Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean. Now its her volunteering in the spotlight.
Before becoming Chair of the Welsh Sports Association, Helen spent two years as Chair of Sport Wales Advisory Group, developing the recently launched Give to Gain concept and the Acting Today for an Active Tomorrow report. She is also a Trustee for Torfaen Leisure Trust and speaks regularly at leadership events.
- How and why did you get involved in sports volunteering?
As a child, I played lots of sport. It taught me many things; to turn up on time; to respect the umpire; how to win and lose with the team; and develop a winning attitude. When I started work, the skills I had developed through sport were immediately transferable to the workplace and enabled me to kick-start my career.
Because of my own life experience, I was keen to help develop social mobility opportunities for those who are not in groups or areas where success is easy to achieve. Growing up on a council estate in the 1970/80's meant it wasn't always easy to imagine going to University or getting a job as a Manager - they certainly weren't aspirations of mine or my friends and peer group. So when I 'retired' from McDonald's, I was keen to re-engage in an area that I felt significantly impacted my own career development.
- What are the benefits for business professionals of becoming volunteers in sports organisations?
For me the greatest benefit is meeting with and learning from other people, be that within the sports organisation itself; with other Board members; or the outside bodies with which Ive come into contact - such as Welsh Government officials, AMs and Ministers.
Volunteering also allows you to challenge yourself beyond corporate boundaries. Within your own workplace you can sometimes feel constrained and you may not feel confident in pushing forward an idea, but in an outside body you can often feel more free to experiment and try out new ideas - helping to build your own personal confidence in an environment unseen by the scrutiny of your daily peers.
Personally for me it also helps my mental wellbeing by stretching me into new areas and keeping my very active mind engaged. It's also great not just for your CV but the personal contribution you can make to your community.
- What is the most rewarding aspect of your role as a volunteer?
For me it's two-fold:
Firstly, I learn continually. It is too easy to sit back and think that you have all the answers - none of us do. So I look for every opportunity where I can learn something new from my volunteering and actively put myself in situations where I am going to feel uncomfortable to enable me to learn and grow. Volunteers have to recognise that when they volunteer there is an equitable transaction - you help in the organisation you volunteer with but in return you get something too. Each volunteer needs to work out what they get. For some it is learning, others it's raising their profile, while for others it's social and network opportunities or perhaps seeing the sport they love grow.
Secondly, I get to use my experience to help develop sports administration to enable more kids to be more active and help develop essential life skills in our young people to create more social mobility opportunities.
Whats the most challenging?
I have to admit that there have been a couple of challenges with volunteering in sport at a Board and advisory level, nothing that has put me off though. In fact it has made me more determined to try to make changes to avoid others facing the same challenges.
The greatest challenge was when I started volunteering four years ago, the Welsh sport sector was very closed, almost impossible to penetrate unless you had worked in sport or participated in sport at a senior level. I found it insular and suspicious of an outsider from business. It's good to see that the sector is making positive steps towards change and the more people from outside of traditional sports development/administration we can attract to the sector, both volunteers and staff, the quicker we can make the change required.
What advice would you give an organisation that is looking to recruit skilled volunteers / business professionals?
1. Be bold and be prepared to make your own life difficult in the short term - because it will pay off in the long term. Recruit people who will challenge you and make you feel uncomfortable - this is the only way you will grow your organisation. Truly buy in to the 'critical friend' concept.
2. Understand the skill sets you need, and hire volunteers in the same way you would hire employees. Many business professionals looking to volunteer know what they want out of their volunteering and are often willing to wait for the right role to crop up, so you need to have a compelling offer and this includes knowing what you want! Through Acorn Recruitment, the WSA is launching a free executive search service to its members to help recruit unelected Board Members to their own organisations, so do get in touch if you need support.
3. Broaden your reach. In my experience the sport sector recruits from a very narrow field. The more diversity of thinking we can bring into the sector, the better the decisions we make will be and the quicker we can affect the change.
0 comments:
Posting Komentar