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Volunteerism and Committment

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and trying to figure out why there seems to be a lack of committment to things lately.  Is that people are just “too busy” or are they just not committed to anything anymore.  I’ve noticed this in an organization I belong to where basically things run on a volunteer basis.

It’s been happening for some time now, but I seem to have noticed a huge change over the summer, where people are just not committed to the organization anymore, nor do they seem to be committed to “the cause”.  Why is it so hard to get volunteers for things, and why is it so hard for people to think for themselves and not be spoon fed detailed instructions about what they need to be doing?  (I don’t want to get into specifics here (yet), so please forgive the generalities.)

Don’t get me wrong.  Some people are real good at volunteering and take the bull by the horns and seek out, and work on tasks without being asked.  I am really thankful for those people on a daily basis!  But it seems the majority don’t want to help out, and when they do, they want to do just the bare minimum they have to say they volunteered.  Oh, they’ll tell you what a wonderful job you’re doing, or how successful the event was, but just ask them to help out in some way and watch the excuses flow!!

Another observation I’ve noticed is that when a volunteer suddenly starts getting paid, their productivity drops.  They forget to do things they’ve always done because “it’s not in my job description”, or they do it, but grudginly because they’re not getting paid for that part of the job.

Maybe I’m tired.  Maybe I’m bored.  Maybe I’m just going through a mid-life crisis.  Maybe I should just get back to work ’cause I’ve got way too much to do after work volunteering to make my community a place where God shines.

TTFN!

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