On 28/02/07, Marc Riddell michaeldavid86@comcast.net wrote:
on 2/28/07 7:28 AM, David Gerard at dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
Mandates from the top sometimes don't work that well in practice. The community has told Jimbo to get knotted before ... These are volunteers. Volunteer motivation is a tricky one. Best thing to do is to think in terms of herding cats - you need to work out the local equivalent of tuna.
I hear ya. It is just that it's been my experience with any type of organization that motivation for any type of major change must come from (and include) that person at the top. On their own, enough people need to feel there is a problem before any work toward change can begin. In my work as a psychotherapist, it is not my role to convince you that you have pain - I can only help you to relieve it.
We're basically agreeing, I think. The psychopathology of organisations is a fascinating area!
Volunteers are stroppy buggers. They do *ridiculous* amounts of work, though. As long as they want to.
- d.