Benefits of a Social Work group

I was a participant in a volunteer group that focused on a variety of activities such as helping the needy, cleaning up the environment, and educating the public concerning HIV/AIDS. We visited many communities and ensured all our objectives were met. Since the group had objectives that were more in line with my own, I got to do work that was important and interesting to me. Volunteers do not get paid in money, but rather in goodwill and the satisfaction of accomplishing something of value (Keyton & Heylen, 2017). Giving can be incredibly rewarding. Some volunteer organizations do offer food or t-shirts to encourage and thank volunteers, but those were not my reasons for joining the group. My goal was to transform many lives and through the group I accomplished it.

One positive characteristic of the group process that I learned from the volunteering group is the ability to meet new people, learn new ideas and cultivate interpersonal relationships. Volunteering in a group was a great way for me to meet like-minded people (Keyton & Heylen, 2017). Many of my fellow volunteers were kind, engaged folks, who shared their values and priorities, so, I automatically had something in common with them. I made friends and met new people to add to my professional network. I determined this as positive since I was able to interact with many people and learn new things. Even a one-time activity, such as a litter clean-up, I found myself more aware of how damaging litter is to the environment, and how many takeout containers end up in the creek rather than the bin. In this volunteer group, we also received adequate training. Depending on what role I chose, I learned to keep books, organize, manage, speak in public, write grants, or do many other things. Volunteering in this group helped me gain an experience that informs other aspects of my life. From the group, I learned a relevant skill that I could put directly on my resume or curriculum vitae, and speak to it in an interview. I used some of the skills learned to advance in my paid work, freelancing, and starting my own business.

All groups have negative characteristics. There are occasional downsides to volunteering, too. One downside is that not everyone I met was wonderful to work with. Sometimes personalities clashed or someone’s enthusiasm and skills failed line up. There was also more work to do than my group could handle. It was possible to burn out on volunteer work, or simply not to feel very satisfied when I could only meet a tiny part of the need. Group leaders also made bad decisions and assigned the wrong tasks to the wrong people. To me, these aspects were negative since they led to low work motivation and destroyed interpersonal relationships. Due to this, there was a lack of coordination within the group. These situations would have destroyed the group if we failed to take significant actions. It was relatively easy for the group to make a change, or ask for one. We came up with effective ways to solve the problems and continued with our activities as normal.

Reference

Keyton, J., & Heylen, D. K. (2017). Pushing interdisciplinary in the study of groups and teams. Small-Group Research, 48(5), 621-630. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046496417732528