Required Skills/Background
Volunteer consultants bring diverse backgrounds, interests, and experience to each team. We frequently have graduate school students who have academic grounding in OD or Training and Development, who wish to gain practical experience. Others new to our organization, or perhaps exploring career changes look to this experience for career confirmation. In some teams there are veteran CCP participants – volunteers with one or more CCP projects under their belts. This variation in participant backgrounds makes for a fair amount of diversity of opinion and can be an interesting, fun, and challenging part of the learning experience.
In general, volunteer consultants are members who want to:
- Develop new consulting skills or gain experience;
- Give back to their community/profession by sharing their skills experience with other consultants and our clients;
- Collaborate effectively with others;
- Openly give and receive feedback;
- Be tolerant of ambiguity and receptive to change;
- Commit the time necessary for the team to succeed (see below).
Required Commitment
We welcome anyone who wants to improve his or her organizational development and training consultation skills and is willing to:
- Meet with their Consulting Team regularly (weekly) throughout the project.
- Attend two retreats during the year for orientation, project review and team formation.
- Commit 40-80 hours during a 3-4 month project.
Participants need to think carefully before committing to this process. Once selected for a project, they typically participate in a weekly face-to-face meeting with their team, which may require 1-2 hours. Additionally, there will be client meetings and ad hoc work with critical deadlines that must be met. It is impossible to fully anticipate the demands of a particular consulting project. Volunteer Consultants work an average of 3-5 hours a week on CCP projects. Over the course of 3-4 months, it is common for individuals to give 40 - 80 hours to their project… often during periods they did not anticipate when they signed up.
The biggest issue regularly faced by team members is the amount of time this important work takes. Team members who benefit the most are those that give CCP a top priority during the life of the project.
Process to Volunteer
Those interested in being on a consulting team declare their interest by filling out a CCP Consultant Application. This form collects information about past experiences and current skill sets, and asks what the volunteer wishes to learn or gain from participating in the CCP.
New consultants are invited to participate in an Orientation Session and after that bi-annual CCP Retreats where projects are reviewed and teams of volunteer consultants are formed based on skill sets, personal development goals, and the client needs. There is no guarantee that a volunteer consultant will be assigned to a project team.
