Though organizations are collective in nature, they are made up of individuals. Thus, we can use the All Quadrant model to consider the individual and group aspects of an organization.
| Subjective staff/organization qualities |
Objective organization qualities |
- Individual staff beliefs about volunteers
- Individual staff experiences as volunteers
- Individual staff experience working with volunteers
- Volunteer administrator’s role (Is it an intentional or inadvertent/collateral responsibility?)
- Volunteer administrator sense of agency (ability to influence others)
- CEO beliefs about volunteers
|
- Organization cause/mission
- Population served
- Location
- Volunteer roles
- Volunteer administrator on staff
- Rank of volunteer administrator
- Volunteer engagement skills
|
| General organization values/norms |
Organization systems |
- Openness to volunteers (overall/ by dept.)
- Beliefs about volunteer value (or lack thereof)
- Perceived leadership support for volunteer engagement
- Permeability of organization boundaries (who can come in)
- What counts as ‘real’ work & who is eligible to do it
|
- Volunteer handbook
- Position descriptions
- Online volunteer application/information
- Training for volunteers & staff
- Volunteer recognition awards/events
- Staff evaluation on volunteer engagement
- Staff or volunteer time/$/space/equipment/technology for volunteer engagement
|
Questions for practical application
- What level of awareness exists about each quadrant in your organization?
- How is this awareness informing volunteer engagement planning, development, and support?
- Are we missing any quadrants in our assessment of volunteer engagement? What are the implications of their absence?
- How does this work align with organizational mission, values, and initiatives?
- How do volunteers’ quadrants interact and align (or not) with an organization’s quadrants?
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