THE BIG V AT THE FOUNDATION OF THE RE-SKILLING REVOLUTION

A speech by the Singapore Deputy Prime Minister highlights the importance that volunteerism or the BIG V is going to play to shape the future of millions of youths.

It is interesting that the Singapore Deputy Prime Minister, Heng Swee Keat, very probably the next Prime Minister, is talking about the importance volunteerism can play in the future of youths in the city state.

On Wednesday, June 10, Mr. Heng was addressing via video conference the youth wing of the powerful national union, the National Trades Union Congress, NTUC that boasts a very cozy relationship with the Government.

The program came amid the latest emergency budget called Fortitude, that is specifically focused on boosting employment measures, including re-skilling and up-skilling.

Among the measures there are 11,000 traineeships under SGUnited Traineeships Program that overall will set up many more opportunities for local graduates on the top of 40,000 jobs and 30,000 paid skills training.

So how does Mr Heng’s focus on volunteerism contribute to the overall efforts of helping youths in Singapore to re-skill, up-skills and ultimately be job ready in a post Covid -era?

In a recent virtual soft skills development camp organized by UTAR, I spoke about the importance of embracing volunteerism from a “taking” perspective.

Yes the “taking” side of volunteerism or better as I call it, the BIG V, the one focused on the learning or better the personal “discovery that comes along with embarking yourself in a volunteering experience.

In these unique times, this “taking” dimension of the volunteering equation, the other side being the “giving” where you offer your time and skills for a cause, is going to be key especially for those youths who are jobless and in need of upgrading their skills.

It is also going to be fundamental to get the “buy” in of all those youths who never ever got into a BIG V experience. Not yet!

By volunteering you learn not only a set of technical skills that can be leveraged later on in your professional career but you can also build your self-confidence and most importantly, you can nourish positive values, the foundations of Character based Leadership that is going to be essential in the aftermath of the pandemic.

That’s why, in order to involve and engage those who never volunteered before, is so important to highlight the leadership enhancing aspect of volunteerism.

Practically speaking: budding Veers (as I called those involved in volunteerism) can literally leverage the BIG V to be better, better person, better human beings and also to become better, better professionals.

It could be anything, from improving communication skills to build more interpersonal attitudes and team work skills or a set of “hard” expertise like writing a proposal, making an effective PowerPoint or prepare a budget or deal with an audit.

Call this a quest for personal and professional betterment.

Now do not get me wrong!

It is not that the volunteering experience should be built exclusively on the expectation of meeting certain learning goals but certainly before starting a BIG V experience, you can openly ask yourself about what you will learn out of it.

My belief and my bet at this point is that engaging in a well-structured, impact focus BIG V experience will do the trick, helping the youths to unconsciously realize that the “giving” dimension is the most important in the volunteering equation with the “taking” side, basically being a default or better, a consequence of yourself making an effort, donating your time, energies and skills.

Those who consider themselves already BIG V veterans already know powerful nature of volunteerism and have already internalized, in their sub-consciousness, the learning dimensions that come with it, naturally and spontaneously.

Mr Heng got it right.

Volunteerism should be harnessed to help navigating this unique phase of our lives where many unknowns lie ahead.

It can be a force for good to help those most in need but also it can be a force for good to help a youth transitioning and hopefully thriving in a post Covid-19 era.

 A longer version can be found at https://medium.com/@simone_engage/the-taking-dimension-of-the-big-v-e05c2210ad48