Lessons From Geese

This is a popular story across the internet and it’s easy to see why. I’m not alone when I say that the animal world has a lot to teach us if we just pay attention. This story is filled with lessons which apply to the way we work in teams and particularly as volunteers for not for profit organisations. Sometimes it seems as though our voice is the only one trying to bring attention to the cause but, as you read this, you will realise that you’re not alone, and your team is with you. Learn how to work with it for better results.

Lessons from Geese

As each goose flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird behind it. By flying in a V-formation, the whole flock adds 71% more flying range than if each bird flew alone.

Lesson: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier when they are travelling on the thrust of one another.

When a goose gets sick, wounded, or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down. They stay with the goose to help and protect it until it is able to fly again or it dies. Then they launch out with another formation to catch up with the flock.

Lesson: If we have as much sense as geese, we will stand by each other.

Whenever a goose falls out of the formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front.

Lesson: If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those who are headed where we want to go.

When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position.

Lesson: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership.

The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

Lesson: We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging - not something less than helpful.

Now that you’ve read the lessons, take from them what you can. Volunteers are amazing people – you are an amazing person – so stick together like geese and move forward as one. You have more chance of being seen and heard if you fly together as one.

Celebrating Your Volunteers In Your Blog

As every manager of a NFP organisation knows only too well, the burning out of volunteers is one of the main problems in the sector. It is important to know that along with the other reasons why volunteers cease to be interested in volunteering, a strong factor is the lack of attention to their efforts. If you want to keep your volunteers happy and motivated, you will have to make them feel special and what better way to do so than acknowledging the difference they make. In this sense, using your blog to celebrate the volunteers at your NFP is a great idea with a lot of potential.

Devoting a section in your blog to your volunteers is a solution that can help in more than one way. To start with, your volunteers will be pleased to know that you are interested in what they have to say and will be happy to share their opinion, views, feedback or memories. Bearing in mind that most of them may be too shy or modest to share that they volunteer, celebrating them in your blog will do that on their behalf and may turn very useful if a prospective employer makes the effort to google them for more information. And finally, you will have fresh and unique content for your blog, which will contribute to your search engine optimisation and will have a positive effect on the online image of your NFP.

As to what volunteer-related content you can publish in your blog, that’s the easiest part of the process. Your volunteers have special events in their lives, some of them related to the organisation. If an elderly volunteer celebrates an important anniversary (like a 70^th birthday or 10 years at the organisation), you can celebrate them in a blog post – a short interview and a nice photo will do. Otherwise, you can start a rubric of the ‘Ask a volunteer’ and ‘Our volunteers’ feedback’; every week a different person can share their organisation-related thoughts. Or you can ask around the company for interesting or funny stories from the volunteers’ experience and share them with your blog readers.

An example of an organisation that makes the effort to celebrate their volunteers in their blog is Oxfam Australia. Navigating in their website, you can easily reach the section of the blog devoted to the volunteers and there you can see posts similar to the proposed above: Volunteer Spotlight which focusses on a person and their story; a message from one volunteer to another; commemorating the retirement of a long-term volunteer, etc. As already mentioned, this can only bring benefits to your organisation and your blog, and it will be a precious little act of attention for your volunteers.

Having said all this, if you think it is high time you did something special for your volunteers, try celebrating them in your blog post. Making them feel special is sure to invigorate them and make them even more passionate for your NFP’s activities. And besides this, your prospective volunteers will read positive stories of current people working with you, which is a great plus for your recruitment strategy. All in all, blogging about your volunteers is a win-win, so make sure you try it soon!

Westpac Community Treasurers' Award

Being the volunteer treasurer of any organisation requires commitment and dedication.  The role of the treasurer can be very time consuming as often the financial expertise of the organisation comes only from the treasurer. 

The role of the volunteer treasurer can take up a lot of time and usually requires more commitment than just attendance at the regular board meetings.  At the same time the volunteer treasurer knows this and does not seek recognition; they are often more than happy to make the commitment and take pride in the achievements of the organisation. 

Westpac also understands this and has established the 2012 Westpac Community Treasurers' Award to recognise and acknowledge the valuable contribution made by volunteer treasurers to the community.

Awards will be given for treasurers in the three following categories:

·         Small organisations:   For organisations with an annual income of less than $100,000 per annum.

·         Medium organisations:   For organisations with an annual income of between $100,000 and $1 million per annum.

·         Large organisations:   For organisations with an annual income of more than $1 million per annum. 

The winner in each category will win $5,000 for their organisation and a trophy to recognise their achievements, plus $5000 worth of tools and training from Our Community.

Nominations are due by 26 October 2012 and can be made online by following the link to the Our Community website.

Take the time to prepare and send in a nomination for your volunteer treasurer as they are worth it.

How To Encourage People To Volunteer For The Role Of Treasurer

For some committees the end of financial year means that it’s time to find new volunteer members. That isn’t easy but it is even harder when the vacancy is the role of treasurer.

You still have a few weeks up your sleeve so we want to give you a few ideas that you might be able to use to help you in tracking down and gaining your new committee members.

1. Ask people you know.

Have you ever gone up to someone after a meeting and asked why they didn’t put their hand up for the job? “Nobody asked me” is the usual reply, isn’t it? Don’t assume that people know you want them. Tell them. Ask them to join you.

2. Have clear instructions and processes in place.

If you’ve never volunteered before it can be daunting, especially in a role that is as responsible as treasurer. The more organised you are as a committee and the more processes and guidelines you have in place, the better. If you can show the potential volunteer that they will have all the support they need (in writing and from you and the other committee members) it’s more likely that they will take up the role.

3. Campaign and show off!

You’ve worked hard and you’ve had success throughout the year. Not everyone will see what you’ve done. You’re the magic behind the scenes. When you are starting to look for new volunteers, tell people what you’ve achieved and how good it makes you feel. Tell them how rewarding it has been for you. Show the difference that you’ve made. Being able to see the impact of the work often encourages people to get in and help. They can SEE the goal.

You’re probably looking at these tips and thinking that they are too simple and too obvious. Let me ask you, though, when was the last time you actually did any of these things?

They ARE simple techniques which is what makes them easy to overlook, but never underestimate the power of simplicity.