[Northkeep] Northkeep and burnout

[Dennis England]

Well said Diarmaid,

As Francesca once said to me "the volunteer organization that says 'you're
working too hard' doesn't exist."

Balvin

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marc Carlson" <marc-carlson at utulsa.edu>
To: <northkeep at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2001 11:53 AM
Subject: Re: [Northkeep] Northkeep and burnout


> At 12:21 PM 8/8/01 -0400, Alton wrote:
> >><<  Since it is well
> >>known that Northkeep has a high burn out rate, How do any of you, feel
that
> >>burnout in both the B&B and membership can be avoided. >>
> >>First, what constitutes a "high" burn out rate?
>
> Or for that matter "well known"?
>
> >...officers during the shire period.  We have quite a few members who are
> >>dedicated enough to actively participate even after 20 years of this
"high
> >>burnout rate."  Honestly, this is the first time I have heard that we
were
> >>considered a "high burn out rate" group before.
>
> Speaking as someone who is known for doing a lot, going away for a long
time,
> coming back, repeat;  (not to mention the person who's been trying to
collect the
> names of those who've left over the years) I'd have to say that the
evidence isn't
> clearly there for "burn out", but there have been many people who have
moved away,
> quit playing, and so on, for any number of reasons -- not the least of
which -is- some
> people do get burned out.
>
> I think that over the 20 years, more people have left because of some
political thing or
> other (whether between themselves and the group as a whole, between
households,
> within households, or just sick of the crap others are doling out to
others, and being
> uncomfortable about it) than have ever left because they "burned out" (all
of their
> excitement, energy, enthusiasm, interest, and so on has been used up,
usually from
> working really hard and feeling REALLY unappreciated).  Unfortunately
there is a bit
> of an overlap between these two groups, and so it is easy to assume that
since we
> *know* (whether they told us, or God happened to mention it over coffee,
or we heard it
> from a Friend of a Friend) that  Ferd, Frick, Frack, and Fremily all left
because they felt
> they were busting their hump for the group, and no one cared enough to
even mention
> it (give them awards, public adulation, whatever), that maybe we can
assume that Dirk,
> Dingle, Dobie and Ethyl all left for the same reason -- when in fact, that
may not be
> the case.
>
> None of this, BTW, is unique to Northkeep.  This is fairly common in
volunteer organization
> politics.
>
> Marc/Diarmaid
>
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