Amnesty International: Reform 2005

The core issue in developing a truely "grassroots membership organization" is the role of volunteers in AIUSA, and we therefore make the following recommendations in regarding membership development and membership empowerment:

structural changes in the work practices of AIUSA to reinstitute the integral decision-making role of volunteers
to establish (from the outset of an individual's career in AIUSA) expectations for professional and collegial staff/volunteer working relationships
to determine a working structure so that volunteers with expertise have the decision-making roles and responsibilities, including recognition that there are membership leaders or groupings of members that are best suited to make decisions and devise initiatives with their realm of influence, expertise, and/or responsibility
that the specifics of how these recommendations are developed ought to be part of the overall strategic plan for organizational effectiveness

We believe that implementing the following changes would be a good start toward achieving these goals:

include recognition of the necessity of working together as professional colleagues in the job descriptions of both staff and volunteers
create a system for volunteer performance review, done by the appropriate volunteer entity, and include staff input in this process
structure membership input to staff performance review, integrated with the performance workplan process, and limited to those volunteers whose work directly involves the staff person
formal orientation for new staff and volunteers with guidelines for behavior that emphasize cooperation, support, and a professional, collegial demeanor

We are convinced that training and exhortations to be collegial and to consult will not produce lasting results. Volunteers' participation should be an integral part of, not an optional part of, the work of the organization and its staff. As an illustration, here is an example of a structural change in work practice involving the creation of "work teams."

For each AIUSA project or task involving staff, formally determine (1) whether volunteers need to be involved at all, (2) if so, if staff plays a servicing, supervisory, or collaborative role in relation to volunteers. If staff and volunteers play collaborative roles, they would form *work teams* to complete the task/project.

For a task/project where staff and volunteers are part of a work team, team members would agree upon an assignment of roles and responsibilities.
Team members are expected to work as professional colleagues. Failure to behave in such would be seen as unprofessional.
Staff would be evaluated according to whether he/she appropriately classifies his/her task/project in one of the above categories.
Creation of the appropriate staff/volunteer work team and productive team performance would be considered in the evaluation. Staff would be rewarded if the team works productively.


	Shared Leadership
	Shared Leadership The core issue in developing a truely "grassroots membership organization" is the role of volunteers in AIUSA, and we therefore make the following recommendations in regarding membership development and membership empowerment: structural changes in the work practices of AIUSA to reinstitute the integral decision-making role of volunteers to establish (from the outset of an individual's career in AIUSA) expectations for professional and collegial staff/volunteer working relationships to determine a working structure so that volunteers with expertise have the decision-making roles and responsibilities, including recognition that there are membership leaders or groupings of members that are best suited to make decisions and devise initiatives with their realm of influence, expertise, and/or responsibility that the specifics of how these recommendations are developed ought to be part of the overall strategic plan for organizational effectiveness We believe that implementing the following changes would be a good start toward achieving these goals: include recognition of the necessity of working together as professional colleagues in the job descriptions of both staff and volunteers create a system for volunteer performance review, done by the appropriate volunteer entity, and include staff input in this process structure membership input to staff performance review, integrated with the performance workplan process, and limited to those volunteers whose work directly involves the staff person formal orientation for new staff and volunteers with guidelines for behavior that emphasize cooperation, support, and a professional, collegial demeanor We are convinced that training and exhortations to be collegial and to consult will not produce lasting results. Volunteers' participation should be an integral part of, not an optional part of, the work of the organization and its staff. As an illustration, here is an example of a structural change in work practice involving the creation of "work teams." For each AIUSA project or task involving staff, formally determine (1) whether volunteers need to be involved at all, (2) if so, if staff plays a servicing, supervisory, or collaborative role in relation to volunteers. If staff and volunteers play collaborative roles, they would form work teams to complete the task/project. For a task/project where staff and volunteers are part of a work team, team members would agree upon an assignment of roles and responsibilities. Team members are expected to work as professional colleagues. Failure to behave in such would be seen as unprofessional. Staff would be evaluated according to whether he/she appropriately classifies his/her task/project in one of the above categories. Creation of the appropriate staff/volunteer work team and productive team performance would be considered in the evaluation. Staff would be rewarded if the team works productively.