Responses
to January 2007 Hot Topic
Bug
or Butterfly?
Response
posted on January 17th 2007 by Clare Doyle, Program
Manager, Community Visitors Scheme, Multiple Sclerosis,
NSW/Vic
Dear
Andy
This is my year to become a butterfly and after 14
years as Manager of the MS NSW/Vic Community Visitors
Scheme' I plan to 'fly off on long service leave for
2 months and take a cruise form Athens to Instanbul.
It is time to recharge the batteries and have some
time for me. I know after so long in the one position
and although I love the CVS, I will come back with
renewed energy and new thoughts and plans about our
work practices.
Response
posted on January 10th 2007 by Peter Heyworth, Coordinator,
Volunteer Services, Royal Society for the Blind, Adelaide,
South Australia
Unfortunately
I think Andy is right.
At
most levels of volunteer management - unless we manage
to come into much higher level management / strategic
positions, much of our time is taken with day to day
stuff. I think we also tend to have to deal with more
immediate issues which can come fast
and furious and can't be planned for.
The
immediacy of this work load can lead us into the tyranny
of the urgent and it is easy to forget the important.
Planning, relaxing, envisioning
is the important stuff. It saves us time and empowers
us in the long term, but always gets missed out in
the short term.
Today
for example, nothing on the plate - except prepare
some training for volunteers and some planning. Instead
a lengthy call from a volunteer who has got his nose
out of joint, a volunteer who had an accident in a
company car, a stressed out client needing a service,
a volunteer who wanted to resign over a misunderstanding
with another volunteer, resolving an issue with an
office volunteer, a number of contacts with several
departments organising training / meetings etc., a
tough call on two police checks + follow up, computer
problems, etc
So
the plans go astray and the urgent crowds out the
important.
Scheduling
time to be a butterfly - you bet ya - it is essential.
We wont survive without it
One
of the reasons AAVA is including a component on professional
development in the accreditation program they are
developing is to make sure we have time to smell the
roses, look after ourselves and take time out to plan
and envision.
Absolutely
essential!
By making professional development a component of
accreditation it forces vm's to think about looking
after themselves in our busy worlds
Incidently, I wonder if you have looked at a butterfly
fly. They fly in a jerky manner and flit quickly from
flower to flower while seeing the bigger picture
Response
posted on January 10th 2007 by Adaire Palmer, Volunteer
Management Branch, SAFECOM and Vice President AAVA,
Adelaide, Australia
I couldn't agree more with both
your's and DJ's comments!! Linked in with the points
you make, I've been pondering the notion of lifelong
learning and professional development for what seems
like eons! Some of the research I've done indicates
that while younger people are keen to keep learning,
experimenting different ways of doing things and taking
on new concepts (as well as being proponents of new
concepts), there are a number of 'older people' who
reckon that while its a great concept, its not for
them.
Lets
all make the commitment to change one or two things:
use the list suggested by Andy, or invent your own!!!
I,
for one, have put up my hand to become a board member
of another professional association (as well as AAVA)
to promote the wonderful world of volunteer management
to the industry of human resources.
What
will you do?
Response
posted on January 2nd 2007 by DJ Cronin, Manager Volunteer
Services, Greenslopes Private Hospital and Board Member
AAVA, Brisbane, Queensland
Thanks
Andy for encouraging us all to be butterflies and
I for one would certainly love to fly high in 2007.
It can be a funny old business, this volunteer management.
Personally I am quite content in my career choice
but I haven’t always been. I’ve taken
more interest in the sector itself in recent years
after I worked hard to ensure that my job was respected
and valued and on an equal footing with other managers
within the agency. My goal this year is to continue
on that path and to encourage others in the sector
to take more pride in their important roles and gain
the recognition they deserve.
I
feel that if we stick to the comfortable warmth and
security of our cocoons then our profession will not
soar. I was surprised by the lack of support in some
areas in 2006 for International Volunteer Managers
Appreciation Day. The reasons given for this varied
from “I don’t like patting myself on the
back or “you don’t see HR people having
their own recognition day” etc. I researched
the latter and in fact they do have at least an awards
ceremony for those in the industry each year. I don’t
see IVMAD as merely patting ourselves on the back.
I see it more as a vehicle for promoting our wonderful
sector. Ditto with the inaugural volunteer managers
award being run by AAVA. Another of my goals this
year is to nominate someone for that award. I hope
that you do too. http://www.aava.asn.au/pages/International%20Volunteer%20Manager%20Appreciation%20%20Day.php
I
end with a quote from Norman Vincent Peale and my
final goal is to apply it to our sector:
"You
only lose energy when life becomes dull in your mind.
Your mind gets bored and therefore tired of doing
nothing. Get interested in something! Get absolutely
enthralled in something! Get out of yourself! Be somebody!
Do something. The more you lose yourself in something
bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have."
Its
not too late...
Let's
hear what you think!
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