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From Martin J:
Control
Many of our clients receive government and private grants.
One client received such a grant this year in recognition of their expertise: the grant was to be used for any purpose deemed to meet their goals. When they advised the granter what they had decided to spend it on, their plans were vetoed and they were told they could not use the grant in the proposed manner.
The not-for-profit withdrew and resubmitted their proposal, only to have it vetoed again.
When they protested, they were told that their proposal could be for any purpose deemed to meet their goals and in line with the stated agenda of the Governor of that State!
Their response was: "Why didn't anyone tell us there were strings attached?"
They felt that the department giving the grant had switched from enabling and supporting to dictating and directing.
If this incident was isolated, it wouldn't make an interesting story, but I see the desire to control, dictate or direct arising again and again.
We see control in the not-for-profit sector exercised in other interesting ways:
· peak bodies who seek to control everything connected with their cause/issue
· not-for-profits who claim clients as "their own"
· people who say things like "those are our volunteers", "our donors", or even "our program"
· managers who veto decisions without reason or rhyme
· the attitude that says "this is the only way it can be done".
This month I' ve been reflecting on this control: how much we like to control others. What does control mean?
In the series on Sabotage that I have been writing for e-volunteerism I see control appear again and again. This desire to control stifles innovation, creativity and personal responsibility.
I want to say to us all: Flee from control.
Manage YES
Relate: YES
Build: YES
Control: NO
How have you seen controlling behaviour undermine success? How have you resisted your own desire to control? How have you seen people struggle with this issue? Do you dare comment and share in our latest poll? Click here to read or participate!
Love to hear more from you.
Have a great month!
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Welcome Martin!
We are very excited to welcome 500 new subscribers to our newsletter, bringing our subscriber base to more than 3500 people. Our aim is 6000 subscribers by June 2009.Can you help by forwarding this newsletter and recommending our news? Thank you!
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Effective people: Voluntourism
 "The days of retired volunteers sitting in an office licking stamps are dead," declared Martin J Cowling at a recent conference on the Gold Coast of Australia. He further claimed that "The Baby Boomers who are retiring now will not be banging at the doors of your organisation begging for volunteer work."
One of the possible options that seems to be appealing to Baby Boomers as well as Gen X and Gen Y is voluntourism, with various organisations offering short- and long-term volunteering options. These may include:
- building infrastructure in unusual or interesting places, such as New Orleans, Morocco, South Africa, Fiji
- teaching English in China, Japan, eastern Europe, South America
- teaching cooking, art, music to children in developing countries
- travelling to museums and archeological sites in order to return with the knowledge to museums in their own nation
- participating as volunteer archaeologists, geologists or other specialists in their field
Voluntourism is attractive to Baby Boomers because it is for a defined length of time, it has a defined purpose or outcome, is interesting work and allows them to explore the world and themselves. Boomers have the financial resources to do it.
Voluntourism has implications for local volunteering. We believe volunteering needs to change so it is bite-sized (no more eternal volunteering for this generation!), has clear outcomes, is interesting and allows exploration. How much of your volunteer program meets those requirements?
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Better organisations: Mission statements
 To attract and retain the next generation of employees, not-for-profits must
call more attention to their missions and their values, according to a new report from the Johns Hopkins Center for
Civil Society Studies. The report says groups should sell the
"context of the job".
In our work, People First -Total Solutions believe writing a mission statement is a
valuable exercise, as it puts the aims of the organisation into clearly
comprehensible words.
The mission statement needs to have a central focus,
something which is often lost or ignored in the day-to-day struggle of
operations. Our concern is that we see many mission statements that are incomprehensible, too long and removed from the history and reality of the charity. Too many mission statements are written in closed rooms by people who hope it sounds "nice"!
Jim Collins, of Stamford University, identified in research that the most effective organisations actually live by their mission statements, succeeding in the long term while those around them fail.
Take some time to write a mission statement for your organisation, or to revisit and reassess an existing mission statement. People First -Total Solutions offers the following tips to guide your thought processes:
- Seek input from employees, volunteers, board members and even clients
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Develop a list of your organisation's real values, the community you service, your core product or service and what you do that noone else does.
- Refine the list to the core concepts and put them together in one sentence. What do you do, whom do you service, and where, why or how do you serve them?
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Come up with options, then have your staff (paid and unpaid) identify the one that resonates most clearly
Don't get bogged down in the details: if stress levels are rising, take a break and come back to it another day.
People First -Total Solutions can help you determine your organisation's goals and develop a workable mission statement as part of our One Page Strategic Plan! Click here or contact us by email or telephone for more information.
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Stronger society: Online communities
 Online communities, or Custom Social Networks, are constantly growing in popularity. MySpace dominates the online social network scene, with more than 80 percent of the market share, while visits to the top 20 sites, including Facebook, are increasing at a rate of sometimes 10 percent per month.
Among the attractions of these sites is the ability to network instantaneously with friends and acquaintances across the globe, and many organisations are using them as tools for maintaining business contacts as well. Wikipedia, "the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit", is another useful tool. An entry for your organisation can be created and edited, although if the administrators feel that it is advertising, they reserve the right to remove the entry.
With any online community or website, it's important to be aware of your rights and to safeguard your privacy. Think carefully before you post any information about yourself or others. Read the Privacy Guidelines carefully. Remember that real people are on the other end of your messages, not just faceless computers.
People First -Total Solutions now has a Facebook page. Become a "fan" of the company or become a Facebook friend of Martin J Cowling''s (NB for the latter you will need to sign up to Facebook)
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Company news
No more training this year!
People First -Total Soutions have filled all of their 2008 trainung slots. The books are open to September 2009:
- USA/Canada: Jan/Feb/Apr/May/Jun 2009
- New Zealand: Feb/Jun 2009
- UK: Aug 2009
- Australia: Jan to Sep, 2009
Check out our training scores, rates and trainers at our website.
Australian National Volunteering Conference on Gold Coast.
Almost 300 people visited the People First -Total Solutions stand at this conference (we also hosted AAVA and OzVPM). 200 entered a competition to win a Volunteer Program Audit and $50 of Haigh's Chocolates. The winner: Heather Russell from ACH Group in South Australia. Second prize, membership of AAVA and $50 of Haigh's Chocolates, was won by Anita Berry,
Manager Volunteering North Queensland Inc. Anita writes: "What a lovely surprise to come back to after the conference! It helps to make up for the printer that has died and the ducting pipe that fell off the wall. I have no doubt the [AAVA] info will be most useful, and as for the chocolates... Many thanks."
While at the conference, Martin J Cowling gave a presentation and three workshops pro bono. He also developed a reputation on the dance floor in his boogie shoes!
Audit Packages - Strong Demand
Interest in our Audit Packages has exceeded our targets. Thye clearly have made an impact. We are updating information on the three packages regularly on our site:
- Volunteer Program Audit
- Volunteer Satisfaction Analysis
- Volunteer Program Impact
Some have indicated some nervousness about the audits, suggesting they are not ready for such a step. These audits, remember, give you a detailed blueprint for moving your product forward. Contact us for more!
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Your say
Newsletter looks great. One minor change I would suggest: your default font is a dark grey. Make it black, it's easier to read, I find it a little hard to read, like reading through a fog. People with any degree of visual impairment (even slight) will be inclined not to read lighter fonts.
Steve, USA
Thanks, Steve. You'll notice we took your advice, and apologise to anyone who has had difficulty reading the newsletter in the past.
Congratulations [on] your new assessment packages. I will look into them in further detail later, today I am trying to finish up a project proposal!
Zsé, Dublin, Ireland
Explored the site [www.pfts.com.au] and felt it was more cutting edge and exhibited a different level of expertise.
Hannah, Sydney, Australia
Some of our clients found our latest innovation of putting our training charges on the website to be very helpful. Check the information out! |
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Write on the I-Gen wall
We've had some interesting comments on the People First -Total Solutions I-Gen wall. The current generation of youth may be a great source of volunteers, but we need to understand how to get and keep their attention. Have you got anything to add to the discussion? Please contribute.
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