As I am doing my work experience at Colosoul Magazine which is a volunteer organisation it is difficult for me to communicate with other volunteers as some are not very commited to the organisation. I have been provided with some direction by mentors and the CEO but do not want to continually hassle them for help and chasing up. I am learning to become very self suffiient and I have to also be very proactive with all my projects. I am also learning a fair bit of patience with the other volunteers as everyone is very busy with the upcoming release of the magazine bimonthly edition.
5 comments:
Hello, Courtenay
I just wanted to say that you should find ways of dealing with volunteers more especially that you are working for a volunteer organization. These are the people who willingly sacrifice their time to do or perform a service. Well it's a good thing that you are being patient.
Then maybe you can give the supervisors your recommendations on how to make work easier. Maybe those volunteers need a little bit more of a thank you to show your appreciation and it doesn't always have to be money, a gift card won't hurt and before you know it, they will be the ones chasing you after. They are one of the major stakeholders therefore you really need them; you don’t have to let them go.
You can check out a book by Will Wittich: keep those volunteers around. Like it says on its cover, it does offer the tips to inspire excite and retain your most valuable asset, volunteers.
You can also get some good insights from the interview on ‘dealing with difficult volunteers’ from macLakeonline.com
http://www.maclakeonline.com/leadership/dealing-with-difficult-volunteers/
Hope it helps in time.
Hi Courtenay,
My placement was at Qantas in Sydney, a massive organisation, with the work experience girl being the least of their worries! So I know how you feel about having to be proactive! I think that's a good attitude to have when your mentors are busy with more important things. Think of extra little things to do that might be helpful to everyone, or spend some time finding out lots of different things about the organisation, and just immerse yourself into it. that way you will know you put everything you have into it and couldn't have got any more out of it! Enjoy the rest of your time there.
I completely understand what you are talking about. As an intern, I have made an observation that not all of the staff in the office will take you very seriously. In my country (Botswana) for example, there is a very negative perception towards interns. Some companies have not yet realised the benefits they could acquire from exploring interns maximum potential. There is this common perception in Botswana that interns are supposed to be messengers to handle small chores for everybody else. The other issue is that some staff who have these attitudes towards interns, are not always eager to assist them. As Public Relations students, our theme of the course is "RELATIONS". We learn about different kinds of relations and how to deals with them especially in the professional environment. We can adapt what we learn in Public Relations in these situations. Understanding different kinds of people you work with helps us find effective ways to deal with them. It's definitely not easy as it sounds but an open mind paralleled with tolerance and patience makes things much more better.
Hi Courtney,
I definitely understand what you have been going through at Colosoul! At the beginning of last year I took on a position there as a PR, and I found it relatively difficult to constantly have to chase people about the same thing over and over again.
One of my main frustrations came from people not wanting to get involved in a not for profit organisation/ not understanding our purpose.
However, after much perseverance I was able to secure meetings with different community Government bodies who agreed to fund/pitch for grants to their superiors.
This fortunately culminated with the CEO having a meeting with the Premier. Unfortunately I did not get to see the result of my efforts, as I was offered a different internship, but I am so glad to see that Colosoul is still continuing it's mission!
I really hope you are enjoying your time there :]
Katey
Courtenay, I think you've definitely taken the right approach. Being proactive whilst on work experience is definitely the way to go.
I did mine at a massive organsation, where there were some days that the media advisors were so run off their feet, that I knew not to ask them if they could find me something to do. I knew if they needed my help in that instance they'd ask. So on those days instead I'd help with other projects- whether an event or with our monthly newspaper or inflight magazine.
Goodluck with the rest of your placement! Just give it everything you have and you will get so much out of it!
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