From 10 perfect strangers to a steadfast group

Sometimes, it’s in the process of giving back that we realise just how much we have to give. This month long program provided a group of volunteers with exactly this opportunity - dedicated time to discover who they were, where they had under-utilised their skills and how much they could achieve by working together for the good of others.

The background

Every year, NAB bank and Australian Business Volunteers partner to deliver a customer strategy challenge that solves a problem for one of the bank’s business customers that is a charity or non-profit.

The challenges

This was a high uncertainty, high probability of reactivity project. Participants didn’t know each other, deadlines were incredibly tight, content was unfamiliar and there was a lot of pressure on the project benefitting the charitable organisation.

What we did

We took the time to get to know each of the participants, their personalities, self-perceived strengths, weaknesses, interests and desired opportunities so that we could design the program to present them with as many growth opportunities as possible while still maintaining a supportive environment. We also shielded the group of volunteers from a large amount of uncertainty by working closely with the different stakeholder groups to create clearer, agreed deliverables and expectations.

Why it worked

In order for people to feel safe to be vulnerable, a degree of trust needs to be created. Activities built into the program to encourage reflection, nomination and shared responsibility ensured that nobody was left with unreasonable expectations and everyone felt like they were investing their time and energy into a worthwhile cause and as part of a team.