Leadership and Volunteerism

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Group 2. Leadership and Volunteerism:

Facilitator: Conchita Pooten
Rapporteur: Agnes Abanag
Group Members:
Claus Nabert
Ruth Licay
Alice Cuyob
Henry Foken
Cristabel Bounggick

The group members identified and agreed on the objectives of the workshop as:
• Discuss how to encourage /recruit a good leader;
• Identify the core values of an Igorot leader; and
• Discuss morality issues/moral concepts like the concept of inayan as a vital cultural trait a leader should possess.

From the identified objectives to anchor the discussion, the following concepts were highlighted as drawn from the sharing session:

In recruiting an inexperienced or incompetent leader, be hinted with the following:
• Lay out the expectations;
• Make it clear to him the details of accountability and responsibility;
• Identify the pros and cons of volunteerism;
• Identify the difficulties and conduct trainings to increase the confidence and assertiveness of would-be leaders;
• Motivation is needed to encourage someone; and
• Set deadlines in assigning tasks.

As to the qualities of a needed leader in addition to what is innate in one (God-given talent), the following qualities were perceived to be contributory to effective leadership on voluntary basis:
• Belief in oneself in making a difference. Show others how things are done. Convince others to see or explain why and how things are done;
• A leader is committed and dedicated. He finds time to lead because he understands the objectives;
• A leader is patient and not a ‘quitter’. He finds alternative;
• A leader is a positive thinker;
• A leader mentors others and stand as role model in training others to become leaders;
• A leader loves the organization and has no hidden agenda. No hidden agenda means he should not think only of himself in terms of what he gets back from the organization;
• A leader refrains from being self-centered and ends to doing nothing.

As to the third objective of the workshop that dealt with moral values, the following concepts were crafted from the sharing per se:

• The quality of social life is affected by many factors. In most cases, problems at home may rock the family up and carried over to the organization. Hence, leave problems as you close the door. Dedication is very important. This may refer to quality relationship of parents or among the siblings;
• Respect for elders. As leaders, they should never forget their mentors or those who came before them. The moral value of respect is biblical as it was written ‘Honor thy father and mother’ or elders in general;
• Transparency. The moral value of honesty, sincerity, fairness is usually tested when dealing with money matters. A typical example is the transparency in disbursement of funds. Auditing should be made known to all members; and
• Tasking. Volunteerism is typical among Igorot communities. The morality of doing things is always exhibited by sincere volunteers. In tasking, call for volunteers. However, others may be too shy to volunteer so tasking becomes necessary.