Hot
Topic Archive
October
- November 2008
Co-Operate
or Collapse
By
OzVPM Director Andy
Fryar
OzVPM
has just finished co-hosting the 1st Asia Pacific
Volunteer Leadership conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.
While
the entire conference was a really great experience,
the closing ceremony particularly stands out in my
mind because unlike so many conferences I attend back
in Australia, where we try and ‘hype’ delegates up
to ‘go forth and conquer’ as they leave the event,
the closing ceremony in Hawaii was conducted with
much more of a reflective tone – something I am told
is much more common for that region.
The
final session I refer to was conducted by Dr Art-Ong
Jumsai Na Ayudhya from Thailand, who was a part of
the conference’s ‘six billion paths to peace’ stream.
His final and very traditional Thai candle lighting
ceremony really struck a chord with me. In this ceremony,
three key conference delegates were invited to go
to the front of the auditorium and light a candle
each. In addition, each delegate in the room had also
been given a small candle. The hall lights were dimmed
and starting with the three lit candles at the front
of the room, each person with a lit candle passed
on their light to another, until before we knew it,
the entire room was alight with the small light each
of us was holding.
It
was a powerful demonstration of the principal that
alone we are just one small voice, but that together,
if we work cooperatively, we can set the world ablaze!
It also prompted me to write this month’s Hot Topic!
“I
have a dream…” began Martin Luther in his historic
speech about the power of people of different creeds
working side by side. Well I have a dream too, one
which still feels almost impossible in the political
landscape which is the Australian volunteerism movement.
It stems from my observations both in Australia and
further abroad, that the politicising, back biting,
mistrust, jockeying for position and general
competitiveness
of our sector remains the biggest hurdle to us ever
moving volunteerism ahead in any constructive manner
– what’s more, I believe it threatens to tear us apart
unless we come to terms with this fast!
I
am quite sure that even publishing this Hot Topic
will earn me a few less friends, but it needs to be
said that after more than two decades in this game
it appears that a cooperative approach is still viewed
with suspicion by many, which in turn never allows
us to move forward.
To
be even more blunt, allow me to state what I believe
are several key reasons for this:
• The
high turnover rate in our sector is like no other
industry and does not allow for relationships to develop
• There
remains a continual recruitment of people into volunteerism
who don’t understand volunteerism! If you owned a
garage you would not employ someone to be a mechanic
who did not understand their way around an engine,
yet I am constantly baffled to see volunteer involving
agencies, including volunteer centres and government
departments for volunteering, employing individuals
who don’t have even a rudimentary understanding of
our core business
• Associated
with both of the above is a lack of any clear career
path in our sector.
• The
financial constraints our sector constantly faces
and the inherent competitiveness which this funding
often forces within the sector is a huge factor
• An
unwillingness to acknowledge the various strengths
and weaknesses which those of us in the sector already
possess
• A
lack of understanding about the value of working co-operatively
• An
inability to think outside of the square
Let me take
this argument one step further.
All too often
I believe that the volunteerism sector defines itself
(and is viewed by others) far too narrowly. Volunteer
Centres, peak bodies and government agencies put themselves
- and are viewed - as having to be ‘front and centre’
of the volunteering world. Once positioned as ‘core’
or ‘lead’ agencies they then have a need to find and
have all the answers about volunteering. On the surface
this would make some sense – yes?
Well my observations
over many years are that trying to be ‘all things
to all people’ actually weakens any agency, whether
it be in volunteerism or any other sphere of life.
In volunteering,
the effect of this is that these lead agencies can
soon lose sight of why they exist in the first place,
who they seek to serve and just what their core business
is. Instead, attention is focused on seeking better
ways of funding themselves to the point that the agency
changes course and steers in another direction. Government
agencies and funders in turn become significant and
major players in this cycle, often at the expense
of other very important members of the sector – namely
volunteer managers, professional Associations, trainers,
consultants, educators, researchers and academics.
The result is that this body of additional knowledge,
spheres of influence and complimentary support often
becomes merely a secondary set of players in the scheme
of things.
Now don’t
get me wrong, I am not on a witch hunt against volunteer
centres or govt departments here as I believe all
of us working in this field need to spend time redefining
our own strengths and weaknesses to find better ways
of collaborating. I am also not suggesting this pattern
is true of each and every agency I have met. There
are indeed some fine examples of volunteer centres
and lead agencies around the world who are focussing
on their strengths and collaborating with others in
the sector to achieve maximum results for their volunteering
community.
For instance
in Singapore, the National Centre of Volunteering
and Philanthropy have delegated the task of training
volunteer managers across to MOVE, Singapore’s professional
Association for volunteer managers. In the UK, Volunteering
England recently signed an MOU with their professional
Association AVM. Yet here in Australia we struggle
to make these same connections.
I believe
it is only when we truly understand and utilise the
scope of information and knowledge we all bring to
the table that we will begin to move forward as a
whole.
Let me give
you an example. While in Hawaii I had a few quiet
beers with a guy called Tony Goodrow. Tony is the
creator of a volunteer management software system
in North America and CEO of that same company. Not
someone you would automatically assume to be part
of the volunteer movement right? Well the discussion
I had with Tony about trends and issues in our field
transcend the discussions I would have with 98% of
other people in the sector.
The first
thing that struck me is how sad it was that a software
specialist knew so much more about how to manage volunteer
programs than most people doing the job! The second
thought I had was why don’t we refer to those on the
periphery of our sector, people like Tony, more often
to seek alternate views on how volunteerism issues
could be improved?
Collaborating
is not new – and what’s more it is not difficult.
It requires
us to think broadly and approach each new opportunity
with a sense of excitement and anticipation rather
than from an angle of suspicion and fear.
Here are
some additional challenges and opportunities to embrace
the sector as a whole:
• Why
do so many VPM’s complain about the lack of professionalism
in the sector – yet so few bother to take the time
and join AAVA? • Why don’t our national professional
Associations make more efforts to band together and
collaborate internationally?
• Why
is it often considered ‘immoral’ that ‘for profit’
trainers, consultants, researchers and companies make
a living from volunteerism (and are often excluded),
when our volunteer centres and government offices
for volunteering are filled with people doing exactly
the same thing? • Why do government departments continually
‘reinvent the wheel’ instead of relying on and better
funding our existing infrastructure, including volunteer
centres?
Like the
candles in that Hawaiian conference room, if we learnt
to be less threatened and work cooperatively with
one another, we too can light up our societies with
new and exciting ways - and break the cycles of competitiveness
once and for all.
Because unless
we all take some responsibility for doing this, our
sector will only continue to become more divided and
ultimately weaker
The challenge
is set!
• What
are you going to do about it?
• What other thoughts would you like to add to this
debate?
It's
not too late to...
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