Welcome to Volunteers and Staff of Community Matters

Hello all: This Blog has been created so that all of us at Community Matters can get to know each other and communicate between ourselves. Our schedule is full!! We update our website at communitymatterstoronto.org regularly and have many visitors. We have at least 30 volunteers and community assistants who help at all different times of the day and week. It is important that we learn about each other. This blog is one way to do that, to publish information and talk with each other. We want to showcase you on this blog. (The blog is private and only for CMT staff members) Ali and Marg have written the short article,

Participation in Canadian 'Culture'?

specifically to get your ideas and comments so we can add them and improve the content. How can we can help each other? Ideas?? Questions?? Comments about CMT?? POST THEM ON the CMT FORUM on this blog. Without you, CMT would not exist and our community would not be nearly as strong and vibrant as it is. Please check in from time to time. We will be posting announcements and what's happening at CMT to keep you informed.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Dealing With Change

I would like to share some of my thoughts with you after attending a seminar on Strategic thinking at Volunteer Toronto recently. We had a lively discussion as we talked about all of our experiences as volunteers.


I thought mostly about how my various placements as a volunteer had led to me having to become more fluid in my responses to change instead of always digging in my heels, and refusing to accept the inevitable. Once I recognised this fact, the changes that I had been so afraid of became welcome ones. These are the most important ideas that I formed at the seminar, and reinforced what I had already accepted in my own mind:


To volunteer means to accept constant change. Your own schedule may change, your programs may change, and the people you help will always be experiencing various degrees of change within their own lives.


Changes can be:


  • Cyclical, e.g. You have more students for tutoring during the school year than in the summer months


  • Structural, e.g. Attendance in your programs drops, so you have to adapt or restructure in order to continue.


  • Transformational: e.g. Either You or your students have moved on or outgrown your programs. This is the hardest change of all because it requires support from those above you as well as those you are helping. Some will be totally behind you, some will be cautious about supporting you, but can be eventually one over to your side, and other support systems will withhold their support completely.



Keep in mind our mission statement at Community Matters: Neighbours helping Neighbours in St. James Town.

See the big picture: Identify the context of your goals: What do you expect to get out of your volunteering time with us? Understand what is going on around you, as well as what is going to make the experience of change more positive.

Try to respond to changes either with your support and or a positive outlook, or by taking a second look to make sure that the changes that you make are the right ones to order to solve the problem. Ask others for their input and try to work together towards a shared understanding.
Had a similar experience? Please share your views about this by posting on the volunteer blog.

Ingred

at 7:14 p.m.

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