Leinster GAA Learning and Development Manager, Jamie Queeney, will give a presentation on how to manage burnout and stress at a club volunteer at this weekend's Leinster GAA Club Development Conference.
By John Harrington
The Leinster GAA Club Development Conference takes place this Saturday in SETU Carlow.
A presentation likely to attract a lot of interest will be the one given by the province’s Learning and Development Manager, Jamie Queeney, titled ‘Managing burnout and stress as a club volunteer’.
Successfully recruiting and retaining voluteers is the most important thing a club can do because everything positive flows from there.
Volunteering your time for your local GAA club should be a rewarding experience, but if you take too much on or your skill-set is better suited to a different role than the one you’re tasked with, then it can feel much more like a stressful burden.
Everyone loses in that scenario. The individual who feels overwhelmed, and the club that’s likely to lose an important volunteer if that doesn’t change.
“The reason we chose this as a particular topic was to help the volunteers who are obviously a huge element of our clubs,” Queeney told GAA.ie.
“To help them understand, first and foremost, what stress and burn-out actually are and how you can recognise some of the signs and symptoms so they can get ahead of it and pull back on some of the things that they're doing and increase their longevity in their roles.
“The last thing we want is for people coming into a role for a year or two and being overwhelmed with the workload, and then they leave our clubs and it's very difficult to get those people back involved.
“What I'm going to mainly focus on on March 1st are two things. The personality side of things and the environment. The person needs to look at the workload involved, recognise that there is an increased work-load there, and look at different ways, if any, that the workload can be spread out amongst other people in the club.
“It's all well and good talking about these ideas, but in practice they can be quite difficult to implement because people tend to operate in silos within clubs. They have their specific roles and maybe they take on additional challenges, different projects, and they're left to their own devices through no fault of anyone else, it's just the nature of it.
“It's about recognising that there is support there and people have to be able to reach out to spread that work load and share it across the club.
“I have a very simple session planned where people will have the opportunity to talk about what's really affecting them, what are the common challenges they are facing, and by the end, we will ideally try to identify some strategies so people can use them practically in their roles”.
The first priority for GAA clubs when it comes to recruiting volunteers should be to ensure they match skill-sets with the appropriate roles.
The GAA Club Leadership Programme is designed to help GAA volunteers manage their roles.
If they do that then the role will be a fulfilling one for the volunteer. If they don’t, then it’ll be stressful one.
“This is probably something within the GAA that a lot of people can relate to when it comes around to AGM time and there are positions that need to be filled and more often than not it's a question of whether there's anyone willing to do this job?” says Queeney.
“Sometimes people accept roles out of the goodness of their heart, out of a commitment and passion for their clubs, but then find the role can be very demanding or unsuitable.
“People might have a lack of awareness of the position they're getting themselves in to and with that then comes a lot of responsibility and from there the work-load starts to build.
“Really clubs should be matching specific jobs with people who have the requisite skill-set.
“So, if people are very strong at marketing or writing or sales or accounting or whatever it might be, then may be a specific role for that person to do.
“Because often they can do these things in their sleep in their day job and they're only too willing to get involved in the GAA club, especially if there are children involved and they see the value in all of that and what the GAA can provide.”
Volunteers are much more likely to be enthusiastic once they feel supported and appreciated in their roles. The club itself can help in this regard by ensuring relevant sub-committees are in place and that there’s a culture of open dialogue and communication in the club.
The Leinster GAA Club Development Conference takes place this Saturday in SETU Carlow.
There’s also an onus on the volunteer themselves not to take too much on their own shoulders and to seek help when it’s required.
“I would certainly hope that a volunteer is able to come to a forum such as an executive meeting or a juvenile meeting or whatever it is, and be comfortable in the fact that they're able to talk about how they might be feeling a bit overwhelmed, because people won't know unless you say it” says Queeney.
“I think it's important that people have that platform and they are able to share those concerns when they get a chance because we go to meetings and we have our agendas and we run through important things like finance and coaching and different things like that.
“But from experience we don't tend to get into the whole personal side of it on how people are coping with their roles and projects that they are doing.
“For me I think the most important thing is that people can recognise where they are at in terms of their work-load and that they have that a platform to communicate that and get help if required. That's something we don't always do well as volunteers in the GAA.”
For more information on the 2025 Club Development Conference, go HERE
The Club Leadership Development Programme (CLDP) provides learning opportunities for new and existing Club Officers in GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association Clubs to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to fulfil their roles. For more information, go HERE.