When Rosa announced she was making Ho’okipa, the Hospitality of Complete Giving her theme for the month, I knew I had to get involved. After all, Rosa’s Ho’ikipa is why I love to hang out at Talking Story; Rosa shares her hospitality and makes her blog feel like her home.
I thought first of organizations that don’t make me feel like home. The ones who, after I sign up and or give a donation, put me on their anonymous mailing list that they send out quarterly and otherwise don’t connect with me, unless they want more money or for me to volunteer for one of their fund raisers. Not very hospitable in my opinion, and thus they get very little of my time, talent and treasure, except for maybe once a year when I’m feeling generous (or is it obligated) and I send them a check for a few bucks to re-affirm my interest in being part of their “community,” which is a community in their minds only.
Then, I thought of the organizations I give up more too. They often have a personal cry for help, make real connections with me, and I know a few of the others in the group. Occasionally when I see my friends that are involved, we mention the group, their mission, if it’s still worth our time, and usually we agree it is, so I’ll go to a fundraiser and give a bit more of my talent, treasure, and time.
Lastly, I was thinking, are there any organizations that give me true hospitality? Are there any organizations where I feel like a part of the family, not just a community of givers? And I thought of 1 organization that I gladly give my time as often as I can, my talents, by speaking at their chapter events around the country even though I have to take a day off work to do so, and my money, as I usually barely cover expenses with my speaking engagements and often don’t ask to be reimbursed for all the expenses that are involved to be the local chapter president.
This amazing organization is HDI, leading IT service and support. As an IT Help Desk Manager, it could be very easy to get beat down and feel completely alone, as in each company, there’s usually at MOST 1 person holding the position I do, and some companies don’t even have a formal titled leader, they just have the team report up to some manager who, as part of his/her responsibilities, includes making sure all the metrics for the team are complete and that they’re squeezing all the value out of the desk that they can.
So how does HDI do it? How do they create a Ho’okipa with an organization of IT service and support professionals? I’ll share 4 great ways they do it for me: