David Manson: “We can all be ambassadors”

Über sein erstes halbes Jahr als Generalsekretär der Internationalen Assoziation sprach die Zeitschrift „Award World“ mit David Manson. NETZWERK veröffentlicht das Interview im englischen Original.

What attracted you to work for The International Award?

I was looking to settle my family back in the UK after 20 years of living abroad, working in banking predominantly in Asia, and I wanted a managerial role, preferably in the voluntary sector. The opportunity arose at the Award and I thought my commercial background, international experience and cultural awareness would compliment such a positive and progressive charity.

How have you first six months been?

Challenging! It’s been a steep learning curve and very hard work as it’s such a deep and diverse role. Banking is quite regimented, whereas the notion of an “Association” has quite an intangible nature. There is incredible variety at the Award with both established NAAs and new programmes. I’ve really enjoyed getting out in the field and meeting people from all four Regions which has really enhanced my knowledge of the Award. I’ve so far visited seven countries with proposals to visit another eight.

The Award is a very specific Programme but the NAAs vary immensely and so I have learnt a lot. For example, at the recent CASC in Grenada, I gained a distinctive flavour of each island and realised each is different and should not be homogenised under “the Caribbean”.

I’m here to serve each operator – the NAA Director – and so I have to travel to see them and understand what they need. However, I extend the invite to anyone in the Award family who would like to come and visit me in the office. I need to focus on listening to people as I still have a lot to learn.

As a father of three children, what do you think are the needs of young people today?

I think there’s an enormous pressure on young people academically and the Award offers a healthy balance against this pressure. There are also huge pressures from peers and society. Young people need a counter balance and need to educate their hearts as well as their brains. I like the non formal education concept – as an employer that’s what I would look for – as it prepares you for the real world. Real leaders have common sense; they’re graduates of the University of Life.

How do you think the Award meets the needs of young people?

The Award doesn’t institutionalise like so many organisations which try and replicate school through uniforms, discipline etc. It has an inherent flexibility because it’s elective and controlled by the participant so it can move with the times and meet the needs of young people.

What do you think the strengths of the Award are?

Its flexibility and global nature. The Award is a very important element of a CV or resume but we also hope it influences people beyond actually doing it.

What areas would you like to develop?

My priority is to strengthen the Award’s presence in a number of countries. I want to extend it to new countries that feel they can take it on and also enhance it in those countries with huge potential that has not yet been fully tapped.

What is your vision?

My inherited vision is to be the Programme of Choice for Young People which I think is a very valid one. We need to reach a critical mass and gain widespread acceptance as we pursue this goal.

How can we achieve this?

It is achievable by adopting initiatives to raise awareness and raise funds. Then we can move on to a bigger campaign of training and development. We are a very thinly spread organisation with limited resources and we need to get maximum benefit and ensure quality, increasing the pace of delivery through the Regions. Working for a charity is not really different to banking. We need maximum “bang for the buck” with the resources we have.

Internally we’re very happy as the Award family but we need to get external endorsement and partner with businesses and other youth organisations. For example, we can offer companies training opportunities by using the Award to develop their staff.

I have yet to meet a company or person who does not like what the Award does so we have to make sure that everyone hears about us. We can all be ambassadors for the Award.