by JANAKA LOW

MANAGERS today are swamped with many organisational
responsibilities -from juggling limited resources to delivering
ambitious business targets in hostile environments.
Nevertheless, managers should learn to look beyond their own
corporate challenges and reach out to help others in dire need.

There are several issues that need to be considered if we are to
help others effectively:

1. Resources: This usually involves volunteers' time and donors'
money, which can be substantial.

2. "Rewards": The work involved in helping others should in
itself be considered a spiritual reward to the helper, while
enabling personal development and growth. Otherwise, we may end
up deviating from our noble intentions and be motivated to help
others purely to satisfy some latent need for publicity and
fame.

3. Effectiveness: There must be effective execution of our plan
to help others. Good intentions alone are not sufficient. The
help we extend must be effective.

4. Ethics: We should ensure there is no conflict of interests
involved in the process of helping others.

At the onset, a set of principles should be in place, like a
compass, to guide a volunteer in deciding who and how to help.
The following are some guiding principles:

Help must be "sustainable": In our efforts to help others, we
must not allow ourselves to be overly constrained by limited
financial resources. And not all needs can be, or should be,
fulfilled with material and financial aid.

Often, small and sincere gestures are more meaningful. For
example, conversing and listening to old folks and terminally
ill patients. This gives them immense comfort and dignity.

We can also help the caretakers by taking over some of their
duties, such as caring for disabled children and the terminally
ill. By knowing our limitations in terms of time and money, we
can still extend help.

Payback for helping others: Everyone should have a clear
understanding of the payback we expect to receive in helping
others.

There are only two kinds of payback - the inherent joy of seeing
someone getting better from the help extended; and personal
spiritual growth.

There are many cases where people get involved in charitable
works and expect to be compensated with friendship, business
networks, entertainment as well as honorific political mileage
and public recognition.

It must be stated clearly that the reward here is found in the
act of helping itself, and that if we have other rewards in
mind, we may need to reassess our intentions.

Shared noble intentions? Having noble intentions and acting on
it is a good thing but we cannot expect all other volunteers to
share our ideals and approaches. People are not the same. Some
have unconstructive habits. We should not be distracted by
unconstructive behaviours. In other words, we help others to
fulfil our individual aspirations. We do not help others to
please someone else.

Having said that, it is very important that we respect everyone
who works along with us in charitable deeds, and we should treat
their intentions in a positive manner.

  

The "We are all capable of love" belief: This is a very powerful
belief and a comforting thought. It assures us that we are not
alone in doing good things and there is hope in a troubled
world. The alternative is a bleak picture in which there are so
many bad characters out there trying to take advantage of us. If
this were the case, surely our enthusiasm and our passion for
charitable deeds would not last long. It is an alternative that
we should not succumb to.

This particular principle is most applicable when we help out in
non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which by virtue of their
nature are complex - each with their strengths and weaknesses.

NGOs are complex because their organisational structure is often
loose and not clearly defined.

Hence, when you are involved in such organisations, it would be
better to take the path of least resistance and "just do it" as
long as you know what you do helps those who need it most.

Respect for the needy: No one needs and deserves our respect
more than those who are in need of our help.

No one wants to be in a dire situation. Given a choice, we would
rather help others than be helped.

The fact that some people need help is situational and caused by
certain conditions. Thus, we must treat them with dignity and
respect.

Ensure recipients of help do benefit: To help effectively is to
ensure that the recipient directly benefits from our help. It
goes without saying that we should be of help rather than
hindrance. This requires us to possess the relevant knowledge
and skills in order to be of significant help.

Therefore, it is important that we only help within our
competencies. Then, endeavour to keep expanding our
competencies. We need to be focused and it is best that we
concentrate on spending our limited time helping one specific
group of people before jumping to help other groups.

This principle can guide us in deciding who and how to help. At
the individual level, we can systematically plan to effectively
help others.

The way to do this is straightforward: Identify a charitable
organisation whose cause you can resonate with, determine
whether you have the appropriate resources to help, and "just do
it". We are never alone in the journey of doing noble deeds.

· Janaka Low, a past awardee of MIM's Tun Hussein Onn Renewal
Awards programme (Thora), is chief executive officer of
Pannasoft Technologies Sdn Bhd. He can be reached at
janaka@pannasoft.com.

Ramlea programme
  
MIM, with sponsorship from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation of
Germany, organises on a yearly basis the Raja Tun Mohar Life
Enrichment Awards (Ramlea) for retirees or those nearing
retirement. Whether it is about joining an NGO or helping to
create one, silver-haired persons with their lifetime
experiences and wisdom can make a difference.

To find out what participants in the inaugural Ramlea programme
(2004) have achieved, log onto their website at
www.ramlea.5u.com. Ramlea 2005 is now open for application. You
can obtain the application form through www.mim.edu or contact
MIM Customer Service at 03-2164 4611 or e-mail enquiries@mim.edu