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Well worth a listen. I wish you all a beautiful day! 

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The Lie We Believe - Alan Watts on the Illusion of Problems

Volunteer Friendly Spaces in Kind Workplaces

 

Every person wants to work in a place where they are happy. Many workers stay with organisations based on their happiness and wellbeing at work. This might sound simple enough. But to be happy in life you must remember that you spend much of your life at work for an organisation or person. There have been many shifts in the way people think about work especially since the pandemic struck the world.

I would posit that many people had a shift in how they think. The arrival of COVID, the lockdowns, and major wars that are unfolding bringing us closer to 12 on the Doomsday clock have given rise to people reflecting on what is really important in their lives. This reflection often comes after a shock to the system, and I think this is happening now more than ever.

The Global community is now at our fingertips. And despite all the bad news there is still an arising of kindness and compassion. Thus, people now at work want to be in a place that reflects kindness. Rarely though do you see an ad for a position that says “Come and work in a kind environment.”

Getting the job done is a perquisite. In a kind and caring environment getting the job done leads to ongoing job satisfaction, team spirit and successes celebrated. It never plays a blame game when a mistake is made. Mistakes are lessons to be learnt from. The greatest minds made many mistakes on their journeys. Work comradery, collaboration, authentic leadership and the freedom to question and raise innovative ideas lead to creating psychologically safe spaces to work in. While knowing the positive impact you are making, leads to a safe, kind and welcoming workplace. The old brigade may still say “They are paid to do the job – none of this fuzzy kindness stuff!”

But it does. Show me the person who doesn’t want to work in a safe and kind organisation? Show me those who want to be led by the old brigade?

Peter Drucker stated, “Accept the fact that we have to treat almost anybody as a volunteer.”

On reflecting on this quote Dan Rockwell had to say this on his insightful Blog – Leadership Freak

“If employees were volunteers' leaders they would:

1.       Focus more on people with passion and less on people with talent

2.       Seek agreement on expectations and deliverables

3.       Ask permission to hold people accountable

4.       Express gratitude sincerely

5.       Address tough conversations kindly

6.       Focus on aligning organisational and individual values

7.       Build relationships

8.       Listen

9.       Include

10.   Respect “

I raise these points as I feel that many people have reflected on their time. I’ve had the lived experience of losing those very close to me and also staring face to face with my own mortality through serious illness and accident in a fifteen-month period. This has definitely sharpened my own deep reflection on the importance of time, ensuring that my time is utilised in a way that helps myself and others.  The simple act of helping others can make you feel good to! You are never wasting time by helping others. You are never wasting time in a job that you love, in a role you are passionate about and where you feel empowered, encouraged and guided by those around you.

And I posit that the organisations that live by Drucker’s words have higher staff engagement and wellbeing and lower attrition rates to boot!

In the volunteer world these traits are magnified. This is the world where people give their time, freely, for the common good. The recruitment, retention and recognition tools of volunteer managers need to be highly tuned, through our consistent best practices and blending with emerging trends on the volunteering landscape.

At yet while volunteers are gifting their time, they expect that their time is never wasted, that every minute and hour is making and impact and that they know it. They might tell you they do not do it for the “Thanks” but any volunteer manager worth their salt will know that the gift of their time is a donation that should be cherished and recognised.

Before even recruiting for volunteers, we need to ensure that they are coming into a friendly, open and kind space. Organisations with low staff morale and engagement will struggle to find, let alone keep volunteers. This is why the entire lifecycle of employees, and their satisfaction is crucial to the entire volunteer engagement!  We rarely look at it this way!