Vaguely similar to many from me. Working from home for 10 hours in my box room, nice though it is, does not make me want to do anymore time in there again in the evening.
We are not allowed to enter our building yet, no indication of when that might change, VPN’s quickly got pointless (to me), so sat waiting to decide.
Definitely not doing any major admin until there is likelihood of getting back to the Sqn and then will help the OC get things going again, but longer term who knows.
I was already marking time on the Sqn, doing the tedious admin tasks, so others could be free-er to do the nightly activities as I got my jollies from the weekend AT stuff I used to do.
Now i cant do many of those (lapsed Q’s) the desire to dress smartly once or twice a week has gone, so CI or out are likely by the end of 2021 but I do feel enough loyalty to OC and ‘Sqn’ to help get it up and running again first.
Yep, feeling the same. Got a lot going on at home and day job so the cadet stuff creeping back up to busy summer levels from a background murmur is struggling to find a slot amongst it all.
That added to with some pointless bits of admin and some continued simmering of internal issues is not helping.
I can see me going NEP for a time if the next few weeks don’t get better and seeing how things look on the other side.
This and this ring very true. I think we are habitual animals and doing RAFAC stuff is a habit. Break it and all of a sudden we question why we did it.
Having recently had a big change in my volunteering and not a OC anymore. I feel that the corps expects too much from the volunteer. The lockdown will lead to many re-evaluating their volunteering.
This is one of the most important roles of a OC and sometimes difficult to do.
Having helped out my CO with completing all the return to f2f docs and RAs and associated paperwork for the last 6 weeks, I can get safely say I’m never taking on that level of responsibility personally. I don’t care if that means they bust me to Pilot Officer and leave me there.
I know how lucky we are to have a decent sized staff team (who are all well engaged, too), and I also know that any attempt by Wing to move me on would be to a sqn struggling for staff where I’d get little to no support. That would be the death sentence for my involvement in this rabble.
I managed to stay motivated through until around December…with over 150 virtual sessions under my belt I’ve really tried my hardest to get into the swing of things. My cadets were keen for qualifications and awards only, and not your average quiz night, so that is what I ran. When their interest ran out, I began running talks to the Wing & Region.
My OC was MIA from Mar-Dec so I was taking on additional responsibilities, and now I just feel as if I’m burning out. During lockdown, staff & cadets have had the opportunity to contact you at any time, with calls most nights. It’s safe to say that I’ll be looking forward to returning to F2F and 1 parade night a week.
My motivation for cadets stuff was literally zero a few weeks ago. But over last couple of weeks I seem to have got a bit of motivation back, I’ve been planning some low key AT stuff for Easter weekend, and I think the feeling of seeing the team, and the cadets that have stuck it out for over a year has given me a drive to get back on it.
But everyone is different, I’ll be honest, I didn’t see myself coming back, but equally my team are my friends, and we are a great team, and looking forward to getting out on the hill, on the river, at the crag, in the field etc is what’s pulled me back.
Well my DBS runs out in 6 days and I haven’t had the motivation to want to get the new one sorted. Cadet’s and parents stopped asking what the current situation is, and any mention of VPN’s stopped months ago. No words from our OC except for making sure our training is all up to date. Our previous OC would have been messaging us to check how we are mentally and physically. Staff including myself have asked about anything F2F or virtually with little feedback so I think they have all given up now
You are actually measuring multiple things within that question - whether individuals have a level of engagement with online stuff, intention to leave and extent to which people intend to continue. Personally, I would separate these out.
Motivation is about something that drives you, typically intrinsic (internal) or extrinsic (external) and I would argue that motivation itself as a construct isn’t being evaluated at all in the above question.
Edit to add that it’s a really good idea to collect this type of information, and is something that has been recommended that the organisation does on a regular basis and then acts on it.
Yeah - fair. Maybe “engagement” might better summarise the options there.
It would be interesting for another (properly designed!) corps-wide survey to see what the current state of volunteering is…
… and how motivated the average CFAV is, to bring us back to the topic.
By engagement, do you mean how often people actually log on and do the stuff (frequency) or do you mean how engaged (vigorous, absorbed, dedicated) in it they are? I was a little confused when I read it.
Yes, a comparison to the national one from last year would be interesting.
I’m “frequently engaged” because I need to be, but a couple of the others also apply and I suspect that would be the case for some others. I’ve already mentioned potential NEP, I want to run and take part in as much as possible over the summer to make the most of it and not allow the squadron to die because no one is engaged.
I’m also planning F2F return and looking forward to it. While I know it will help in certain aspects of motivation and general wellbeing in the context of desire to stay involved, I’m expecting it to be a bit of a rough ride in other regards.
I’ve been doing more within RAFAC during lockdown than I did before, but it’s fair to say lockdown fatigue started to hit a few weeks back and just about floored me. I’ve attended my own squadron’s VPNs since then but that’s been more for social interaction than anything meaningful. My motivation for RAFAC as a whole hasn’t waned, but I’m counting down the days until we can go back to F2F!
