Gold Wing Road Riders Association     
Region H Trainer

 

BY THE BOOK

By: Dale Wingrove

Region H Trainer

 

The “By The Book” articles are intended to help familiarize Volunteer Leaders and GWRRA Members with the guidelines, policies, procedures, and information contained in the GWRRA Officer’s Guidebook.  This Month’s article was written by Gail Carr of Chapter O in Austin TX. It did not come from the OGB but is a great article about what makes GWRRA work.  Please share with your members.

 

Volunteer Leadership in A Volunteer Organization

Submitted by Gail Carr

 

Well … this is a deep subject we’ve all had to consider at one time or another as members of GWRRA … isn’t it? Let’s look at the reality of the situation: the organization is built on a motto of “Friends for Fun, Safety, and Knowledge”, right?  The “Friends” part comes easy. People generally gravitate towards other people with similar points of view or common ground and will either become friends or they won’t. Our Goldwings offer us at least one point of common ground, it’s up to us to make the “friends” part of the motto a reality. For the “Fun”, “Safety”, and “Knowledge” parts of the motto though, we quite often look to the volunteer leaders and their volunteer helpers in the organization to pave the way. As members, we’re looking for meetings, day rides, safety and leadership seminars, rallies, poker runs, dinner events, overnight events, fundraisers, parties, chapter visitations and all the trimmings to be planned and organized and placed on our menu for us to choose how we want to make the most out of our membership in the organization. Somebody needs to do all that work for us, but who? Consider this: since everyone is a volunteer, up to and including all but a very few people at the National level, what inspires a volunteer leader to inspire volunteer helpers to inspire the members to have fun, and make motorcycle safety and knowledge a priority in their busy daily lives? Remember … there is no salary at the end of the week, no leverage that can coerce cooperation where none already exists.  Sound challenging? It is. The spirit of volunteerism is a very personal thing. First, individual circumstances can dictate whether someone who might otherwise be willing is able to dedicate themselves to a volunteer endeavor. Free time may be a key factor, for example. Or, if time is not an issue, then maybe the appeal of the opportunity itself must be right. In other words, some folks may only volunteer for tasks or roles they think they will enjoy performing. Some folks may volunteer as a means to enrich their spirit and because they feel good when they can work with and help others.  And yet others may volunteer because they enjoy a sense of accomplishment, and a challenge, regardless of the task at hand. The point is, everyone is different, and everyone volunteers in GWRRA for different reasons. Few, I wager, ever really dig deep into their personal motivation. They just jump in when it feels right. Truth is, GWRRA  depends on volunteers and the spirit of volunteerism to be successful. Volunteer leaders and staff at all levels ... Chapter, District, Region, and National must be there to support and serve the membership and to offer up their time and skills to make it possible for the members to maximize their enjoyment and benefit from the organization. Current volunteer leaders must always be on the lookout for others who might also volunteer to help out. Some tasks are small, and might require only a small commitment. Other tasks or roles might require a greater commitment. Regardless, someone’s got to do “it”, whatever “it” is, and one or two people cannot possibly do “it” all. As a member of GWRRA, be appreciative of the work done by the volunteers at the respective staff levels. They’re members too, and want all the same things you do. Offer up your skills and enthusiasm and step up and “give back” from time to time to balance the load and make it possible for everyone to have fun. There’s a lot to do. The GWRRA Leadership Training Division offers members at all levels the opportunity to take advantage of training that will maximize the enjoyment and lessen the load of being a volunteer or a volunteer leader. For more information, contact any of your District or Region Trainers.

Together Everyone Accomplishes More

TEAM