The Secret to Your Success

Your volunteer committee is the key to your success. The bigger, well-trained and motivated your committee is the better your event will be. The right volunteers will bring many valuable tools to the event such as; new ideas, excitement, contacts and relationships and most importantly golfers and sponsors.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT COMMITTEE

The right committee is so important. The wrong committee will cause you heartache and drama. If you are the head of the committee or the Executive Director of the organization half of your time should be spent recruiting the right people. The goal should be for you to duplicate yourself. If you can find people that can be as excited as you are, that is half the battle. If you find people that are committed and you train them you can get so much more done. Imagine ten people working as hard as you do. Your event will be 10 times bigger than it is. Take time to recruit people. Spend time with potential committee members and share your vision. Get them excited. Show them the possibilities. Get to know them and help them reach their goals. The more you pour your life into others, the more they will pour their life into what you are doing.

Here are some guidelines for recruiting the right people for your committee. 

1. Choose the right size committee – A very big mistake that groups make is not having enough people on the committee to handle everything that needs to be done. As you will see there are tons of details. You need enough people on your committee to handle each area of the event. We will discuss these roles but we suggest at least 6 to 9 people on your executive team, one to chair each area.

2. Make sure that they are committed – Everyone on your committee must do something. They should be committed to attending the committee meetings, handing in progress and status reports, and communicating throughout the whole process. We will show you how to hold them accountable. 

3. Make sure that they have contacts – The key to be successful in any event is the relationships of the committee members. They must have many contacts. These contacts will result in golfers, gifts and prizes, and sponsors.

MAXIMIZE THEIR EFFORTS

Once you have your team together the key is to have them be productive. Sadly many committees will let you down.  20% of the people do 80% of the work. Our goal should be to get 100% of the people to do 100% of the work. The question is how do we get them there? The way to get the most out of our volunteer committee is to train them properly, give them ownership in your event, motivate them and hold them accountable. Here are those steps.

TRAINING VOLUNTEERS

If you have a job in the public sector most likely you were trained. You were given specific detailed instructions and managers spent time with you to make sure that you knew your job and responsibilities. We should be taking the job of a volunteer just as seriously. We need to train our volunteers and give them the tools to be successful. Spend a couple of hours teaching your volunteers how to sell sponsors, recruit golfers and gather gifts and prizes.

 PUT IT IN WRITING 

Take the time to put their job responsibilities, goals, and how they are to accomplish them, in writing. This way there will be no question of what they should be doing. Make it an agreement between you and them and include job responsibilities, goals and time line. Have them sign it. I have found that when we sign something we are more committed to the process.   

GIVE THEM OWNERSHIP

We all know that the owners of a company work harder than the employees. Sometimes our volunteers can feel just like an employee. They have no vested interest in the success of the event. They put in their time but have no concern for the results. If we want our volunteers to work harder we must make them feel like owners of the event. We do this by giving them a job title and specific responsibility. Here are the specific job titles and responsibilities that you need to assign:     

• Honorary Chairman – Every Tournament should have someone that adds credibility to your organization. An Honorary Chair should be someone well known. They may not be involved in the day-to-day operations of the event but they give you exposure and credibility. 
• Tournament Chairman – This is the CEO of your event. They should be a volunteer, golfer and well connected. They will offer direction and accountability to your team and the event.
• Sponsor Chairman – Sponsors are the main source of revenue for your event. You need a manager over this area. They will act as a sales manager over sponsors, holding everyone accountable for the sponsors that they are calling on.  
• Golfers Chairman – The goal is to fill your field with golfers. You need someone to help you get there. This person will hold the rest of the committee accountable for bringing in foursomes.  
• Operations Chairman – This person will oversee all of the details, working closely with the golf course and making sure the day of operations run smoothly.
• Gift and Prize Chairman – Will ensure that you get all of the gifts and prizes for your event that are needed to make it a first class event.
• PR Marketing Chairman – It is important to maximize the exposure for your event and organization as well as sponsors. Find someone who knows marketing and PR to assist getting you this exposure. 
• Auction Chairman – Can be a major part of your event and raise big dollars if they are done right. Your Chair will ensure maximum income.

NOTE: The Chairman of each department is not responsible for doing all of the work. They train and hold accountable each committee member to help with each area. 

MOTIVATION

Volunteer committee members need to be motivated. Unfortunately, they are all only doing what they need to get by. They need more incentive to get them excited to go above and beyond. Here are some ways to motivate your committee members.

Appreciation – Show them that you really appreciate them. Thank them over and over again. Give them a thank you gift and spend time getting to know them.  

Recognition – We all like to see and hear our name. Give them praise and recognize them. Put their name on your website, in your newsletters, brochures and introduce them at your awards ceremony.  

Incentives – Give them a reason to go that one step further. Offer them an incentive program, gift items that they receive when they reach certain levels. They will recruit more golfers and sell more sponsors if there is a monetary motivation. Example: Bring in four foursomes and receive a weekend getaway for two.     

 ACCOUNTABILITY

One of the best ways to assist your volunteers in reaching their goals is to hold them accountable. Unfortunately, everyone is very busy and our volunteer responsibilities get put on the back burner. It is very easy for us to do what is on our priority lists. If I know that you will be calling weekly, I will do more. Here are the ways to hold your committee responsible.

Phone Calls – Call everyone on your committee once a week. They want to reach their goals it is just that things get in the way. If you call them weekly, it will show them that you care about them and put your stuff to the top of their priority list. 

Weekly Reports – Ask for every Friday a weekly report of their activity, a simple report that shows the people and companies that they are calling on. This will not only make them work harder it will also show you where you stand with your event and help you address the areas that need help.

Volunteers are the key to your success – Recruit the right ones, train them properly, give them ownership, give them motivation and hold them accountable and you will be more successful. You can except one to two hours per week.

Sample Volunteer Agreement

VOLUNTEER AGREEMENT

I (Volunteer name) ______________________ agree to volunteer for the (Name of the event) ____________________________ to be held (date) _________ to the best of my ability.

I will act as __________________ Chairman.

I agree to recruit  ____ foursomes.

I agree to sell ____ sponsors.

I agree to bring _____ gifts and prizes.

I will attend all committee meetings.

I will participate on the day of the event.

SIGNATURE                                      DATE

_________________________________________