E056_Do Good Be Good values: 10 Tips on why volunteering is so beneficial for all

Ready to uncover the transformative power of volunteering? 

We promise you an inspiring journey, exploring how lending a hand can uplift your spirit, fortify your team, and build a legacy that stands the test of time. 

Drawing from our firsthand experiences as safety collaborators, we shed light on the striking benefits of selfless service. We look at how our voluntary deeds have sparked creativity and solidarity among our team. 

We venture beyond just personal growth, highlighting the profound impact of volunteering on leadership development and cultural comprehension.

We also take you around the globe, sharing our captivating experiences with renowned service organisations like Lions International and Kiva. 

Join us as we discuss the pressing need for mental health support and how micro-lending can offer a lifeline to those in need, empowering them to rewrite their stories. 

We pay homage to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, a 100% self-funded organisation, underscoring the remarkable power of service. Karin is the Fundraising Chair for the Aberdeen Lifeboat Station in Aberdeen, UK. 

Be prepared to be inspired and encouraged to contribute to your community and the world because every small act of kindness has the potential to create a ripple of change.

Thanks for listening!

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This episode was produced under Safety Collaborations Limited and now continues as part of Karin Ovari Limited. While we are not currently releasing new episodes, the entire library remains active, and the topics covered are just as relevant today as when they were first recorded.

To learn more about my current work in leadership and communication, visit karinovari.com and the leadership community, The Supervisors Hub.

Connect with us on LinkedIn: Karin Ovari, Nuala Gage,

If you enjoyed this episode, please help us spread the word and leave a review on your preferred podcast player.

Stay Safe, Stay Well
The Safety Collaborators

Chapters

• 0:12 The Value and Benefits of Volunteering
• 11:17 Volunteering's Impact on Personal Growth
• 18:31 Global Service Organizations and Micro-Lending

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:12

Why is volunteering so important? Volunteering can give you a great boost to your self-confidence, self-esteem and overall happiness. When you are doing a good thing for others and the community, it gives you a natural feeling of accomplishment and increases your feel-good hormones. Remember, in the last episode we talked about oxytocin. So one thing we have learned that when you are feeling down, look up and help others.

Speaker 2: 0:38

I'm Karen and I am Lula and we are the safety collaborators.

Speaker 1: 0:43

Our mission is to help people have better conversations and change the way they think about safety. Consider us your thinking partners, sharing expertise and wisdom in everything safety, safety culture and psychological safety.

Speaker 2: 0:58

Moving on from last week's episode about random acts of safety, we were inspired to continue the conversation with our do good, be good values and the multi-faceted world of volunteering, and volunteering comes in a lot of different forms. It might be that you are committed to a volunteer organization for a long period of time, that you see that, as this is part of something I want to do regularly. It might be something that is a drive within your organization. We're going to go and do like a habitat for humanities and build a house for somebody. Or it might just be something where you feel like I can see a need in my community. It's something short term. I can go in, I can help it and then I can walk away.

Speaker 2: 1:48

There's so many ways of volunteering and research shows us that it really does improve our wellbeing. It improves how we positively influence communities. So today we are going to dive into that and we're going to explore well, let's actually start with 10 reasons why to volunteer and then we're going to share with you what it is that we do in safety collaborations and how we impact our communities. Karen, there's an organization you love that have a beautiful quote. Do you like to see that?

Speaker 1: 2:25

There's an organization called Habitatorg and they do lots of different things around the world. They did a lot of research and you can actually read that research around the value and benefits of volunteering in what they call their evidence brief. We'll leave the link in here. It's a bit long, you will read it in your own time. I think there are so many wonderful organizations out there. And, adding to something you said a little bit earlier, I think I know myself when I first moved to here in Scotland, I've always been a little bit volunteer minded anyway. But I was looking and it took a little while until I found what suits. So there's something inside of ourselves that says what can I do? Because at the end of the day, I think we are bigger than just ourselves and we do often look at how can we help others.

Speaker 2: 3:18

And how can we have a positive impact? Because it's not just about leaving a legacy Whether that's a family legacy or a legacy in business or something. There's an inbuilt drive to be able to walk away and leave a legacy and go. I've given back and I have seen the results and the reward that that has given other people. And I'm not talking about setting up a camera on the side of the road and videoing yourself going and feeding a homeless person God forbid. You know, I think those are very staged and I get that people are trying to pull at heart strings and they're trying to get people thinking, but that's not what is behind it. It's about saying what do we do that adds value and makes a difference in the communities in which we live? I love one of the statements think global and act local. So impact locally where you can with what you have. Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 4:16

So let's explore 10 reasons why to volunteer or why you might like to volunteer, and these reasons really show how awesome volunteering is. And really we also coming at this from our organisations, the organisations that we work in, so not just the community. So it really highlights how you can grow as a person, become a better leader and have that positive impact on your own organisation, not just the community.

Speaker 2: 4:44

So let's start with the first one building stronger teams.

Speaker 2: 4:48

And when you work together with your team around doing good and being good, it builds in teamwork collaboration, which are two of the key pillars of a strong safety culture.

Speaker 2: 5:01

It's something that we're always striving to improve on, and getting people to work on a common goal outside of their regular work teaches them how to communicate differently and more effectively. It builds trust and won't go into what is the volunteering that I do, but I was brought into it through a really good friend of mine who was brought into it by her company and there's a really strong culture of volunteering in the organisation she works with and they were like Suze, you're going to love this, come and join us. And she did. And then she was like Nula, you're going to love this, come and join. But seeing the camaraderie that it builds within their team and their organisation and even people who are not members of the volunteer group, there's a big project on or there's a big something people bring their families, they bring themselves, and it just creates this vibe amongst the team of that's what we do. We give back and we make the world a better place, and I love that, even with our small team.

Speaker 1: 6:03

I think it also helps us to get more creative as well. So it brings an element of creativeness which we'll come into. So I guess that leads nicely into the next one. It actually develops our leadership skills. Now, whether you have the title of leader or not doesn't actually matter. It's more about when we're in volunteering situations. You may be challenged with situations where you may have to make decisions. You may have to speak with the team that's around you and help others develop their skill set in that space and to help them build their leadership skills. So there's this really lovely sort of rolling momentum that happens because this is certain, something I've learned over the years is the mindset of a volunteer is actually quite different to when we are in the office, so you can't just sort of tell people what to do, so you have to learn how to communicate in a way that is encouraging and supportive, etc.

Speaker 2: 7:03

And guiding and all those good things.

Speaker 1: 7:05

Indeed, and this really helps, I guess, in the industries that we work in. So these are the things that we encourage people to do and to develop their leadership skills when you're working in high-risk industries.

Speaker 2: 7:17

And what I love about volunteering is that it really proves that leadership is not a title Indeed and that flows really well into it.

Speaker 2: 7:25

And it also brings in learning cultures in action, because when you're volunteering and when you're working outside of your formal skill set, you're having to learn new skills, you're having to push yourself out of your current boundaries, you're willing to do more and actually step out of your comfort zone more, because you have such an altruistic goal at the end that it's not all about me and it's amazing just how much you learn in that environment and then you can bring those principles back into your organization and go okay, these are the skills that I have learned, and it might be formal. The organization I'm with they do annual formal training. If you're going into a new position, if you're nominated as a board member, you get formal training and you learn amazing stuff on those courses and then it's like, oh wow, how do I bring this back into my team?

Speaker 1: 8:20

I think there's also moments inside that learning culture is that we're not always going to be doing something that you particularly enjoy doing. No, because stuff has to get done. I think when there's less constraint, we tend to muck in a bit better. You don't hear well, that's not occasionally, but it's not my skill, it's not my job, sort of thing. You don't hear that as much in that space, depending on the role of the individual sometimes. So I think that's part of it and therefore it gives us opportunity as well to practice our communication skills. I mean, we often talk about conversational intelligence and, coming back to what I said a little bit earlier, you have to think about, well, if I'm going to make a request for something, or am I going to make an offer for something? Am I going to commit? What am I committing to? And we need to verbalize that. You learn that ambiguity doesn't help, so we need to be clearer in what the needs are. Becoming more effective communicators is also something we can practice in that space without the fear of retribution, really.

Speaker 2: 9:27

However, we do learn the guilt of slippery promises very quickly as well.

Speaker 2: 9:33

Don't we ever yes of course I can help, of course I can do that, and then you like no, I can't. So you do learn to exactly that, be more conscious of it. And when you're volunteering, when we think about things like emotional literacy and we think about psychological safety, we get taken, as I mentioned before, we get taken out of our comfort zones and we learn to better understand and manage our own emotions, because often we are faced with challenges or with opportunities to help in our community. That can be quite emotive and it teaches us how to empathize with others and that's not sympathy and we've spoken about that a few times the difference between sympathy and empathy, you know? Oh, shame, let me make it all about me until you my story versus you're going through a really tough situation. How can I support you? And or even you're going through a really tough situation, can I just sit and be with you?

Speaker 1: 10:30

What do you need? And a very valid answer to that is nothing.

Speaker 2: 10:34

And when we think about psychological safety and high-risk industries and where things like mental health are really coming to the fore and overall well-being is vital. When we pull in what we learn in volunteering, around our emotional literacy and understanding and being empathetic, we change the environments in which we work. You know, we build trust.

Speaker 1: 10:56

And I think it's interesting because we're often working within groups of people that we don't always know. We've never really worked alongside before, so you really do need to be. How do you become a little more inclusive? You know, so we often talk about intercultural intelligence or bridging cultures for safety, that type of thing. So we're working with different types of people. Now you can look at, yes, that person might be from a different country, but even within a group of volunteers, you'll have people who are coming at us from different experience space.

Speaker 1: 11:28

And learning to work together and appreciate those different cultural norms, which could be from one house to another, is something that you also really do. Start to experience in that space, because they may not be the people that you would have originally chosen to go and have lunch with, for example, or they might be the sort of person that you wouldn't normally find in your workplace. They're out of your circle. They're out of your normal circle until it becomes your circle Exactly. They will become part of your inner circle or your circle of influence, friend circle, hopefully, and they do. And there are challenges, conversations have to be had, so all of these points play into the next. So, and just on a side note in the beginning of 2024, we are actually going to talk a little bit more about this particular subject of intercultural intelligence and we're going to have a two part series on the bridging cultures for safety.

Speaker 2: 12:26

Well, we're planning on a two part series, but you never know, it could extend. Watch the space.

Speaker 1: 12:32

That's a good point your favorite subject. Oh, little miss positivity over here.

Speaker 2: 12:40

Yes, volunteering does allow you to go out and have a positive impact on communities and this gives you a sense of purpose.

Speaker 2: 12:50

It can be a really powerful motivator, especially when you're thinking about your overall well being and the overall well being of the communities that you work in or the family that you're in. Because when you have a motivator bigger than just it's about me and myself and I, you go out and you see the light shining on other people's, you see the gratitude you imbibe, gratitude and at the end of the day, you bring that back into your home, back into your workplace, and that positive impact and that positive energy spins off. I remember someone a while ago reminding us of that sign when they walked into I can't remember which office or which company it was and it said you are responsible for the energy you bring in today and being able to pull on what you learn in volunteering and the positive impact you see allows you to turn up at work with a better energy and that makes a far more productive and a far safer workplace to be in.

Speaker 1: 13:51

I just had this image of all these little sort of bright lights walking through the door.

Speaker 1: 13:55

That'll be me the little halos all over the place, and that leads nicely, I think, into promoting ethical and responsible leadership, not just within our organization but in the community at large.

Speaker 1: 14:08

Over the years we've talked about social responsibility, corporate responsibility I think these last couple referred to more at an organizational level. So employees like to work for companies that care about their community and particularly, I think in this day and age we're moving more and more into that space of people want to know that the organizations that they're working for care about community, about something bigger than itself. And you'll often find, like you said earlier about Suze, it was her organization that encouraged her to volunteer. We hear of these lovely stories of teams going to do kilt walks or as a group together to raise money for whatever charity that the company is choosing to support in that year. Certainly in ours we have companies here that support one of the charities that I work with and it's really helpful and it's great when we get that corporate support and I think that's where that really comes in as being responsible leadership at that level.

Speaker 2: 15:16

And it strengthens the organization reputation, because it's more than talk, it's action and what we need to change the world is action. We need conversation because everything starts with the conversation, but that conversation needs to turn into action and be practical and add value.

Speaker 2: 15:34

Most definitely I am going to add one more that I'm very passionate about because it's something that I have seen over the years that I've been volunteering is that you get to meet incredible people and you get to be inspired by what they do, and that is people who are part of the volunteer organization.

Speaker 2: 15:55

But it's also about the communities that we work in and, being in South Africa, you don't have to look far to find a community in need and you see what people are doing with so little. One of the organizations that we support is called Sophen K Center and they're based in a township and they feed 500 underprivileged children a day to make sure that these children have one meal a day, that they've had something in their stomach and they have so little. But they've planted vegetable gardens and I mean I'm just amazed when I see the veggie gardens that they've planted and the little bit that we can add in to do on that and the joy and what we're talking about there with positivity and gratitude and fulfillment. Every single one of those, I can just guarantee you will be pulled out of a single visit just to go and see that K Center.

Speaker 1: 16:50

Absolutely, and I know in my time in South Africa I had some experiences which I think makes you humble. It makes you have humility and I really appreciate what you sometimes don't realize you have, and that's here too. Everywhere in the world there is poverty, for example, some places obviously a lot worse than others, but I think humility really shines through in all of this.

Speaker 2: 17:15

If you want to reach out to us, use the hashtag conversations that matter and we'll pick it up on the socials, or look out for us on LinkedIn Karinovari me Nullagage or our company safety collaborations. Now back to the week's show.

Speaker 1: 17:31

When you were saying that some of the people that you work with, I mean, I'm in awe of a couple of the people that have been supporting the organization I spend a bit of time on. I'm just in awe at what they do, what they get on with, where they find the energy for it, and that.

Speaker 2: 17:44

What did one of the guys say to me? He said you know, when you need something done, especially when it's for a charity, find the busiest person you know, because they'll make it happen.

Speaker 1: 17:54

Yeah indeed. So why do we volunteer and how do we volunteer is really what we're coming to. So when we first started our business, we really said a percentage of our time and all money will be given to local and global courses. And now we've been volunteering, and so does Katrina, in different formats. We've all been doing it off and on for years in different ways, but now I think we give it an even more effort. I think it's very conscious and it's bigger than just individuals.

Speaker 2: 18:24

And as you volunteer, the more you volunteer, the more you grow into it and the more it just becomes a part of who you are, and I think that's what it is. Agree, so you want to start with yours? Yes, so I am a member of Pretoria City, lions, and we are a chapter of Lions International, which is a global organization and there are 1.4 million members who serve more than 200 countries and geographical locations across the world. And Lions is all about service and it's about making a world of difference, and the ethos very much is about thinking global and acting local and being a part of the solution of where you're at, because we can't fix everything, but we can look around and we can say who can we support? And there are five main areas at Lions focus on globally and that is diabetes, the environment, hunger alleviation, vision and childhood cancer. And I didn't know that about the diabetes actually.

Speaker 2: 19:26

Yes, okay, interesting and so November is actually diabetes awareness month. Well, it was no. So with our local club we do what we can on those, and then we have very specific communities that we work with that are in need and we do a lot of work with the Guide Dog Association to help fund there, because to have a guide dog is not a cheap endeavor and it makes such a difference. And the Guide Dog Association do not only do service dogs for the blind, they also do service dogs for diabetics and for autism and epilepsy. And, it's amazing, I'm actually going on the 2nd of December to the Guide Dog Puppy Graduation Ceremony, which will be very exciting.

Speaker 2: 20:07

I have awesome, very very very awesome.

Speaker 2: 20:10

Yeah, and you know there are so many causes that we get involved with with youth, with the communities, as I've mentioned, with the elderly and with the Jack around the club for the blind. So to make sure that blind people have social engagement, because often it's the elderly and the differently abled who are forgotten in our communities, and that's where we go and try and make a difference, is that people are not left feeling lonely and I think, leading into this time of year, for the majority of us that's even more important than ever.

Speaker 2: 20:39

Yeah very, and it can be really tough, especially around mental wellness and mental health indeed. So that is a huge part of what I get involved with, and I'm very grateful to Susie, who took me over in 2015 to go and be a friend of the Lions. And I got so involved in being a friend of the Lions that in 2017, I was voted on as a board member and I said to them you can't have me as a board member, I'm only a friend. And they were like what, what nonsense is this? So I went to the induction and I committed to serving my community and was a board member for just over three years until I've got a little bit hectic and now I am still a member of the club and a volunteer and still actively involved when I can be. But time is one of the things we will talk about how you manage that and yet still be able to give, because it gives and takes as we go along. So that is my passion.

Speaker 1: 21:35

Karen, you have a couple I do, and the first one is Kiva, which is a micro lending organization, and their mantra is make a loan, change a life. I have been probably micro lending for I don't know the better side of 20 years, I suppose easily. So I've put thousands, but it keeps circulating and I just keep adding a little more each time. So as the money comes back in, I re-lend it. I never take it out. Oh, that's lovely, and I always add a little bit more, so that my pot in the scheme of things, keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Speaker 1: 22:09

I have a very particular focus on women in Africa, and so I always will look for the countries in Africa where I can sponsor women. So we actually give them micro loans and these loans are the 25 US dollars a pop. I mean you can do more than that, but that's kind of. So it's 25 dollars a pop and you can just keep adding to that bucket if you like and you get their stories back. I mean one day I would really like to go and visit as an ambassador to some of these places. That would be a fun thing to do. I don't have that time at this moment, but that would be an amazing thing to do.

Speaker 1: 22:51

You basically put 25 dollars into this pot, and so do thousands and thousands of others, so it could be that you've got a local community in the heart of Ghana or wherever. I have been lending into these countries for years so many of them and they might be buying feed, they might be buying something to sell, but it's all interest free loans. Now, one of the things that really inspired me about this is because I've been in a situation in my lifetime where I needed money and I couldn't get any for love nor money, so to speak. Nobody would help, and so I had to suffer through that period of my life, and ever since then I thought there has to be a way to be able to help people where they don't have to pay interest on what we give them, but rather they can use it. We don't have to further the debt burden.

Speaker 1: 23:43

No exactly because that's what happens. So this is a wonderful way, and Kiva has been doing this for many years now Actually, probably been around since its earliest days, in fact. There's a couple of others as well, but Kiva's one of the bigger ones, so I think they're now reaching $2 billion or something in loans. Wow, that's incredible. Yeah, it's big. So feel free to join me on that journey. As I say, you can start with $25, whatever that equates to into your currency. So that's more of my global, if you like. And the other one that I'm very involved with here locally is the RNLI, which is the Royal National Life Saving Institute. Now the RNLI is actually turning $200 next year on the 4th of March.

Speaker 1: 24:26

There are many, many charities in the UK and it is one of the rare ones that is 100%, and people get blown away by this because it's a huge organisation but it's 100% self-funded. So it is not only just supports saving a person's life or a dog's life or whatever. It is also responsible for the life saving that happens around this country and it's other countries that it gets involved with to teachers, people around the world, how to be lifesavers, the Boat State I'm involved with the Aberdeen Life Boat Station. I'm actually the honorary treasurer, which always makes me smile because, from my earlier statement, I wasn't always fabulous with money. But anyway, luckily it's more of a spreadsheet issue, so that's fine and so I help that.

Speaker 1: 25:13

But we go out and about, so we've got some things coming up. I think in the next three days we're going to pop up shop at the local Trinity Centre where we're selling Christmas cards and doing those sorts of things. Last Saturday I was at a local church where we were selling things for about three hours, so we have souvenirs and things to sell, which is a way that we raise money. On the 9th of December we'll be walking around. Yep, if you had said to me 30 years ago you'd be walking around rattling a bucket, I would have looked at you with very strange eyeballs. But, however, it's a very joyful thing to do because you actually get to talk to so many people on the street. It's brilliant. I really look forward to it every year. Who would have thought that standing at the end of the shopping aisle in a supermarket would be a joyful thing to do? But it really, really is.

Speaker 2: 26:00

Well, I'll be joining you on the 9th of December this year to do that, so I'm going to get it first hand experience you will because you'll be here Exactly.

Speaker 1: 26:08

So there's an amazing charity. It has saved thousands and thousands of lives. I mean, if you live locally, you'll probably know that there's the TV series Saving Lives at Sea as well, which is quite something to watch, and they are a great support to the National Sea Rescue yeah, sea Rescue Services. So they tend to the R&R tends to be the first protocol and they work very, very closely with all of them. They were very much around when there were many of the oil and gas disasters around here.

Speaker 1: 26:39

They're usually the first on the scene and I got involved with them because I've been a sailor for a good part of my life and I have been in major storms at sea and I know what the ESE Rescue Services do and they're amazing. And so when I got here and I was looking for something, I was listening to a presentation at a networking event and I just looked at it and said what can I do to help? And I don't mean to give you 20 pounds a month, I want to give time and energy and effort. And that was in 2018 and I've been there ever since. Oh, that's fabulous. So they're really quite an extraordinary organisation and next year will be a huge year for us.

Speaker 2: 27:18

It doesn't matter where you look, you can find something or some way to help. But when you join something that you are passionate about, it's that much easier. And with you it was sailing with the RNLI, with the Lions Club, with me being involved in community and watching people, Because you know I love people, people on my happy place and let's maybe share a little bit of inspiration on how to get started. If this has kind of sparked your interest and you've gone, I would like to volunteer, I want to do something. You can always reach out to Karen and I at hello, at safetycollaborationscom, and we will let you know more about the RNLI, Kiva or the Lions International and how you can be a part of that. But what else? What else is there? How do we get started?

Speaker 1: 28:01

We've got a few key points which I picked up when we were doing our research. I thought these are really great few points, so we're just going to skim through them. So it is important to decide how much time you're willing to commit. Sometimes we get a bit carried away with our desire to do good and oh yes, that'll be good, and then you get into the mix of it. You think, oh my God, this is a bit more work that I thought it was going to be. So think about how much time do you really have? What is it that you want to get out of it? Because that is important, you know. What is there something you want to achieve? Do you want to experience something? Do you want to learn something? Do you want to just do something that's completely out of your comfort zone, which is your learning zone?

Speaker 2: 28:37

And start small, take a small step. So, like I did, I became a friend of the Lions and I got to see what they were doing and what they were involved with and I gave off my time and then decided yes, I do want to be a part of this for a bit longer, so you don't have to commit to long term volunteering. Find an animal charity nearby that you can go and just spend time with the dogs or the cats or help cleaning out, whatever it is, and you can do that one off or maybe once a month, and ask questions. You can ask as many questions as you want, and the more questions you ask, the less likely you are to make slippery promises.

Speaker 1: 29:16

And the slippery promises, that commitment that you don't really hold Exactly.

Speaker 2: 29:20

And whatever burning question you have ask, you won't be the first person to ask it and you won't be the last, but it will help you determine whether this is a right fit for you or not.

Speaker 1: 29:29

Absolutely. Try different things and if it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. There are so many opportunities in this world, so feel free to go through, research the place that you want that you're thinking about, find out. Go to stalk them on social media, see what they do. That can be really helpful. That's the good part of social media, because you get to see what they're actually doing and whether that resonates with you or not.

Speaker 2: 29:51

And sometimes it can be scary to go and do something like this alone. So bring along a friend or a family member, or maybe you get invited by a friend, or no friend close to you is involved in something. Invite yourself and say I'd love to come and see what you do. And if it's not working and it doesn't fit with what you were expecting, that's OK, there will be another organization that you will fit with. So don't give up, but go out and find where you can make a difference.

Speaker 1: 30:21

So over to you how and why you want to volunteer. Share your stories. We'd love to hear them. You can share them with us via the show notes for this episode on our website. You can reach out to us on LinkedIn, even Instagram and Facebook.

Speaker 2: 30:38

Thank you for joining us today. It is always lovely to have conversations at MATA. Connect with us on safetycollaborationscom. We all found the show notes for this episode, as well as the links to the charities that we are involved with. Leave us a message on the message section on the page, and sharing is caring, so bring on some of that positivity and help us glow by following us on your local podcast platform, leaving us a review Five stars would be awesome and doing these things really helps us spread the word and the collective conversation, because it's always important to have conversations that matter. Till next week, stay safe and stay well.