Voluntold

In which people "get volunteered" for the fun tasks. 

I did a really dumb thing this week.

I asked a "leadership" team - a term I use loosely because none of the team are actively involved in being leaders of the group - if anything could be done about a problem.  Myself and several others in the group led by this team had noticed the problem, and the lack of action thereon.  Never one to idly sit by, I decided to ask the powers that be if the problem could be fixed.  

The next thing I knew, I was getting my official invitation to become a part of that leadership team.  No discussion, no warning, just a form invitation in my email.  Confused and bemused, I accepted the invitation and essentially became the Grand Poobah for this group of about 2,500 people. Sure, there are three other people on the "leadership" team, but the only one who is remotely active gave me free reign.

And that's how I would up in charge of an Internet forum with 2,500 members and counting (www.reddit.com/r/Toastmasters for the curious).

In other words, I got voluntold - "told" I was "volunteering" for the job.  Sure, I could have declined - but then the original problem would remain with no one doing anything about it, and that's pretty lame.

Today, my husband came home with a similar story.  Management at work, a couple levels above his own, asked him to take on a new responsibility.  The husband had previously pointed out (in a professional manner, of course) some flaws in the way that responsibility was being handled before.  He was puzzled as to why he had been asked to take on the responsibility, since it's way outside his normal realm of duties.

He got voluntold.

The point of all this, is that I had a realization.  Sometimes being a leader isn't about who you are, what your resume says, or what skills you have.  Sometimes, it's as simple as being the one who spoke up - whether you intended to be a leader or not.