Volunteer To Get Out Of The Box - Investors Business Daily
March 12, 2014 by Amy Alexander
Want to get outside the box? Give your time. That's what attorney Rebecca Fayed did. As associate general counsel and privacy officer at Advisory Board (ABCO), a Washington, D.C.-based consultancy, Fayed eyes regulations shaken up by breakthrough thinking.
Fayed sharpened her planning smarts while doing pro bono work at Wonders Child Care, a nonprofit day care serving D.C. and Maryland. She crunched a corporate vision statement for Wonders. She studied the kiddie care competition. She floated ideas for new offerings. Then she joined the tots as they played with water.
"I am always thinking with a lawyer's eyes," Fayed told IBD. "But volunteering gives you an opportunity to do something different, using a different thought process."
Think about how you can leverage good works at your firm.
• Get smart. Working for free on nonprofit boards increases brainpower. It's a great way for professionals to test out their skills.
"Corporate volunteer programs are giving companies the competitive advantage," said Jackie Norris, executive director of Points of Light , a volunteer advisory firm.
• See it again. Empathy is a powerful innovation engine. Bonus: It isn't tough to boost it. Spending time at different establishments can change how you view the world. That builds better ideas.
Norris tells about designers who volunteered at a disability association, then returned to work and cranked out a revolutionary refrigerator. "Their whole design was different," she said. "They asked questions like, 'If you are in a wheelchair, can you access the ice maker?'"
• Commit. Make volunteer work a key part of your company's long-term strategy. At Fayed's Advisory Board, staffers are offered 10 hours of paid time off each month to serve at area nonprofit outfits.
Of those 2,500 workers, many view the program as an employee benefit. The business gets a great boon from it, too. Turnover has dropped since its emphasis on volunteer service. And workers who do outside pro-bono projects are likelier than their peers to land promotions. "We are a high-growth, dynamic, changing company," CEO Robert Musslewhite said. "This is part of that dynamism."
• Top down. Service programs pack more punch than vague innovation initiatives that remind workers to carve out time to pursue their own creative aims, contends Musslewhite.
It was largely his idea for the firm to go for 100% participation in its volunteer program.
"This is one of our priorities," he said. "There is real good that comes back to the business from doing this, as well as real good for the community."
• Worthy cause? Charities are often looking for help, but not all of them are prepared to take on an army of professionals.
A brand-new foundation with a staff of three might crash if a corporate marketing team showed up.
"The buzzword around the service sector is nonprofit readiness," Norris explained. "Managing pro bono and managing volunteers is difficult for nonprofits. They don't always have the bandwidth."
To find a good firm, ask nonprofit experts to play matchmaker.
• Care. Find a charity that aligns with your company's interests, Fayed advised: "The more passionate you feel about what you are doing, the likelier you are to be engaged and to have a different impact on the organization."
• More than a check. Nonprofits hunger for help from money-wise executives. "Don't just give your grant," Norris said. "Give your board members. Give your support."