UKC

In the BMC thread volunteers is mentioned

 https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/ukc/bmc_announces_four_board_resignations...

Now I do not think any one would be so crass as to say that many volunteers do not do an awful lot of work, however some seem to just follow their own agenda.

Something that frustrated me when I volunteered for things was I would say what exactly do you want me to do.

1. In one case I was asked to organise a dinner, given a clear target, the club knew what it wanted, told me, success.
2. I was asked to be meets sec, what a disaster, the club really was not interested in meets, not really, but had a committee role to fill. It's up to you they said.

The Red Rope have clear job descriptions for all club roles, which sounds arsey, but does make sense.

So all I am saying is that if asking people to volunteer, it should be clearly stated what they are there for, not just fill places with people too nice to say no, or worse still people who relish telling people they are in these roles.

Volunteering can be very rewarding, but really volunteers should be told what they are volunteering for, because otherwise it's frustrating all round.

Having a clear scope of work/ responsibility is really important for volunteers, the creep which occurred in one of my committee roles and the treatment I received from some members for not doing the role exactly how they wanted contributed to some serious mental health issues and eventually led to me stepping down (not in our mutually shared club).

There could be more than one perspective on what your role was and how to execute it.

1. What you think it was.
2. What the members thought it was.
3. What the committee thinks it was.
4. What the club thinks it was.

If there is something like this going on the committee should look at both sides of the argument, not just take the view of do not criticise a volunteer.

I would think that you would be doing your best and that the club failed you. I have seen more than one volunteer fall by the wayside with issues like this. 

I had updated the job description when I took the role on and the committee was comfortable with the way in which I had described my role and the scope of work laid out.

It was almostly entirely caused by 2 members who are no longer in the club by their own choice as they decided that doing anything other than exactly what they wanted was unacceptable, I won't go into the details on UKC as it's a public forum, suffice to say it wasn't a failing of the club that I wound up in that situation. I considered the individuals to be personal good friends before they decided to kick me in the teeth.

It does however mean that someone slagging off a volunteer immediately marks themselves as someone I have no intention of involving in my life (constructive questioning =/= slagging off). Happy to talk about it over a beer sometime in a hut (although we'll probably get sidetracked onto an interesting book or what routes were done that day).

All volunteers are fools and are to be treated accordingly. As you know, Steve I was caving sec in one of the clubs you're in. When you came along it was obvious you were prime material. I enjoyed ordering people down holes in the ground. If I could con a few climbers to go too that was even better, seeing the look of horror on their faces as the rope was pulled on a through trip and they realised there was no escape. Seriously though, when it's no longer enjoyable you can just walk away and let the next fool take over.