Volunteering During a Time of Transition
By Lou Ann Lathrop
Being out of a job doesn’t mean you have to stop working. Since my job was cut several months ago, I’ve concentrated on continuing to update my quality skills and broaden my knowledge of business operations, just as I have done all throughout my career.
Volunteering is one key way to continue practicing, learning, and growing. It can also lead to valuable contacts and experiences, if not a new job opportunity or even a new business of your own.
If you’re new to the world of volunteering your professional expertise, here are a few tips for finding the right opportunities.
- Start anywhere you see a need and have an interest. Over the last few years, because of the appearance of chaos in the healthcare system and because we are all stakeholders in this system, I’ve been working to determine how quality and lean skills can be used and applied and, yes, embedded into healthcare. From a consumer point of view, the system appeared to me to be running out of control.
I began to read many, many articles about healthcare. Then I became involved in the Improving Performance in Practice (IPIP) program in the state of Michigan. My first major contribution was recruiting many fellow ASQ members and potential ASQ members. I also assisted a coach in applying lean value stream mapping to one of a practice’s processes, which showed a savings of $90 thousand in labor time annually.
In April 2009, when I was “severered” from the company I had worked for during the past 25.5 years, I was ready immediately to sign on as a coach for another practice and have been working on value stream maps to help to identify waste in the system.
- Small businesses are a good starting point, especially when you want to break into a new industry. Volunteering your skills for a small business can give you exposure to the full range of operations. I’ve been up on roof tops, down in data centers, and everywhere in between. And I’ve found myself performing a variety of duties I used to do in the past, such as recruiting, financial paperwork, 5S activities, and organizing marketing.
- Don’t overlook your friends and your personal network. Since being let go, I’ve worked many hours at a friend’s commercial/industrial mechanical contracting business. One of my duties has been to update the procedure manual. Because it’s very detailed and the systems are overall very good and well documented, I have the chance to practice my analytical abilities. As an added bonus, with my engineering background and manufacturing background, I find the problems, systems, and opportunities I’m seeing to be fascinating!
- Find the ASQ Division that serves your target industry, sector, or specialization. ASQ spans every industry and the globe. Someone in ASQ is in the industry that you are targeting. E-mail members of the Division leadership team and ask to become a volunteer. ASQ members are eager to help. Outside of quality, find the professional organizations specific to your target industry and also the major publications.
Beyond gaining the equivalent of on-the-job experience, a fringe benefit of volunteering is that you will build a valuable support network in the contacts you make. In fact, another ASQ member helped give my job search a jump-start by setting up automated career board searches for me. Every day I receive an e-mail listing of quality manager positions.
I also no longer feel alone. I was still raw from the severance event when I attended the World Conference in May 2009, and I am grateful for all of the discussions I had with different people in ASQ. All I have to do is call on any fellow ASQ volunteer in a particular area that I’m inclined to explore, and I can count on answers to my questions, helpful advice, and new ideas to consider.
About the Author
Lou Ann Lathrop worked for GM for more than 25.5 years, holding engineering and managerial roles in quality engineering, manufacturing engineering, manufacturing, and product engineering. She has bachelor of science and master of science degrees in electrical engineering and is a certified GoFast Coach and GMS (GM Lean) Coach, along with being a certified United Auto Workers/GM Quality Network Representative.
A senior member of ASQ, Lou Ann is past chair (twice) for ASQ’s Automotive Division and is a current member of ASQ’s Board of Directors. On the board, Lou Ann serves on the business planning committee and on the Division Affairs Council as vice chair, and she co-leads the Marshall Plan for Healthcare. She is the leader of the Michigan Improving Performance in Practice (IPIP) coach recruitment team along with coaching practices.
