presented to Saint Mary’s College

Table of Contents *

Executive Summary *

The project was to create a training program for the volunteers of a non-profit organization. The project took to major changes. First off, the change in employment for the project manager changed the original goal of a manager training program. Secondly, the lack of attendance to the training derailed the project from completing within the schedule.

Regardless of the changes in the path, the project to develop and implement and training program lived on. The majority of the project remained in tact. Some risk factors that were known and planned for did arise. Other challenges arose unexpectedly.

Training programs have similar characteristics. Therefore, the main goal of passing knowledge of process, contact, and details to others was still achievable.

From the beginning, there is always a risk of happening on obstacles that can derail a project from the original course of action. Therefore, it was not a surprise when some of the initially identified forces of resistance proved to be just that.

Several unplanned factors that heavily impacted the project were not expected. The heaviest contribution to this happening was the loss of a job for the first training program. Compounding that effect was the new trainee base changing.

The lessons learned must be considered goals met in the process of project management. The target organization has benefited from the process by improving their documentation and training process. The project survival skills gained during this project will better prepare the project manager for the next endeavor.

The project was a success for a majority of the objectives and overall purpose.

The Livermore Youth Soccer League "LYSL" is a non-profit organization. It has existed since 1978 with the steadily increasing membership base each year. Currently, the league supports a player membership of 3,200. Adding the parents, coaches, and volunteer staff, LYSL organizes roughly 5,350 people each year. The board members and other volunteers are elected and appointed once a year.

Due to the unique nature of a non-profit organization that must relay on the volunteer efforts of its staff, the normal management processes do not apply as they would in a typical business environment. Preparing materials and the time to training staff is not high on the priority list of things that need to be done. The intent is there, but the follow through rarely occurs. Time and resources contribute to the reasons that training volunteers is pushed aside until it too late to make an effective effort. This results in no training at all.

The league's activities during the implementation of the training program heavily interfered with the successful completion of the program in the planned timeline. The training was not only planned for after it was needed, but while the target audience of volunteers was at their busiest time of the season.

Additionally, getting the volunteers to attend a training session so late in to the year is a hard sell. At this time, each of them has already had to learn as they went along. The perceived value of attending a program like this one is deeply lessened the longer it waits to be presented to the staff. Timing of the implementation of the project turned out to be more important that was originally considered.

Books and articles that covered management and leadership, conducting training sessions and their value were used in the Literature review process for this project. In addition to that, resources that covered the specific topic of non-profit organizations were added when the project's venue changed from a business for profit to a city soccer league.

Management and leadership skills integrate into the running of a non-business environment rather seamlessly. The hieracherical nature of the league structure is not dissimilar to what most people are accustomed to in their every day working environment. The trick is to understand that differences in staff motivation when they are working in a volunteer situation than when working for a paycheck that adds to their families support.

When the project migrated from a business to non-profit environment, the additional reading highlighted the unique motivations of volunteers. Being able to recruit and retain people to work for no money means that they need to be provided with other satisfaction and fulfillment (Wolf 99). The key is to identify what an individual is hoping to achieve when they volunteered.

The original goal of the project was to develop and implement a manager training program for a high technology company. When the training program was ready to be implemented, the job disappeared. A contingency plan to run a similar training program for volunteers of a non-profit organization was invoked.

The project was on schedule during the first half of the requirements. The literature review (appendix c) and project plan (appendix b) were completed slightly ahead of schedule. This allowed for at least two major rewrites of the documents that there would not normally be time when the other courses were about to begin. During this phase of the project, the project sponsor was instrumental in helping the project manager identify potential areas of resistance. With his help, I was more effective at planning contingency plans and how to better include the human obstacles into the project to benefit everyone.

Creating the initial survey (appendix e) to measure the pre-training knowledge of the trainees was completed before the change in venue. Updating the survey to conform to the change in specific topics was not difficult. The new form was then submitted to and approved by the new project sponsor, the Director of the league.

For a project that should have been 50% complete by April, the schedule took a heavy hit when the project manager lost their job at the company that the project was to be implemented at. Unemployment persisted for another month. By the end of April, over a month of implementing the project was lost.

The decision to move on to the contingency plan of transforming the manger training program to one to train volunteers in a non-profit organization was made. This change was held off until it was clear there was not enough time to sell the new manager training to a new employer and still have time to implement the program could not be achieved.

Due to the similarity of the goals of a typical training program, made the change to a training program for a new organization was not a complete rewrite and planning of the project. The research for the original project was centered on training methods that were still highly relevant. The same is true for the items read about employee reward and support. Leadership skills in any situation are always relevant. Management articles and books were not initially regarded as useful to the new organization since it was a non-profit. They ultimately proved to be very valuable, as staff, paid or not, still required guidance and planning as in any other job. An unexpected benefit was the continued reading of non-profit specific resources along the same time as the original project plan. At the start, such readings were not meant to be part of the research for the project, but an attempt to improve the project manager’s skills that are required when dealing with the business that is not driven by profits and staffed by people that know they have to perform or risk loses their position. With all of these factors at play, the literature review was updated with non-profit specific information and citations of where the previous material was still relevant or not was completed. Next, the project plan had about 85% of its content rewritten. The new plan was submitted to the project instructor via email to guidance and approval.

The training agenda (appendix f) and subject material had to be completely redone. This required the gathering of the LSYL documents were available. During this process, the lack or out-of-date nature of the league documentation was greatly exposed. This initiated a detailed look into the existing documentation, identifying what was missing or out-of-date, and then forming committees of appropriate people to review and update the materials. This alone began the usual challenges of running a committee. Knowing who to include and how to limit the group is always going to make someone feel left out. Agreeing on the appropriate and current information to publish is always a debate in details. In the end, most of the holes began to get filled. There is still much work to do in this area, but it was a solid start for the training program to be relevant to the current league environment. One document that the project manager was inspired to write was Mission Statement (appendix h) for the league. There was not one before. The new agenda, with the new Mission Statement in mind, was created and presented to the league Executive Board. It was approved.

Re-estimating the cost of the project was not easy. Non-profits do not have the resources that even a high technology start up company has. Funds are very limited to spend on a training program. So that money would not be the reason the training would not be approved, the project manager paid for all the materials personally.

Once the materials were gathered and the agenda nailed down, a flier (appendix g) announcing the training session for August 7, 2001. There were mailed out to the board members and handed out at the July Full Board Meeting. Email was sent out to non-board member volunteers. Next, the "LYSL Volunteer Kits" (appendix h) were assembled. Enough were made for each current board member and the league Operations Director booked a meeting room for the training at the sports center the league often meets in.

When the day of the training arrived, the project manager (who was also the trainer) arrived 30 minutes early to prepare the room. The tables were set up in a v-shaped pattern to allow trainees to sit on one side and all have equal view of the trainer. The pre-survey was made available for those that had not already participated. Pens and an easy to manage snack were also provided on each table. When the start time can around no one showed up and the room ended up doubled booked so the room was relinquished. The project manager stayed for 20 minutes more after verifying the date, time, and location on the fliers were correct. They were. Upon returning home, the project sponsor was notified of the training session did not happen. The agreement was to make the materials and a short speech about them available during the next Full Board meeting, which is August 28, 2001. This is after the program report is due. Also, the training program will be attempted again next January.

The project sponsor submitted the project assessment (appendix d) based on the existing work done. He knows what was planned and what steps still need to be completed and calls that out in his comments.

Due to the extension of the project, the post-training survey and the final results of the program will not be presented to the Executive Board until next February, 2002. Until then, they will have copies of this report given to them.

Despite the project being only 85% completed at this time, results of the tasks done and experience gained was extensive. The objectives were not fully realized, but the lessons learned about how to improve and complete the remaining steps was gained by the project manager. The results of the pre-survey helped to identify areas of development the organization should seek to improve in. The unexpected events added to the knowledge growth for both the league and the project manager.

Improve new volunteer knowledge of organization policies and guidelines after completing a training program by June 2001.

Measure: A survey before and after the volunteer training program will be conducted. It will be a questionnaire in which participates will be asked to rate their current knowledge and their implementation of the knowledge.

A majority of the materials compiled for the volunteer manual are readily available via the league website. The by-laws, constitution, guidelines and policy interpretation memorandums "PIM"s are public information. The challenge has been getting volunteers to take the time to read and understand the material.

With the current plan of action being taken, handing out of the manuals at the Full Board meeting, the materials will be received in and easy-to-read written format. However, without the time allotted as the training time would have provided, the materials will not be able to be reviewed together as a group, thus not achieving the main goal in this objective in the originally planned timeline.

Measure: A survey of the volunteers before and after the management training program will indicate how uniform the volunteers respond within the same organizational environment.

Actual Results: The results of the first survey are displayed below. The challenge was getting enough input. Out of the 42 possible Board Members given the survey, only eight responded. That is only a return percentage of 19% of the potential responses.

From the survey results (see chart 1), it appears that that majority of the volunteers that responded feel that they understand their job and are happy with this support from the league. From the results, a positive outlook can be seen with the current staff.

No negative response was given for 4 of the 20 questions in the survey. Considering the questions, this is a good indicator that the staff is happy in their volunteer efforts for the league. The questions that gather no negative feedback were:

The question the evoked the most negative response was #4 "In the last month, I have received recognition or praise for my good work". While the staff is happy with their efforts, the league needs to develop its recognition of its volunteers.

With objective number one incomplete and the slip in the project schedule, the post-training surveys will not be available to measure success or failure to improve organizational consistency.

The new plan is to a league membership survey in November. This will allow time for the volunteers to read the material and begin to use the information to perform their jobs more effectively and within the guidelines that the league documents indicate are their areas or responsibility.

It is apparent from the attempt to run the training program that timing is everything. The original goal was to run the session mid-year, as forced by the timelines of the project. After much thought and discussion, it is clear that a dedicated training session should be held at the beginning of the Board’s elected year, in January. The attention of the volunteers and effectiveness of the program is deeply wounded after the staff has already struggled along with their duties for half of the year already. A contribution pressure to get people to attend the meeting was that by mid-year, they are whole consumed by their duties was their feeling that there was no time for them to allot to their self-improvement when they were busy trying to do their duties. This ended up being a "catch-22". They needed the training to be come more efficient, yet couldn’t attend as they were busy doing the job in a less than optimum manner.

The schedule below shows the baseline (original) dates that were planned for the project steps with a black "X". The red "X’s indicate the actual completion of the step when it varied from the baseline. Note that the original schedule ran from January 2001 – August 2001. The new schedule extends beyond August to allow for the second contingency plan to be implemented.

Money and resources for the project changed when the move to a non-profit training program was made. The actual cost dropped the estimated and actual costs have been provided below. The last column indicates the cost difference of the budget minus the actual costs to indicate the cost savings to the league as based on the original estimates. The largest impact to the lower cost to the league was the high absenteeism of the training session.

Note: Final Labor Cost, Amount (Actual), and Difference are estimated and marked in italics, based on post-survey pending completion.

While the project is not yet completed, clear benefits from doing the project can be identified. In a non-profit environment, the time to document guidelines and procedures take a backseat to keeping up with the overall management of the organization. Taking the time taken already published material and streamline it’s presentation to be more accessible and updated for the intended audiences is also common forgotten area of improvement.

By developing the training program, the time to gather, re-exam, and collocating existing materials was done. The activity resulted in the discovery of areas that were missing or in need of improvement. In some cases, the process to update many of the pre-existing documents to enter a revision process was started. In the instances that missing items were identified, the process to initiate the creating the needed items has begun.

In the future, a volunteer training program needs to be held at the beginning of every year before the staff is required to perform their duties. Material for the program needs to begin being reviewed at least 4 months prior to ensure their appropriateness and validity of information.

This timing of this project ended up being a complement to the new Director’s goals for the league. Since the Director is a project manager by trade, his agenda items as the leader of the club was to create an organization that would be better organized, efficient, and better documented. One of the issues that have held the club back from growing effectively and in a positive direction has been the high turnover of staff. This in turn has lead to a relatively new board voted in each year. Each year, the new board has to "re-invent the wheel" in regards to the duties of each staff member, the timing of when things must be done so that the league can function in a smooth and effective manner. By initiating the volunteer training program, this attempt to benefit the league for years to come has been improved.

Taking a project from conception to fruition is a journey ripe with both rewards and disappointments. Overall, the project was not the overwhelming success every manager sets out to achieve (and occasionally expects).

Having the project been accepted by the league and backed by the board was rewarding. They agreed with the need for the program and encouraged the project manager in all aspects of the project. They provided necessary materials and advise whenever requests were made.

The biggest regret is the inability to incite the general membership to find the time to support the training in dedicated attendance. While the reasons are well understood and accepted, the disappoint remains.

The need to always have a backup plan was deeply impressed upon the project manager. Having to redefine the project three times (the original plan, followed by the change in organization and audience focus, followed by the schedule slip) made it abundantly clear that without having thought through the plans and additional contingency plans, the project would never have completed even the documentation phases or the development phase by the project deadline.

One of the most important lessons learned was the realization that implementing a project in one environment does not clearly translate into every other situation. Learning to be remain focused on the original objectives and flexible in the methods required to reach those goals was the win-win situation realized by the project manager.

• Wolf, T. (1999). Managing a nonprofit organization in the twenty-first century. New York: Fireside

Appendix e - Survey 

Appendix g - Training Announcement Flier 

 Appendix i - LYSL Mission Statement