By Anne Schink
I remember a summer several years ago when I lay in bed on a hot summer night suffering with a terrible cold, ear infection and general misery. I struggled to figure out what had triggered this sense of being blocked in every direction. I had a wonderful job and activities that I really enjoyed, but I was feeling totally overwhelmed.
It didn’t take long to realize that I was overcommitted in every way. Even my volunteer activities weren’t fun any more. As I began to dissect my dissatisfaction, I realized that I was working full time and I was involved in about four volunteer activities at a variety of different levels and with a range of intensity. Service on a board I had once enjoyed had begun to feel like a burden. It dawned on me that this volunteer job was very much like my full time job. It felt like just ‘one more thing’. Another volunteer activity involved doing things I actually hated doing! I loved the organization, but I resented the time it took to set up meetings and make follow up phone calls. Too much like my job.
As I worked my down to through the list of activities, I began to see that what I sought in volunteer activities was something different from my every day job. An opportunity to work with people I wouldn’t necessarily run into every day at work. A chance to learn new skills that weren’t necessary in my job, but that were satisfying to me. An opportunity to work directly with others when so much of my work time was spent alone.
If you discern a pattern here, then you are probably a very insightful manager of volunteers. How many times have you asked a volunteer to do work that replicates what they do all day because they have ‘expertise’ in that area? Sometimes a volunteer is a highly skilled professional, but just wants to do something different. As you begin to recruit volunteers with lots of experience, be sure to take the time to explore, not just what they do now and do well, but also what they might rather be doing that will feel new to them and bring a sense of excitement back into their lives.
What kind of experience have you had with people who are trying to break of their mold?
Anne Schink is a Consultant in Volunteer Management and a featured blogger.
