Listen now and then. Relax. Become aware of your breathing.

Most of us have busy jobs. Most of us are busy with lots of thing. Career. Family. Friendships. Hobbies. Relationships. It is a human condition. But it is important to relax when you can. In fact, some days it is possible to be relaxed about everything. And if you like "That feeling" Feel it often. 

Volunteer Management is a busy job. We all know this. If ya aint busy that is great too! You have the perfect volunteer program with perfect conditions and perfect volunteers. Or you might be totally relaxed. 

There are so many Mindfulness gurus out there. You do not need a guru. Just relax and be. Listen to some of this music the next time you feel busy, worried or stressed. If you wish to. It may help. It may not. Just relax. Become aware of your breathing for a while. Observe your thoughts for they will arise. But you get to choose which thoughts you choose to connect with. Relax. You are here. Now. Namaste. 

Self-Realization - I Got It, I Lost It (Excerpt)

Don’t Despair! Managing isolation in Volunteer Management.

 

Don’t Despair! Managing isolation in Volunteer Management.

I have been a Volunteer Manager for 26 years now. I still love this career. It’s almost like a vocation. But do you know that I nearly once quit the entire sector after 4 years in Volunteer Management.

As most of you reading this, lead or work with volunteers I can assume that most of you are the only person responsible for your volunteer program in your organisation. Others may be in Volunteer management teams in large volunteer involving organisations.

After 4 years, while at an awards ceremony, I made up my mind to quit this job and sector back then.

Back then

·         I felt isolated as a manager. It’s hard to have a peer group of other managers who don’t manage volunteers in the organisation I work with.

·         Why am I treaded a bit different to other managers?

·         Why on Earth do I report to the Marketing Department?

·         I’d never even heard of a Volunteer Manager Sector or Network.

·         Gee, this feels like an isolating job.

Then I heard of a fella called Andy Fryar. The first time I was at a National Conference of volunteering and Andy was a plenary speaker as President of Volunteering Australia I was looking forward to his talk. When they announced his name I expected a guy in a business suit, neat, the corporate type. But up to the stage this man walked. My assumption of him was so wrong. I can’t recall what he was wearing but I do remember the ponytail. My first thought was “Hippy?” He will laugh reading this now. But the man who took the microphone spoke to us and not at us. He spoke with clarity and wisdom in a confident but so relaxed manner. He had created one of the best hospital volunteer programs in Australia. Andy Fryar was one of us.

Later Andy was one of the co - creators of the Retreat for Advanced Volunteer Management. I attended and I came back and decided to stay in the sector because the Retreat moved me profoundly. At the Retreat I met people who considered themselves as professionals. We attended advance Volunteer Masterclasses and then met in intimate support circles. It was powerful and has changed my life.

Today, I love my profession. I get regularly invited to speak at organisations and panels. I was a member of the Co-design team of the New National Strategy and proudest of all I was a faculty member of the Retreat on two occasions. My simple Blog has had close to half a million page visits. I am still learning. It never ends but the journey can be awesome!

I write this because if you feel isolated at work; we have your back. If you are new there is so much out there on the internet to help you learn now. There are networks everywhere when you look. Visit Volunteer Engagement Professionals - connection & camaraderie

There you will find over a thousand people who are learners, newbies, older and wiser folk like me who has made mistakes and keep learning every day, Consultants, Specialists, Authors, Speakers, Trainers, Bloggers, YouTubers, Podcasters, Thought Leaders, Strategists, Brave leaders, Authentic and Mindful leaders.

If you are on the verge of quitting only you can make the decision. You will be great at anything you put your heart into. Find your bliss and if it is in our sector seek us out. We are here the help. We are helping others help. International Volunteer Managers Day

Why are we perpetually in conflict? | J. Krishnamurti

When fires bore down on me

 

I kicked protesters to the ground

And put them all in jail

I tried to kill their pesky sound

Humanity for sale

I watched the fires with attitude

That science is simply wrong

In ignorance and gratitude

That I still plod along

I closed my heart and closed my eyes

I did not want to see

And only then I saw the lies

When fires bore down on me

Workplace Mental Health - all you need to know (for now) | Tom Oxley | T...

Who doesn’t care about volunteering?

 

I’ve been passionate about volunteering for a long time now. I care about volunteering. I believe volunteering changes lives. It changed mine. I have loads of examples of how volunteering has changed and indeed saved lives.

If you are a leader of volunteers, then I assume you care about volunteering. I don’t care what title your organisation has bestowed on you for the job that you so. I only assume because I would not dare even guess your motivation behind why you do what you so.

The public care about volunteering. They do it in their millions across the globe. They do it in their communities every day. They might not even call themselves volunteers and in many cultures, there is not a name for volunteering.

Some in the corporate world may care about volunteering. Many Corporates give their staff an extra annual leave day to volunteer at their charity of choice.

I assume that some organisations that utilise volunteers care about volunteering. I assume. Some.

Does Government care about volunteering? Do individual politicians care about volunteering?

Does someone care about something more if there is a fear that if not cared for then that something might be lost?

Do people believe that volunteering will never be lost? That volunteers will always just “show up”

I believe that there is no threat to informal volunteering. There is no threat to people helping others. There are still many people in the world who will help where they can.

I do think there is a threat to formal volunteering. That is the traditional mode of volunteering where people sign up with an organisation to volunteer in a certain role. It can be episodic, virtual, event or longer term volunteering.

Numbers of formal volunteering are on the decline in many countries. Some people say this has got to do with the pandemic and reasons associated with that.

But what if volunteers are beginning to think that their organisations don’t really care about them? What if there are organisations that

·         Put volunteers on the bottom rung of their organisational structure or doesn’t have them in the structure at all?

·         Have poorly paid volunteer leaders compared to other leaders in the organisation.

·         Put very little financial resources into volunteering.

·         Have volunteers coordinated by a clearly stressed-out staff member who had just been given the extra responsibility of “Looking after volunteers”.

·         Offer .5FTE roles as volunteer leader even though it’s clear that it should be a full time role.

·         Don’t consider their volunteer leaders as Subject Matter Experts on volunteering and treat them accordingly.

·         Have volunteer leaders who report directly to another manager be it the Marketing, Admin or Kitchen Manager!

·         Have no place at the Senior Leadership table for their volunteer leader.

·         Don’t even care who they hire as volunteer leader as long as they seem “nice” people who will “look after” the “nice” volunteers.

·         Have no volunteering strategy

·         See volunteers as just “nice to have”

Volunteers are not stupid. They can see organisations with poorly run programs, disorganisation of volunteering, lack of planning, stressed out volunteer leaders or volunteer leaders without the SME and experience in leading people. Add to that the lack of recognition and having no idea what positive impact their volunteering is having on the organisation.

Formal volunteering, to succeed, needs resourcing. The part of the volunteering ecosystem that has formal volunteering needs infrastructure to support it.

For formal volunteering to survive in any country it must have advocates who are passionate about volunteering and people who advocate for:

·         Government to support, really support the volunteering ecosystem. And that is not just about throwing a few million here and there now and then.

·         Corporates to be advocates and supporters financially to organisations who take the role of volunteer leadership and their volunteers seriously. Money talks and if you are in the corporate world you know that.

·         Organisations to understand that if they really care about volunteering then they hire SMEs to their volunteer leadership roles or invest in their leaders to take part in training, workshops and conferences that can bring them to that level,

·         Organisations that place volunteer leaders at all leadership tables. Now think about what I have just said. And ask yourself “Who does care about volunteering?” Do you?