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Spirit
doesn't get a lot of airplay
by Margot Cairnes
VOLUNTEERING recently at my son's
school I was surprised to discover that although my
coworker's son had left for university several years
before, this father continued to organise one of the
school's major fundraising activities. Given that most
schools can't get parents to volunteer at all I was
curious about his ongoing interest. "It's the spirit of
the place," he told me, "I just love being here." He
wasn't alone. Every time I turn up to help out there are
more helpers than jobs. This makes the task pleasant. We
always have time to chat - to get to know each other. We
belong to a community. So we turn up in the hundreds.
Shopowners, painters, consultants, engineers, doctors,
farmers, insurance salesmen, mums, dads, sisters,
brothers, grandmothers and grandfathers, all helping out
for free. Now as someone who is interested in leadership
I can't help but be intrigued. Most people have to be
paid to work.
Pondering this I come back every time
to my coworker's words: It's the spirit of the place."
It's the spirit of the community that attracts people to
donate their valuable time again and again. Last week,
selling at the school's art fair I met a grandmother who
had been volunteering at the school for 40 years. "It's
the spirit of the place." How many places of work have a
spirit that invites people to be part of the community?
How many places of work bring so much to people that
they come back for decades voluntarily just to help out?
How much better off would we all be if more places did
have a spirit, did create community and did encourage
people to give for the good of others?
What is it about my son's school that
builds spirit? Well, everything. As a new parent waiting
outside the headmaster's door I was drawn to the full
script of Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream"
speech in which he talks about each person's capacity to
make the world a better place. Each time I attend an
assembly, rally or parents' ceremony I am encouraged to
be grateful for what I have (my health, my family, my
ability to enjoy life) and reminded that not everybody
is so lucky. While we celebrate current successes we are
reminded that people in our community are ill, grieving
or suffering in some way. We are encouraged to open our
hearts, to be joyous and compassionate. "It's the spirit
of the place."
Many years ago, working with David
Judd, then operations manager of Portland Aluminium
Smelter, I saw this spirit operate in a large industrial
site. David believed that people should develop their
own personal potentials and work for the good of the
whole community. He role-modelled this behavior and then
laid out the path for others to follow. He celebrated
his own good fortune (through photography, bush camping
and relationships) and worked for the community (setting
up a creche, a gym, a medical centre, bringing Don
Burrows into town to teach the local kids jazz, bringing
international speakers to talk to local people, putting
the community through a personal development program,
encouraging smelter staff to work with the homeless,
sponsoring environmental projects). When you walked onto
that site you could feel the spirit of the place. It
sort of hummed. People wanted to be there. People cared
- about themselves, each other and the plant. So
industrial accidents decreased, productivity increased.
Absenteeism fell to nothing, staff turnover halved.
Demarcation became a non-issue - people wanted to help
each other make the place as good as it could possibly
be. Tradespeople who normally lined pots, volunteered to
paint and garden when their normal duties were done.
Engineers did secretarial work and secretaries learnt
how to use tradespeople's tools. There was a spirit of
cooperation and community about the place. It became a
world benchmark in its industry.
In our highly rational world, spirit
doesn't get a lot of airplay. Pity!
Copyright
ã Margot
Cairnes
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