Laurent Ledoux

Member Association:  Volt Belgium

Gender: Male

What strategy would you implement to recruit and retain highly specialised volunteers for the functional teams, for example in communications, policy, or data, over a full Board term? 

Volt attracts talented people. The real challenge isn't recruitment — it's keeping them once the initial excitement fades and real life kicks back in.
My approach has three parts, drawn from building functional teams across very different organisations.
1. Match people to meaningful work, not just open slots. A communications professional who feels like they're filling a rota will leave. One who owns a real strategic challenge will stay and grow. The brief matters more than the title.
2. Treat volunteers like professionals. Clear mandates, actual feedback, genuine recognition. Not certificates — visibility within the organisation, introductions, references. People give discretionary effort when they feel respected, not managed.
3. Build in continuity from day one. Every functional role should have a deputy learning on the job, so when life intervenes, the work doesn't collapse. I've implemented this across organisations from the French Ministry of Justice to Italian insurance companies. It works.
Retention isn't a retention programme. It's what happens when people feel what they're doing actually matters — and that Volt notices.

Non-executive Board members must both support and challenge the executives. Describe a situation where you would publicly back the Co-Presidents, and one where you would publicly dissent. What guides your choice?

Both instincts matter. A Board that only cheers is useless. One that performs dissent for visibility is destructive. The real skill is knowing which moment you're in.
- When I'd publicly back the Co-Presidents: Volt takes a bold position on European defence — calling for binding military integration at a moment when national chapters are nervous about the optics. If members push back out of short-term electoral anxiety, I'll say publicly that strategic courage deserves visible support, especially when it's inconvenient. I've argued this case in writing since 2024.
- When I'd publicly dissent: If the executive moves to centralise key decisions in ways that bypass Volt's participatory structures, I'd say so out loud. Not to embarrass anyone — because the organisation's credibility depends on practising what it preaches. I've seen institutions lose their best people when leadership started treating governance as friction rather than feature.
- What guides the choice: One question — does this serve Volt's mission and long-term integrity, or short-term comfort? The moments I most regret in my career are when I stayed quiet to preserve a relationship. The moments I'm proudest of are when I said something difficult early, before it became a crisis.
Boards exist to make executives better, not to validate them.

What would you do if you believed the Board was making a decision that conflicted with Volt Europa's core values?

I'd raise it — clearly, at the right moment, and with a proposed alternative. Not as a protest, but as a contribution.
First, I'd name the specific value at stake and explain the conflict concretely. Vague discomfort doesn't help anyone. If I can't articulate exactly what's being violated and why it matters, I haven't thought it through enough yet.
If the Board proceeds despite the objection, I'd request that my dissent be formally recorded. That's not grandstanding — it's accountability, and it protects the organisation as much as it protects me.
If the decision is serious enough, I'd escalate to the General Assembly. Volt's structure exists precisely for this: members are the ultimate check on Board authority. Using that mechanism isn't disloyalty — it's how the system is supposed to work.
What I wouldn't do is stay silent to keep the peace, then complain privately. I've seen that pattern destroy teams. And I wouldn't resign dramatically as a first move — that's the least useful thing a Board member can do when something is going wrong.
Values aren't decorative. If Volt asks its Board to uphold them, Board members have to mean it.