Challenging Your Thinking. 1

Challenging Your Thinking. 1

Challenging your thinking.[1]

You will undoubtedlyalready have some of the volunteers on this list while others may catch you by surprise. Take 10 minutes to apply the two questions to the whole list.

On a scale of 1–5, with 1 being excitement and 5 being dread, what is my first reaction to the idea of developing a volunteer role for this type of person or this type of service? / Off the top of my head, what can I identify as at least one real work assignment with potential for this volunteer/offer?
  1. Someone available one day a year

  1. A family of three generations wanting to volunteer together

  1. University professors

  1. Someone available only during the night

  1. Service via smart phone

  1. A group of children under the age of 14

  1. Seniors over the age of 85 who are mentally active but physically limited

  1. On-call service

  1. Current clients/patients/consumers who want to get involved while receiving services from your organisation

  1. Families and friends of current clients/patients/consumers (particularly if visiting or waiting for their relative/friend)

  1. Entrepreneurial volunteers who want to experiment with new approaches to service

  1. People referred by a therapist

  1. Corporate employees in teams

  1. Off-site work

  1. CEOs of major companies

Your observations / reactions to the above list?

10-Minute Challenge: Pushing the boundaries of roles for volunteers

Susan J Ellis, Energize

I recently developed a group exercise for a workshop that is also of value as an individual thought-provoker. I call it the "10-Minute Challenge" because it is meant to test your gut reaction to what types of volunteers or donated services you might accommodate – enthusiastically welcome? begrudgingly accept? – within your organisation.

So, what did you learn? The point is not to rush out and recruit every one of these types of volunteers and, of course, not every organisation can meaningfully involve everyone. But are you open to innovating? Pilot testing (no one said you have to take an army of 9-year-olds!)? Did you jump to conclusions as to the limitations of some of the categories rather than their potential to do new and different things? Did you first consider whether your recipients of service might benefit from this type of volunteer, or did you react primarily on the basis of, "wow, this would be hard for me to manage"?

There is no scoring system here nor will I give grades. My goal was to stimulate your thinking and, maybe, to let you self-assess your openness to new sources of willing talent.

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[1]Adapted from: 10-Minute Challenge: Pushing the boundaries of roles for volunteers - Susan J Ellis, Energize

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