
- Volunteer time is limited, and sometimes decreasing. According to an Independent Sector report, Giving and Volunteering in the United States (2001), 44 percent of the adult population volunteered 3.6 hours per week, a total that may be divided among many organizations. In the 2004 Canadian study, National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, 45 percent of the population volunteered an average of 3.2 hours per week. (Mandatory community service is included in these estimates.)
- People who volunteer often want shorter-term or one-time activities rather than long-term commitments.
- Regulations are specifying the types and boundaries of some volunteer work.
- Through the use of technology, volunteers across the country can do volunteer work at home.
There is some new vocabulary to reflect these changes such as episodic volunteers for short-term volunteers and virtual volunteers for volunteers who work at a distance. When soliciting volunteers, use language that speaks to their needs. In addition to describing the work, describe how the work will be done, such as, "work with a team to tear down the old drywall" or, "learn new skills from our team captain extraordinaire." You'll also want to describe the impact the work will have on the participants, such as "taking down the old fence will clear the way for the next crew to install a playground fence that will be safer for the children."
Keep in mind that people volunteer for many reasons. It is not just about the work getting done; people are looking to feel a sense of accomplishment, do something much needed for participants, learn a new skill, or meet people with similar values. Organizations benefiting from the work of volunteers must give something back to those volunteers, while keeping an eye on the mission of the organization. Invite volunteers to join in the activities by enthusiastically expressing your appreciation and showing them how they can connect.
When people think of site and facility volunteers, they commonly think of physical projects: painting, cleaning, electrical work, and so on. However, an effective volunteer program for site and facilities can include work such as cooking a meal for the work crew, being a photographer, or conducting research on the Internet at home. Others may wish to contribute gifts in kind or send a check. Other volunteers are interested in planning, organizing, or governance committee work. Consider all forms of volunteering in your planning. Clearly define the volunteer opportunities available and outline the time requirements for each.
To keep your volunteers feeling valued, strive to place them in jobs that best use their talents. A useful method is to briefly describe the projects that need to be done and allow volunteers to sign on for specific projects. This helps establish a clear understanding between the organization and the volunteer. When you use a chart similar to tool 3.5, potential volunteers have a clear understanding of their commitment, the value and importance of the project, and the expectations of the project.
Volunteers come to organizations in a variety of ways. Some call, e-mail, or send a resume when they move to town. Others you may actively recruit because of the skills you know they have. A general organizational interest survey is helpful if you have many volunteers to keep track of. The types of site and facility questions you can include are shown in tool 3.6. You may also decide to combine the interest survey with a volunteer application to include a photograph release and background check.
The interest survey can help you determine the depth and breadth of a volunteer's skills. After discussions with the volunteer for clarification, you are ready to verify any specialized skills by verifying photocopies of licenses and certifications, performing reference checks, or having a tryout period with an initial project.
When you collect volunteer information, it is essential to have a process in place for accessing and using the data. For example, if you need plumbing help, you need to be able to easily use your list or database to find volunteers with plumbing licenses without looking at every paper form. Being organized gives you a short list from which to choose.
Volunteers should be successful, and their projects should be worthwhile to the organization. The last thing you want is for a staff member to have to redo a volunteer project because it was not done well. This is frustrating for volunteers and staff alike. Thus, select, design, and supervise projects so all can be successful.
A high-quality volunteer program can add depth, value, support, and financial savings to the organization. However, a successful volunteer program doesn't just happen. It takes hard work by the volunteer coordinator, volunteers, and staff. The program is not just about getting the work done successfully; it is also about focusing on the volunteers themselves. The organization needs to care for the volunteers, use their strengths, respect their time, and provide a fantastic experience-all while keeping the needs of the organization in mind.
The tasks for organizing a volunteer program can be grouped into five parts as described in Working Effectively With Volunteers below.
Working Effectively With Volunteers
There are five points for managing your volunteer program to make it stellar.
Preparation
- Develop and implement a clear risk management plan for volunteer work. (See chapter 11 for risk management concerns in working with volunteers.)
- Investigate and clarify regulations and codes pertinent to the projects.
- Develop an annual volunteer project chart that includes the details of timing, specific skills required, and number of people needed (see tool 3.5). Include direct project work (skilled and general work) and indirect work (first aid, photography, cooking, publicity, article writing, database work, virtual research). Where possible, schedule tasks around the volunteer's schedule, provide flexibility, and offer options. Include appropriate projects for youth and older adults. Can a nonskilled crew prepare the materials for the skilled labor a week prior?
- Develop an annual wish list of gift-in-kind needs, including supplies and materials for work projects.
- Prepare written materials, such as job descriptions, a photography release, agreements (expected hours, milestones, benchmarks, and project begin and end dates), applications, and a volunteer handbook (with policies and procedures).
- Do you need a volunteer planning committee?
Invitation
- Coordinate with the publicity person to highlight volunteer opportunities and their beneficial impact on participants. Publish in newsletters and on the Web, send e-mails, and post on strategically located bulletin boards.
- Collect volunteer applications. Input information in a volunteer database.
- Use screening techniques: Check licensing, verify work experience, gather references. Verify skills using an external source when appropriate.
- Match volunteers' work styles and philosophies to the organization's mission, needs, and strategic plan.
- Confirm project information to volunteers, including dates and times, meal(s), materials to bring, and clothing.
- Sign written agreements as appropriate.
- Hold an orientation and give general information about the organization: its mission, policies, and procedures; the impact of the volunteer program; and benefits. This may be done at the start of the project work.
Project Work
- Don't waste a volunteer's time. Be completely organized when volunteers arrive to work. Have tools and supplies assembled and prepared as appropriate.
- In case of emergency, have communication equipment, a first aid box, and an emergency vehicle ready.
- Conduct a training specific to the project, including expectations, the availability of first aid, project hazards, and skill training.
- Plan for volunteers to be supervised by skilled people who focus on the safety of volunteers and the quality of work. Choose team leaders who have the required leadership skills, and provide leader orientation for those leading large groups or projects. Designate a "technical expert" to assist as necessary. For instance, a team leader who is a professional painter may act as the technical expert on preparing aged wood siding for repainting. Figure 3.2 illustrates a possible supervisory structure using paid or volunteer supervisory staff with volunteer workers on a short-term project.
Wrap-Up
- Clean up, gather tools, collect trash, and protect work that isn't quite finished.
- Gather volunteer feedback about their experiences using a project evaluation such as shown in tool 3.7. Provide a way for volunteers to turn in the evaluation anonymously to make sure you get the "real scoop." Be sure to address any complaints immediately. The compiled information can be used in newsletter articles, as an evaluation tool, and as data for planning other events. Comments given under the "what was the most rewarding" section make great additions to the publicity for your next volunteer opportunity.
- Evaluate volunteers, as applicable.
- Keep records, including the number of volunteers, the total hours worked, and any incidents that occurred. Summarize volunteer evaluations and project evaluations. Use the results to improve the next project and strengthen your volunteer initiatives.
Recognition
- Express appreciation to each volunteer. Volunteers should feel good about the contributions they've made.
- Publicize the work that the volunteers have done in newsletters and on the Web.
- Plan for volunteer recognition awards or events.
- Hang signs or plaques on the project highlighting volunteer work.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Time management important component of property management plan
Abraham Lincoln once said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.” A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Abraham Lincoln once said, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six sharpening my axe." A well-honed tool gets the job done quickly. You need a well-honed, system-based plan for getting the work done. Without such a plan, time can get away from you until what should take minutes takes hours if not days.
Smart time management is key to implementing your property management plan. Managing your time well delivers a range of benefits, some of them obvious, some less so. It improves your overall efficiency; it provides valuable strategic advantages; and it makes space for logical, creative thinking.
This chapter provides tips and tricks for effective time management. You will learn to do more in less time, be an efficient planner, and capitalize on each person's unique skills.
Learning to Be Proactive
You know the feeling. You're sitting at your desk, and you look at the clock. "Three o'clock already?! Where does the time go?" Another day spent working hard, but the tasks are not all done.
In the midst of all the activities, you may find yourself falling into task-focused thinking. Your list of repairs and maintenance keeps growing, so you focus more and more on running around trying to get each thing done. Or, you get bogged down in either-or scenarios, saying, for example, "I have time to do only the repairs. The more time I spend doing the repairs, the less time I have for preventive maintenance. But the more I do repairs, the more I need to do preventive maintenance."
If the majority of your time is spent doing and not planning, your work life might have a chaotic feel to it. It doesn't have to. If you feel as though you're just moving from one crisis to another-don't worry. You can change that by learning to deal with the tasks at hand in a systematic way. To have enough time on a regular basis to reflect, regroup, and plan, you need to be proactive rather than reactive.
Planning the use of your time is important because your time is valuable. Your skills should not be wasted on tasks done inefficiently or tasks that others could do. This is where planning comes in. Can you combine tasks to do them more efficiently? Can you delegate certain tasks to others? Can you devise a system to find staff or participants to help with some aspects of maintenance?
Using creative strategies to free yourself from the hands-on work will buy you time to spend on proactive work. With planning, you can identify, schedule, and perform preventive maintenance rather than being forced to react to the latest breakdown. Your focus can switch from doing specific tasks to keeping everything flowing smoothly, which is a better use of your specialized skills.
You will, of course, need to spend some extra time setting up the procedures, priorities, and work flow and discussing options with your team. As you will soon find out, however, planning time is time well spent.
Changing How You Spend Your Time
The next time you ask, "Where does the time go?" try answering the question for yourself. Keep a diary of how you spent your time for a whole week, or use your personal business organizer, such as a PDA or day planner, to refresh your memory, and compile your hours using the list provided in tool 8.1.
Because each person's job is unique and each organization does things differently, there are no rules for determining how much time spent in each category is enough. However, it is important to look at the bigger picture and review the list of hours spent at various categories of tasks. Are you doing work that matches your skills? Are you doing the work you were hired to do? Do the hours reflect the priorities of the job and the organization? Have you spent time doing proactive work?
Now look at your list at a finer level of detail: Which category of tasks takes up the most time? Do your hours for that category reflect reactions to complaints or last-minute requests? Which category seems to be the most frustrating? You need to take care of the reactive types of tasks, especially when there are health and safety concerns, but make a point of addressing the reasons you end up in reactive mode, and look for alternative strategies to use in the future.
If there is an area in which you would like to spend less time, choose a priority task from the list and set a goal for completion. List three specific actions that will help you accomplish this goal. For example, under "Maintenance and repairing-Facilities and Equipment," you might set as a goal, "Find ways to do things differently to save me time." Here are three specific actions you could take to move you toward that goal:
• I will find one volunteer to help five hours a month.
• With one staff person, I will discuss a task and ask for his or her suggestions for a different approach.
• I will read a book or listen to an electronic book on how to delegate tasks effectively.
When you take actions or make intentional changes in how you use your precious time, you become more proactive and less reactive. You become more effective in the work you do, and more significantly, you find the time to accomplish the important work. The important work cannot wait until tomorrow; the future of your organization's site and facilities depends on your ability to consistently find the time to address the important items.
Saving Time by Planning Ahead
Considering the range of management tasks and responsibilities you must master to be successful, you may frequently feel like the circus juggler trying to keep six assorted implements flying through the air. Even an excellent time manager may have to do some fancy juggling to keep everything airborne.
You can buy a lot of time by combining similar everyday tasks. If a project must be done on the third floor, the person can also bring tools for a project on the second floor so he won't have to return to gather more tools. Making a shopping list rather than going to the store separately for every item also saves time.
Clearly, saving time starts with planning. Another trick is to think ahead and let others help with the work at hand. For example, although the property manager may be convenient to lead a tour, a knowledgeable board member could lead the tour instead. If new lightbulbs and stepping stools are available in the main office, staff can replace the lightbulbs themselves without having to call maintenance workers. This saves time for maintenance workers to focus on projects that require more specialized skills -which is what they were hired to do.
A third way to plan ahead is to have an inventory on hand of commonly needed parts and supplies. However, this will only work if you install uniform fixtures, appliances, and equipment. Things like standard filter sizes and identical door handles allow you to have a smaller inventory on hand. With standard fixtures, maintenance workers can quickly ascertain what they need to do a job, and staff need only learn a few procedures rather than many.
The few seconds you save today can add up to minutes that add up to hours that add up to days of time saved over the course of a year. Come up with creative shortcuts and see how much time you can save.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
Tips and tools for grounds walk-throughs
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you’ll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities.
Walk-Throughs and Inspections: Taking a Fresh Perspective
Regular property work involves maintenance requests, weekly work schedules, and long-term replacement schedules. However, you'll need to step back every once in a while and look at the broader picture by taking a few walk-throughs of both your site and your facilities. These walk-throughs will give you opportunities to perform visual inspections, examine work done previously, confirm the need for scheduled work, check safety conditions, uncover additional work to be done, and discover unknown participant wear. They may also highlight an already observed deterioration made worse by hail, wind, heat, or cold.
How often should you check things? Your state's regulations and accreditation standards and guidelines provide a starting point. Use your risk management plan (see chapter 11) and your general knowledge of the site and facilities, the participant volume, and the severity of the weather in your region to determine your walk-through schedule. For example, you may conduct a walk-through twice a year-once after the rainy season and once after the hot summer-to note the impact of severe weather conditions. It would also be a good idea to take a look during a rainstorm to see how effectively water moves throughout the property. You may have an outside expert come out just once a year. You'll need to determine the timing and scheduling of the various walk-throughs listed in this book based on your unique property.
For a large property, the property director may be a general licensed contractor and would be qualified to perform the walk-through inspection. For a smaller property, the majority of the walk-through inspections might need to be completed by an outside expert. This is because the staff person responsible for maintenance may be hired only to perform light maintenance and custodial work and may not have the skill set needed for inspections.
The following are important considerations for all walk-throughs:
• Select carefully the person or people for each of the walk-throughs in this book; make decisions based on their assessment skills and expertise. Before engaging an outside inspector, be sure to check her background, certifications, insurance coverage, skills, and knowledge of your type of operation.
• Take note of areas where a professional may be needed or required for a part of the walk-through. A licensed inspector would be used when regulations require one, when the walk-through person is not qualified for a particular inspection, or when called for by the risk management plan. Often this professional will provide his own form; the items listed in the checklist are simply a reminder that the task needs to be completed. Examples of experts you may call include a forester and an electrical inspector.
• Although an on-site person may have the skills to conduct the walk-through, it can be helpful to ask an external person to conduct a walk-through to get a fresh perspective. In addition, an external person can be seen as having more authority, which helps to support a case for a project within the organization.
• Determine whether it is appropriate for the administrator to accompany the inspector during a walk-through. Her firsthand observations can be helpful for future discussions and planning sessions. You may decide, however, that it is more useful to have the administrator review the walk-through and inspection summary reports with the site personnel at a later date.
• Have the property director accompany the external inspector on the site tour to see the needs through his eyes and gather as much information as possible. Ask questions, but do not direct or try to influence him. You want to ensure his objectivity. Listen and learn from a fresh perspective, but also discuss any areas of concern. When he completes his written inspection report, you will know which areas need immediate corrective action and which areas you can incorporate into your work plan.
• Prepare a written report of your walk-though. This is important from a risk management perspective and because you need to document accurately the work needing to be done.
Remember, your staff and participants can be your unofficial inspectors on a daily basis. By training them to be observant and making it easy to submit written maintenance requests, you are never the only set of eyes looking at the conditions.
Scheduling Your Grounds Walk-Through
The previous section described the importance of walk-throughs, their value, and who should conduct them. For your property, decide the best person(s) to perform the grounds walk-through. To get a bird's-eye view of the elements in this grounds section, use tool 5.1. It includes a common set of items to examine, which is easy to modify to meet your needs.
This is an excerpt from Outdoor Site and Facility Management: Tools for Creating Memorable Places.
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