What Volunteering Taught Me
During the time when I volunteered at two non-profit organisations - Religions for Peace and Design Business Chamber Singapore - simultaneously: I learnt a lot from the encounters that proved to be priceless for the work that I do.
1. Power does not equate to security
NEW YORK CITY - We had just finished attending the session on Disarmament and Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations and the idea now, was to go into the streets of New York to continue gathering signatures for our Arms Down Campaign.
As I stood there with a red banner, explaining to New Yorkers about the campaign, most simply passed by while some were receptive and signed readily. As this was going on, a policeman walked towards me and asked: "Hi Sir, can you tell me more about what you are doing?"
I shared with the NYPD officer that we were aiming to gather 10 million signatures from around the world. The aim to ask governments to redirect 10% of military expenditure that will be sufficient for achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals and appeal to nuclear powers to abolish nuclear weapons. He was not convinced and asked: "How will you get the bad guys to reduce their military budgets and if the US were to reduce our budget, who will stop the bad guys?" I argued that escalating military spend, totaling almost one trillion dollars is not sensible when more than half the world live below poverty line and the latter drives more people into extremism and conflict. We debated for almost thirty minutes, and then we wished each other well and parted company.
This was an interesting episode. Here was an armed officer serving in one of the greatest cities in the world, in a country secured by the most powerful military on earth yet he felt the need to come up and insist that the US need to have more arms to enhance his sense of security. From that encounter and affirmed by other experiences, I learn then that when people see the need to accumulate more power, it shows that they lack the sense of security. So any strategic plan that you create must affirm his/her sense of security or else your plan will fail.
2. The smallest can prove to be the greatest
KATHMANDU - We were on a dusty road going towards a hotel where I was going to speak to Nepali civil society representatives about Arms Downs Campaign. The road was narrow with only two lanes, but the traffic seems to be moving along just fine even with bicycles, vehicles of all sizes and the occasional cow sharing the road. I spoke too soon. The traffic came to a halt: a car from a side road had attempted to cross the main road but was denied the space by an incoming car. Soon lines began to build up. In a distance, you could also see something like a ceremonial procession. Turns out that it was the entourage of the President of Nepal going for a special session of Parliament. So that certainly did not help the situation.
The built-up to the jam continued, there was no traffic policeman in sight to redirect the traffic, and the drivers stayed in their cars, seemingly waiting for a miracle to happen. Then a teenager who was riding a bicycle came along. He dropped his bicycle by the side of the road and started negotiating with the driver who created this mess. The boy did the same with the other driver who refused to give way. After a while, he started directing the first driver to reverse and after about 15 minutes, the jam was unraveled, soon we were on our way. As our vehicle was passing by, the boy was seen picking up his bicycle to go on his way.
I do not know whether this boy realised the impact of his kindness. However, his one selfless act shaped the outcomes of many that day. Remembering this encounter, I added this perspective into our business design process. In so many companies that we have served, you can always find this one selfless individual who may not be in senior leadership but makes a huge difference to the business. That person's role is essential in the process of ensuring that the transformation project will succeed.
Thanks to the boy, I made it in time to the Shankar Hotel in Kathmandu
3. Unity requires imperfect partners
MINDANAO - The Mindanao peace process had stalled and so our Philippine friends together with all of us, youth leaders from Religions for Peace Asia organised a youth summit to contribute in a small way to the process of reconciliation between the Government, MILF and the Indigenous people of Mindanao. Through three days of intense sharing - many angry words of injustice were exchanged, but overall everyone had a valid point and position to defend.
The MILF youth leaders were particularly impressive. They were deeply knowledgeable and understood that they needed to make compromises but not without losing their dignity and the rights due to them. It is unlike what you would imagine about an organisation that has been labeled a terrorist group. Blood had been shed on both sides, and half a million people were displaced. I was one of the those tasked with drafting the peace statement, but it was extremely difficult. No one wanted to compromise anything. For a while, it seemed like the peace statement was not going to be issued as the representatives from the MILF threatened to walk out.
However, at the nail-biting hour, they came back, pushed for some compromises, and we had a statement. Essentially the statement recognised the injustices but also called for all the parties to commit to restoring the peace process. The MILF is wise to discern that while they may not have a perfect partner in the Philippine government, they needed to seize whatever opportunity to secure their prized autonomy. Eventually, the peace agreement was signed between the MILF and the government of the Philippines in 2014.
Meeting with indigenous community in Mindanao
This experience taught me that for any transformation exercise to work, it needs to recognise the necessary partners and not focus on whether they are ideal ones. Making the best of any situation and reconciling the different views has been an effective formula for us to help companies bring about success through unity.
4. The networking goes deeper than LinkedIn
SHANGHAI - We represented the different sectors from Singapore's Design Community and had come to the World Expo in Shanghai to present a united front to China. It was an extraordinary group, a politician, civil servants, CEOs from leading design firms, and some of the best designers from different disciplines, all on the same coach for five days to promote Singapore Design.
So the conversations become enriching because of the perspectives. At breakfast, you will learn the dilemmas about policy-making in public transportation then on the coach you will learn how another CEO is managing his succession plan, and then another would share about Singapore's urban planning thinking as compared to Shanghai. It is like being in a LinkedIn group but just better because you can sense the passion and the beliefs behind each sharing.
As a group, I do not think we managed to do much to promote Singapore Design since many Singaporean design firms already operate in China. However, for me, the trip was priceless. I found three amazing partners from this group. One took over me as President for DBCS and took it to new heights; another now works with me to grow the partnership of Consulus and another whom I deeply respect, we now meet up once a while to exchange ideas.
Overall it has been an amazing experience and why I continue to volunteer. So if you are thinking of volunteering, just do it because you will reap more than you can imagine.
About Lawrence Chong
He is the Co-founder and CEO of Consulus, an innovation consultancy with business management and multi-disciplinary design capabilities. He volunteered at Religions for Peace from 2005 - 2014, and he is still actively serving at Design Business Chamber Singapore.
About Consulus
We are a global innovation and design consultancy with business management and multi-disciplinary creative capabilities. Since 2004, we have helped companies, governments and non-profit organisations achieve sustainable profit and growth by redesigning their organisations, business models and brand experiences. Read about our PurposeCore programme if your organisation is looking for change so as to shape the world.