Leverage Olympic Momentum VOLUNTEER EXCERPTS
Random
excerpts pulled from throughout the book regarding volunteering; The
word "volunteer" is mentioned almost 200 times in "Leverage
Olympic Momentum" and in forty-seven seperate instances.
'Leverage Olympic Momentum' is written for a variety of people who currently
live in, or are thinking of moving to, an Olympic region. It's especially
targeted at small and midsize business owners (SMBs) and operators,
but it is also for the average person, especially volunteers, landlords,
union workers, creators of art and culture, students, and athletes.
It will provide you with an idea of what to expect as the Olympic spectacle
ramps up and eventually takes on a life of its own in your region. Anyone
interested in learning how to find and keep a volunteer position or
a paid job in an Olympic organization will also find the information
here invaluable. High school and especially university students will
learn what to expect, and what they will be up against when Olympic
organizations search them out and 'commandeer' their schools, campuses,
and part-time jobs. It is also for parents with kids in grade school.
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
It's estimated that an average volunteer will invest 140 hours of time.
If the event uses 25,000 volunteers (Vancouver/Whistler), it translates
into 3.5 million hours. And if you estimate the average union wage in
2010 at twenty-five dollars per hour it represents almost $9 million
in lost union wages when you trim the hourly rate back by twenty percent
or more. It's not hard to see why unions are so sensitive. Another factor
people rarely take into account is that when a person volunteers for
Olympic service they don't have time for other volunteer organizations.
Common organizations that raise awareness for heart disease and cancer,
hearing and sight impairments, etc., all suffer under the strain. Smaller
charities might as well pack it up and go home. In some areas charities
lose almost half of their volunteer workforce the year of the Games.
Also, some volunteers are so put off by the Olympic experience they
never return to their old volunteer positions. If SMBs educate these
organizations and the public well in advance they can help community
volunteer organizations develop solutions to counter the negative impact
of volunteer scooping. But be warned, Olympic organizations are not
going to appreciate your meddling because it undermines their needs.
They need your volunteers. (hjl73)
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
There has been a shift recently in the Olympic sponsorship structure.
The new rules create a better platform for the IOC to pit sponsors against
each other. Over the last few decades the IOC has taken a more professional
interest in their role. They purport to be a non-partisan, not-for-profit,
volunteer style organization, but it's not exactly how it plays out
in the real world. To begin with, not-for-profit is a relative term.
They have also been wracked with fraud and corruption, and fight aggressively
to protect and bolster a wobbly reputation. They are experts at damage
control and know how to shift the blame to others. In many of their
crisis situations if they had operated above board and with more attention
to detail they would not have found themselves immersed in bribery and
judging scandals, and a long list of other transgressions public company
executives would most likely be jailed over.
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
The Olympics are about money. Don't let the IOC lull you into a romantic
notion it's about sports and athleticism. They left that behind long
ago. It serves their purpose to keep you thinking along these lines
though because it makes it easier for them to prospect volunteers and
raise taxes in the name of civic pride, while sponsors like Coca-Cola
and Visa trundle off to the bank with billions of dollars in profit.
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
Volunteer - The human trade of value in kind.
The first thing you have to appreciate, and appreciate unconditionally,
is that the Olympic organization is a culture. You are either with them
or against them. There is no middle ground. Culture is the most powerful
tool they have and they wield it without restraint. They are counting
on the premise that anyone who wants to associate themselves with the
Games must adopt their culture. The Olympics relies very heavily on
volunteerism. It permeates every aspect of the workforce including supervisors,
managers and general staff, whether they are paid or not. Volunteerism
is a culture unto itself. You need a special mindset to not only participate
as a volunteer, but to also work alongside and manage a volunteer workforce.
The culture of volunteerism is key to understanding how the Olympic
machine works and how you, as an independent business are regarded by,
and fit into their culture, especially if you have plans to become a
supplier.
The words culture and volunteer are inseparable, and even though on
the surface the connection seems innocuous, deep down it is deceivingly
complex. A volunteer network requires a very specific and rigid psychological
roadmap to work effectively. To volunteer means to make a commitment.
The commitment has to endure constantly, and especially when times are
tough. Management of volunteers is quite easy in the early stages when
everyone is hyped and excited about the prospect of coming together
to do something good for the group or community. It is only when the
first setback occurs that people begin to realize it might not be as
easy as they thought. After a few setbacks morale starts to waver, and
unless something is done at a senior management level to get the team
back on track and hyped up again, the wheels will lurch off the track.
This is where culture and a strong commitment to purpose are critically
important. Everyone is a team player when we are winning, but as soon
as we slip behind we intuitively look for a scapegoat, because, after
all, who wants to take personal blame for failure. It is at times like
these when we need a common denominator to pull the team together. Volunteers
need a common denominator that is simpler to understand than the project
at hand - which in this case is the multi-layered, enormously complex
Olympic event. They need to be able to quickly tap into the culture
base and remember why they are volunteering. Culture provides the common
denominator and steers them away from personal agenda and from being
able to attack specific examples of why they may be failing as a group.
Culture provides a safe ground for discussion and contemplation. Culture
allows us to be one-minded and focus on a single goal. Culture allows
us to move outside our selfish motivations. Culture allows us to give
more of ourselves for the better of the group.
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
A Summer Games event can employ 125,000 people with approximately sixty
percent of them volunteers. Paid staff though can be subject to incredible
disorganization, low pay, sometimes no pay, and general malcontent.
Hourly rates are generally very low and the expectation of commitment
is extraordinarily high. Human Relations is important in creating a
successful Olympic event. After all the hype and Rah! Rah! Rah! subsides
it doesn't take long for people to start to see dents in the armor.
Morale deteriorates rapidly. It's not uncommon for senior level managers
at IOC or local Olympic committee levels to step in to put out roaring
fires. If you've ever managed a sizeable event you know that if it escalates
to this level people often operate in panic mode. You would think after
all these years of promoting Olympic events that the IOC would have
a handle on how to keep everything running relatively smoothly. Unfortunately,
as evidenced in Athens in 2004 and Turin in 2006, it appears smooth
management is still elusive. The IOC is caught in a situation that makes
it hard to share legacy information of past events. It is a combination
of bad organization, complex political intervention, and the fact they
have so many secrets and clandestine affiliations that it is impossible
to share good information without throwing light on past corrupt and
fraudulent indiscretions. Harsh words to be sure, but how do you separate
the wheat from the chaff when you don't know whom or what information
you can trust within your organization? The challenge is daunting and
overwhelming. It is a complex program to operate, especially considering
the IOC often does not even abide by their own basic tenets and advice.
Operations as large as the Olympics are not straight-line, A to B endeavors.
It is a zigzag, chaotic whirlwind ride to the finish line, and along
the way plans have to be modified, promises have to be broken, and new
affiliations made. The idea is to do it with the least dissention possible,
and in a manner that brings the greatest return.
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
Difficulty arose from people being hired and trained and then not showing
up for work, to trained people jumping from one venue or work specialty
to another at the last minute. Some people showed up only on the first
day to get their uniforms and credentials and were never heard of again.
Atlanta also had a problem with volunteers moving to paid positions
because the volunteer positions were so sorely lacking. In the end they
had to hire four times more people than they actually needed to ensure
they had enough staff. Sydney in 2000 studied the situation carefully
and worked hard to make sure they didn't fall into the same traps. For
example, they didn't differentiate between paid and volunteer workers
regarding how they were managed. Sydney wanted to create an all-inclusive
work ethic between both factions instead of having them compete with
each other. They referred to it as an "integrated" workforce. Sydney
also paid special attention to the hot spots like security, cleaning,
and catering and knew that if the large metropolitan area of Atlanta
had a problem finding enough help, then they too would find it even
more of a challenge in their sparsely populated area.
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
As I mentioned earlier, it's not uncommon to collect 12,000 resumes,
recruit 8,000 and hire 6,000 for 3,000 positions. It takes this amount
of work to ensure you have a large enough workforce when you need it.
It's also not uncommon for people to be hired, spend two weeks or more
training, get their uniform, and never show up for their first shift.
Why would someone waste time just for a uniform? It wasn't the uniform
they wanted. They wanted an "Olympic experience," but once they got
close to it they realized it isn't what it's cracked up to be, and they
quickly became disillusioned. They came, they tried, they tried again,
and they gave up in frustration. In ninety percent of the cases it wasn't
the workers' fault. There is a responsibility on the part of the employer
to meet the worker's expectations, especially when the pay is abysmally
low or nonexistent. It's not enough just to be part of the event. A
worker needs job satisfaction and if they don't get it they leave. In
many situations the local Olympic organizing committee feels that just
being part of the event is reward enough. It is an arrogant hallmark
and tradition of Olympic volunteerism, but unfortunately one that no
longer flies today. People demand respect.
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
Working with volunteers creates special challenges. They need very clear
direction and in some cases clear definition between paid staff, but
not so defined that they feel ostracized. Easier said than done, and
a problem that often gets quickly out of control when feelings are hurt.
There must be strong protocols in place and definitions of responsibilities
before workers begin their duties. Unfortunately this is rarely the
case given that Olympic organizations constantly run in a low-level
state of confusion. Problems grow exponentially and for this reason
it is important to not have overlapping responsibilities between paid
and volunteer staff because it only adds to the chaos when people take
it upon themselves to 'fix' the problem with short-term solutions. Quite
often they only see one symptom and have no idea they are making the
overall situation worse. (tw18)
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
The Olympics also need thousands of specialized and highly trained volunteers
to fill medical and health related positions. They need doctors, nurses,
and physiotherapists and in greater numbers than you can imagine. The
breakdown between low and high-level volunteers is about fifty percent.
About half of all volunteers need specialized training in a professional
discipline and further training in order to understand their duties
with the Olympics. High-level professional volunteers are the hardest
to find, recruit, and manage. They are often leaders and not exactly
team players, especially when they are thrust into mismanaged and confusing
environments. They are intelligent, disciplined, and have liability
that could be impacted by Olympic confusion. High-level volunteers are
necessary in order to run a successful Olympic event. They can't be
replaced at the last minute and they need supplies. (tw19)
The opportunity here is high-end and high volume. Herd this group of
cats and outfit them properly, and you have a high profit niche market.
Olympic organizations are barely capable of managing low-level volunteers,
let alone a group of professionals. Anything you can do to help them
is going to be welcomed. If you have connections with human resources
in the medical field, and especially with medical hardware or supply
companies, you have an opportunity begging to be leveraged.
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
It's not about simply finding the right professional volunteers. Olympic
organizations need help prepping volunteers regarding the types of information
and skills they will be sharing and providing the Olympic public. Olympic-specific
training programs are more sensitive in this sector than all others
mainly due to the liability. It's incredibly important for high-level
volunteers to understand clearly what is expected of them. Training
for this group is challenging because they come with preconceived notions
that may be hard to modify. Remember, the event is only seventeen days
long. There is zero tolerance for error, even related to passing along
information. Sophisticated training and communication in this area is
mandatory.
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
In Sydney they processed 75,000 volunteer applications and recruited
62,000 workers who put in 6 million hours of free labour. Eighty-five
to ninety percent of these people accepted a job offer about six months
prior to the event. Contrary to popular opinion, volunteers are not
primarily older people. They cover all age categories. Six weeks before
the Sydney Games they needed 1,000 more volunteers. Can you imagine
the pressure to find, recruit, train, and outfit in such a short time?
This is where an independent HR database comes in handy. (tw21)
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
Many people assume volunteers are free. Nothing could be further from
the truth. Volunteers come with a price, in fact it can be very steep
and more than a paid worker if they are not trained and respected properly.
When you take into account costs like recruiting, training, accreditation,
acknowledgement and awards, uniforms, feeding, housing, churn, and transportation
it's not hard to see that an Olympic organization makes a sizeable investment
in the volunteer program. It's not a matter of tens of thousands of
people just showing up unannounced at the event and knowing what to
do. Many months of thought and planning go into creating a successful
volunteer program. At the end of the day, if volunteers don't deliver
their service as expected the money and time invested is wasted. For
this reason it is important to properly motivate volunteers, and an
effective way of doing it, regardless of Olympic conventions, is to
have them adopt ownership and responsibility for the Games. If SMBs
understand why people volunteer, they will have a better idea where
to find and how to recruit them. No one volunteers for one clear-cut
reason. Usually volunteers have a number of motivations. Some do it
because they genuinely want to contribute to the community, plus they
get a satisfaction and a rush out of being part of a big event. Others
do it partly for selfish reasons. They are looking for a good time and
want to get something personal out of it. It could be as simple as bragging
rights or something to put on a resume. Whatever the reason, the onus
is on the Olympic organization to create a stimulating environment for
volunteers, especially if they are expected to work hard and see their
duties through to completion. Volunteers have to come to the table hungry
to do a good job. Make sure they know of the hardships up-front. Tell
them about the chaos and confusion, the long hours of training, and
the responsibility of showing up when they are needed. Make sure they
understand they have a responsibility to perform just like the Olympic
organization has a responsibility to respect and treat them fairly.
It's important that volunteers begin the relationship with realistic
expectations. It will be a lot of hard work for no personal gain. They
will spend plenty of time training and it will impact their current
social as well as their work life. (tw24)
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
Volunteers, and everyone in the region, will find mobility to be challenging.
A twenty-minute drive across town in non-Olympic times is easy to handle,
but when the Olympics hit traffic spikes and twenty minutes can literally
turn into three hours. It sounds impossible, but just imagine doubling
the population of your area overnight and adding security checkpoints
throughout the city. All the planning in the world won't change physics.
Heavy traffic doesn't happen only during the seventeen-day period of
the event either. It can start about a year out and gradually get worse,
until it reaches saturation point a few weeks before opening ceremonies.
Convincing a volunteer to endure this type of torture over an extended
period is a real challenge. That's why many never show up for day two.
As traffic increases it will be proportionately harder to get all staff
to show up on time for work, and this is exactly why transportation
is such a demanding and difficult segment of the workforce to manage.
Moving about the region becomes extremely hard for everyone, including
residents. If Olympic organizations can't keep staff motivated they
lose them.
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
It is a challenge throughout mixed-group training programs to maintain
diplomacy between volunteers and paid workers. Highlighting differences
between the two is counterproductive. For example, in Sydney financial
award programs were set up for paid workers, but acknowledgment in front
of volunteers who don't receive the same incentives wasn't appropriate,
so alternative training styles and arrangements had to be developed.
(tw33)
Training is often superficial and on a need-to-do basis. Workers need
to know only the bare minimum of what it will take to perform their
short-term functions, which means the training isn't very useful for
employment beyond the Games. Most volunteers do not receive comprehensive
training, plus they are not able to go to school or work their normal
jobs during training and the Olympic event. When looked at from this
perspective volunteers quickly realize they are not only giving of their
time, but economically as well, which makes retention even more challenging.
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
On an Olympic scale the challenge to distribute security passes to 150,000
people is enormous. The tendency is to evolve to a sophisticated and
economically efficient technological solution. However, by doing so
you reduce your staff to a number, or even worse, a blip on a scanning
wand. High-tech eye scanners, finger-print recorders, or facial recognition
devices sound futuristic and sexy. They can be efficient if implemented
properly, but at the end of the day when a volunteer goes home totally
exhausted and takes off her jacket, proudly looking one last time at
her Olympic pass with her name and picture emblazoned on it, and then
closes her eyes to sleep and dream, it is an experience that cannot
be duplicated. When she gets up in the morning the first thing she sees
is her personal pass to one of the most exciting clubs in the world.
It gets her heart pumping and she heads out the door for another day
of Olympic euphoria. For some people it is the best feeling in the world.
Collecting Olympic buttons is for amateurs. If you want real bragging
rights whip out the pass.
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
Some volunteers in Sydney were also promised a single ticket to an Olympic
event. Maybe not the event of their choice or even on a day they could
go, but they were promised one ticket. They were special. What they
didn't know was that they were given tickets as an inducement to becoming
a volunteer, and the tickets were only offered when it was clear volunteer
registration fell well below expectations. The American Express "Membership
has its Privileges" slogan appeals to a base instinct and manifests
itself in a number of advertising campaigns. Sports teams are masters
at attracting rabid sports fans and so are POP Stars. It is a psychological
mass hypnosis that takes over one's rational mind. In part it is a cult
of some good intentions, but the downside is the Olympics usually wreak
financial havoc in a region, and it is why it is so important to figure
out how to make it work economically for you. If you have to pay for
it, you should benefit too. (hl72b, 117)
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
Interestingly though, the Olympic committee in an act of retribution
cut the bonus and award packages for all the volunteers who worked on
Ceremonies projects. They also refused to pay for transportation and
uniforms, lowered the quality of food they were contracted to provide,
didn't give volunteers Olympic souvenirs like their counterparts in
other sectors (Olympic Swatch Watch), and, the most vindictive and petty
slap in the face, volunteers received no Certificate of Appreciation.
Welcome to the culture of the Olympics.
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
Volunteers are the fulcrum upon which the Olympics balance. He who maintains,
motivates, and controls volunteers holds the power. If you want to wrest
power away from the King, win the hearts of volunteers. If the King
doesn't value their effort and you do there will be a shift in loyalty.
If it is too difficult to change a thousands minds, then change only
one at a time.
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
Your mother's admonishment of, 'If you can't say something good, say
nothing at all' rings true in the Olympic school of journalism. Bought
newspaper publishers basically become cheerleaders with an unspoken
mandate to fool gullible and naïve locals. The primary function of the
newspaper is to sell advertising, and then report the news. You probably
thought it was the other way around. Once a publisher swears allegiance
to the Olympics one of their primary utilities is to provide direct
access to the public so Olympic organizations can conscript volunteers
and a labour force. Each Olympic region experiences a biased onslaught
of articles, advertisements, and forms via local newspapers. Don't underestimate
the importance of this service. Conscripting volunteers is way more
complicated than you can imagine. It all ties into the volunteer/cult
phenomenon. As you've seen in other parts of this book the churn rate
for volunteers and paid labour at past Olympic events has been about
three to one, and as unbelievable as it sounds, sometimes higher. It's
common knowledge within Olympic organizations that a sizeable number
of workers only last one or two days on the job before they quit in
frustration. A three to one ratio means if the Olympic organization
needs to fill 25,000 volunteer positions, they have to collect resumes
and interview 75,000 people because they know 50,000 will churn through
before the end of their term. If a newspaper responsibly reported this
statistic, and why it happens, how successful do you think Olympic organizations
would be in conscripting volunteers? Information like this was locked
down and kept from the general public. It's much harder to manipulate
an aware consumer. Immediately upon winning the Bid local Olympic organizations
plant the seed through mainstream media that it is hard to become a
volunteer so you better get on board quickly before all the positions
are taken. What a crock. If it is so hard to become as a volunteer why
Olympic organizations go to prisons and welfare agencies to find people?
(tw47 )
_______________ excerpt from www.LeverageOlympicMomentum.com
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