IF SOMEONE JUST CANNOT FIT IN; FIRE THEM!
By Del Albright
The purpose of this note is to reassure you that it is OK to fire a volunteer when all your efforts to help them fit in, or fix a behavioral issue are just not working out.There is no law, or anything to stop you from firing a volunteer.
Now please do not get me wrong, our first choice should always be to give a person a chance. But sometimes a volunteer just cannot meet simple expectations or objectives, and they cause more damage than any good they might do. You are left with no choice but to fire them!
The worst thing you can do for your organization or group is to let a problem volunteer build negativism or destructive behavior that ruins any good you might be tying to accomplish. In volunteerism, good people will leave faster than you can imagine when a negative loud mouth starts taking unjustified pot shots at the leadership.
We all know that most of our volunteer efforts are driven by egos and personalities. That is just the way of humankind. But all volunteers should remember that our efforts need to be directed at the problems, and not usually at an individual. In other words, name-calling and silliness in public places that cast dispersion and ruin a group are just unnecessary and should not be tolerated. Fire them!
A good volunteer leader should always set expectations and objectives for being on the team or in the group. When those are violated, you point it out to the person and help them find a way to get back on track. However, if that is not possible, you just have to send them packing. If you wait too long or let it fester, you will loose other good volunteers.
The key to good leadership has always been, in my thinking, setting expectations. Here is more on setting Expectations: http://delalbright.blogspot.com/2014/11/how-to-succeed-in-volunteerism-and.html
It is my hope you never have to fire a volunteer; but when and if you do, do it before they ruin your group or your efforts.
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Del
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