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Self-Organizing
Volunteers Creating Beneficial Change
By
Joan E. Thompson |
Plymouth
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RSVP has been programming
Volunteer Services over the last decade for the intended
changes they bring to people’s lives. But I am learning the
biggest lessons from the volunteers who seek change through
the systems they themselves create. Their systems often
operate independent of the organizational structures that
traditionally invite volunteers in.
As staffed organizations, we do not always provide volunteer
opportunities clearly related to the change our mission
seeks. Nor do we engage volunteers in ways that honor and
value the unique contributions volunteers have to offer. I
do not find that situation nearly so often in non-staffed
organizations that have only volunteers pursuing their
mission. No one assumes ‘we can’t ask volunteers to do
that.’ Since only volunteers are available, of course the
volunteers ‘do that.’
So what makes volunteers such powerful change agents? As
organizers of new groups or movements, volunteers are free
to build their operational structure from the ground up. A
grass-roots dynamic. Not bound by from-the-top-down
directives. Nor far away “Headquarters.” They are free to
try what works, discard what doesn’t, and try something
else. Free to build on successes and failures, both. They
are the best recruiters for new volunteers to their cause.
The more layered and sophisticated our organizations become,
the more complicated our operating and communication systems
too. Maybe we would do well to follow the lead of Volunteer
Only Organizations. Here’s what I’ve learned from several
I’ve met recently:
1. Listen to your passion, your drive to make
meaning with your life.
2. Look for people who share your passion, your
meaning.
3. Envision your passion taking root and
growing in the world – think of it as a 1.000 piece picture
puzzle.
4. Look for people in opposition to fulfilling
your meaning – they have pieces for the puzzle, too. Listen
to them. Discover together what you share, after you reduce
your doggedly held assumptions about each other.
5. Begin weaving the puzzle pieces together.
6. The whole is greater than the sum of its
parts. The sum of the puzzle pieces all fit in the puzzle
box. But they’re not whole until they come out of the box
and are linked together.
7. Our role as volunteers – in and out of
staffed organizations – is to weave more puzzle pieces
together, bring more pieces to the table-top, and find ways
to understand we can all ‘fit’ only after we stop focusing
on our differences and look, deep, at what we share in
common.
8. Recognize that everything is possible and is
already within us, all.
And most of all enjoy the Journey, the Search and the
Discovery!
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About The Author
Joan
Thompson is the Executive Director for Mayflower RSVP, Inc.,
a non-profit organization mobilizing Volunteer Service
Activities in Plymouth County. She has directed RSVP’s
Retired & Senior Volunteer Program for nearly 30 years,
working with 200 public/private, health, human service, and
educational organizations to provide meaningful volunteer
service opportunities for members in the RSVP program. She
is a trainer in Volunteer Systems Management for local and
national organizations and a member of AVA, the
international Association for Volunteer Administration. She
may be contacted at RSVP’s Plymouth County headquarters,
(508) 746-77 87 or MayflowerRSVP@ Verizon.net.
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