Worknow_Aotearoa_NZ

People are assets

I was moved today by a simple thank you from a friend…

thanks Renee for showing me I’ve something to offer

Perhaps I’m still a bit emotional from watching Avatar yesterday but her simple note made me cry because it reassured me that this concept – that People are Assets -  can and does make a difference in lives and communities.

This talented lady is currently my go to person for anything regarding the preservation of food. She is talented,  fun and generous with her time and knowledge.  She continues to teach and inspire me.

We volunteered together to provide a preserves workshop last year, in which she shared her time and knowledge about preserving. The connections made from that initial volunteer effort have lead to further connections and opportunities, in an ongoing movement toward community resilience.

It is people like this that make our communities stronger, happier and healthier places to live and enjoy life and I am immensely grateful today for these people who sustain my capacity  to live [work] & hope.

Sailing is an investment of time that I consider a rather noble pursuit but then I am biased because my dad was an avid sailor -  John Lee, Skipper of the Leeway – and he was easily one of the hero’s of my life.

leeway: To slip sideways downwind while moving forward.

Yet this adds weight to the fact that I’ve heard several people talking about sailing this year, from simply learning how to sail to planned journeys around the world.

And it is their sense of purposeful adventure and discovery that has inspired my thoughts on the direction of my personal endeavors as well as our company this year.

Time to change tack

I resolved earlier this year to keep a written journal, a common device of those sailing the oceans.  Indeed, I much prefer the creative process of writing ones thoughts vs blogging and I struggled immensely over the past week to find the inspiration to add value to our blog conversation so far.

Beside commenting on articles that inspire conversation or challenge my thinking it seems 2009 provided all the time needed to convey our vision, values and service. Upon reflection I realise that I have said all I need to say about Worknow and it is simply time to change tack.

Tacking – Basic sailing maneuver refers to turning the bow of the boat through the wind so that the wind changes from one side of the boat to the other side.

While we maintain our heading, we now power up the sails with the stories of those with whom we collaborate and whose bearing impacts on the work that we do.

Indeed, it is only through the collaboration and support of people, with the vision and creativity to apply Time Trade as a tool to encourage volunteering in their own community, can we hope to reach our way-points.

Ready About

I hope to increasingly use this blog to share the story of those that serve our communities in the most direct sense of the word. I hope, like me, you will find their stories inspiring and thought provoking.

Most importantly I hope to convey the conscious, collective community spirit under which these people and teams operate in order to inspire and encourage us all  to volunteer our time and talent on a regular and ongoing basis.

Using the simple tools now at your fingertips just imagine what we can achieve, what change we can effect and the difference we will make when we work now, together for causes that benefit us all.

We, Gen Y, have the information, insight and connections to harness ourselves some rather impressive purchasing power.

Already we use tools like Trade me, to help establish market price and demand. Price Spy to inform us on competitive retail pricing and of course, there’s the ever present forms of social media (facebook, twitter, blogs) that we use to seek out recommendation from the people we trust.

Gen Y … are serious, independent information seekers who expect to interact with products and companies online as a matter of course,” … Their decision process begins and ends online, where they seek information, recommendations and validation…Collaboration is another Gen Y trait. As part of their consideration process, they seek recommendations and validation. Favorite tools include social networking, peer marketing, online support networks, text messaging and blogging. Source

There are always new tools or combination’s of existing tools entering the market. Tools like Bid Rivals, cashing in on the established Trade me culture and auction frenzy around low price deals. While here at Worknow  we’ve set out to provide people a more cost effective way to connect with service opportunities.

In a world awash with online and mobile tools, it’s no longer a question about HOW to connect, it’s about knowing with WHOM we connect.

We humans are social creatures, so finding and connecting with other people – in part nature and in part need – is a process that is continually refined and enhanced.

Today’s online world has become a social space for seeking out and facilitating human interaction with the growing power of social search seen with the launch of twitter lists.

Literally, millions of lists created to organise diverse topics – Dunedin (location) Distiller (Group) Volunteering (Industry Sector) – as a collection of who, rather than what.

Worknow, connecting talented people with work opportunity

We’ve combined tools to help people find and connect with work opportunities based on their talent profile.  A community marketplace using the familiar bid, buy and feedback system to help people find and bid for work on paying projects and offer time on volunteer work opportunities. As a community member you can use social networking tools to:-

Register your talent profile, today.

It’s great to see the people sharing their talents

“…Talent is always conscious of its own abundance, and does not object to sharing…”Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Whether you need help around the home,  at work, in business or you’re just looking to expand your repertoire of skills there’s a growing range of time and talent on offer.

Creating opportunities for others to help

Now, everyone likes to be able to help other people because it’s a good thing. Yet apparently we are not so willing to give others the opportunity to help us.

True fact though people; every single one of us has something to learn from others.  If you aspire at all to helping other people please consider this.

One of the kindest things you could do for another person may simply be to help them feel needed by allowing them the opportunity to help you.

With time trade one’s own motivation to help others comes second. It’s about putting the needs of others before myself by focusing less on the need to be needed – who can I help?, how can I help? – and more on outcomes that can only be secured by enlisting the time and talents of others – how can another persons talents, skills and time help me and others?

It would be great to see every member contribute at least one Time Request in an effort to provide others the opportunity to help.

Thanks to your feedback

And on that note I have to say again a big thanks to everyone that has offered feedback on the beta site. I’ve added all your thoughts to the user voice forum We are working on implementing you’re suggestions so keep them coming. This week thanks to your feedback:-

• The loop hole that allowed people to create multiple responses on a single trade has been closed. Now when you view a trade in the Marketplace that you have offered or accepted time on you will have a link to “view open trade”.
• We have added a “My Posts” page to your Workspace to make it easy to view and edit all the trades that you have posted. It’s pretty basic right now but it’s the basis for an evolving history of all your trades.

Changes to Work Flow

• Where as before you could begin trading simply by hitting the “offer time” or “accept offer” buttons we think it makes sense to begin by starting a conversation, right? So you now create a message before you hit the button.
• By default trades remain visible in the marketplace but you can now hide or display listings instead of deleting and creating new ones. There’s now a link in the right hand column visible on your trades and posts.

“…Every great man is always being helped by everybody; for his gift is to get good out of all things and all persons…” John Ruskin.

Letter to IRD Re:Tax obligations for volunteer work experience

Dear Sir / Madame,

Thank you for your letter dated 24th September outlining the legislation upon which your advice is based. I now seek clarification on two points please.

1. We intend time trade to be a tool to promote, support and encourage people to volunteer in the community. For example;

• Sue Smith volunteers with the SPCA to walk a dog one afternoon. After the work is done the SPCA provides feedback for Sue’s online talent profile with the comment “Sue did a great job, she was on time and works well with animals” . They also credit Sue 1 hour for the 1 hour she volunteered.

• If charitable organisations use time trade as a means to provide recognition of volunteer work and offer constructive feedback on volunteer contributions will such an exchange be liable to any type of tax or GST?

2. We want to facilitate volunteer work experiences for young people and believe time trade provides a means to promote, encourage and reward volunteer work experience. However, if a business offers students Volunteer Work Experience for example;

• to shadow and learn from a business person
• attend meetings and take minutes or
• work with employees and contribute to a business project

And then use our time trade system to

1. place constructive feedback about the volunteer and;
2. credit the volunteer time in recognition of the time they volunteered

Would such activity be liable for Tax and GST?

Can you please clarify the treatment of these time trades for all tax or gst purposes. I appreciate your help to understand where our tax and legal obligations are on these matters. Thanks for your time.

Kind Regards,

Renee Lee
www.worknow.co.nz
renee@worknow.co.nz
+64 21 18 300 50

IRD Response Received 18 January 2010

On the basis that:-

• volunteer workers are freely undertaking volunteer activity within New Zealand chosen either by themselves or a group of which they are a member and
• volunteer activities do not form part of a business activity ordinarily carried on by the volunteer and
• a benefit is provided to the community or another person for which there is no intention of private pecuniary profit for the person

NO TAX LIABILITY ARISING

• the crediting of time to the volunteer and
• the posting of feedback on their volunteer contribution

IS NOT considered to give rise to an INCOME TAX or GST liability to the volunteer undertaking the work.

The time credit is considered to be a form of reimbursement of time and or costs that may have been incurred by the volunteer in undertaking the volunteer work, which is accordingly TAX EXEMPT

Statistics New Zealand today released the Household Labour Force Survey showing a rise in unemployment over the September 2009 quarter.

Sadly those most effected by unemployment are our future leaders, business creators and workforce:

• 15 – 19 Unemployed 25.1%
• 20 – 24 Unemployed 10.9%
• 25 – 29 Unemployed 6.8%

For more information click  through to Statistics New Zealand articles for download

Job Crisis or Opportunity for Change?

Business Week  recently lead with a story entitled The Lost Generation discussing  the effects of the existing job crisis on young people in the USA.

the continuing job crisis is hitting young people especially hard – damaging both their future and the economy…studies show that an extended period of youthful joblessness can significantly depress lifetime income

As today’s figures show, youth unemployment is also a problem here in New Zealand. Yet,  suggestions around creating a sub minimum wage to encourage employers to take on young people  does little to empower or improve their future earnings potential. It simply undervalues their time, skills and talent and feeds into the downward spiral of lower lifetime income.

We see ways to empower young people, support Gen Y’s potential, harness their talents and help them discover their place in the workforce

“…We seem to have focused wrongly on building CV’s rather than building businesses…” Sam Morgan

We currently have a wealth of talented young people preparing themselves to be employed rather than cultivating talents which could drive economic growth through the creation of new business and new jobs.

Things are changing on the education front but we believe there is  opportunity to provide additional tools to help young people transition from study to work.

The solution we are offering incorporates work experience, education and elements of the traditional CV

1. We want to encourage Volunteer Work Experience as a means to build confidence and valuable work skills  so we are facilitating a system of Time Trade (a.k.a Time Banking) to encourage, recognise and reward volunteer activity.

2. A Peer Mentoring Community connecting Graduates with recent Alumni who can share with students of the same / similar discipline their experience of the study / work transition and highlight the real life opportunities available in the marketplace.

Where to look, who to talk to, which skills are important etc. Existing examples include the future in tech initiative to which we hope Time Trade could be applied as a tool for rewarding their career ambassadors.

3. We are using social networking tools and talent profiles to allow young people to build a living work history, a CV with a wealth of testimonials to their talent, skill and work ethic. A talent profile against which they can also be matched with volunteer and paid work opportunities.

Youth unemployment is a major issue but it’s reassuring to know that there are many community based organisations stepping up to help keep young people engaged in productive activity despite the fact of high unemployment.

Build your talent CV

Trust & Collaboration

Companies and leaders in today’s knowledge economy are beginning to recognise that traditional command and control methods of leadership are no longer the most effective way to inspire the best from people. Instead there’s a growing recognition that networked collaboration is the way of the future.

Ok, I am bias because collaboration is one of our founding values and I have issues with 80’s management theory. Words like power and  control, creep me out.

But no use complaining right, one must act hence our new venture - Worknow - where we connect talented people willing to trust and collaborate with each other and support flexible forms of work such as contract, project, freelance, and volunteer work.

Now, I noticed recently my tendency to sing about co-operation when contemplating ways to collaborate which raises two questions.

Are collaboration and cooperation the same thing?

They are defined quite differently by www.dictionary.com 

co⋅op⋅er⋅a⋅tion[koh-op-uh-rey-shuhn]

NOUN

1. an act or instance of working or acting together for a common purpose or benefit; joint action.

2. more or less active assistance from a person, organization, etc.: We sought the cooperation of various civic leaders. 

3. willingness to cooperate: to indicate cooperation. 

4. Economics. the combination of persons for purposes of production, purchase, or distribution for their joint benefit: producers’ cooperation; consumers’ cooperation. 

5. Sociology. activity shared for mutual benefit.

6. Ecology. mutually beneficial interaction among organisms living in a limited area.

VS

col⋅lab⋅o⋅ra⋅tion[kuh-lab-uh-rey-shuhn]

NOUN 

1. the act or process of collaborating.

2. a product resulting from collaboration: This dictionary is a collaboration of many minds.

Yet, I always “assumed” an interdependence becasue by my understanding effective collaboration requires co-operation. But now to the next question, which speaks even greater volumes about my education…

Why this song? “Co-operation, makes it happen. Co operation, working together”

 Clearly it was a song lyric from somewhere and when I goggled the lyrics I was not at all surprised to find that its actually one of the regular skits from an influential childhood programme…go on, take a guess. Here’s a clue. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12…

Yes, apparently my entire philosophy around collaboration stems from the Muppet’s on Sesame Street. Which in turn supports my belief that early education is a great place to develop a more collaborative and entrepreneurial culture.

Co-operation … makes it happen

Co-operation … working together

Dig it!

Co-operation … makes it happen

Co-operation … working together

Muppet In Shades:

I saw these crazy dudes

And they went out on the street

They were cleanin’ out the empty lot

And makin’ it neat

I said, “Man is this cool

What you tryin’ to do?”

They said, “Makin’ a garden

For me and for you.”

They said:

All:

Hey man, join us

Come on, let’s go

Together we can make a pretty garden grow

Girl: I’ll dig a hole

Guy: And I’ll plant a seed

Together: And we can add the water

That all growin’ things need

All:

Co-operation … makes it happen

Co-operation … working together

Dig it!

Co-operation … makes it happen

Co-operation … working together

metrolyrics.com

Not only do I heed the advice of muppets, I’m also involved with community gardens.  Scary, influential stuff our early childhood education.

Using video and the recent 350 Climate Actions we sort to portray the the integral role social media plays in connecting and engaging with Gen Y volunteers.

Initially, I was worried no one would turn up but when I saw we were to split the session with Lani Evans, the 2009 Recipient of Vodafone’s “World of Differnce”  I must admit, I was relieved.

Lani’s reputation preceded her, as did we in the Workshop format, so at the very least everyone coming to see her would have to sit through our presentation first.

We didn’t exactly stick with the abstract submitted but it was reassuring to see that at least three points that we made around Gen Y Volunteers:-

• the use of social media
• collaboration vs control
• work experience

Were confirmed in person by the talented young volunteers (14 – 17yrs) that accompanied Lani on the road trip up from Dunedin.

Although we did not use the opportunity to discuss our own project hopefully between ourselves and the Otago Volunteering crew we provided some first hand insight into the collaborative and visual style of Gen Y volunteers.

Thanks toVolunteering NZ for the opportunity to attend and be heard.

Saturday 24th October 2009, International Day of Climate Action

This weekend I was absolutely inspired by the collaborative efforts and talents of our young people driving action and solutions for climate change. The leadership that encouraged and inspired action is living proof that Gen Y is a growing force for positive change. 

The creation of a Spring Food Festival, that drew more than 15000 visitors to the Dunedin Railway Station on Saturaday,  shows that collaboration  – with a focus on solutions vs. problems  – is the best way to get individuals, communities, countries in fact the entire planet to unite for the common good.

For more information on the wonderful work of 350 teams around aotearoa and the world check out some of these links:-

• www.350.org.nz
• www.350.org
• Follow us on twitter www.twitter.com/350nz
• Become a fan on Facebook  www.facebook.com/350aotearoa
• Photo evidence www.flickr.com/photos/350org/sets/

It’s time to provide greater recognition for all types of volunteer community work because while it’s not the kind of work that “pays the bills”  it is the efforts of volunteers in our community, every single day, that connects and holds our society together. Massive Respect.

Without a doubt I believe the time I spent volunteering, after bailing on law school, helped me secure my first real job.

Working for the YMCA as a Gymnastic Instructor and Recreation Assistant was volunteer work experience in the traditional sense. Being new to the workforce it provided me with opportunities in leadership and team work and allowed me to communicate and work with people of all ages.

Personally, the experience is significant in terms of my lifelong aspirations, it highlighted the value of recreational education and the powerful, positive influence of role models on young people. It made me feel like a contributing member of society and in terms of my CV it reflected my willingness to work.

Volunteering for any of the many charitable organisations that support our communities is a great way to build basic work experience and skills.

But if you’re interested in developing more specialist skills, in line with you passions, interests or education then the potential to volunteer your time applies also to company’s that interests you.

It’s a great way to learn about the realities of the workforce to gain an inside look at an organisation and help you to acquire work experience. For a select few it  can even lead to jobs.

Indeed several people that I have spoken to in local community organisations say that when taking on new team members they look first to those that have volunteered time with them. Which makes sense right.

Ideally, we’d all like to land the paid internships but in such a competitive market why let those fortunate enough to score places gain extra advantage when you can as easily build work experience alongside them in the same industry with the increased flexibility of a volunteer position.

By creating your Talent Profile here at Worknow, we can help you find and match you talent, skills and interests with both volunteer and paid work opportunities. Register today