Our Project Management Volunteer Checks In

Posted on | October 14, 2009 | Author: | DanS | No Comments

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Oh, how one loves making an impact.

One of the tools available in the dashboard that publishes our particular blog creates the ability added ’stickability’ to a new post. In essence, the post has the ability to hang around and increase in prominence, with the seeming inability to be brushed off or booted away. Think of it as a leech, only at the exact opposite end of the grossness scale.

Stickability has undeniable purpose & is desired by authors worldwide, applying to anything that is published. Time teaches this – from Machiavelli to tmz.com, an article, post, book or magazine issue can be spurred on by things like software, keywords, buzzwords, subject matter, degree of research undertaken, narrative style, controversy of issues raised, and, unfortunately, controversy over the piece’s accuracy. Any of these, however, can fall under the jurisdiction of one crucial positive in the stickability process – the all-or-nothing ‘word of mouth’ recommendation.

Enter Arras People’s Volunteer Sponsor Project from 2008.

Many of you will recall our sponsoring Zoe Thorpe as she attempted to forge a career in project management through her local branch of a national voluntary organisation, Groundworks. We monitored Zoe’s progress as she provided diary entries each week on the Arras People website (Click here to go back for another look at our weekly diary entries). Through community projects with a bent on environment & sustainability, Arras People’s intentions were to give our readers insight into how projects come together, and where a budding project manager can get their start. In her diary entries, Zoe spoke of elements in each project she undertook. We in turn followed up on these elements in further detail to enlighten our readers on the characteristics of a typical project being managed.

Such was Zoe’s impact that she was eventually hired by Groundworks as a Project Officer/Assistant, a success we were happy to share publicly while teaching our readers about the great possibilities that may await them in the voluntary sector.

The happy stories didn’t end there, however.

Zoe got in touch with us recently, telling us about a new crop of young volunteers her local Groundworks branch had just taken on. One of them recognised Zoe, and walked up to Zoe with a question that had been bugging her:

“Are you the girl from Arras People?” Startled, Zoe responded that she was.

“I followed your progress last year as a volunteer on the website,” the new recruit responded. “I enjoyed it. It inspired me to give this a try.”

A greater testament to stickability, inspiration and motivation, we couldn’t hope for!