Responses
to October - November 2008 Hot Topic
Co-operate
of collapse
Response
posted by Garry Slik - Manager, Wide Bay Volunteer
Resource Association Inc., Queensland, Australia
Sometimes friendship can be
tested when something important needs to be said.
If your words of wisdom (or advice) as noted in your
article on Co-operate or Collapse tests your friendship
in the volunteering sector, they need to seriously
take a look at their own beliefs and motivations for
being in the sector.
Volunteerism is not about building your own profile
or image, it is about helping others and helping organisations
who rely on volunteers. Just like volunteering itself,
as a Manager, Co-coordinator or Sector advocate you
need to be selfless and compassionate to volunteerism.
I have worked in this sector as a Volunteer Resource
Centre Manager for over 18 months now and can say
with little doubt, it is competitive and an exclusive
sector.
Exclusive in the sense that Volunteer Resource Centres
tend to figure it out on their own and do have a culture
far distant from the concept of synergy or interagency
co-operation. I am constantly bewilded that other
Centres have their own business philosophy and have
developed their own Mission and Vision - should it
not be aligned throughout the State and throughout
Australia, particularly as most Centres receive the
same funding to promote volunteering with the same
funding requirements and focus attached?
I am also quite astonished with the support from our
peek bodies. A peak body as defined From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia: "A peak organisation or peak
body in Australia is an association of industries
or groups. They are generally established for the
purposes of developing standards and processes, or
to act on behalf of all members when lobbying government
or promoting the interests of the members".
Peak bodies also need to act in the best interests
of who they intended to represent - in this context
- Volunteer Resource Centres. I then ask the question,
why don't our Peak Bodies communicate with us on a
regular basis with tips on service or latest updates
on volunteering issues, this is left to associations
such as yours - OxVMP. Why don't we have representation
on our Peak Bodies Committee or Board - Volunteer
Resource Centres (and in particular the Regional Centres)
are the soul of volunteering, yet it is only a very
significant few Centres (generally the capital city
Centres) who may have any type of advocacy or representation.
Why don't many regional Centres have close relationships
with our Peak Bodies, after all they assume the role
as our Peak Body and in such a role they need to guide
us, develop relationship building between us and create
synergies in our service delivery and customer service?
Why is my State Based Peak Body perceived as a competitor
by many of our State Based Volunteer Resource Centres
- because they act as a competitor and have in the
past sought to engage our Members directly without
our consent, engaged our local communities without
our consent and act in isolation without true consideration
for the Network? If anything it is very frustrating.
The sector needs a Memorandum of Understanding to
ensure each and every Volunteer Resource Centre acts
cooperatively and acts united. All Centres need to
send the same message on a National basis.
Currently Volunteer Resource Centres try to deliver
services aligned to funding requirements, but the
experience by a volunteer can vary enormously from
Centre to Centre. Different information brochures,
different referral processes, different interview
process, different forms to be completed, different
operating hours, and the list goes on and on. What
is the answer, a Nationally accepted process - using
the same forms, information (except when State based
information is different) and using an agreed process.
Imagine any other national service operating this
way, for instance McDonalds having different menu
items, different colours in their signage, different
logos and uniforms, different Mission Statements for
each location - a similar service being delivered
but a completely different experience each time.
We need consistency and we need common goals and common
"rules of engagement", we all act independently far
too much. Each region needs a generic News Letter,
sending out the same information and message. Each
region needs similar processes and similar work practices.
If the public see us as disjointed and with no common
theme, we will be treated as independent and without
a united approach from all of our stakeholders.
How do we change this? At the next VMP workshop, lets
understand why we exist, lets begin to understand
by using a united approach and a unified approach
we all benefit from synergies, we all benefit by reducing
the cost of reinventing the same form or the same
promotional material. Printing 100,000 brochures for
100 centres would be far more efficient that each
centre printing 1000 different brochures preaching
a similar message but in a disjointed way. I challenge
all Centres and all Peak Bodies to step up to the
plate and engage us, listen to our needs, allow real
representation from Volunteer Resource Centres (your
immediate customer) and create universal and national
processes to ensure the whole sector can become more
efficient and effective.
Lastly I need to highlight the viewpoints made above
are my own viewpoints and may not necessary reflect
those of the Centre I work for. My comments are based
on my personal experiences and my formal and practical
knowledge in Management, Quality Management and International
Business. I would also welcome your feedback to my
comments at: manager@widebayvolunteers.org.au
Response
posted by Ben Temby-Nichols, Director, Volunteer Services,
Mater Health Services, Brisbane, Australia
I
too share that dream Andy ...
There is a skill used in leadership development called
Holding to Account. What this means is that we create
a culture of willingness to hold others to account
and be held accountable ourselves for performance
and actions. It is in fact what professional coaches
teach their clients in order to facilitate their development
and growth.
I could be way off point here but from my own observations
about our 'sector' we really don't know how to develop
professionally and we don't have a planned career
path so we are not held accountable for outcomes.
So what happens? ... we wander in the same circles
until we get so comfortable that we don't see the
need to change and grow any more.
If we don't know where we are going we will never
get anywhere and I believe we are reaching a point
where we are all going to have to ask ourselves if
we have gone to sleep and left our engines running.
The Retreat for Advanced Volunteer Managers is an
interesting study. If it is indeed supposed to target
the 'pointy end' of our industry then where are all
the CEO's, Executive Directors & General Managers?
AAVA membership is much the same.
The message being sent out is that most of our industry
leaders don't need a professional association and
don't see the need to invest in developing VPM's to
become senior leaders.
My view is that the top tier of our sector are being
recruited from outside the volunteer management arena
because that is where the perceived skilled leaders
are.
Where does this leave us and what does it mean?
I may lose some friends over this response but I am
seeing more and more VPM's going in circles and not
really making any great professional or even personal
development improvements. We keep looking within our
own circles to network and be coached or mentored
but how many of us have an understanding of the skill
of Holding to Account much less all the other important
leadership skills, all of which take learning and
hard work to refine.
When was the last time we took time out to work on
one of these types of skills?
How do we measure our own personal and professional
growth?
What are the milestones we have set for our career
path?
When was the last time we sat down and articulated
in writing our own goals and what the measurement
of their success would be?
When was the last time we articulated to Andy and
Martin or a State Centre or AAVA our expectations
of them and again what the success factors would be?
****How many of us plan to be our sectors' next CEO,
Executive Director or General Manager?
Our top leaders need to start to invest in developing
our skills and we as a sector need to be willing to
work hard and be prepared to be held accountable and
give a valuable RIO (return on investment).
So Andy, to answer your question "what are you going
to do about it?" ... I can say that my career path
is quite clear and has been for some time. I am currently
on a senior management leadership course (outside
the sector) and on track with my personal and professional
development to be a CEO, Executive Director or General
Manager in the not-too-distant future. I can only
hope that it is within our sector so my skills can
be put to good use in helping to break down the barriers
your wrote about in your Hot Topic article.
If we don't do it ... who will?
Let's
hear what you think!
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