Hot
Topic Archive
February
2006
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Have
we regulated volunteer management beyond recognition?
By
OzVPM Director Andy
Fryar
As
a small child I still remember quite vividly, those
occasions when my Mother would take me with her to
work at the local hospital, where she was employed
as a nursing Sister. I can easily recall the excitement
of following her into patient’s room, where she
would perch herself at the top of the bed and have
a friendly chat with old Mr Jones or Bob, who had
been involved in a motor vehicle accident. In no way
was that all she did, but the personal touch was,
at that time, an integral part of the nurses occupation.
In
fact those early memories of the nursing profession
of nearly 40 years ago were the main reason I started
my professional life seeking to become a theatre nurse
…and yes, before you say it, I know I took a radical
turn somewhere along the way!
To
continue the brief family history for a moment, the
turn I did take into the volunteering field came about
from witnessing and working closely with another of
my family members - in this case my step-mother -
in her chosen professional role some 20 years later.
In case you haven't guessed, she worked as a Volunteer
Program Manager (I'm second generation!) , and just
like my mother and her nursing, I well remember the
volunteer management style of the early to mid 1980's
as being a relaxed and casual affair.
Sure
there was some paperwork involved, but for the most
part it was more about people than processes. Having
a coffee
with
Jill when she arrived at 11.00am, following up with
Betty to see how her first day on the job was going
or asking Daryl how his new grandchild was. These
were some of the most significant and important parts
of any day.
Little
did I know that in the early 90's, when I myself became
a volunteer manager, that I was about to jump on a
giant roller coaster of change!
~
Huge change.
~
Incremental change.
~
Change that would redefine the very essence of our
profession.
In
Australia, the change I refer to came about as a result
of many things - risk management issues, the increased
need for more prudent screening procedures, insurance,
the threat of litigation, government involvement in
the volunteering sector, the development of an established
volunteer centre network and our own desire to be
seen as a 'profession', were just a few of these reasons.
In
fact, the roller coaster got faster as volunteering
continued to evolve - to the point that many of us
are now simply hanging on for dear life as the ride
continues to spin around and around in the same horrifying
loop! I'm sorry if this sounds bleak, but it is a
story I hear over and over again as I move around
the sector and I believe it is just one of the reasons
we have such a high turnover in this field.
Now
before I type another word, let me state quite categorically
that I am not in any way opposed to change, and in
fact much of what has transpired in volunteer management
in Australia over the past 20 years was well overdue.
Policy development, more diligent screening practices,
tighter training regimes and the implementation of
sound risk management strategies were (and continue
to be) both needed and necessary.
- However
at what point do we need to ask the question of just
where will this all end?
- At
what juncture do we stop legislating and creating
policy and allow commonsense to take its place?
- What
is the balance between the more formal management
regimes we are expected to implement and the expectations
of volunteers, whose motivations to volunteer usually
don't care about such things
- How
do we create an environment in which we can refocus
on some of the niceties that volunteer managers, like
my step-mother, used to experience, while still ensuring
a responsible attitude to volunteer safety and well
being?
I
distinctly remember Linda Graff beginning to ask these
types of questions on her last visit to Australia
in April 2004, while my December
2003 hot topic tackled a similar vein
of thought. Interestingly, I believe these questions
are beginning to be posed with more and more frequency
by the leading voices in volunteerism internationally
as we have started to really appreciate the evolutionary
basis of volunteering.
The
fact is that unless we occasionally take stock of
the path we are on, examine where that is taking us
and more importantly ask if it is where we want to
go nothing will ever change.
So
where does all this lead us?
Well
firstly, I think we need to be careful that we are
not becoming dinosaurs in the way we think about volunteer
management. What we can be sure of is that in the
same way that volunteering today is quite different
than it was twenty years ago, it will be quite different
again in 2010 or 2016. Think about it, even if you
are using a 2000 model for volunteering, you're already
six years behind the times!
We
need to be developing strategies that allow us to
'keep up' with best practice thinking and not have
to 'catch up' with it. Joining newsgroups or professional
associations like AAVA, subscribing to volunteering
journals or attending conferences are just a few simple
ways of achieving this.
Secondly,
let me encourage us all to think for ourselves a little
more. There seems to be a tendency for many VPM's
to want to be 'spoon fed' the solutions to every problem.
The truth is that volunteering is too broad a field
to have one set of solutions for every situation.
What we need to learn is how to seek our own solutions
- that's what makes us a 'profession' - the ability
to take a volunteering situation and analyse it for
ourselves and on behalf of our organisations.
Next,
let's start to challenge convention a little more.
The involvement of government, the creation of community
compacts and the increased need to meet legal standards
have, in many cases been great for the volunteering
sector. There are however plenty of other cases where
this involvement has also resulted directly in a complete
'dog's breakfast'!
If
we keep bending over to comply without ever asking
'why' or seeking other alternatives we will continue
to head in a direction where our professional lives
are consumed by paperwork and a sense of being disenfranchised.
We will wind up in a place we never intended to be,
and perhaps even one we don't like at all.
So
let's hear what you think?
~
Have we over regulated volunteering?
~ Is
there too much emphasis on the legalities in volunteer
management these days?
~ If
so, have we lost something in this over regulation?
~ Are
the models of good volunteer management practices
being taught still relevant?
~ Do
we want to regain some of the ground we have lost
- and if so, how do we go about it?
Finally,
you may also be interested to know that these are
some of the questions Linda Graff, Rick Lynch, Martin
J Cowling and myself will be asking at the 2006 'Australasian
Retreat for Advanced Volunteer Management'.
This
year's event will be held in Brisbane at the end of
August and carries the title of "Volunteer Management:
have we gone too far?" For more details visit
- www.vpmretreat.com.au
We
would love to see you there!
It's
not too late to...
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