Q & A Table of Contents
The Volunteers Have Disappeared And Now They Expect Me To Do
Everything
From: Donna, Beaumont, Texas
Question: I work in the non-profit sector wherein employees are often
expected to love their job and work more for less. I originally contracted
to lead my organization into the black (positive cash flow) via my sales and marketing abilities while accepting the title Executive Director.
Our committees , however, have slowly disappeared and left the day to day management in my hands. While my title would imply that I am responsible for all operations my contract states differently. How can I diplomatically re-negotiate my position without seeming like a complainer or highlighting too glaringly that they have not held up their end of our bargain?
Response: A contract is an agreement between two or more parties. If both or all of the parties want to change the contract, there is nothing to bar
them from renegotiating.
If, as in your case, the contract was based on one set of circumstances and
those circumstances have changed, for all practical purposes it means that
the other party -- your organization, has made an arbitrary decision to
change the contract without consulting you.
Rather than going forth as a complainer, a smart move should be to call a
meeting to discuss long-term strategy and the short-term tactics for
fulfilling that strategy. You should prepare a report with graphics and
whatever other 'bells and whistles' are likely to make an impression. The
report should say that, "To achieve objective #1, we need the following
resources. (and so on for other objectives)" You should go on to say, "The
most important resources we need are active volunteers (and whatever else
may be needed)."
You need to make it clear in a public forum open to the organization's
membership that unless circumstances change, the organization will not be
able to achieve its goals. I do not think you should say, "When you hired
me, we had X number of volunteers and committees. Now that they have
disappeared, I'm left holding the bag and that's unfair."
Rather you should outline the program and progress and make it clear that
what you are outlining are shared objectives. Make it clear that "we" need
to undertake the following steps, using the following resources to achieve
our shared objectives. If those resources are not forthcoming on a
dependable basis, the program will not succeed and all of us will share the
resulting disappointment.
In a sense this may appear to be going over the heads of the board of
directors -- but frankly, it may well be you're more likely to find the help
you need by reaching out to the organization's total membership. Thus your
'report' should be in a form that will work if it is mailed to folks who
don't attend the meeting.
The critical negotiation lesson to remember is that you are not in the
business of trading blame with your constituents. You and they share goals
and unless you focus on achieving the goals, the failure will be that of the
organization and not any specific human beings.
Good luck,
Steve
| 
