In 2010 I made a decision to start to volunteer my time twice a year(around 18 days) at the Waldpiraten Camp. The camp, funded entirely via charity (feel free to donate if you want to – it is a great cause), provides the opportunity for children, and their siblings, with Cancer in Germany to break away from the everyday challenges of dealing with Cancer and to do something different. It also gives parents a chance to relax knowing their children are in good care.
The motivations for doing this were many. I could never have imagined how it would change my outlook on life, broaden my horizons and teach me valuable lessons I could use professionally as well. There is no doubt that volunteering has made me a more rounded person and reenforced things that might seem obvious but which are easily forgotton. Here are four leadership lessons I (re)learnt along the way I carry forwards as a colleague and manager but also personally.
Helping others to overcome obstacles and celebrate their achievement is super important – Watching a brain tumour sufferer, who struggles to walk, achieve the feat of scaling a “climbing wall” is truly inspiring. Not only do you see the determination to overcome obstacles to reach a goal, which some would have said was out of reach, but you learn to celebrate the achievements, and join the celebrations, of others as you would do your own. Nothing is impossible – there is always a way – don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! When you see someone achieve something take the time to celebrate with them and you too will feel good about life.
Understanding different viewpoints helps define yours – The camp brings me into contact with a wide variety of people that come from different backgrounds to those I normally interact with. Many come from the field of pedagogy, medicine or various other social fields. They bring a different view on how to do things and they have different priorities in life than I. By sitting and listening to those view points, which I would not have otherwise been exposed to, I have adjusted many of my own view points and maybe influenced theirs a little too. It is important to learn to hear other viewpoints and that works great at the camp because everyone listens more than they talk. People seem to be more open to competing ideas and the discussion of them. I try to take this into my professional life and seek out different viewpoints to broaden my horizons. Having said that there are often other forces we have to overcome in the professional organization. It is therefore important to try to build an environment where this is encouraged and where there is total respect for the fact different viewpoints is not a bad thing even if hard choices have to be made along the way. Different viewpoints helps make organizations and people stronger and we should seek them out in defining ours.
Teamwork makes anything possible – Running a 9 or 10 day camp is no mean feat. There is a team meeting every morning to discuss any issues and try to resolve them quickly (before they develop into something more serious), there is a review (and sometimes re-planning) based on weather and other factors every day and throughout the day, 3 times a day there are activities led by the volunteers (often you are thrown into something you have never done before if assisting so you need to learn fast to assist the children) and much more. To make a single day fly requires people to be willing to work alone sometimes, to work in a team sometimes, it needs people to be open to change tack at a minutes notice, it needs people to be willing to do anything not just the things you like, it needs you to become part of one team working towards the goals of that day and the camp overall. Essentially it teaches you that by working together, and remaining open to change, you can achieve almost anything but that you should not be afraid to seek continuous feedback and speak up early if there is a problem on the horizon.
Emotional Reward Impact Should Not Be Underestimated – There is no financial reward for the time at the camp. The compensation is paid in smiles, memories and a satisfaction which is hard to describe and irreplaceable by money. It is not the same as winning a raffle, being champions in as sports cup or even being recognized by your peers (although that is probably the closest comparison). The reward is in knowing that for short period of time you made a difference by giving your all. All too often in our professional lives we are driven by recognition. The camp continuously reminds me that recognition, while welcome, cannot come close to the emotional satisfaction you can get from giving your all and seeing the results in terms of other people succeeding, and being happy, not just yourself.
Final thoughts
To all the rest of the volunteers out there you can no doubt relate to some of these. Maybe you have some lessons you learnt from volunteering you can share in the comments as I sure have many more.
For those of you not volunteering consider it not just an opportunity to give back, at any time, but also as a way to grow yourself and probably to make some new friends for life.