Consider the impact of a different way of recruitment to the traditional.
We, the prospective employers, have decided to sit back and wait until someone who is interested in our work asks to be involved in it.
Now this is a bit riskier!
Suppose no one is interested? Then we will certainly be left in a difficult (and possibly embarrassing) situation. We will have no believers and no one to work in our organisation.
So let me reframe it a little.
Say our organisation is starting up and because there is little or no money available (as happens with many innovative organisations that are outside the Pillars) we have some volunteers who are enthusiastic and committed. Then, after many failed applications for funding, some money becomes available.
Perhaps the tempting thing to do might be to advertise in the traditional way, trawling the land for a suitable candidate that is well qualified and educated. This is fine – but, depending of course on the job description, there may be people who have already shown enthusiasm who might be interested.
Just out of curiosity – let us consider what it might be like.
Prospective Employee; (Candidate): “I am interested enough, in the type of work done in this place, to put myself out there as someone who wants to do it”.
Employer: “I can respond to this person’s interest in a positive and encouraging manner while at the same time ensuring that the boundaries etc. of what we want done are clear”.
I propose that one way of ensuring that a culture of adventure is fostered in an organisation is for the organisation to put itself out there, wait for interested people to ask to be involved, and then respond to their requests.
Some of you might be familiar with the book The Right Stuff, by Tom Wolfe. (1979), which was later turned into a play and film. The Right Stuff tells the story of the early pioneers of space travel in the USA in the 1950’s who flew aircraft at high speeds at great heights just within the earth’s atmosphere. Obviously, it was a high-risk job and there were many casualties. Pilots were selected not because they were very skillful, or came top of pilot class, but because they really wanted to do it.
I propose that every profession that asks staff to be adventurous, creative, and courageous, and has the aim of achieving goals that most of the population think are unlikely, needs staff who have the right stuff. In my understanding of the term, an important part of having the right stuff is to be so interested that one goes out of one’s way to work within it.
Of course in supporting families we are certainly not asking people to put their lives in danger like early space pioneers – our work is quite different. But in our work, we will experience discomfort, and in particular (mostly, actually) emotional discomfort.
In my experience, in the context of family support with families affected by imprisonment, waiting for interested people to ask to be involved and responding to their requests is not that difficult.
There are many people in the communities most affected by crime who wish to make a difference. And most importantly, if someone puts themselves out there and asks to do this difficult work, the decision is usually theirs!
Undoubtedly, the most important factor is the response of the leader or leaders.
We need to 1): determine the capacity of people, i.e. whether or not they are either capable of doing the job now or have the willingness to learn how to do it over time, and 2): have the courage to raise people’s awareness of their unsuitability while supporting them in getting to that realisation themselves.
In 1) above, if we are skilled and experienced in community type work (and leadership) we will have patience in allowing people to get in touch with their gifts, knowing the benefits of training local people, taking note of Systems Theory and Cultural Matching as we already described. We will also know that people who are from and of the community may have had difficult experiences in life – so in addition to the richness of their experiences, they may have sometimes used up a lot of energy coping.
I mention this because it sometimes takes time for people to build up energy and access their full potential.
In 2) above, almost always – once again, in my experience – people often come to the realisation that they are not suitable for the job after a short time volunteering or being involved with the organisation. If they don’t – it does require courage and skill on our part to inform them, and invite them to continue to access the organisation for other support [1].
[1]. This is a particularly challenging and difficult process. It is difficult because it is most important not to hurt people who may be carrying a lot of hurt already. Compassion and empathy are of utmost importance here – as well as emotional support.