One of the things I like to do when
I get the time is to have a late breakfast on a Sunday, come back in and watch
Praise Be and Attitude on TV1. Attitude this Sunday was dedicated to New
Zealanders who are working tirelessly in poor and war torn countries to improve
the lives of the most vulnerable.
I couldn’t help wondering if this should be
compulsory viewing for all those who spend a great deal of time wailing that
New Zealand is a terrible place and doesn’t do enough for them. It seems these days it
is a reasonable defense for people who commit crimes to claim they couldn’t
help it because they had a deprived upbringing.
Anybody who makes such a claim
or shouts our health service or similar is third world, should be sentenced to
go work in such places as illustrated in the Attitude programme, and see what it really is like. With some luck they
might not only realize their excuses are baseless, they may also come to
realize that dedicated hard work for a cause often makes a significant
beneficial difference – sitting on the couch drinking beer and smoking pot does
not.
Agriculture provided the revenue in earlier days when the Social Welfare
programme was developed. It certainly remains consistently the major
contributor to our economy, not that many people who we pay to do nothing would
realize and appreciate that of course.
That in mind, I had the pleasure,
actually and upon reflection, the privilege, to be in the company of some of the
young people who will influence the future of the Royal Agricultural Society. They
have been involved in agriculture generally all of their lives. They know what
work is from plenty of practical experience of pulling their weight and making
their share of contribution. They have great families and you can see the tight
supportive relationships in the family interactions and how they relate with
others. They are keen to learn and to contribute and others notice. Several of
them came with us to the North Otago A & P Show at Oamaru. It is one of the
oldest shows in the country this being their 150th.
Friday was the
official opening by the Governor General, who is also the Patron of the A & P movement of 97 shows in New Zealand. At the afternoon tea following, his
Excellency asked to meet the RAS Youth. He spent 15 or so minutes exclusively
with them. When their discussion had finished, Sir Jerry Mateparae approached
Bruce Orr, President of the RAS, telling him how impressed he was by these
young men and women. He had invited them to dinner at Government House at a
time to be arranged.
One of the RAS Youth who would have otherwise been there
was back in Helensville. At 21 he is the President of their show, as his Father
was before him. His grandfather had also been a President. Jordan not only
needed to be home for his show, but his Father, who had no idea what was about
to happen, was to be presented with an RAS Medal of Excellence.
The
presentation was made by the Show’s Patron and the Prime Minister placed the
medal around Richard’s neck. In so doing he helped acknowledge the huge
selfless support Richard had given, and continues to give the A & P
movement. I had the privilege of taking over from Richard as the chair of the
RAS Northern District. In my notes for Jordan to read on my behalf I noted that
if I am able to serve half as well as Richard, I will be pretty pleased with myself.
What is clear is that I have a new responsibility, to help these new emerging
leaders on their way.
You would imagine that to be the imperative of people who
belong to organisations, especially charitable volunteer operated
organisations. It seems not, with the emergence of a new characteristic,
volunteer blackmail and bullying! Whilst it is not prevalent it only takes a
few to put a dampener on volunteer engagement.
How it works is that whilst
pretending to encourage new blood into the organisation if the newbies try and
change the status quo they encounter a vigorous negative response such as, ‘we
have always done it this way’, or ‘that has always been my responsibility’.
Apparently the excuse for bad behaviour or performance is that, ‘I’m a volunteer
and have been for many years!’ The subscript being, ‘this organisation owes me
and so do you’, hence the blackmail.
Sadly others don’t want to create
confrontation and just acquiesce or more often these days, walk away. Yes. I am
emotionally blackmailed, probably more often than I would care to admit. And
most of the time, it is my fault because I give in. I should have never allowed
it to happen in the first place.
The worst
kinds are the punishers and the
sufferers. 'My way or the highway' is the punisher's motto. No matter
what you feel or need, punishers override you. Sufferers take the position that
"if you don't do what I want, I will suffer, and it will be your
fault". They seem to find volunteer and charitable organisations as
fertile ground to ply their manipulation because they can always play the
volunteer card to reinforce their position and behaviours.
These people usually
have a fear of abandonment or being
irrelevant, or being hurt and usually feel a desperate need to be in control of
things. Of course we should not give in to the pressure and we must set
boundaries to be able to take time to consider the situation and to look at all
of the alternatives to make the decision. What we as leaders in such
organisations need to do is get some ‘balls’ and stand up to this behaviour. In
failing to do so we are compromising the Vision and Purpose of the organisation.
We need to protect the new generation and their fresh enthusiasm and
perspective. We need to protect them
from suffers and the punishers so their energy is not compromised or dissipated.
We need to ensure they have a clear line of sight to the future.
