England Rugby- Touchline Tips: Engaging Volunteers

• Touchline Tips offers advice on subjects in grassroots rugby
• Jenny Box shines a light on how to engage volunteers

This week’s Touchline Tips comes from Jenny Box, Volunteer Engagement Manager at the RFU, offering advice for clubs and players on how to engage volunteers.

Jenny is responsible for volunteer recruitment and induction resources for clubs, national management of the Young Rugby Ambassador programme, and the National Youth Council. She specialises in how clubs can find and keep new volunteers, along with developing and empowering young people to be the future leaders of the game.

Communicate clearly

“Communicating clearly is vital in making sure you are being specific to the role you are looking to fill. It is important that as a club you are transparent in detailing the tasks to be completed and skills required for the specific roles required to make sure all parties are pleased with the outcome.

“Communicating through your club’s channels is also important whether that is social media, official club communication or just simply talking to people. Word of mouth is the most successful recruitment tool available to you so make sure to talk to absolutely everyone involved with the club who might want to volunteer.”

Manage expectations

“Volunteers will need to be fully aware of what they can expect from you. When somebody new starts it is important to go through what kind of induction they will receive, who their key contacts are and what success looks like.

“Secondly, you need to be aware of what to expect from them. For example, it is important from the start to be clear about how much time you will need from them and what the club hopes to achieve from their efforts.”

Recognise efforts

“Rugby clubs cannot survive without volunteers so I cannot stress enough the importance of thanking people for the time and the effort they give. Whether that is through a coffee or a more formal recognition process, it is essential to make sure volunteers feel valued for the contribution they are making.

“As a club do you have a reward recognition programme in place? If not, hopefully this is something you may want to explore by visiting the Mitsubishi Motors Volunteer Recognition Programme section in the RFU website here.”