Open Community Leadership

Module 02: Welcome and Onboarding for Volunteers: Workshop

Welcome and Onboarding · Open Community Leadership

A group session for people who run events or maintain projects. Your community can be years old or brand new. Each section is a short block of activity that runs between 20 and 30 minutes. The workshop will be adjusted based on the time the moderator has allocated.

New here? Start with the module overview for the idea and the tools.

No owner, no onboarding.

Someone offered to help. What happened next decided whether they stayed. If nobody has offered yet, this session helps you plan for when they do.

Relevance to POPCOM

This module sits on Participation and Connection. A volunteer who offers and hears nothing has been denied both. They tried to take part and were not let in. They reached for a person and found a queue.

Want the full framework? → POPCOM overview

Select your starting point

Pick the track that fits. The rest of the session follows your track, and you can ignore the other one.

Track A: You have volunteers

Pick one person who offered to help. You will use the Volunteer Walk grid to trace what happened to them after they offered. You do not need to prepare. Work from what you already know. Where you do not know, write "I don't know".

Track B: No one has reached out to volunteer yet

You will design what you want to happen, using the starter template. You need nothing but a community, or the idea of one.

The four phases

Both tracks use the same four phases of a volunteer's journey:

  1. Offer: the person says they want to help.
  2. Reply: someone answers them.
  3. First task: they are given something concrete to do.
  4. After: what happens once that task is done.

Track A asks what happened at each phase. Track B asks what you want to happen.

How the grid works

The Volunteer Walk grid has one row per phase. For each row you fill in four things: the phase, a result (smooth, unclear or missing), one line on what actually happened, and who owns it. The starter template for Track B has the same rows, but you write what you want in each one.

What to bring

  • Track A: the name of the person you want to follow, and the Volunteer Walk grid for your version (see Resources)
  • Track B: the starter template (see Resources)
  • Something to write with

What to expect

  • You will work in pairs, groups of three, and at tables with other people. Some run communities that are years old. Some are just starting
  • You will fill in one grid (Track A) or one template (Track B) for the four phases: Offer, Reply, First task, After
  • You will show it to people from other communities. They will ask questions and say what looks strange from the outside. You listen and write. You do not need to defend anything
  • You will probably say "I don't know" a few times. In Track A, that counts as an answer
  • You choose what to share. Keep your volunteer's name private, or use a different one
  • Nobody presents or pitches. At the end each group shares one thing it noticed, not a whole community

The session

Blocks of 20 to 30 minutes, done in order. Do as many as your time allows. Each block works on its own, so a short workshop can stop early and still leave with something.

Block 1Where you are25 to 30 min

Part 1: Start with the worst case 10 min

This part is for everyone, whichever track you're on. One question:

What would guarantee a volunteer never comes back?

Be specific. Silence counts. So does a reply that says "thanks!" and nothing else.

  1. Write your own list3 min
  2. Compare with a partner and add anything they thought of that you did not3 min
  3. Join another pair and combine your lists4 min

Keep the combined list. You need it next.

Part 2: Work on your own track 15 to 20 min

Work on your own. Do not compare notes yet. You share what you wrote in Block 3. If you do not know the answer to a question, write "I don't know" in that row. That is a useful answer.

Track A: trace what happened

Take the volunteer you chose and go through your grid one phase at a time: Offer, Reply, First task, After. Write what actually happened, not what you intended.

  • For each phase, mark the result smooth, unclear or missing.
  • Write one line on what happened. A mark with no line tells you nothing later.
  • Look at your worst-case list. Put a star next to any item on it that happened to your volunteer.

When all four rows are filled in, look at the Result column. Underline the phases marked unclear or missing. Those are your gaps.

Track B: design what you want

Each item on your worst-case list is something you want to avoid. Open the template and answer phase by phase what you would want to happen instead:

  • Offer: how would someone find out they can help?
  • Reply: who would answer, and how fast?
  • First task: what could they be asked to do?
  • After: what happens next?

When the four rows are filled in, read your worst-case list again. Does your draft avoid every item on it? Put a star next to any item your draft still allows.

Block 2Ownership10 to 15 min

Go through each gap in your grid (Track A), or each row in your template (Track B), and ask:

Who is responsible for this, or who will be?

Write the answer in the "Who owns this?" column, using a name or a role. If the answer is "nobody" or "whoever happens to be nearby", write no owner. That is the finding. Mark every row where you wrote it.

Block 3Cross the room20 to 30 min

Get into groups of three. If you can, mix Track A and Track B in each group. You cannot control who comes, so if the room is all one track, mix across different communities. If the numbers do not divide by three, make one or two groups of four.

Take turns, about 8 minutes each. One person shares their grid or their template. The other two respond. They know nothing about your community, so they see it as outsiders. That is the point.

Track A

They ask what happened and why, and tell you what sounds strange from the outside

Track B

They ask what you are assuming, and tell you what has gone wrong in their experience

While they talk, you listen and write. Do not defend. When the round ends, say what you will take away.

When the rounds are done, write down one thing the others noticed that you had not. You will need it at the end.

Block 4Patch Notes café20 to 30 min

Set up four tables, one per phase: Offer, Reply, First task, After. Put paper and pens on each table, and a copy of the Volunteer Walk Patch Notes for your version. They collect what other communities do at each phase.

Each table has one question:

What works here, and what have you seen go wrong?

  1. Pick one person to host each table. The host stays put for the whole block.
  2. Everyone else picks a table to start at. Track A: start at the phase where most of your gaps are. Track B: start at the phase you are least sure about.
  3. Spend about 5 minutes at the table. Talk, and write or draw on the paper. Read the Patch Notes if they help.
  4. Move to a different table. The host tells the new group what the last group said, then the talk continues from there.
  5. Repeat for as many rounds as your time allows.

Then go back to your grid or template and write down two or three ideas you could use. Not ten.

Block 5What you noticed20 to 25 min

Part 1: Your own noticing 10 min

What did you see in this session that had not occurred to you before?

For many people this is the real output. Most community leaders were never trained to think about this moment.

  1. Write it down alone, in a sentence or two2 min
  2. Share it with a partner2 min
  3. Join another pair and share again. Pick the one that surprised you most3 min
  4. Each group says that one thing to the room3 min

Part 2: A change to make optional

If you have something ready, answer these five questions about one change you could make:

  1. The gap or decision you would act on first:
  2. The change that would address it:
  3. Who would be responsible:
  4. What could stop them:
  5. How you would know it worked:

Not everyone leaves with a change. Leaving with a new question is fine.

You're done when…

You can point to:

  1. Track A: your Volunteer Walk grid with a real person on it. Track B: your completed starter template
  2. One thing you noticed that had not occurred to you before
  3. One thing the others in your group noticed about your community that you had not

If you have a change and an owner, bring that too. It is not required.

You did it!

You looked at the moment someone offers to help, whether it already happened or has not yet. Now you can see it.

Now wait for the next offer. See how close it comes to what you planned.

You have earned your Workshop badge!

To claim the Module 02 - Workshop badge:

  1. Go to the OCL project on Badgecraft.
  2. Select Module 02 - Workshop - Welcome and Onboarding for Volunteers.
  3. Click Get this badge and log in or create a Badge Wallet account.
  4. Submit your evidence and send it for review.

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