Blog Post: Hiring the right person for the job -- a case study in oil (pt 2)

A conversation between a "Day to Day" anchor and toxicologist Gary Shigenka of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was a little different.  Gary spoke of the mass numbers of volunteers they were recruiting to clean the beaches, people who were passionate about helping the environment.  But an interesting quote from Gary was that his team was determining "how clean was clean." 

My vote would be pristine, but the method used to get the land pristine would probably involve a different form of chemicals, while the preferred method of restoring a natural environment back to nature involves manual labor -- shovels, etc. 

Who do you look for once the oil does reach the beaches?  The commercial fishermen are already busy, and it appears that the competitive behavior might be detrimental to the cause.  "The public is still urged to avoid areas and wildlife that are affected, as untrained people can cause further damage to the environment and stress on the wildlife," reports the NOAA.  This indicates that skills becomes an important competency here.  What behavior drives these skills?

You could look for people motivated to taking care of their environment, and likely passionate about the clean up.  Passion is good, of course, a great motivator for getting the job done.  The commercial fishermen are also quite motivated to clean up the harbor, as they use the harbor water to keep the crabs they've caught alive while still fishing for other crabs.  Additionally, crab season is just beginning, so this spill is cutting into their livelihood. But that doesn't distinguish them from the other passionate people as much as their competitive behavior does.

However, just like making a decision to hire a "people-person" for a job, selecting someone based on their level of motivation is a crap shoot.  Motivation can disappear quickly(especially for volunteers,and probably more so when manual labor is involved).  So is there a behavior that can be connected to the beach clean up volunteers that matches the commercial fishermen's competitive behavior in ensuring an exceptional job is done? 

What do you think?  What competency can you identify for a beach clean-up volunteer?  And how?