CHERYL PULEC

Challenge:

Your Next Best Friend received a 12% increase in requests for volunteer opportunities from first time volunteers. The rescue volunteer training is typically provided by 1 of 3 managers, in a combination of in-person training at the rescue house and the reliance of individuals to review a google document of information and protocols. Specifically, the rescue needs to increase the number of transport volunteers- volunteers who pick up dogs from shelters and bring them to Your Next Best Friend rescue house or volunteers who provide dogs daily ‘field trips’. The transport safety protocol is crucial for volunteers to understand to keep the dog(s), volunteers, and other people safe.

Solution:

The first step was to update the current transport safety protocol job aid. Collaborating with the managers at Your Next Best Friend allowed me to better understand their philosophy related to dog rescue and the role volunteers play within the organization. The managers emphasized the desire to provide volunteers with training beyond a job aid to increase their self-efficacy while working with dogs, so that more volunteers would be confident in participating in the transport process. The best way to achieve their goal was to provide volunteers with a start to end visual of what the transport process looked like ( see: Biteable video) and to invite volunteers to participate in interactive scenarios where they would have to decide what to do during a transport process (see: Storyline).

Result:

Volunteers reported to the managers that they felt increased confidence in participating in dog transport. Metrics related to participation in dog transport TBD.