THE BUSINESS OF VOLUNTEERING (part1)

This is the first in a series of discussions that we will be having on The Business of Volunteering (TBV).

A few months ago when I signed up for an international event as a volunteer, the first thing I told myself was "don't expect to get paid". Of course volunteering means offering your services toward a cause without necessarily getting paid for it however, you may sometimes have the privilege of being given an allowance.

My first day on the job, I had high expectations on the level of organization as such I expected everything to be and fall in place. Little did I know that for my hub, a lot of initiative would be required from the part of the volunteers? Firstly, my hub manager appeared more of a project person than an events person and this was evident from the day before when we went for the volunteers meeting and there was no volunteer brief nor anything until a different hub manager came to the rescue. Interacting with her taught me that it is important to know each person's abilities in the event chain and assign roles to individuals based on that. While she is a more detailed person, my hub manager is a more pragmatic manager and this showed when an event partner did not show up for their event for which there were already guests. If my manager had followed-up with them, he would have been able to monitor them and know if and when they would be coming.

Other areas of the event at my hub showed gaps for example, the guest list was not provided which meant guests came in anonymously but for the creativity adopted on the part of my team and I at the registration point. I was assigned there because, after interacting with me, she ascertained that I would be the ideal person for that team and was she right! Though the day ended well, I never stopped wishing I had worked with the other lady instead. Though we might have to do more work and be on our toes for most of the period, it would have sharpened us however, where I thought my lessons would be wasn't where I found them.

The major lessons I learnt today have to do with first identifying skills and abilities of people you are working with or assigning duties to; being detailed in your work and planning yet, flexible enough to adapt to change while being pragmatic on a solid foundation of proper planning is not a bad idea in itself. Also, I learnt to identify opportunities for tutelage and encourage same though I admit I must learn to be more patient with people under tutelage. Finally, I learnt that different personality types exist and human resource is the most difficult and dynamic of all resources to be managed thus, wisdom is profitable to direct.

What exactly is volunteering and what does it entail? Look out for TBV2!

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