Last month I shared research about baby boomers approaching retirement with new expectations and new ideas for community engagement. Research increasingly suggests that baby boomers will be a new breed of retiree: younger, healthier, better educated; interested in travel, personal development, education; and expecting choice, flexibility, accountability, and meaningful volunteer work. Though I am slightly ahead of the baby boomer generation and approaching retirement, I find many of the finding of these research studies resonant within me. This month I would like to share, from personal experience, some of the elements that will indeed attract the "new retiree."
Last year my husband and I wanted to do something special in honor of the International Year of Volunteers and through an online posting we learned of the International Executive Service Corps (IESC)1. We explored the organization through their informative website and applied online. Within a month we received an invitation via email for an assignment in Armenia2. The invitation included an extensive work plan detailing the assignment, duties, deliverables, etc.
Upon acceptance of the assignment, and following reference and background checks, a Volunteer Executive Orientation Manual and background information on Armenia came by mail. The Manual included detailed information on travel, expenses, per diem payments, insurance coverage, and reports. We had two phone conversations with an IESC representative prior to our departure for Armenia. All arrangements, questions, etc. were handled via email. A travel agent worked with us via email and telephone to schedule our travel and assist with visa applications. We received luggage tags, lapel pins, briefcases and ID badges along with our airline tickets.
We arrived in Armenia at 5 a.m., where we were met by a driver and delivered to our hotel where we were warmly greeted with a fruit basket and welcome card. We had our first face-to-face meeting with an IESC representative one day after arriving in Armenia. The IESC Country Director gave us a local program handbook, including information on local restaurants and stores and a complete list of office and cell phone numbers for all local personnel. We were each given a box of personalized business cards and a disc with all the reporting forms, such as work plan, participant sign in sheets for training sessions, workshop evaluations, a project evaluation report and a final confidential report for IESC.
The Country Director drove us to the IESC office where we had an assigned office space complete with computer, printer and Internet access (shared with other volunteers working in the country). We were given our per diem payments for the week and names of other volunteer executives staying at our hotel.
Our assignment was with another organization, so an appointment was set to meet that staff and to go over our work plan and itinerary. At that meeting we received a more extensive orientation to the work being done and our role in that work. The next day we met an interpreter who would be assigned to us for the entire project. We spent the first week refining our work plan, researching the local organizations, developing training materials, and working with our interpreter to translate a participant workbook. Our expertise was recognized and valued throughout the project and we were encouraged to develop our work plan based on our knowledge and skills.
Our work in Armenia was part of a project to strengthen local Non Governmental Organizations (NGO's). The one-month assignment was to develop and deliver three training sessions in three different cities on basic nonprofit management. We combined my experience in the nonprofit world and my husband's experience in the business world into a three-day seminar called "Four Strategies for Building Professional and Organizational Credibility." Our target audiences were newly organized NGO's in the process of developing grants for international funds administered through World Learning and USAID.
We presented our sessions in three regional cities to approximately 20 participants per site. Training sessions were from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. three days per week. In the afternoons we made 4-5 site visits (each) to provide individualized consultations. In the evenings we returned to our guesthouse for a late dinner, a walk with the locals, and a magnificent view of the sun setting over the mountains. On the weekends we returned to Yerevan, the capital city, to enjoy two days of rest and sightseeing. As a professional consultant in volunteer program development I found this to be one of the most significant and well-organized volunteer experiences I have ever had.
Thinking back to my opening comments about the types of things that will attract the "baby boomer retiree," let me point out the things in this volunteer process and assignment that were so attractive: informative, easy to navigate web site; online application; consistent communication and information; well designed work assignment; good orientation materials - delivered to our door; attention to detail, with luggage tags, etc.; personalized business cards; standardized reporting procedures - on a disc; accessible equipment and office space; 24 hour access to support and assistance; very meaningful work. It is interesting to note that all volunteers with IESC are consistently referred to as Volunteer Executives and that title is printed on the personalized business cards.
Of course not all organizations offer international travel as a part of their volunteer assignments, but I do think many might learn from the IESC process. Their assumption is that the volunteer is an expert who deserves respect and professional treatment. The assignments are well defined and the Volunteer Executive (VE) is expected to work hard to produce measurable results. Many of the things IESC is currently doing fit the profile of what baby boomers will be looking for as they enter retirement and look for ways to become engaged in service. The atmosphere was very professional, the work challenging and meaningful, and the expectations high. There were opportunities to use current skills combined with opportunities for learning. Small perks such a briefcases, lapel pins and business cards conveyed respect, professionalism and reinforced our connection to the organization (of course this also gave great publicity to IECS where ever we went).
An unexpected benefit was the opportunity to meet at least a dozen other volunteers, from the U.S. and other countries. Some were retired people traveling the globe to share their skills and knowledge in the belief that as part of our global society we have a responsibility to assist one another. One gentleman was an executive VP for a large multinational organization before his retirement. Another woman, widow and mother of eight, was an assistant vice president for a large bank prior to joining the Peace Corps. She said she wanted to give something back for all that she had received in life. Now was an IESC volunteer spending six months in Armenia teaching organizational development to NGO's. Others were not retired and spending their vacation time doing service.
My husband and I were humbled to be in the presence of these wonderful, talented, dedicated international volunteers. The opportunity to meet and talk with these other volunteers was an important part of our overall experience. It helped us feel connected to a much larger community and reinforced the significance of the work we were doing. This sense of community can be a big draw for volunteers and all organizations would be wise to give careful consideration to how they build community for your volunteers, either online or in person.
There are no big recognition events with IESC. The recognition comes from the way volunteers are treated, as valued and respected professionals. Projects and volunteer executives are featured in the IESC newsletter. From time to time VE's receive notices of new assignments that fit their profile and skills, or they can scan the web site for current projects.
We went to share knowledge and skills and to contribute in a small way to these developing NGO's. We left enriched by the experience and humbled by the dedication, passion and hard work of the Armenian people. They are eager to learn more about our structures and our approaches to problem solving and yet they know they must find their own unique solutions. Volunteerism was our link. We were not paid consultants coming to tell them how to do things. They respected us because we were volunteering to make a difference. It is this connection and this type of impact that will draw the new retirees into volunteer service.
This August my husband I completed our third assignments for IESC.
The International Executive Service Corps (IESC), headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, is the world's largest, not-for-profit managerial and business development organization, with 11,000 volunteers in 50 countries. Founded in 1964, by David Rockefeller as a private sector Peace Corps, IESC creates opportunities for volunteers from the private sector to apply their business skills to create sustainable business in emerging markets. IESC has provided expert assistance -- using senior-level professionals who donate their time-- to entrepreneurs, small- and medium-sized enterprises, non-governmental organizations and governments in more than 120 countries.
The IESC Skills Bank contains the names and qualification of more than 11,000 American men and women willing to donate their skills and experience to enterprises in overseas assignments. Programs are funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other government agencies. American corporations, foundations and individuals also contribute.
IESC is currently recruiting volunteers with expertise in business, health care, environmental protection and non-government organization development. IESC recently announces it will expand its expertise in technology through collaboration with Geekcorps, a non-profit technology-based volunteer organization committed to expanding the Internet revolution internationally by pairing skilled volunteers from the high-tech industry with expanding small- and medium-sized enterprises in the developing world. (www.geekcorps.org)
Thought many IESC volunteers are retired, a substantial number are still working. IESC volunteers serve as American ambassadors of good will, transferring knowledge and expertise to create sustainable development. By helping people in the less developed world improve their lives, they ensure that globalization is truly global. Husband and wife teams are encouraged. For additional information check www.iesc.org.
2Armenia is a very small country bordered by Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran. It was part of the former Soviet empire. The collapse of the Soviet Union left it free, but isolated and impoverished. (A similar situation exists in many of the former soviet republics.) All social services that had been provided by the state ended in 1991. Currently there is a growing emphasis on the creation of NGO's (nonprofits) for the advocacy of human rights and the provision of social services, as part of an international effort to develop Armenia's civil society as a basis for securing a strong democracy.