Community Heroes and Union Workers!
Many volunteers at our little community, do their work, have a great time in Hawaii and then continue on their travels. They work exactly when they are supposed to and do very little above and beyond the call of duty. We call such volunteers "Union Workers".
On the other hand many volunteers and intern community members have shown such enthusiasm, appreciation and positive attitude that they become not only friends of the Hedonisia community but personal friends as well!
We call such volunteers "Heroes". A hero will show their support of Hedonisia by going the extra mile above and beyond the call of duty. And they do so without seeking additional recognition. A her' might pick up a piece of garbage or perhaps wash the dishes without waiting for someone to notice. Or they might step up to deal with a crisis when when others are not available.
As a community of individuals we are happy to accept re-active 'union workers' into our Fair-Trade Volunteer Program!
However, in the Intern Community Manager Program we prefer Pro-Active Heroes versus Reactive Union Workers!
Pro-Active Interns
- You treat the shift as a workout. Save money on gyms. Get physical!
- You know shit may happen but you expect it so it does not completely throw off your day or your work.
- You communicate and ask questions or comments to the Director or leave messages!
- You adopt a positive ‘can-do’ and ‘hungry to learn’ attitude
- You have lot’s of ideas and suggestions in your morning Portfolio call and don’t get discouraged if they are shot down.
- You respond to Director communications on shift by email, video or intern report or by telephone.
- You walk around the property with open eyes and notice the subtle things that affect the community’s smooth operation.
- You have focus talks with the Director that are fun, informative and engaging!
- You take responsibility, learn and move forward when receiving feedback.
- You are enjoying yourself on shift and especially that sense of completion when you have finished a great day of productivity!
- Community heroes often end up being "Friends of Hedonisia"!
Re-Active Interns
- You treat each new challenge as a chore and burden
- You minimize communication with the Director. Based on history, the interns who communicate the least are the ones where the most misunderstandings occur.
- You act like the Director is bothering you if he calls.
- You are secretly happy when something causes a delay or halt to a project you are working on because now you have a good excuse not to do it!
- If there’s two interns on shift in a focus call you tend to stay silent into the background.
- You have few questions or comments on shift.
- You often ‘forget’ to send in focus emails or to respond to specific Director requests.
- If something negative happens on shift, it throws off your day and you can’t completely perform your duties.
- You walk around the property with tunnel vision; past leaking roofs, fallen branches in the pathway, candy wrappers in the parking lot and not notice a thing!
- Your idea of a perfect shift is nothing happening. No one arriving or leaving and ‘nothing’ to do!
- You do good work but the pace and productivity seem to be slower and lethargic than more pro-active interns.
Of course there is no black and white! However, the interns who aspire to be more pro-active on their shifts will be the ones who get the most of this internship.
And those who actually come up with a great CAFE Entrepreneur idea and use it as their research prototype while they are here will get the absolute most from interning because they will also be creating and laying the foundation for their future path to ethical wealth!