Six steps to harness the creativity of volunteers

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations has warned the sector is facing a “triple threat” of growing demand for services, rising costs, and declining funds.

Yet, the sector is seen as a key source of innovation – with volunteers being closest to the problems our communities face.

To address both these challenges leaders in the sector are calling for more collaboration and experimentation – encouraging voluntary organisations to get more creative.

While we know a lot about creativity in paid work, there is less research on creativity in volunteering, which is a unique 'work' context. Creativity is likely to look different in this context, as volunteers have different motivations, connections to organisations may be temporary, and there’s likely to be fewer resources for innovation.

Our recent study, Imagination to Impact: Creative Problem-Solving in the Coventry and Warwickshire Voluntary Sector, sought to help voluntary organisations understand how to foster more creativity.

We interviewed 35 members of the local voluntary sector about their experiences of creativity. We have drawn six key themes from our initial findings that volunteers, and those who lead them, may use to foster more creativity.

1 Recognise volunteers’ unique expertise

Volunteer groups often come from varied professional backgrounds, bringing an assortment of skills and expertise. This allows them to see problems in new ways.

For example, one volunteer, who is an expert in lean manufacturing, noticed inefficiencies in sessions she ran at a museum and suggested operational improvements. A hospital volunteer drew from his experience as a special education teacher to offer ideas for more inclusive hospital processes.

Unfortunately, not all organisations give volunteers this opportunity. Several interviewees mentioned being micro-managed and left out of problem-solving conversations, leaving them feeling their expertise was not valued.

To foster more creativity, leaders should learn about their volunteers’ expertise and encourage them to offer ideas based on their unique viewpoints.

2 Invest in creativity, even when resources are limited

While limited resources can sometimes spur creative solutions, severe resource constraints can put pressure on groups to stick with the status quo.

This, however, may result in missing ideas that can ultimately save or increase resources. Many of the volunteers we talked to saw creativity as a way to create efficiencies or gain more resources, often through new fundraising or recruitment ideas. For example, a mentoring programme helped one charity improve volunteer retention.

Several mentioned using technology to save their group time – from using WhatsApp groups to an entirely new app to help volunteers manage their schedule.

However, several volunteers reported holding back ideas because they knew they would be responsible for implementing them and lacked the time to do so.

To ensure valuable opportunities are not missed, leaders should encourage volunteers to share ideas freely and clarify there is no assumption that volunteers coming forward with ideas must implement them.

3 Set clear role expectations

A surprisingly common response from volunteers was that creativity is “not what they want from volunteers” – seeing themselves as “seat-fillers” or “there to do a job.”

While many charities, and indeed volunteers, may be happy with more narrow roles, those that want to encourage creativity should look for ways to give more autonomy. One particularly creative volunteer said they were seen as “co-creators” in accomplishing the organisation’s mission. 

In organisations where there are both paid staff and volunteers, the volunteers mentioned worrying about offering ideas because they might be viewed as a criticism of current practices. They felt creativity was the responsibility of paid staff and feared “stepping on toes”.

Organisations that want volunteers to be creative should consider the message they send about the volunteer role and how it relates to that of paid staff.  

4 Pay attention to diversity and inclusion

The UK Civil Society Almanac 2023 shows different demographic groups volunteer fairly equally, although generally skew older (65+).

Within voluntary groups, however, there’s often limited diversity, which several respondents said restricted their group’s creativity – particularly when their demographics were not representative of the communities they serve.  

As one interviewee said: “I don’t think we have a huge diversity of ideas within the team because we are pretty white and we’re pretty male, which is a pity. It’s something I would like to work more on.”

Worryingly, older volunteers were consistently perceived to lack creativity – by both younger and older volunteers, who felt older volunteers are “stuck in their ways”.

However, research contradicts this, showing no consistent relationship between age and creativity. Leaders should ensure these harmful stereotypes do not hinder older volunteers from sharing their ideas.

The National Council for Voluntary Organisations provides helpful advice for supporting equity, diversity, and inclusion in volunteering.

5 Enable connections

Across the many types of volunteering we saw, we found that fostering internal and external connections was an important driver of creativity. Ideas often emerged through connections with others.

One interviewee, who led a community centre and knew everyone in her village, used her personal connections to orchestrate collaborations with other nearby charities to share their resources. A chair of a Parent Teacher Association (PTA) used her relationships in the school community and connections with other PTA chairs to inspire her ideas for new activities and fundraisers.

Connections were often found through a wider organisation that the group is part of, a group of charities with a shared mission, or through working with other charities in the local area.  

A helpful source of connections is Local Infrastructure Organisations (LIOs), which support their local voluntary sector. (Find your closest LIO through the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action). One LIO leader described sessions she organised for local volunteer co-ordinators to share the problems they were facing and exchange creative ideas to overcome them.

6 Lead for creativity

The importance of leadership for creativity is well-established in research on paid work, and in our volunteer sample we found that this was no different.

Whether leaders were in paid roles or volunteers themselves, they were instrumental in whether creative ideas were offered and ultimately implemented.

Leaders that were empowering and who listened and appreciated ideas being offered were catalysts to volunteers taking creative initiative.

One interviewee mentioned her group leader affectionately and refered to her as 'Flip Chart Wendy' because she likes to display all the different suggestions on a flip chart.

On the other hand, we heard tales of leaders whose authoritarian approach or resistance to change hampered their group’s willingness to bring them ideas.

One interviewee said: “I will offer ideas, but I am aware that if the chair is completely opposed to them, they won’t get through.”

In our study we saw countless ways that volunteers have used their creativity – from designing new activities and fundraisers, to re-organising the way the work is done.

Whether you are a volunteer or a leader of volunteers, you hold the creative power to see opportunities, generate ideas, and implement changes that could benefit your organisation and the communities you serve.

As Toily Kurbanov, Executive Co-ordinator of the United Nations Volunteers programme, said: “Drawing on the incredible creativity, energy, and expertise of volunteers will be crucial to shaping a greener, more inclusive, and more sustainable future.”

Further reading:

Six ways businesses can maximise social impact

How co-ops and mutuals can measure their social impact

How to build a more ethical team

What does AI think about sustainability?

Tamara Friedrich is Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Warwick Business School. She teaches Global Challenges for the Public Sector on the Global Online MBA, Accelerator MBA, and Executive MBA and Leadership on the Executive MBA and Executive MBA (London).

Haley Beer is Associate Professor of Operations Management at Warwick Business School. She teaches Leading and Harnessing Diversity and Creating Sustainable Organisations on the Executive MBA, Executive MBA (London), and Global Online MBA.

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