How to Talk to a Volunteer About a Performance Problem

Most volunteer coordinators delay this conversation longer than they should. The reason is usually good: they don't want to seem ungrateful, or they hope the problem will resolve itself, or they're not sure they have standing to say something because, after all, this person is giving their time for free.

The problem with waiting is that the behavior continues, other volunteers notice, and eventually the issue is bigger than it needed to be. The conversation you put off for three weeks rarely gets easier. It usually just gets more loaded.

Here's how to actually have it.

Name the problem to yourself first

Before you say anything to the volunteer, be specific about what you're observing. "They're not performing well" isn't actionable. What are you actually seeing?

• Showing up 20 to 30 minutes late for every shift
• Taking on tasks outside their assigned role without checking first
• Making comments that are creating friction with other volunteers or participants
• Not completing what they committed to before the shift

Write it down if it helps. You're not building a case against them. You're giving yourself clarity so that when you're in the conversation, you can be specific rather than vague.

Vague feedback is much harder to act on. "You haven't been meeting expectations" puts the volunteer in the position of guessing what that means. "I've noticed you've been arriving about 20 minutes after the shift starts for the last three Saturdays" is something they can respond to.

Find the right moment and setting

This conversation should not happen in public, at the start of a shift when everyone is arriving, or in the middle of an event. It should happen in a calm moment, ideally one-on-one, with enough time to actually talk.

Options that often work:

• A brief phone or video call before the next shift
• A short conversation after a shift ends, once other volunteers have headed out
• A simple message asking to connect before the next time you see them

You don't need to be ominous about it. "Hey, do you have a few minutes to chat before Saturday? I want to check in about how things are going" is sufficient. You don't have to signal that it's a serious conversation before you've had it.

Open without blame

The way you open the conversation matters more than anything you say after it. An accusatory opening makes the volunteer defensive immediately, and a defensive volunteer isn't in a state to hear feedback.

An approach that tends to work: start with a genuine check-in, then name what you've noticed without framing it as a judgment.

"How have things been going for you lately?"

Wait for the answer. Sometimes there's something real there. A new job, a health issue, something at home. If so, you'll know before you go further.

Then: "I want to talk about something I've noticed. Over the last few shifts, you've been arriving about 20 to 30 minutes late. I wanted to check in because I want to make sure there's nothing getting in the way, and because the timing does affect how we get started."

Notice what this doesn't say: "You've been causing problems," "Other volunteers have noticed," "This is unacceptable." Those framings put the volunteer on trial. What you want is a conversation, not a verdict.

Listen before you problem-solve

After you name what you've observed, stop talking. Ask a question and wait.

"Is there anything making it hard to get there on time?"

You might learn something that changes how you respond. Maybe they just started a new work schedule and genuinely haven't figured out the timing yet. Maybe they're dealing with something that makes showing up at all a significant effort. Maybe they didn't realize the start time was firm and they've just been operating on a looser assumption.

Or you might learn that they just underestimated the commitment and aren't sure they can keep it. That's useful too. It's better to know that now than in month three.

The managing difficult volunteers guidance that holds up across situations: listen first, respond to what you actually hear, don't assume the worst.

Be clear about what you need going forward

If the conversation is going well and the volunteer wants to keep their role, be specific about what needs to change.

"What would help me most is knowing by Thursday if you're not going to make it Saturday, so I can make sure we're covered."

Or: "Starting on time really matters for how we set up. Even 15 minutes makes a difference. Is that something you can commit to?"

This is different from a performance improvement plan. You're not creating documentation. You're just making sure the expectation is stated clearly and that the volunteer has genuinely heard it. Sometimes people just need to understand that something matters.

Know what you're deciding

Not every performance conversation ends with the volunteer continuing in the role. Sometimes the conversation reveals that the fit isn't right, the commitment level isn't there, or the behavior is serious enough that it can't just be talked through.

If that's where things land, it's better to name it kindly and directly. "I think we may need to revisit whether this role is the right fit right now" is a sentence you can say without it being a catastrophe.

Your volunteer exit conversation playbook applies here. The goal isn't to end things dramatically. It's to close the situation in a way that leaves the volunteer's dignity intact and leaves the door open if things change.

Prevention connects back to role clarity

A lot of performance conversations could be prevented by clearer expectations at the start. If someone knows from day one that the shift starts at 9am sharp and late arrivals affect the whole operation, they're less likely to drift into showing up at 9:25 thinking it's fine.

This is part of why setting expectations with first-time volunteers and defining role boundaries matter. The clearer you are upfront, the rarer these conversations become. But they never go away entirely, because people's lives change and situations evolve.

What reliable volunteers notice

There's one more reason to have this conversation that coordinators sometimes underestimate: your other volunteers are watching.

When someone is consistently late, overstepping, or not pulling their weight, the people around them notice. And when you don't say anything, they draw a conclusion: this behavior is apparently acceptable, or the coordinator doesn't want to deal with it.

Your most reliable volunteers are the ones most likely to care about this. When you address a problem, you're sending a message to everyone that the program is taken seriously. That matters for the culture you're building.

The conversation is the gift

It sounds strange, but having the conversation is actually the respectful thing to do. Letting a volunteer drift through a role while quietly frustrated with them is worse than telling them clearly what you're seeing.

Most people, given honest and kind feedback, would rather know. It gives them a chance to correct course, to explain themselves, or to make a graceful exit if the role isn't working. What nobody wants is to find out later that things weren't going well and no one said anything.

Have the conversation. It's almost always better than waiting.