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JUNE 2005 Breakfast Meeting Recap |
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Recap by Donna Popow, CPCU
The final breakfast meeting of the year was held on June 16, 2005. Attendees were treated to a lively presentation by Russ Rado, CPCU, AIM, ARP, Director of Education for the American Association of Managing General Agents University. Russ’s presentation on leadership and volunteerism was particularly pertinent as this year’s scholarship winners, Daniel White and David Hillegas, were in attendance. Russ provided insight into why people volunteer and tips to successfully recruit volunteers.
Volunteerism is based in a willingness to give freely of time and effort to support a greater good. Volunteerism can even occur in a paid position when an employee performs activities that go beyond the everyday job expectations.
According to a poll of the audience, people volunteer to learn, to network, and to give back to their community or organization. Those who recruit volunteers should be able to leverage these desires by showing potential recruits the benefits of volunteering, by clearly stating the requirement of the job, by offering the recruit a variety of ways to volunteer and by specifically asking the recruit to volunteer. Too many opportunities are lost because the person doing the recruiting does not actually ask someone to volunteer. A poll of the audience showed that people do not volunteer because they are not asked, that they do not have the time, see no personal benefit and are afraid of failure.
Generally, there are 4 types of people who attempt to recruit volunteers. There are those who are “asleep”and think that volunteers will just appear. There are those who are confused and unsure of how to deal with negative responses. There are others who are prepared with a plan for recruiting and how to deal with negative responses. And there are those who are confident in their ability to recruit based on past successes.
When recruiting volunteers, it is helpful to be prepared for the typical responses to a volunteer request. The typical responses to a volunteer request fall in to 4 categories:
• Victim – Why Me? These people will demonstrate resistance and anger at the request.
• Critic – Why not someone else? These people are often negative and pessimistic.
• Bystander – Call me when it’s over. These people prefer to take a wait and see attitude.
• Navigator – Recognizes the need and the opportunity. These people will show enthusiasm and offer ideas when approached.
Those who recruit volunteers should be prepared with the purpose or rationale as to why the group needs the volunteer, a picture or vision of what the volunteer effort will accomplish a description of what is in it for the volunteer and a plan for involving the volunteer in the actual effort.
Successful recruiting of volunteers requires advance planning to know what needs to be done and who might best fill the job, what the expectations of the job are as well as what benefits the volunteer might receive, and ongoing support of the volunteer once they have committed to the project.
Recruitment of volunteers is not an easy job but when done correctly, all those involved will benefit. Following the talk, Russ took a few minutes to take questions from the audience.
Afterwards, we conducted the Annual Business Meeting of the Philadelphia Chapter CPCU Society. Scholarship Co-Chair Ann Myhr presented the scholarship awards to Daniel White and David Hillegas, and the membership voted unanimously to accept the full slate of candidates for Chapter Officers and Directors in the 2005/6 chapter year. National CPCU Society executive Barry Midwood inducted the new and returning chapter officials after giving a short update on major CPCU Society initiatives. Outgoing President Marty Frappolli presented certificates of Appreciation to officers, directors, and committee chairs in recognition of their contributions to the chapter. Finally, incoming President Jon Hensinger addressed the audience to give a glimpse of his plans to continue to improve the value of the Philly Chapter to the community and to the members.
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