How can we support one another in our professional development?

This week’s Thoughtful Thursday for volunteer managers #ttvolmgrs is by Jo Gibney, Volunteer Support Officer for The Royal British Legion.

6 min readFeb 9, 2017

This month I wanted to build more on Karen’s blog from last month, and get us thinking about how we can work together to develop as volunteer management professionals.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

What did you want to do when you grew up? I went through quite a few potential professions when I was little. But volunteer management never even crossed my mind. In fact, I didn’t even know it existed as a role into a few years gao.

First up, I wanted to be a shopkeeper, like my Grandma. Then I wanted to do something more practical, with my hands, like my Grandad. I went through a phase of wanting to be a police officer (I was quite bossy — I mean I showed great leadership skills — when I was little), but my eyesight is not quite up to it. Finally, I wanted to be a scientist, either a forensic scientist or find the cure for cancer. And all those less than perfect career surveys we had to do at school or uni…? Fish farmer every time!

Playing shop with Great Grandma; hanging out in Grandad’s tool shed; doing serious science stuff at school; Officer Jo sorting out the traffic problem in the garden

As you probably realise, none of these professions quite worked out for me. I went to university and realised I was too impatient to be a scientist: experiments are sloooooooooooow to produce results. And so I left uni and bimbled around a few different jobs, found skills I’m good at…and also those I’m not.

During that time I struggled with the fact that I didn’t have a clearly defined career or profession. I envied those who had a defined career path; instead I felt I was drifting around. But I realise now that was because I didn’t really understand what being a ‘professional’ means.

OMG! I’m a professional!

I got into volunteer management purely by chance. I took redundancy from a job I wasn’t happy in, and was offered a role that has actually changed my life. I don’t say this lightly, but meeting people like Sue Jones at my first AVM conference had a profound effect on me. I realised I was actually doing something I enjoyed. And something I want to develop in and do better at.

I recently read this great quote which helped me realise that I am in a profession. Volunteering consultant Susan J. Ellis, in her January Hot Topic ‘Pride in the Volunteer Management Profession’, said:

“Volunteer management is a profession. If you see it only as a job, then your main criteria for success is pleasing your employer. If you are a professional, then you have cultivated a basic knowledge base that can be transferred from setting to setting. It’s knowledge expressed both in skill and in conviction. You can articulate why you do something as well as how to do it best.”

That, for me, was my light bulb moment: I am a professional in a profession!

Professional development

When you find something you enjoy doing and want to get better at, and when you work in the charity sector, you have to be a bit more creative about how you develop. You also cannot sit back and wait for it to come to you. Training courses are not as free flowing as in the private sector, and in pressured roles such as ours, sometimes it’s difficult to find the time for professional development, as we’re too busy working through the day-to-day.

During 2015 I realised that I needed to do something to take charge of my own development, so I bravely enrolled in the ILM Level 5 Certificate in the Management of Volunteers, facilitated by Sue Jones. I appreciate that not everyone is able to find the time or the money to do this, but if you are able to, I highly recommend it. But I won’t lie: it wasn’t an easy experience. It challenged me both personally and professionally. But now I have completed it I see how I have grown and developed.

I think it comes down to the fact that I love learning new things, but initially approached it as studying. And that is, I think, the wrong way to look at our own development.

“I don’t love studying. I hate studying. I like learning. Learning is beautiful.” Natalie Portman

What should be in the ‘help I don’t have enough time or money to go on a training course’ route to professional development?

So, if we are struggling to find the time or funds to go on formal training courses, how can we develop? I think we need to stop restricting ourselves by thinking development can only be done through a formal course or seminar. Too often we can come away from these feeling reassured that we know what we’re doing, while not really learning anything new. In fact, Sue Jones addresses some of these issues in a post on LinkedIn.

While I did do a formal course, it was very much self-directed learning experience. A key thing I’ve taken away from that is the confidence to try and take charge of my own learning and development; and I am now trying to find more creative ways to do that.

So, this month I would like to start a conversation about how we can help one another to develop professionally and personally as volunteer managers. I have a few thoughts about this.

Can you volunteer and join the board of a local charity, be their volunteering rep, sharing your skills and experience? As well as helping them, you will also develop your own leadership skills?
Can you share your experience and mentor someone new to the sector or to a particular role? Not only will you benefit your mentee, but you will also have the opportunity to learn some new and fresh ideas from them.
Can you set up a networking group (or join one that already exists) to share and learn from others in a particular sector, or one about a specific aspect of volunteering. If you’ve not already joined AVM, I would recommend not only doing that, but also joining the AVM group on LinkedIn.
If you’re not on Twitter, join! There’s lots of people tweeting about volunteer management. And if you are already on Twitter, follow people who do volunteering stuff. If you’re worried this will overwhelm your Twitter feed, you can create a list, or follow someone else’s list.
Be bold! Strike up a conversation at an event, or reply to a post or comment on social media, and build relationships across the sector.

This year I am focusing on understanding myself better in order to be a better advocate and influencer for volunteering, both within my organisations and across the sector as a whole. I have started this by seeking feedback from people I work with: my next step is to review that feedback and see what I need to do next. I think I would like to find a coach or a mentor to help me be more objective about this (so if anyone has any recommendations, please do let me know).

Over to you…

So, enough about me and what I think. I’d really love to start a wider conversation with you all about how we can help one another develop.

How do you want to develop as a volunteer management professional?
What are your ideas for developing with limited time or limited budget?
What one thing will you commit to doing in order to help another volunteer manager support and develop, using your own skills and experience?

Please do get involved in the conversation, here or on Twitter using #ttvolmgrs.

A Twitter starter for 11…

If you’re on Twitter, here are 11 (I couldn’t quite get it down to ten) people I follow who regularly share interesting stuff about volunteering and volunteer management:

There are loads more people sharing stuff… do get out there and explore!

VM Movement is all about championing the vital role carried out by those of you leading, managing and coordinating volunteering. Thoughtful Thursdays is a monthly blog, hosted by VM Movement, as is for anyone working with volunteers, to share, learn and connect. Recently moved from ivo, you can now join the conversation here on Medium, or get involved on Twitter at #ttvolmgrs.

You can connect with Jo on Medium, Twitter or LinkedIn.