Wednesday 16 May 2012

Casting the Net

As volunteer managers it is easy to feel isolated within our organisations. Personally I’m not just the only employee within the library service whose sole responsibility is volunteering but the only person in the whole of the council structure with such a role. When I took this position just over a year ago I needed professional guidance and support, this simply wasn’t available to me locally so I started to look further afield. I needed to improve my knowledge and skills to overhaul and unify policy and procedure for the library service. I decided that the best way might be to see what resources were available online.

After some pretty broad Google searches I found myself stumbling around strange new worlds. Some seemed a little dry and didn’t inspire me at all but others opened up a new world and eventually led to online communities (but more of that later!). Volunteering England in particular kept me well informed and provided the guidance I was looking for when I needed advice on policy and demystifying areas that had been mired in scare stories and supposition.

Much later I joined UKVPMs which is also a very useful way of getting personal responses and anecdotal advice from a broad range of people within the sector. I’m glad I did it this way because UKVPMs could have been a little daunting had I not already had chance to develop some of my own opinions. This is due to a side-effect of a format in which simple questions posted can elicit a variety of answers and even spark quite intense debate which can overrun the initial post. This being said it is a tremendous professional resource and once confident enough the lively (but respectful) differences of opinion are a crucible, in which the profession can develop and evolve.

During my initial searches I also came across iVolunteer (now ivo) which seemed familiar with its profiles and wall posts like the social networks I belonged to. I was also pushed towards forming a group of library volunteer co-ordinators which attracted plenty of people but as a group it didn’t really know what it wanted to achieve. Keen to maintain an online presence I also posted opportunities and a little note which I later realised had little value because however well crafted it was no-one was following me! To top it all off I also realised that there were no prospective volunteers in my region. I must take this opportunity to apologise to the volunteer managers of Brighton and Hove who seemed to be awash with volunteers on the site and may have unknowingly been the subject of a frustrated rant. There was one saving grace for me at the time which was the steady stream of posts and comments that appeared on a range of topics, some relevant to me but all interesting and informative. Throughout this time some names kept cropping up and I started following people and in turn they followed me. Having plenty of experience of different types of writing I thought I’d try my hand at blogging when iVolunteer launched its competition. This proved to be a gateway into a community that welcomed me with open arms and encouraged me to get more involved. ivo also led me to take part in several webinars run by Warrington VC as part of EYV11 as national (and international) training forums. I’m very excited to see that these are continuing!

Whilst this was going on I had taken the step to set up work Twitter and Facebook accounts (with all the conflicting experience of online forums and posts to learn from) and I was able to experiment with ways in which these media could work for me. I soon realised that Facebook was only for sharing embarrassing photos of me with old university friends and remembering birthdays so that soon fell by the wayside. Twitter by contrast was a new world of international contacts and a network of professionals sharing opinions as well as links to online content, and thanks to ivo I had a small pod of recognisable faces to add already. With the rise of mobile internet it is accessible and instant as well as giving you a real sense of community. Twitter has also provided a platform for Thoughtful Thursdays (#ttvolmgrs) which sets a theme each week, normally by a guest blogger, and then invites people to join in through the day to share ideas and experience within the 140 character limit! These have proven to be a great catalyst for debate and sharing and often spark more debate for following weeks (I must confess that even when I’m on leave I still get thoughtful on Thursdays!!!).

I think it is useful to point out here that I have work and “personal” Twitter accounts for very different purposes, but they are both for work. I have an account (@WBCLibVols) which allows me to advertise volunteer positions and events locally and for maintaining a community presence in my region. For professional development, Thoughtful Thursdays etc I use my “personal” account (@BigDSmall) which allows me to show more of my personality and interests as well as connecting with other VMs beyond the organisations we work for. By which I also mean trading baking pics, commiserating Man U supporters (sorry Sue) and my ABBA dancing conundrum!   

I would now consider myself an active member of networks on ivo and Twitter, I blog (when I can, should do more) on ivo as BigDSmall and at www.blogspot/smallmindedthinking. It has even provided the springboard for relationships that have moved beyond the virtual to support my development and allowed me to help others by making my skills available to them.

I hope, if anything, my experience can help Volunteer Managers realise that there is a flotilla of online resources which you can tailor to your needs and individual situation. Nothing needs to be too daunting and whether you want to observe and reflect or dive in head-first there is plenty for everyone out there.  

1 comment:

  1. Hi


    You need to improve your knowledge and also your experience.You should be more responsible for your work.



    Volunteer community

    ReplyDelete