21st Century Volunteers, Ep. 8

Thriving on the Prairie

Sue Milender, NDSU Extension agent in Barnes County, talks with North Dakota 4-H volunteer development specialist Rachelle Vettern about what volunteers and volunteerism look like in the 21st century.

Transcript

Sue Milender: Welcome to Thriving on the Prairie, a podcast exploring issues concerning families and communities that inspires North Dakota movers and shakers and community makers to engage in lifelong learning. I'm Sue Milender. I'm Barnes county extension agent. And today I'm honored to introduce you to Rachelle Vettern who is a professor and the leadership and volunteer development specialist for North Dakota State University. In her extension role, she conducts research and provides education for both youth and adults in the areas of leadership, ethics, generations, youth development and volunteer development. You know, she works in both the NDSU Extension Center for 4-H Youth Development as well as family and community wellness. In her faculty role she teaches online classes for Great Plains IDEA I-D-E-A youth development master's program. You are busy Rachelle. She has her B.A. in psychology and an M.S. in counseling and human resource resource development sorry, from South Dakota State University and her PhD is in counselor education and supervision from NDSU. And she lives in Hawley with their 17 year old son and 13 year old daughter, Emily, like I said, we're sure you are really busy.

Rachelle Vettern: Well, thank you, I appreciate you reading all of that I didn't know how much I should share with you. So thanks. Um, yeah, it's fun to talk to you on this Finally, Sunny spring day with all sorts of exciting things happening, our 4-H club meetings are starting or groups are starting to meet face to face and spring sports is happening. So it's great to have a chance to chat.

Sue: I know and you know, 4-H season is gearing up. And I as a 4-H coordinator in Barnes County, I’m calling all sorts of volunteers to the task of judging and looking at different projects. And so I've been doing some reading on volunteerism and I what I've noticed, Rachelle, is that it has really changed. So the book that I've been reading is called, The New Breed: Understanding and Equipping the 21st Century Volunteer, by Jonathan and Thomas McKee. And what what captured my attention was the 21st century volunteer not, you know, I'll be the very first to admit I'm old. And when I think of volunteering, I think of gosh, I've got to commit my firstborn when I volunteer, because I'm there for life. And I actually took a step back, and I was calling all these volunteers. And Rachelle, I was getting so frustrated, because I was like, Oh, these aren't the same kind of volunteers and, and attitudes that I had back in the day, or that my mom demonstrated for me back in the day. And so I thought, well, where are these passionate volunteers? And then of course, as we all do, I went into this defense mode. And I said, well, it's not my fault. Everyone is so busy and sports consume people. And, gosh, there isn't time to turn around, let volunteer. But then I started reading this book. And Rachelle, I realized, gosh, it is my fault that I am not reaching these volunteers because times have changed. And the way people want to volunteer has evolved in this 21st century. So I'm not alone in this. I know that there are lots of people who are trying to gather volunteers, churches and civic organizations and schools. And that's why I thought it's so important for us to understand what the 21st century volunteer looks like. And so that's why I'm interested in talking to you and finding out how you can, you know, steer us in the right direction so that we can gather all these wonderful people.

Rachelle: I am excited to talk with you about this too, because it is such an important subject. And I don't want to say gone is that are the days of that 30 year volunteer, but it it volunteering does look different for just the reasons that you talked about. We are looking because of the different opportunities that we all have as far as getting engaged in our communities. Volunteers want to try on different things. And so we have to offer things in a different way. Much like what the book that you read talked about. So I would love to get into some of those details related to how that kind of looks. But I know I think you have some more questions for me.

Sue: I do. So what I'm thinking is that I need to learn about maybe how to empower volunteers to serve in ways that meet their needs as well as my needs and I have to pay attention to the needs that they have and what they want to get out of volunteering.

Rachelle: Well, so I think really thinking through the kind of volunteer that you're looking for, and what your needs are for your organization, whether for us, it's extension, but if as you look in communities, like you mentioned, faith communities and other places that use volunteers, what are really those volunteers that you are looking for? And then what kind of qualifications Do they have, because you have have to have really a good idea, a clear idea of what you're asking before for before you ask those volunteers, because in this day, and age, volunteers want to know what they're committing to, they want a role description or position description that tells them, okay, this is what they're asking of me. And this is the time commitment they're looking for. Again, maybe it's that I'm going to volunteer once a month for three hours a month, or maybe it's going to take some more prep time. But they do want those specifics. And then they a lot of times, they really want to be recruited for their expertise. So if you have someone that you know, is excellent, as we talked about, in managing social media, maybe you've just you follow them. And you've realized that they really great at getting messages out. And you know that an event that you're having, or having coming up, maybe it is something related to a church function or an extension function, you say to that individual, you know, I know you're busy, but your skills I have noticed in social media are amazing. Would you be willing to contribute to this community function that we have coming up, and helping manage the social media. So it'll be for the three months coming up to that event. And then it'll be done, you know, or maybe some posts afterwards. So it isn't like this, I'm asking you, and it's gonna be 10 years, you're gonna have to help me out with this. That makes sense?

Sue: It does make sense. I really like the idea of having not only that designated timeframe, but also what the roles and responsibilities of that position are. Because sometimes, my guess is that, at least, when I volunteered, I didn't really know what my role was. And sometimes I felt like I was doing some sort of, well, role creep or mission creep, where I would, I didn't want to step on anyone else's toes. And then I also didn't always understand my terms, like, okay, I am, I'm on for this particular role, and it will be three months. And I think people are so busy now with all their kids’ activities, and, and, you know, wanting to travel, if you're older than you really don't want to be kind of stuck forever, and then feel like you can't get out. So that would really help. And I love your language about noticing what they're good at, and then plugging them into something that they're feeling comfortable with?

Rachelle: Well, that's really what I know, specifically, our baby boomer volunteers out there, because of the travel probably being retired wanting to spend time with their grandchildren, a great way to recruit them is to say, you know, I realized you're rea...