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Why do people volunteer? And if people do things for their own reasons, is it possible at all to influence people to volunteer?
I recently went to a mini-seminar for corporate community relations type folks which hypothesized there are several archetypal reasons people have in their hearts or minds which motivate them to volunteer- be that volunteering as a crosswalk guard, to give money to a campaign, to spend half a Saturday cleaning up a park or in our case, to be a mentor for a young person.
It seems oversimplistic to pigeonhole people into some of these categories as THE reason someone might decide to volunteer their time, but let’s face it, blogs are usually oversimplistic by nature and even at the risk of oversimplification these are still interesting thoughts to chew on-especially if you’ve ever tried to get people to volunteer/show up for something.
Some people volunteer because they like ACHIEVEMENT. These people like to solve problems and like to be asked to solve them. Or these people think they will learn a new skill in the process of volunteering that they can add to their quiver. As such, someone asking this person to volunteer would need to state the problem very clearly and not at all in generalistic terms.
Some people volunteer because they like POWER. Said people want the opportunity to direct others, to be free to approach the job in whatever way they see fit and need to be allowed to work at their own pace with freedom to change tactics as they deem necessary. In addition to satisfying these criteria, one trying to enlist this type of person needs to challenge him or her by asking “How would you do this job?” Suffice it to say again, the desired outcome of the volunteer job needs to be identified.
Some people volunteer because they want AFFILIATION. Not interested in directing or problem solving, these volunteers really just want to be around people- either peers or radically not peers. The task that allows maximum time for cooperation, relationship building and socialization is ideal for this person.
Some people volunteer for RECOGNITION. Awards, pins, accummulated points, letters of praise from the boss. These folks, whether they admit it or not, want to be in the spotlight. As such this person likely will pick volunteer jobs that place him or her in places of great visibility. This is the person who probably displays all the certificates and awards they’ve received all around their office and/or desk. No judgment there, it’s just a hypothesis for motivation.
Lastly, some people volunteer for reasons of ALTRUISM. More of a mystery perhaps than the others, these people just select volunteer opportunities because they feel they should do the job. Maybe they have some personal connection to the cause (i.e. cancer research fundraiser::someone in their family had cancer). Gathering these people is a crap shoot. The best one can do is focus on the mission of the agency supported/benefited.
Sorry if that read like a psychology textbook or a horoscope. There is no test nor any astrological examination necessary here except for a couple questions.
If you take as a given that people do crosscheck any volunteer opportunity thrown their way with its potential value for them in any of the above categories, does that imply the decision-making is entirely internal? That is, do I the person presenting the opportunity have any ability to influence from an external standpoint the decision of a person?
Lastly for now, though these ideas seem infinitely question-laden, in asking people to be a mentor, what archetypes of people are we appealing to here?
