Paul Phillips, senior corporate partnerships manager at VSO, explains the importance of private sector partners being ready, willing and able.
The sustainable development goals (SDGs) tabled for signature at the UN this month call for greater partnership between different actors to take collective responsibility for tackling poverty. This includes the private sector increasingly using the wealth of skills available to them through their staff to supplement more traditional donor support but how does it work, and does it really have impact?
For some time now, the nature of corporate volunteering programmes has been slowly moving beyond painting walls to programmes that are closer to the heart of business. This has been prompted by the millennial generation wanting to play a more meaningful part in the social responsibility agenda of their companies through use of their core skills.
The response has been an explosion in the number of national and international corporate volunteering programmes. Not all, however, have focused on trying to balance the desire of big companies to throw ever greater numbers of volunteers at NGOs, and the ever increasingly complex social problems these NGOs are trying to tackle.
As a volunteering for development agency with over 60 years’ history, VSO has dealt with this issue through a rigorous process of selection, matching, programme design and evaluation. In many respects it’s akin to having to be a dating agency, wedding planner and, if called for, a marriage guidance counsellor rolled into one. It isn’t an easy task.
While the nuances are endless, we have learnt the hard way that developing high impact, corporate volunteer placements usually relies on the ‘ready, willing and able’ test which I will address backwards.
Able
For corporate employees to deliver impact in short term assignments they have to hit the ground running - meaning having the right skills. For this reason, getting personal requirements right in the job profiles is extremely important. Technical or ‘hard’ skills are focussed on but softer skills like consulting, building consensus and working cross culturally are also key. VSO developed a customisable orientation pre-placement programme to ensure that employee volunteers are able to engage with their partners successfully.
Equally important is the ability of the recipient organisation to absorb the capacity, skills and recommendations of the volunteer. Most small NGOs are overstretched and don’t have much time to devote to working with an outside entity. This can result in volunteers sitting in an office twiddling their thumbs waiting for the right people to arrive back off holiday. It’s critical to select recipient organisations that can utilise a volunteer effectively and prepare the organisation in advance to ensure they are able to maximise the impact.
Willing
It sounds obvious but unless both sides are willing to give their all for the programme then it will be unlikely to generate much impact. Too often employees are badgered by their office ‘champion’ into doing volunteer programmes they don’t know much about or really understand their role within it. Equally, volunteer placements are too often agreed by the head of the recipient organisation without consulting the staff members who will interact with the volunteer and be responsible for the success of the placement. All the stakeholders need to understand what the programme is trying to achieve and what their role is in it if it is to have any impact.
Ready
This is a less considered but vitally important dynamic to successful corporate volunteering and one which is well understood by IBM, a VSO partner with one of the largest corporate pro bono programmes in the world. IBM selects employees who are nearly ready to make the move from middle management to leadership positions within the organisation. Their corporate service corps programme is seen as a way to give leaders of the future a ‘stretch assignment’ that hones their skills through experiential learning.
Readiness needs to be one of the key criteria in selecting the recipient organisations too. All organisations have points in their evolution where they need support to maximise the impact of a change programme like expansion, diversification or embracing new technologies.
Corporate volunteering does have the potential to help the third sector raise people out of poverty and ensure a better future for marginalised groups. However, without both sides being ready, willing and able to engage and collaborate the opportunity for a perfect match is unlikely to be realised.
