Every citizen neighbor of every country is constantly doing calculations of risk versus rewards for a stream of decisions every day of their lives. That is the nature of living here on earth.

High Risk

The empowered volunteer also faces the risk versus reward scenario’s, but for the most part they are not life or death when it comes to inviting a prospect to join a neighborhood charity volunteer group. The risks are less of a threat, but the rewards can often be much more far reaching and in some scenario’s much more dramatic.

If the risk for the empowered volunteer is low then, what is the potential reward? Glad you asked! The reward for gaining the skills and knowledge in how to get people to join a group for their own benefit as well as the groups benefit is huge and can be applied to the local community where you live as an example.

Communities survive and thrive on risk management transferred through individual levels of reciprocity between members. It’s just that simple.

If the local community members are known to each other and have previously established a level of trust then in situations of outside stress they can rely on each other and support each other. This was the basis of the American community for our early years.

In cities or in the rural areas neighbors helped neighbors all over the world 50 years ago. Today, in many areas neighbors don’t know each other more than to wave when they are outside shoveling snow or cutting the grass. They more often than not are unaware of the other’s name. Even in the cities where being from the “neighborhood” meant something years ago, today it is much less meaningful in many places, unfortunately.

If the empowered volunteer finds him or herself learning their neighbors names and other associated information they are in a much better position to engage in reciprocity and networking.

This is social capital in action, as reported on in the book, Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam, a Harvard scientist. He identified the issue that initially generated my convictions on helping solve the membership decline in American volunteer groups. But the issue extended to neighborhoods too. So my solution to this should extend to neighborhoods as well, in my mind at least.

When you help someone, even if it is only to show an interest in them and establish a bond or some level of trust, you help both parties involved. See previous posts on the many health and other benefits gained by both parties in these type of events.

They don’t have to join to become a bit more interested in the neighborhood, they could simply take an interest in another neighbor and being more friendly to someone else, extending the idea in a domino effect.

American farmer stories abound with someone getting hurt and his neighbor drives the tractor over, plows the field or plants it or even harvests it, and never even stops to say much. They do the work, and return to do their own. In my youth they may have shouted out on the CB radio a hi or bye, but that’s about it. Everyone stood by each other, without fan fare or any fuss.

Neighborhoods in the city often operate in similar fashion. Believe it or not, this is not an American institution, it can be observed in many countries. People locally are much more likely to help their neighbor than someone they don’t know in these cases.

Neighborhood risk management is fundamental to American citizenship and to the American lifestyle.

We are constantly pulled towards big government for some things and to local government for other things. This can make for a stressful political atmosphere, where one candidate can claim that 47% of the other group is not worthy of his votes even.  This kind of division is really sad.

For the empowered volunteer anything and everything that can happen will impact the local community. Thus, if you are to hedge your bets on how to react to any one event or even a large event such as a power grid-down scenario you are much better off if you have already established yourself in your community as a worthy person who is known and respected.

There is no need for politics here, indeed I would counsel against it. Politics divide and in this type of thinking you want inclusiveness rather than division. You want to know each and every person within walking distance at the very least if you can. Know them by name if possible, but know them by face at the very least.

It is empowering to just be one of the people who knows everyone in the neighborhood by name, or even a first name basis!

In my youth block parties were common. They are still used in some parts of the country but I think they are used less and less. This is a shame.

For any disaster that you can think of, citizens are impacted and react according to how well they know their neighbors. For economic stresses, neighbors that care are better than strangers. For major natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, wild firers, or even mudslides knowing your neighbors as you are standing behind the police tape is better than suddenly introducing yourselves to each other.

People that know others and can ask for help with a better than average likelihood of success are valuable, but to be in that position you must be known and have a network already created.

The empowered volunteer is in a unique position for influencing the risks of his or her neighborhood. They will find success helping their group over time and that learning process will be one that can transfer to other team building groups forever. All groups, churches, volunteer groups that are less organized than the formal ones I have mentioned before, perhaps a start up group to construct local neighborhood needs, any sort of needs can be better met with a group of like minded citizens.

I would encourage all empowered volunteers to actively solicit in their neighborhood for their group, if appropriate. This is a great excuse to exercise your techniques, meet the neighbors and embrace them wither or not they join the group, to fully extend your network beyond your work or charity related associates, raise awareness for your cause or charity and ensure a positive messages is transmitted in your immediate area, and to learn how to make friends and influence people of all kinds. These skills may just come in handy some day if you ever have a situation where you face a risk versus reward that is wide spread in nature.

The risks for meeting your neighbors is small and the rewards may just be life saving some day. Embrace your neighbors, you will be better off for it.

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Ben Franklin was the ultimate networking man in his time.

Do you have a network you can count on if the chips go against you, making you a minnow or a whale as the saying goes? What about baling you out of jail because some lady at a restaurant suddenly recognized you as a terrorist? Would someone in your network still believe in you enough to help even then?

Bestselling author Harvey Mackay, in his book “Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty”, the only networking book you will ever need” relays a story about himself. In it he says that after a golf game several of his group were conversing about recent events. The issue how far would you go to help a friend and how many real friends do you have that you can really count on came up? He related that most of the rest of his group each figured if they had to call a member of their network at 2 AM and needed $20,000 they would all have only a small handful of potential loaners willing and able to help to that extent.

Then Harvey was asked the same question. He replied he could call on at least 50 members of his network who could help him in just that way! This book was written in 1990, so $20K was a bigger number then even though it is still substantial in 2013, 23 years later. That is someone who has put blood, sweat, and tears into building his network. By the way, his book and even the others he has authored are well worth their money, in my opinion.

He goes on to relate how anyone can create and maintain a network. The acronym R.I.S.K. is how he states it, Reciprocity, Interdependency, Sharing, and Keeping at it. The bottom line is that he writes and still today on his Face Book page puts out positive messages and good core values that he has lived by and still endorses for all human interactions. I subscribe to his blog as well, just because I need to keep many of the MacKay maxim’s refreshed in my mind.

Every empowered volunteer should be increasing their network all the time. Connections between people which are genuine and worthy always help both of you well beyond the tool swapping or stock market tips you might exchange.

Maintaining a network is a particularly powerful way of combating life’s negativity if you are in a bad situation at work or some other place of interactions.

Birds of a feather flock together, so if you are increasing your social capital by increasing the value of your network, you should not only benefit from that tool you borrowed but also from the mental and physical health aspects associated with social connections that are deep and meaningful to both parties.

Another real life example, if you and another family always did things together when suddenly a falling out happened over the children, say criminal things were involved? Would you be able to engage your network for support as well as even finding a new church because the two of you always attended the same one? This is extreme but life is full of extremes. Networks know you and support you in good times as well as down times.

The purpose of a network is to engage in reciprocity, or hook ups as we called them in the Navy. I hook you up with a favor when you need it and you owe me one when I need something. It is like emotional bartering. But it can go much deeper, which is a must if you get a call at 2AM needing something pretty extreme. Even family can balk at that kind of call.

If you want to have folks there for you when you need them, you need to be there for them. This is simple to say but very hard to do in real life when the pressure is on and time is short. How do you get to that point? I have never done this before in a post and I don’t expect to do it very often, but if you really want to know, read Harvey’s book. I can’t imagine a library today that doesn’t have a copy, or hit the book store and get a copy. It long ago came out in paperback.

The quality of the network is supreme, much more than the hundreds or thousands of so called “friends” in a social network on the internet. Use the internet social sites carefully. The networks on the internet don’t give you the face to face contact that builds relationships where one person will go to bat for another. To get that kind of personalized response when you need it, you must build it up face to face over time.

Barbara L. Fredrickson, Ph. D. expands on the concept of relationships and their positive or negative nature in her book, Positivity. Barbara writes on how to maintain your positive attitude in reality, not faking it and how much it helps your health and general well-being. She goes on to give specifics on how to deal with negative people as well as how to increase your own positivity in your life.

So even if you have a negative boss (and who hasn’t at one time or another?) or even a negative person in a group you attend on a regular basis, there are strategies you can employ to help your emotional health.

Barbara’s book is from 2009 and already in paper back too.

For the most part nearly all of the wisdom of mankind is contained in books or other published works. Very few of our problems are so unique that we can’t find some worthy guidance in a book or in our network or both.  Your network should be able to supplement any personal library, and with a lot more interesting stories than those of people you don’t know. A real good network can enhance a library and enrich your life. Use both for the most bang from your emotional buck.

Enjoy building your network.

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Civic groups are great places to build social capital

Components of social capital are called by many other names by the public. In business the term “hook-up” is used interchangeably with “favor”, as they are also in the military. This concept refers to someone who is socially connected with others, often called “networked” in modern terminology. This person is often able to circumvent conventional channels in a bureaucracy of red tape and procure the desired meeting or document or whatever the recipient is looking for, often faster than the proper process would allow. The recipient is then thought to “owe” the benefactor a favor, a favor that can be held for a future need.

However social capital is much more than just an individual who can make things happen in return for favors saved for a future need. Someone who is high in social capital is not just a social concierge. Social capital refers to the total value obtained by individuals and their social networks and the resulting levels of potentially available hook-ups that might be traded between groups or individuals.

The potential benefits of high social capital reported by Robert Putnam in his book, Bowling Alone include increased income and longer life expectancy.

Conversely the loss of social capital to a community is directly related to lower educational performance and child suicide. Putnam also makes a case for lower social capital in a neighborhood being directly tied to crime rates as well as reflecting additional risks to an individuals health. Clearly the need for raising the communities social capital, through volunteering as well as where to volunteer are factors that those who want to help communities should factor into any future developments.

This means that people who are socially connected and therefore are able to reciprocate favors with others, through volunteer work or another means when they need or want something done or solved receive as a benefit from the effort to maintain this kind of network higher life expectancy, better health overall, an increased likelihood of maintaining a sharper mind as they age, and benefits to their families and associated intertwined groups.

This is  one reason for people to say, why volunteer? Because you can benefit in so many ways, that’s why. Health, longer life, benefits to the mind, and stress release from helping others are just some of the benefits the studies show are realistic.

What is social capital? According to the Saguaro Seminar started by Robert Putnam, the central premise of social capital is that social networks have value. Furthermore, social capital refers to the collective value of all “social networks” [who people know] and the inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for each other ["norms of reciprocity"].

Reciprocity is a word closely associated with hook-ups and favors within a context of mutual needs between individuals or groups. This is what was once thought of as necessary if one needed to deal with a union or city hall, having someone who could guide the unknowing individual through the pitfalls of bureaucracy during a period where time may be of the essence was worth their weight in gold. After all, if the individual did not have a reason to hurry the process involved then they could afford to wait and it would not be necessary to call in a favor.

Social capital can be used for good or for ill. Criminals can have social capital between themselves as exemplified by gang loyalty, which clearly benefits the criminal members at the expense of society as a whole. This fits the definition of social capitol but the resulting loss to society is still reprehensible. A politician using his or her high social capital and networking skills to call in favors to influence a business contract awarded illegally also fits social capital as defined, but the impact on society is still negative.

To look at social capital another way, people are connected together by groups and subgroups. There is a theory that we are only a few connections away from anyone on earth. This has been demonstrated by several studies using an unknown individual who must network to hookup with a famous individual, usually a person who is hard to meet or contact, often in another country or some other difficulty involved in reaching the target individual. People with high social capital are much more likely to be able to provide a person who knows a person who can reach the target individual. People with low social capital, or are not as networked find locating such a difficult to reach person much harder to accomplish with out a large network.

The findings by the studies, the Saguaro Seminar in particular, and Harvard Professors Putnam and Skocpol along with others in this field reflect that it is desirable from many perspectives to have high social capital. You will be more likely to make more money than a person with lower social capital, as well live a healthier life, live a longer life, and have a more loving relationship with a partner and family members, better chances of retaining a sharper memory, and also reduce the potential for decreased aging related mental acuity.

If a person needs a favor, possessing high social capital gives them a much better chance of locating a person who is willing to help them with finding a person who is able to help them. The act of helping someone who needs it is also associated with benefits similar to those already listed.

Social capital is in action between individuals and groups involved in community projects, church related activities, ice cream socials, group meetings for political candidates, marches for protesting a position of a group, clubs observing and counting birds, or even a conservation group saving pheasants located on a local farmers unused land.

All groups, which have members meet face to face as a group, promote a cause that allows individuals to generate social ties and interconnectedness with others, and who demonstrate social responsibility by providing a positive impact outside their own members can be said to have a potential for high social capital.

Volunteering in a fraternal, civic, or veterans groups and actively participating in the goals of the group has the capacity to increase an individuals social capital. Using groups to increase your networking capacity and further your civic engagement certainly helps your social capital. You can’t know too many good people when you find you need to get things done which only your social connections can help you with. Connections are the way things get done in the volunteer world in many cases. How up to date and engaged are your connections?

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