An open letter to every volunteer on behalf of every organization which relies on them.

by  Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author's program note. In this punk economy, the nation's 1,000,000 charities, non-profit organizations and eleemosynary institutions are hard pressed to do all that must be done for the good of so many. To achieve their admirable goals, they need volunteers... and lots of them. But volunteers who don't know how to be good volunteers are, in fact, a drag upon an organization's limited resources. Thus this article from an old hand in the volunteer business. Whether you are a recruiter of volunteers or a public- spirited person looking for suitable volunteer options, this article is for you!

For the music to accompany this article, I have selected perhaps the greatest recruiting song ever, "Indian Love Call." It was first published as "The Call" but became instantly popular in the 1924 operetta-style Broadway musical with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stohart, with book and lyrics by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein. They made it good.... Nelson Eddy and Jeanette Macdonald in the 1936 film "Rose Marie" made it great. If there is a drop of blood in your body and a heart that still functions, you cannot help but respond to its soaring lyrics:

"When I'm calling you will you answer too? That means I offer my love to you to be your own."

Go now to any search engine. Find this celebrated song. Put a box of tissues where you can easily get access. Turn it on... and be prepared to call your favorite charity when finished. You are about to give of yourself for the good of others. "You'll belong to me. I'll belong to you." With this article in hand, you will soon be the best volunteer this organization has ever seen.

It's a Job.

The first thing you must realize about any volunteer position is that it is not just like a job; it IS a job... and must be treated accordingly. Sadly, too many volunteers think that because there is no paycheck that they have the right to be frivolous and cavalier about the business at hand. Nothing could be more wrong. This seriousness starts even before you are engaged as a volunteer.

What you need to know, and what either the executive director or designee must tell you, is exactly what your duties and responsibilities will be. In other words there must be a clear understanding of what the organization expects from you and your ability to live up to these expectations. Naturally, both parties should expect to put all this in writing, so that both parties are clear... and so that they remain clear throughout the volunteer's involvement. Here are just some of the things the volunteer must be told and the organization must be clear in informing:

* clothes. What you'll be doing will guide your selection.

* name and contact information for person responsible for assisting the volunteer.

* available training materials and where to find them.

* exact duties and when, where and how they must be done.

* how to report progress and/or where and how task-related queries should be handled.

Note: new volunteers are in need of constant hand-holding and TLC. Expect to provide it.

Introduce the players.

New volunteers must be assigned a mentor, someone who will show them the ropes, a person like the Artful Dodger in Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist" . His song in the 1968 film perfectly sums up the relationship between mentor and mentee. "Consider yourself at home. Consider yourself one of the family. We've taken to you so strong. It's clear we're going to get along... Consider yourself one of us". Exactly.

Mentors must be friendly, knowledgeable, accessible, "good people" willing to extend a helpful hand and (above all) gifted with a sense of humor and an ability to live by the words of Theodore Roosevelt, "to do the best you can, with what you've got, where you are." In short paragons of astonishing virtues and skills.

Is there more to learn? Of course there is... there always is, if you want to be one of the best volunteers ever.

* Stay informed about the organization by promptly reading all organization emails, ezines, etc. Do not allow yourself the luxury of falling behind.

* Action everything requested in a timely fashion. Do not make your mentor or other organizational contacts chase you for the information they need to do their jobs.

* Ask for and listen carefully to constructive criticism. Properly handled and considered it becomes a fuel for improvement and advancement.

* Be proactive. If you see a problem, bring it to the attention of your mentor. This is the way to show your mentor that you are "with it," loyal, thoughtful, a self-starter... in short just the kind of person this organization needs and must have.

Still more tips.

* NEVER criticize what you see. Ask why it is that way. Never come across as a pompous know-it-all.

* If you cannot keep a scheduled job assignment, let your contact know as early as possible. Remember, something you cannot do must be done by someone else.

* Always be prompt and keep your excuses to the barest minimum.

* Solve all pc and other electronic device problems as fast as possible. Don't burden your contact with a boring "blow-by-blow" description. Don't discuss the problem. Solve it.

 Three more key points.

* When you see a problem you can solve, solve it. Organizations rely on people who are willing to do more than their share, and gladly. This is the most important person of all. BE THAT PERSON!

* Work to make the CEO's life easier. CEOs are people with more on their plates than can easily be processed. In helping them you help yourself; for the more you are able to assist without adding to CEO burdens, the faster you go up in the organization. Never forget this.

And, finally,

HAVE FUN!

Never look upon what you do as drudgery, beneath you, something to be done with as soon as possible so that life's fun and games can begin. Work properly understood is, as Sigmund Freud knew, one of the two pillars of the successful life, the other being love. Treat this opportunity for constant growth and development accordingly. Then reach out to other volunteers, newer than you, who'll be glad to hear how you got started and why everyone in the organization speaks so well of you!

About the Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home business training, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting, hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today. Republished with author's permission by Ruthsella Corasol http://WorkingAtHome101.com

How to help your CEO help you -- and the company. Candid thoughts, observations and a much needed venting by One Who Knows.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Author's Program Note. In the 1980 film "9 to 5", Dolly Parton sings the title song. Of course it is an attack on "the boss" in memorable lines like this:

"Nine to five, for service and devotion You would think that I Would deserve a fair promotion Want to move ahead But the boss won't let me I swear sometimes that man is out to get me."

When I saw the film the head of every Sally and Sam in the audience was rhythmically nodding in unbreakable solidarity... the boss was a schmuck... and that was that.

Pity the poor CEO.

If these are the sentiments directed at every boss in every business on this planet, then you can be sure these sentiments may be multiplied by many times when directed at the Chief Executive Officer, THE Boss, the biggest cheese. El Jefe Maximo, a person universally known as fake, incompetent, probably immoral, certainly amoral, a disaster for the company, vastly overpaid and already richer than Croesus by squeezing the last drop of blood and service out of every employee, especially those whose ideas he steals with alacrity, impunity, and a demented grin for the credit and enhanced compensation such Machiavellian dexterity always delivers.

Thus CEO, the culprit of the enterprise, a personage causing universal grief, outrage, embarrassment, and of course, secret envy from aggrieved personnel who would assume the toxic burden and every affronting characteristic, criticism and derogatory comment without thinking twice, even if it involved garroting their own mother.

It is in defence of this sitting target that I, CEO for over 18 years and counting, rise and must speak, for although there is much grandeur in his lofty position and the luxurious lifestyle many millions a year can deliver, there is no one who knows the true value and significance of CEOs than one who is one himself. He knows! And must therefore speak out of experience augmented by joy at the opportunity to sustain and laud his corporate peers, since so much said about them is inaccurate, mean-spirited, venomous, petty, painful, hurtful, distorted, unhelpful, biased, malicious, erroneous, mischievous, balderdash and complete rubbish... but you get the picture.

Insight one for CEOs of every age, temperament, disposition, and success.

Each and every one of your employees, directors, agents, representatives, et al knows (not just supposes) that he could run the company better than you, the sitting duck with the mahogany desk and assured parking place, even if blind folded, one hand tied behind his back, and baboons as department heads. Oh, yes, and double profits, increase salaries and circle corporate headquarters with a riot of Christian Dior roses. So there!

Exhibit Number One, Your Honor.

There is a reason I am writing this article today rather than wasting my limitless corporate subsidized time on the golf course, which is universally known as a den of the most expensive and rare executive iniquities. That is a stinker of a letter I received the other day from one of my company's representatives. Now the contents and commentaries found at their most prolix profusion were in no way new , viz. the author of the letter summed me up as a bumbler, stupid, arrogant, supercilious, out of touch, brain dead... and that was just for openers. The rest of the condemnatory barrage was unprintable, even in these lax days.

No, I'd heard that all before. Even the misspellings were unoriginal and pedestrian. No, what made this epistolary stink bomb so notable was the time I received it... the very day I was receiving special recognition upon the completion and implementation of an innovative system for the assistance of individuals, organizations,enterprises, companies, and corporations which needed timely, professional copy for their blog sites. Much time, energy, imagination and intelligence had gone into creating what was acknowledged by experts to be brilliant.

And because of the project's importance to our company and world, there was to be special recognition for me, the lead sled dog. Thus gathered the poobahs of our organization in gay regalia in good voice and good temper to sing hallelujah... all but the individual who chose this moment, of all moments, to expostulate about my many defects, on the day one of the signal achievements of my life was acknowledged.

Deliberately hurtful, or just bad luck?

There is a question here I would like an answer to, but shall probably never get: Why was this punishing letter deliberately sent at that specific time to blot a grandly festive day... or was the delivery time accidental, a coincidence? This is a factor in evaluating the matter... but does not, of course, fundamentally change it. No matter. What does matter is the following list of crucial things you must know and do, things which the sender of the badly conceived e-mail letter needs to know -- and begin implementing at once:

1) Even if you are as "mad as hell", and especially if you are master of a slashing prose style, leave anything you write to your CEO for your tempered evaluation 24 hours after writing. You'll most likely be glad you did. A stitch in time, saves nine!

2) Whatever communications you sent to your CEO should be respectful of tone, brief, put as positively as possible and as professionally as possible. Every purplish prose patch must be deleted at once and completely. Remember, this is your CEO you're contacting. Unless you have a death wish, tread warily and conservatively.

3) Couch all communications as problems to be solved, not voluble attacks to hurt and inflame. Problem solvers get promoted. Attackers get no such consideration.

4) Consider whether raising the issue now is the best possible time for progress and resolution. Timing is everything.

5) NEVER make the issue personal. That is always the worst possible way to secure CEO attention, CEO action, CEO assistance. And remember this, a pearl of wisdom from Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), when you attack the prince, you must kill the prince, or the prince will kill you. A CEO saying "me recordo" (I remember) may not be a prince available to assist you when you need his services, for the prince is human... very human indeed. Thus, to my final and most important reflection: the CEO is the designated leader of your company. He has a right to expect your respect, your support, your courtesy, your wisdom and your help, as he leads you to the promised land -- "Waitin' for the day your ship'll come in/And the tide's gonna turn/ And it's all gonna roll your way."

About the Author

Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home business training, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting, hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today. Republished with author's permission by Ruthsella Corasol http://WorkingAtHome101.com.