If there was ever a time to dare, to make a difference, to embark on something worth doing, It is now. Not for any grand cause, necessarily... but for something that tugs at your heart, something that's your inspiration, something that's your dream."
Author Unknown
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
A thank you speech for volunteers
You make a difference in the dash.
Life is short. In the scheme of things this oft quoted saying must be true. Our planet has been here for millions of years – our universe billions.
On our headstones will be the etching of when we were born and the date when we died.
For example 1960 – 2050
What matters to me are not the two years mentioned. It is the dash. That little dash. -
That’s our life. That represents to me the short time we have, here, to make a difference, or not.
And making a difference means so many different things to so many people.
But for you, the volunteer, what you do during that dash is most significant.
You can give me money for my cause. Sure. But I may pay that back to you. Say you give a dollar a month. It is appreciated without doubt. It is your dollar. However you may pick it up elsewhere. Something extra you do. Some other way of earning that buck.
But how do we give back time?
As a volunteer you give time.
Time. The most precious resource in our lives.
Look at the dash. How many hours are in there? It’s not billions. It’s not infinite.
Money can be printed. Time cannot.
Once you give an hour of your time it is lost forever. That hour you just gave volunteering will never be replicated.
Your time volunteering must be valued but we can never put a value on that time.
How can you value something that is priceless?
As a volunteer you bring much to this organisation. Skills, advice, experience, friendship, vision, leadership, inspiration etc.
That you bring. But time you give.
In our time poor world you bear the gift of time.
You choose to donate the most precious commodity in the known universe.
We may count your time in numbers. We may attempt to count your time in cash value.
Though such methods have their reasons we will all be poorer if we don’t realize that the giving of your time is simply and utterly magnificent.
So today, we take a little time out to thank you for the amazing “time in” that you give.
Truly, thanks for your time!
© DJ Cronin 2010
Brisbane Australia
Life is short. In the scheme of things this oft quoted saying must be true. Our planet has been here for millions of years – our universe billions.
On our headstones will be the etching of when we were born and the date when we died.
For example 1960 – 2050
What matters to me are not the two years mentioned. It is the dash. That little dash. -
That’s our life. That represents to me the short time we have, here, to make a difference, or not.
And making a difference means so many different things to so many people.
But for you, the volunteer, what you do during that dash is most significant.
You can give me money for my cause. Sure. But I may pay that back to you. Say you give a dollar a month. It is appreciated without doubt. It is your dollar. However you may pick it up elsewhere. Something extra you do. Some other way of earning that buck.
But how do we give back time?
As a volunteer you give time.
Time. The most precious resource in our lives.
Look at the dash. How many hours are in there? It’s not billions. It’s not infinite.
Money can be printed. Time cannot.
Once you give an hour of your time it is lost forever. That hour you just gave volunteering will never be replicated.
Your time volunteering must be valued but we can never put a value on that time.
How can you value something that is priceless?
As a volunteer you bring much to this organisation. Skills, advice, experience, friendship, vision, leadership, inspiration etc.
That you bring. But time you give.
In our time poor world you bear the gift of time.
You choose to donate the most precious commodity in the known universe.
We may count your time in numbers. We may attempt to count your time in cash value.
Though such methods have their reasons we will all be poorer if we don’t realize that the giving of your time is simply and utterly magnificent.
So today, we take a little time out to thank you for the amazing “time in” that you give.
Truly, thanks for your time!
© DJ Cronin 2010
Brisbane Australia
Volunteer Management qualify for last 8 of World Cup
Volunteerism Gazette
Don J Volau reports on a soccer tournament with a difference in the republic of Asaba
Asaba June 25
They come from 32 nations around the globe. Yet they play together and there may be Englishmen, French women and Dutch guys playing on the same team.
For this is the management world cup. 16 teams made up of managers from 16 different sectors gathered two weeks ago for the inaugural Management world cup. Its 8 a side soccer for this cup and teams are evenly split between male and female.
Like the real world cup this world cup has had a few shocks of its own.
Take for example the elimination of Marketing Managers in the first round. Try selling that disaster! They were beaten 4 – 0 by Funeral Directors. The local press ran with the headline “Deadly defeat for Marketing!”
Then there was the 8-0 thrashing of HR Management by Volunteer Management.
In a spiteful game that saw red cards on both sides the hero of the hour was the Volunteer Managers goalkeeper who saved 12 penalties. The result was all the more remarkable given that the Volunteer management team nearly didn’t make it on the starting list. Explained their manager, Noah Rekognition, “ our first attempt to enter the competition was rejected by the governing council who sent us a letter stating that they believed that no volunteer management sector existed!” After a few calls to people in high places the team was admitted.
Volunteer Management will now face Finance management in the quarter finals. “Finance will be a tough one for us but we are confident of pulling off another upset” said VM captain Bendere Dundat.
Watch this space!
Copyright the Volunteerism Gazette 2010
Don J Volau reports on a soccer tournament with a difference in the republic of Asaba
Asaba June 25
They come from 32 nations around the globe. Yet they play together and there may be Englishmen, French women and Dutch guys playing on the same team.
For this is the management world cup. 16 teams made up of managers from 16 different sectors gathered two weeks ago for the inaugural Management world cup. Its 8 a side soccer for this cup and teams are evenly split between male and female.
Like the real world cup this world cup has had a few shocks of its own.
Take for example the elimination of Marketing Managers in the first round. Try selling that disaster! They were beaten 4 – 0 by Funeral Directors. The local press ran with the headline “Deadly defeat for Marketing!”
Then there was the 8-0 thrashing of HR Management by Volunteer Management.
In a spiteful game that saw red cards on both sides the hero of the hour was the Volunteer Managers goalkeeper who saved 12 penalties. The result was all the more remarkable given that the Volunteer management team nearly didn’t make it on the starting list. Explained their manager, Noah Rekognition, “ our first attempt to enter the competition was rejected by the governing council who sent us a letter stating that they believed that no volunteer management sector existed!” After a few calls to people in high places the team was admitted.
Volunteer Management will now face Finance management in the quarter finals. “Finance will be a tough one for us but we are confident of pulling off another upset” said VM captain Bendere Dundat.
Watch this space!
Copyright the Volunteerism Gazette 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
From Volunteer Management to Leadership: Part 2
Applying principles of leadership to Volunteer Management
Stefan Wills talks about a number of key principles which inform and guide our leadership practice.
http://www.ashridge.org.uk/website/content.nsf/wOPN/A+Leadership+Point+of+View:+Key+Principles+by+Stefan+Wills?opendocument
I would like to look at Stefan’s principal’s headings and apply them to volunteer management:
Key Principle One – Self-Realisation
Are you on the road to becoming the best volunteer manager you can be? What does this mean for you? Managing volunteers and volunteer programs encapsulates many skills and talents. To me, taking a leadership role encompasses knowledge of best practice in the field, indeed an acceptance that a field of volunteer management exists.
In terms of Volunteer Management what does self-realisation mean for you?
For me – it’s about being confident about my job and the place of my role in society. Volunteer Managers make a difference. I am confident of that because I see it dailyy, not of course isolated to my own role but in the many volunteer managers I have come across.
Key Principle Two – Holistic Connections
Volunteer managers manage. Other line managers manage. Managing paid staff has the demarcation of people providing a service for pay. Managing volunteers I postulate has inherently in built leadership fabric because people can choose to follow your organisation and you.
If I volunteer for an organisation it is because of different reasons. One is I believe in the cause of the organisation. Another is that I believe that the recipients of the service are better off because of my volunteering. Others may include of course the “what’s in it for me” aspects. But once I am volunteering if I don’t admire, respect, and look up to my manager then there may not be sufficient enough reason for me to give my best. To me as a volunteer, the person managing my activity plays a huge role in how I see my volunteering.
I’ve worked with cranky uninspiring bosses in a paid capacity. I am lees inclined to do so if my volunteer manager is cut from the same cloth. The first Volunteer manager I worked for in Ireland inspired me to work in community service. The first volunteer manager I worked under in Australia inspired me to become a volunteer manager. To me they were both natural leaders. They just didn’t operationally manage. They led and inspired by their example by which they were and by how they behaved.
Key Principle Three – Collective Leadership
For this principal I will quote directly from Stefan. Because in my opinion when you read his views on this principal you find that it can apply directly to volunteer managers. I don’t feel I am being lazy by quoting Stefan in full here from his article because feel I need not add to what he says here one iota!
“For those who believe in the value of looking at themselves and attaining self-esteem and are then able to connect fully with others, their attention shifts to the motivations and desires of the people around them. Here lies one of the greatest myths in the various debates around the real meaning of leadership. Leaders are too often and too quickly individualized, turned into romantic heroes, their contribution escalated beyond all others. It is not always a single individual who provides the major stimulus for collective movement and change. More often it resides somewhere in the connections and relationships, so it is often much harder to fathom and fully understand.
What is clearer is that within such unions, there is a strong desire by all the constituents to look after and nurture one another and ensure that the conditions created will allow for personal learning and growth. All members are focused on the creation of a strong collective energy and spirit, ultimately being able to call themselves a high performing team.
As well as being open and caring towards one another, all the team members are focused on being open to being influenced and being influential in the expression of their views. This kind of collective leadership is built upon an influence relationship among leaders and followers who are all working towards real changes which reflect their jointly held values and mutual purposes.”
The key for me here is “all the team members are focused on being open to being influenced and being influential in the expression of their views.” How are you able to go from volunteer management to this collective leadership? Do volunteers and others you work with consider you influential? How do you allow volunteers to influence your program and organisation? If not, can you facilitate this happening?
Key Principle Four – Meaningful Purpose
Stefan writes “Most often, this is what they consider to be a contribution, beyond the purely materialistic, which will enhance and enrich the lives of themselves and others”
On these principals we have so many advantages being in volunteer management. Often we don’t see this. Habitually I will argue, we exhibit great leadership in our roles but we can’t see the trees for the forest.
We are doing the leadership work in so many ways yet fail to realise how this is so. Yet I say to you – the more we look into good leadership practice the more we discover the abundance of it amongst our field.
When we can start naming it as such, then we are able to articulate our worth better to our organisations, our communities, to our management colleagues in other fields and to the decision makers in our society.
Could it be that our field unknowingly is, by its very nature, already ahead of others in the leadership area? Not that we will take succor by being “ahead” of anyone.
Our real contribution to management anywhere will be the sharing of how we lead. There are thousands of books on management and leadership. Perhaps one day one of us will write a book with a title along the lines of “Leadership – managing your teams as if they were volunteers”.
Some of you will get that.
Some may not.
To be continued…..
With thanks to Rob Jackson from the UK for a pointer in the direction of Stefan’s article.
Stefan Wills talks about a number of key principles which inform and guide our leadership practice.
http://www.ashridge.org.uk/website/content.nsf/wOPN/A+Leadership+Point+of+View:+Key+Principles+by+Stefan+Wills?opendocument
I would like to look at Stefan’s principal’s headings and apply them to volunteer management:
Key Principle One – Self-Realisation
Are you on the road to becoming the best volunteer manager you can be? What does this mean for you? Managing volunteers and volunteer programs encapsulates many skills and talents. To me, taking a leadership role encompasses knowledge of best practice in the field, indeed an acceptance that a field of volunteer management exists.
In terms of Volunteer Management what does self-realisation mean for you?
For me – it’s about being confident about my job and the place of my role in society. Volunteer Managers make a difference. I am confident of that because I see it dailyy, not of course isolated to my own role but in the many volunteer managers I have come across.
Key Principle Two – Holistic Connections
Volunteer managers manage. Other line managers manage. Managing paid staff has the demarcation of people providing a service for pay. Managing volunteers I postulate has inherently in built leadership fabric because people can choose to follow your organisation and you.
If I volunteer for an organisation it is because of different reasons. One is I believe in the cause of the organisation. Another is that I believe that the recipients of the service are better off because of my volunteering. Others may include of course the “what’s in it for me” aspects. But once I am volunteering if I don’t admire, respect, and look up to my manager then there may not be sufficient enough reason for me to give my best. To me as a volunteer, the person managing my activity plays a huge role in how I see my volunteering.
I’ve worked with cranky uninspiring bosses in a paid capacity. I am lees inclined to do so if my volunteer manager is cut from the same cloth. The first Volunteer manager I worked for in Ireland inspired me to work in community service. The first volunteer manager I worked under in Australia inspired me to become a volunteer manager. To me they were both natural leaders. They just didn’t operationally manage. They led and inspired by their example by which they were and by how they behaved.
Key Principle Three – Collective Leadership
For this principal I will quote directly from Stefan. Because in my opinion when you read his views on this principal you find that it can apply directly to volunteer managers. I don’t feel I am being lazy by quoting Stefan in full here from his article because feel I need not add to what he says here one iota!
“For those who believe in the value of looking at themselves and attaining self-esteem and are then able to connect fully with others, their attention shifts to the motivations and desires of the people around them. Here lies one of the greatest myths in the various debates around the real meaning of leadership. Leaders are too often and too quickly individualized, turned into romantic heroes, their contribution escalated beyond all others. It is not always a single individual who provides the major stimulus for collective movement and change. More often it resides somewhere in the connections and relationships, so it is often much harder to fathom and fully understand.
What is clearer is that within such unions, there is a strong desire by all the constituents to look after and nurture one another and ensure that the conditions created will allow for personal learning and growth. All members are focused on the creation of a strong collective energy and spirit, ultimately being able to call themselves a high performing team.
As well as being open and caring towards one another, all the team members are focused on being open to being influenced and being influential in the expression of their views. This kind of collective leadership is built upon an influence relationship among leaders and followers who are all working towards real changes which reflect their jointly held values and mutual purposes.”
The key for me here is “all the team members are focused on being open to being influenced and being influential in the expression of their views.” How are you able to go from volunteer management to this collective leadership? Do volunteers and others you work with consider you influential? How do you allow volunteers to influence your program and organisation? If not, can you facilitate this happening?
Key Principle Four – Meaningful Purpose
Stefan writes “Most often, this is what they consider to be a contribution, beyond the purely materialistic, which will enhance and enrich the lives of themselves and others”
On these principals we have so many advantages being in volunteer management. Often we don’t see this. Habitually I will argue, we exhibit great leadership in our roles but we can’t see the trees for the forest.
We are doing the leadership work in so many ways yet fail to realise how this is so. Yet I say to you – the more we look into good leadership practice the more we discover the abundance of it amongst our field.
When we can start naming it as such, then we are able to articulate our worth better to our organisations, our communities, to our management colleagues in other fields and to the decision makers in our society.
Could it be that our field unknowingly is, by its very nature, already ahead of others in the leadership area? Not that we will take succor by being “ahead” of anyone.
Our real contribution to management anywhere will be the sharing of how we lead. There are thousands of books on management and leadership. Perhaps one day one of us will write a book with a title along the lines of “Leadership – managing your teams as if they were volunteers”.
Some of you will get that.
Some may not.
To be continued…..
With thanks to Rob Jackson from the UK for a pointer in the direction of Stefan’s article.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Volunteer Management : Can the struggle within be keeping us without?
In a recent post on i-volunteer.org I wrote “Can they (Volunteer Managers) not aspire to take those extra steps in leadership? Are they not allowed? Is career advancement a dirty concept for volunteer management?” I was responding to another post critical about my ideas for leadership in our sector.
And then something’s struck me today. Nah, too mild. Certain thoughts slammed into me today and left me reeling.
“Volunteer management can’t be allowed to advance too much because this will cost money. And though we like to argue that volunteering doesn’t come for free the intrinsic core belief associated with volunteers are that they are unpaid and as such the very idea of having a profession engaging them is anathema to a certain philosophy itself.
I get it now. And it’s an important lesson for those in volunteer management who consider their profession a sector and it is an even more important lesson for those in National associations for volunteer management.
The crew is not with you by any measure or fashion!
It’s all about volunteering and its association of no cost. Those of us who have been pushing the barrel for years that volunteering does not come for free are winning minor battles but losing the war.
For it’s a civil war as such.
A response to an article I had on i-volunteer sums it up
“Leadership breakfasts? Innovative concepts in management? Look, it's all very well having volunteer managers high up in the organisational hierarchy keeping themselves busy going to networking lunches and issuing buzzword-laden policies and strategies to demonstrate how innovative they're being. But the reality is that in any Third Sector organisation it's the staff actually on the ground doing the actual real work of fundraising/service provision who are the ones who are truly managing volunteers on a day-to-day basis.”
I can disagree with the author of the above but I have to praise the same author for articulating precisely the opposition I have encountered within the sector to growing volunteer management, to getting volunteer management recognised as a sector and to having parity of pay in terms of management positions etc.
Such a pattern is emerging that I can no longer discount this feeling I get. And it is this: the biggest barriers we face in the advancement of our sector are being put up by ourselves. Not just that but there may be a significant amount of people who feel that they are not barriers to begin with but merely checkpoints and stop signs along the way.
STOP! There is no such thing as a profession of volunteer management!
This risks professionalizing volunteering – the greatest of juxtapositions!
HALT! WHO GOES THERE? If you have been fighting over your titles for many years now no one can take you seriously and nor should they. Volunteer Manager: Manager of volunteers. Coordinator. Director. And our favorite – administrator of volunteers! LOL
STOP! International Volunteer Management Day? Are you serious?
Volunteers are the ones who deserve recognition and praise. The whole concept of this day gives us an “icky” feeling”. We were able to make you get rid of International Volunteer Manager Recognition Day. Your other title will fade way soon too. After all you take away from International Volunteer Day. You will confuse the media re both days re lessen the impact of the message on volunteerism.
HALT! WHO GOES THERE? Consultants who present on volunteer management or write on the topic and who might make a buck doing so?
How dare they make money on the backs of volunteering? We are seeing through you. We will ignore you at our major conferences and we won’t consult with you while the evil dollar sign is brandished on your forehead!
STOP! An award for excellence in volunteer management?
How dare you? Awards are for the "vollies" not you! It is a privilege to work with the volunteers – it makes us cringe that you self promote your own position!
HALT! WHO GOES THERE? Who are you to challenge definitions of volunteering enshrined in our id!
All this from within and all the above real life experiences.
I was encouraged a few years ago by a conference on volunteering with a theme along the lines of “ride the new wave of volunteering”
Yea right. Many have fallen off the surfboard since. The same old waves keep ebbing away and no ones ridin' 'em in my view!
You won’t hear this kinda talk in many circles of volunteerism because too many people are minding their Ps and Qs for all sorts of political reasons.
Awhile back I wrote an article titled “Asleep at the wheel” for e-volunteerism
My thought process has since been re routed. It’s not about who is asleep at the wheel anymore in our sector – it’s all about who is at the wheel.
And right now it’s not me and my ilk. Nevertheless I am there in the backseat talking away. If they manage to lock me in the boot you will still here me tapping away.
For we will never give up!
Why this blog. Why do I rant as I do?
My reasons are simple:
I once worked as a volunteer coordinator where I was unrecognized and our volunteer service was unresourced.
I worked hard. I love volunteer management. Anyone though that says it is easy is not in volunteer management!
I came to the conclusion that volunteers provided a very important service
I came to the conclusion that the organisations could and should value the team more
Could value me more
And I fought to get that recognition
And I succeeded.
But I met others
In the same boat.
Who have met me over the years.
Who have rang me.
Who have spoken to me privately.
Underpaid.
Undervalued.
Under resourced.
Under pressure.
What gives?
Because it is volunteerism it is ok?
Because it is within community services it is acceptable?
“If I were in it for the money I wouldn’t be in it at all – I only do this for the love of the job” “If they stopped paying me tomorrow I would still do it”
That’s the other side to contend with.
Real people doing real jobs leading real movement facilitating real change.
The Volunteer Manager
Judge how an organisation sees its volunteers by how it sees its volunteer manager!
That’s my simple “value equation” and I am sticking by it!
DJ
And then something’s struck me today. Nah, too mild. Certain thoughts slammed into me today and left me reeling.
“Volunteer management can’t be allowed to advance too much because this will cost money. And though we like to argue that volunteering doesn’t come for free the intrinsic core belief associated with volunteers are that they are unpaid and as such the very idea of having a profession engaging them is anathema to a certain philosophy itself.
I get it now. And it’s an important lesson for those in volunteer management who consider their profession a sector and it is an even more important lesson for those in National associations for volunteer management.
The crew is not with you by any measure or fashion!
It’s all about volunteering and its association of no cost. Those of us who have been pushing the barrel for years that volunteering does not come for free are winning minor battles but losing the war.
For it’s a civil war as such.
A response to an article I had on i-volunteer sums it up
“Leadership breakfasts? Innovative concepts in management? Look, it's all very well having volunteer managers high up in the organisational hierarchy keeping themselves busy going to networking lunches and issuing buzzword-laden policies and strategies to demonstrate how innovative they're being. But the reality is that in any Third Sector organisation it's the staff actually on the ground doing the actual real work of fundraising/service provision who are the ones who are truly managing volunteers on a day-to-day basis.”
I can disagree with the author of the above but I have to praise the same author for articulating precisely the opposition I have encountered within the sector to growing volunteer management, to getting volunteer management recognised as a sector and to having parity of pay in terms of management positions etc.
Such a pattern is emerging that I can no longer discount this feeling I get. And it is this: the biggest barriers we face in the advancement of our sector are being put up by ourselves. Not just that but there may be a significant amount of people who feel that they are not barriers to begin with but merely checkpoints and stop signs along the way.
STOP! There is no such thing as a profession of volunteer management!
This risks professionalizing volunteering – the greatest of juxtapositions!
HALT! WHO GOES THERE? If you have been fighting over your titles for many years now no one can take you seriously and nor should they. Volunteer Manager: Manager of volunteers. Coordinator. Director. And our favorite – administrator of volunteers! LOL
STOP! International Volunteer Management Day? Are you serious?
Volunteers are the ones who deserve recognition and praise. The whole concept of this day gives us an “icky” feeling”. We were able to make you get rid of International Volunteer Manager Recognition Day. Your other title will fade way soon too. After all you take away from International Volunteer Day. You will confuse the media re both days re lessen the impact of the message on volunteerism.
HALT! WHO GOES THERE? Consultants who present on volunteer management or write on the topic and who might make a buck doing so?
How dare they make money on the backs of volunteering? We are seeing through you. We will ignore you at our major conferences and we won’t consult with you while the evil dollar sign is brandished on your forehead!
STOP! An award for excellence in volunteer management?
How dare you? Awards are for the "vollies" not you! It is a privilege to work with the volunteers – it makes us cringe that you self promote your own position!
HALT! WHO GOES THERE? Who are you to challenge definitions of volunteering enshrined in our id!
All this from within and all the above real life experiences.
I was encouraged a few years ago by a conference on volunteering with a theme along the lines of “ride the new wave of volunteering”
Yea right. Many have fallen off the surfboard since. The same old waves keep ebbing away and no ones ridin' 'em in my view!
You won’t hear this kinda talk in many circles of volunteerism because too many people are minding their Ps and Qs for all sorts of political reasons.
Awhile back I wrote an article titled “Asleep at the wheel” for e-volunteerism
My thought process has since been re routed. It’s not about who is asleep at the wheel anymore in our sector – it’s all about who is at the wheel.
And right now it’s not me and my ilk. Nevertheless I am there in the backseat talking away. If they manage to lock me in the boot you will still here me tapping away.
For we will never give up!
Why this blog. Why do I rant as I do?
My reasons are simple:
I once worked as a volunteer coordinator where I was unrecognized and our volunteer service was unresourced.
I worked hard. I love volunteer management. Anyone though that says it is easy is not in volunteer management!
I came to the conclusion that volunteers provided a very important service
I came to the conclusion that the organisations could and should value the team more
Could value me more
And I fought to get that recognition
And I succeeded.
But I met others
In the same boat.
Who have met me over the years.
Who have rang me.
Who have spoken to me privately.
Underpaid.
Undervalued.
Under resourced.
Under pressure.
What gives?
Because it is volunteerism it is ok?
Because it is within community services it is acceptable?
“If I were in it for the money I wouldn’t be in it at all – I only do this for the love of the job” “If they stopped paying me tomorrow I would still do it”
That’s the other side to contend with.
Real people doing real jobs leading real movement facilitating real change.
The Volunteer Manager
Judge how an organisation sees its volunteers by how it sees its volunteer manager!
That’s my simple “value equation” and I am sticking by it!
DJ
Monday, June 14, 2010
GROUNDHOG DAY IN VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT...GROUNDHOG DAY IN VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT...GROUNDHOG DAY IN VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT...GROUNDHOG DAY IN VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT...GROUNDHOG DAY IN VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT...
So here’s the cynic in me folks: at my state volunteering centre over the years I have noticed at network meetings many new faces every few months. It’s one of those network meetings where people sit around saying who they are, where they work and how many volunteers “they have” ( as if that mattered) So you hear their introductions and you try to get to know their names for future reference and then when you get to another meeting in 6 months they are gone. And the network goes back to the same old same old…. where people sit around saying who they are, where they work and how many volunteers “they have” (as if that mattered) So you hear their introductions and you try to get to know their names for future reference and then when you get to another meeting in 6 months they are gone. And the network goes back to the same old same old….
And your estimation of the movie “Groundhog Day” grows!
And nobody talks about this at the meeting. After all we are all new (mostly). And old heads like me have been guilty of remaining silent and other “old heads” have simply left the network. In fact some of us have formed a network of our own where more than 4 managers have been in the position for over 4 years!! Which should be news I guess and which I must share with the globally respected “Volunteerism Gazette”
And this is where the cynic in me not only dances an Irish jig but performs the river dance. This agency and others provides training for those new to the field. And its volunteer management training 101.So.....new fresh people all of the time!
People don’t stay in the job long enough to consider concepts such as advanced VM or leadership.
“Hi – I’m Jan and I have 300 volunteers”. Good luck with that Jan - hope to see ya in 6 months.
Cynical? – I suppose. Sarcastic? - A given!
Martin J Cowling of People First Total Solutions has produced the evidence to suggest we are not staying in our jobs.
What can leaders do to turn this around?
What can leaders do to turn the field around?
It must happen. It will happen. The first step will be the call of those who are shouting that our collective head is buried in the sand.
Though they will be ridiculed, called trouble makers or pot stirrers they will keep shouting and getting louder until there is a fundamental shift in the way we look at volunteer management and leadership.
“Hi – I’m Jan and I lead 300 people”
It need not be such a monumental shift in how we think.
And your estimation of the movie “Groundhog Day” grows!
And nobody talks about this at the meeting. After all we are all new (mostly). And old heads like me have been guilty of remaining silent and other “old heads” have simply left the network. In fact some of us have formed a network of our own where more than 4 managers have been in the position for over 4 years!! Which should be news I guess and which I must share with the globally respected “Volunteerism Gazette”
And this is where the cynic in me not only dances an Irish jig but performs the river dance. This agency and others provides training for those new to the field. And its volunteer management training 101.So.....new fresh people all of the time!
People don’t stay in the job long enough to consider concepts such as advanced VM or leadership.
“Hi – I’m Jan and I have 300 volunteers”. Good luck with that Jan - hope to see ya in 6 months.
Cynical? – I suppose. Sarcastic? - A given!
Martin J Cowling of People First Total Solutions has produced the evidence to suggest we are not staying in our jobs.
What can leaders do to turn this around?
What can leaders do to turn the field around?
It must happen. It will happen. The first step will be the call of those who are shouting that our collective head is buried in the sand.
Though they will be ridiculed, called trouble makers or pot stirrers they will keep shouting and getting louder until there is a fundamental shift in the way we look at volunteer management and leadership.
“Hi – I’m Jan and I lead 300 people”
It need not be such a monumental shift in how we think.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Volunteer Management and Social Media: Are we keeping up with the times?
My colleague Jayne Cravens has been talking about this for years. A person ahead of her time. A leader. Jayne will be surprised to hear that I was once a little skeptical of her message.
No longer.
I have engaged the social media revolution by writing this blog. I have engaged with just under 1,000 individual visitors in just under 3 months! And pages have been downloaded just under 3,000 times. It has blown me away! People from 27 different nations have visited this site! And setting up a blog hasn’t been that hard.
A year ago I knew little of blogs, and how to track website hits etc…
Now I am promoting my blog through various social mediums! All of this from a guy who didn’t get social media a few years back.
Its no fad.
And the field of volunteer management need to be there. We need to get it. I suggest that volunteers already do. A grasp on social media is a requisite for our leadership!
Now marvel at this posted on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng&feature=player_embedded
Social Media and Volunteer Management! - We can’t afford to miss the boat
No longer.
I have engaged the social media revolution by writing this blog. I have engaged with just under 1,000 individual visitors in just under 3 months! And pages have been downloaded just under 3,000 times. It has blown me away! People from 27 different nations have visited this site! And setting up a blog hasn’t been that hard.
A year ago I knew little of blogs, and how to track website hits etc…
Now I am promoting my blog through various social mediums! All of this from a guy who didn’t get social media a few years back.
Its no fad.
And the field of volunteer management need to be there. We need to get it. I suggest that volunteers already do. A grasp on social media is a requisite for our leadership!
Now marvel at this posted on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng&feature=player_embedded
Social Media and Volunteer Management! - We can’t afford to miss the boat
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