The purpose of the CBF volunteer performance management process is to assist all CBF volunteers to be as effective as possible in carrying out their CBF roles and, consequently, to facilitate the CBF in meeting its strategic objectives.
The intention is to ensure that all volunteers have a clear understanding of the activities they should undertake, the relative priorities, the required standards of work performance, the expected standards of values and behaviours at the CBF, and the way these standards will be measured.
The Volunteer Performance Management process also has a facility for feedback to the Support Team, so that they can develop and adapt their styles to be as effective as possible in supporting volunteers to carry out their functions.
Operation of the Volunteer Performance Management Process
Volunteer Survey
- An annual volunteer survey will be undertaken in November each year. The survey will include self-reflective questions to identify:
- How engaged and satisfied volunteers are with their work.
- How well volunteers feel supported and supervised.
- Ways to improve the volunteering experience at the CBF.
- Feedback on organisational priorities each year.
- Information specific to each volunteer role.
The survey responses will be collated, analysed, and published to demonstrate how volunteer feedback helps improve CBF processes, and to promote the benefits of volunteering at the CBF.
Volunteer check-ins
All CBF volunteers will be encouraged to touch base with the Grant Support Team (GST) Volunteer Manager and/or the member of the Grants Support Team responsible for supporting the Board and Grants Advisory Committees to discuss any issues as required.
Annual volunteer ‘check-in’ meetings will take place between the GST Volunteer Manager and the Grants Advisory Committee Chairs to discuss how other Committee members are performing, any relevant professional development opportunities for the Chairperson and/or other committee members and any further support or issues requiring discussion.
The GST Volunteer Manager will contact all new assessors directly during their first assessment period to ensure they are on the right track and answer any questions. The Volunteer Manager will also provide assessors with feedback regarding their assessments and identify further training as required.
Managing Underperformance
Support Team members responsible for supporting volunteers may make an assessment at any time that a volunteer’s performance needs improvement or is unsatisfactory. Where underperformance is identified, the relevant Support Team member will work with the volunteer to assist them to attain and sustain a performance standard that meets expectations. This additional support may take the form of additional ‘check-ins’, training, or discussions between the relevant support team member, Committee Chairperson or Board member as appropriate.
Assessor Team performance
The GST Volunteer Manager will oversee the performance management of the Assessor Team and aim to increase consistency within the assessment process and improve the quality of assessments through early identification of issues and targeted training and feedback.
The CBF acknowledges that there will always be a diversity of opinions within the Assessor Team which reflects the diversity of the community broadcasting sector, however training and feedback will aim to encourage consistency across assessment scores and comments in relation to the published assessment criteria.
The GST Volunteer Manager will:
- Review all assessment forms following each funding round to identify performance issues for example, unintended or intended biases, inconsistent scoring, ‘outlier’ scorers.
- Invite ‘performance issue’ assessors to Assessor Skills workshops.
- Provide one-on-one feedback and training where required.
- Identify and contact ‘dropouts’ to confirm whether they wish to continue to be involved in assessing in future rounds.
- Issue warnings to assessors who continue to demonstrate performance issues following advice and additional training.
- Dismiss assessors who fail to improve their performance after additional training, feedback and repeated warnings.
Professional Development
Volunteers are encouraged to participate in professional development. See CBF Volunteer Professional Development Policy.
Exit Strategy and Succession Planning
All CBF volunteers must sign the CBF Code of Conduct before commencing work with our organisation. It incorporates general advice on the common and corporate law responsibilities of Directors; the CBF’s Conflict of Interest Policy and a Code of Conduct Statement committing Directors, Grants Advisory Committee and Assessor Team members to supporting better practice in grant making.
The following process identifies the measures to be undertaken when CBF staff or volunteers identify a breach of the code of conduct by a volunteer (resulting in dismissal as the worst-case scenario).
- Breach identified by CBF staff or other volunteers
- Breach discussed in a meeting between staff or volunteer who has identified a breach with the Executive Officer and CEO as required
- Executive Officer and CEO to investigate the alleged breach further if necessary
- Volunteer invited to a meeting with the Executive Officer and CEO, as required, to be informed of the alleged breach and given the opportunity to give their version of events
- Executive Officer and CEO, as required, to identify the severity of the breach and determine whether to issue the volunteer with a warning or to dismiss the volunteer
- Volunteer officially warned by the CEO with reference to evidence of the breach and clear information regarding actions to be undertaken as a result of any future breaches
- If the breach is determined to be severe and/or following repeated breaches by the volunteer, the volunteer will be dismissed
- Executive Officer, CEO and staff or volunteers involved in identifying the breach (where appropriate) to have a follow-up meeting to discuss what can be learned from the warning or dismissal process.
At all times of the Volunteer cycle, CBF staff must ensure that they are approachable, and that communication is open. However, it is important to ensure that the GST Volunteer Manager is kept as the primary contact for volunteers and informed of relevant communication between staff and volunteers. Staff should also let volunteers know when information will be passed on to the GST Volunteer Manager to ensure transparency and that trust is maintained.
Should a volunteer choose to cease volunteering with the CBF, the GST Volunteer Manager will ask them for the reasons they are no longer volunteering. While in many cases the reason(s) may be unavoidable, they may help the CBF improve its volunteer program by identifying gaps in the Volunteer Management Program and in monitoring the support given to volunteers by paid staff or fellow volunteers. This feedback will be gathered, when possible, through an Exit survey. This will help ensure that the volunteer completes their role in a positive manner and the CBF can plan for the continuation of the role they were performing.
Volunteer succession planning is managed by the HR & Nominations sub-committee of the Board with assistance from the GST Volunteer Manager and includes the following processes:
- GST Volunteer Manager identifies as early as possible when a Board or Committee member does not intend to renominate
- Identification of the skills and diversity gaps presented when Board, Committee and Assessor Team members retire
- Encouragement to current members of the Assessor Team, or other nominees with the appropriate skills and diversity to nominate to Board and Committee positions will be provided where appropriate.
First approved by the Board on 23 November, 2022. Download the CBF Volunteer Performance Management Policy (PDF, 182KB). Please contact us if you require a Microsoft Word version of this document.