Doing something different

 I love the Channel Four television programme The Secret Millionaire.

Can I have a volunteer...?

Since I notice from the "Blogspot" statistics that I have readers of this blog as far away as Russia and the Ivory Coast, I had better give a basic outline of the way that this TV programme works. A millionaire goes away "under cover" for a period of 7-10 days to live in a deprived area, on an allowance equivalent to the minimum wage, looking at how things could be changed for less fortunate people through relatively small investments. At the end of the stay, the millionaire chooses how to donate a substantial sum of his/her own money to some of the projects that he/she has observed. (For more background, follow the link in my opening sentence above.) This programme always inspires me, and you soon realise that what makes the difference and sparks the change is not the money, but the people who are giving their time. 

The more I watched the programme the more envious I became of the millionaires; not of their money, but of the personal satisfaction they obviously derived from their involvement with a broad range of organisations and activities. So I did what they'd been doing on the TV programme and started to look around my home town for opportunities to get involved with voluntary activities.

I made an appointment for an interview at the Volunteer Centre, where I filled in forms and struggled to answer challenging questions about why I wanted to be a volunteer, and what relevant skills I might have. In the end it was suggested that I might be suited to becoming a "Progression Mentor" under the auspices of the Prince's Trust. I would be coaching and counselling young people into finding employment or becoming self-employed. (At this point I expect my own children will now fall about in hysterics at their memories of the experiences of the two Danish exchange students who, many years ago, ran out of our house in floods of tears and sat on the lawn, refusing to be moved until someone took them away to find a more gentle host family.) But I think I have matured in the subsequent 30-odd years and I might, today, have something to offer. It will, in any case, be a while before they let me loose on the young beneficiaries enrolled in the scheme.

You don't have to be Lord Sugar to help an apprentice

If all goes well then I shall be working as a volunteer, but I have a suspicion that I might find that I enjoy mentoring and coaching to the extent that I add this to my career portfolio and look for clients in the corporate world.(One of the ideas behind the volunteering movement is that it helps people find their niche in commercial activity.) Not that I am keen on getting into full-time business again and marketing myself because that's something I find just too  demanding. Once you work for yourself, you discover that success is 20% talent and 80% marketing. I find it depressing to see how self-promotion outperforms talent in many areas of business, but that is the reality. I'm not going to change at my age: my satisfaction comes from the impact of what I do more than from the money I make.

"I'm not sure what I want to do..."

A while back I wrote about the satisfaction of meeting people who had enjoyed meals in our restaurant, but that satisfaction was nothing compared to meeting the young people who had "Saturday jobs" at my restaurant, or who left school and started their careers as kitchen assistants - a glorified word for washers-up and vegetable-peelers. 
I have found it very rewarding when I have met people - now in their 30s and 40s  - who tell of the value of their school-years' part-time employment in the restaurant. They tell me how they learned to work as part of a team, and how much they learned about customer service from interacting with diners in the restaurant. And more...

It's all about confidence, self-respect   and ambition

Almost 15 years ago, I took my father out to celebrate his 85th birthday at what was Lincolnshire's top restaurant at that time, exclusively listed in the Michelin guide. 
As we pulled into the car park a young man in chef's whites strode out from the kitchen and gave us a cheery wave."Hello, Mr H" he said "I'm Second Chef here now!"  
Nothing could have made me happier...this young man had started in my kitchens on a Government-funded employment scheme, and for a while I almost despaired of his career prospects.

Today, that same young man runs his own highly successful restaurant. And that, above all, is why I look forward to volunteering and mentoring.