Winning The Lottery

Running a mentoring operation is typically expensive. Inworldz has avoided this expense by getting people to volunteer for their mentoring program, which is fine, as long as the entire mentoring staff are not volunteers. This is one area where Inworldz management team's lack of experience shows though. They actually expected the mentoring group to be self sustaining, with near zero conflict, while they reaped the rewards of the group's efforts. All this with little to no investment in the group. Sounds like hitting the lottery.

Unfortunately, the Inworldz management team is learning that it is hard to win a lottery. While they are being schooled, the mentors themselves are paying yet another price. First their labors, ideas and time were greedily absorbed and now the mentors have to deal with the fallout of internal conflict, which had the group been properly organized, would have been avoided. Something for nothing is nice and can actually be pulled off in the short run; but to expect to continue to get free labor, ideas, and momentum without a proportional outlay shows a lack of understanding of group dynamics, organizational management, and human nature.

The all volunteer mentoring program needs to end today, and be replaced with a hybrid where some key members are paid Inworldz staff with both policing and policy powers; which are used to guide the volunteers. This will go a long way in controlling internal conflict while showing the community at large management's commitment to the program.