Volunteer leadership is one of the best arenas to develop as a leader. People are not it for the money and as the leader you need to engage them on more meaningful levels.
Almost everyone in the world must work for money, whereas no one must volunteer their time towards a cause or organization. With that in mind, how you get people to volunteer and how do you keep them committed to volunteering?
How do you get people to volunteer?
- Establish the need.
- Determine the goals.
- Cast the Vision.
- Make the Ask.
- Clear the way.
How do you keep people volunteering?
It is in your best interest to keep volunteers engaged for the long haul. Your cause and your volunteers will benefit from the tenure and increased efficiency. You and your volunteers will also be able to see more of the results that come over time as you forward your cause. However, the reality is, most volunteers don’t keep volunteering; at least not in the same place.
- Give feedback.
- Celebrate wins.
- Review the need and the vision.
- Clear the way.
Leadership is always about being clear on the vision and enabling people to come on board to help accomplish the goal.
Volunteering is very rewarding and many people begin volunteering to give back and benefit intrinsically from doing something good. As a volunteer leader, it is important to honor people who are sacrificing their time and energy with a process and infrastructure that allows them to be effective volunteers. (Note: Effective volunteers should be respected and not overworked.)
Bonus: This same process can pay major dividends when applied to business situations where people are also motivated by money.
Are you involved in volunteer leadership? Do you volunteer your time somewhere and have thoughts on what best practices are for engaging volunteers? Where do we go wrong most often in volunteer leadership?
