-Do you want to enhance your own leadership skills as a volunteer leader? -Do you want to provide tips for leaders who manage other volunteers? Being a leader and managing others requires an effective set of skills and experience. When neither the leader nor the team members are paid, it can present some unique challenges that require a different understanding. Explore secrets and the lessons learned from a seasoned volunteer leader to help you develop effective leaders who manage other volunteers.

1. ©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.
10 Secrets of a Volunteer Leader
Presented by Cathi Hight
10 Secrets of a Volunteer Leader
1

2. Overview of Session
 In this session, we’ll explore:
 The need for outsourcing leadership roles
 How effective volunteer leaders build successful
teams
 The challenges of being a volunteer leader
 Characteristics of successful volunteer leaders
 The 10 secrets of being a successful volunteer
leader
 What makes volunteer leaders successful
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
2©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

3. The Need to Outsource
Leadership Roles
 Staff resources are limited
 Program of work has to be executed
 We count on volunteer leaders to
 Serve on our Board of Directors
 Act as council and committee chairs
 Coordinate events and activities
 Help with special projects and task forces
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
3©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

4. How Effective Leaders Build
Successful Teams
 They understand and communicate the
importance of our mission and goals
 They help to develop a succession plan
 They mentor new leaders and model
preferred characteristics
 They develop great teams
 They manage and produce results
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
4©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

5. The Challenges of Being a
Volunteer Leader
 Managing employees vs. volunteers
 The constraints of volunteer leadership
 Knowing what’s in it for me?
 Understanding volunteer motivation
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
5©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

6. Managing Employees vs.
Volunteers
 Differences:
 Volunteers are not paid to
work—they receive
motivational paychecks
 Volunteers have a full-
time job in addition to
working for us
 We can only enroll them
in tasks they are willing to
do or have time for
 Accountability is harder to
enforce
 Similarities:
 Motivated by same
reasons to perform
 Want to feel
appreciated for their
investments (time)
 Respond positively to
effective leadership
 Need to know WIIFM
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
6©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

7. The Constraints of Volunteer
Leadership
 Limited time to lead or manage
volunteers
 Don’t always get to choose volunteer
team members
 Have full responsibility and limited
authority
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
7©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

8. Knowing What’s In It For Me?
 Need to understand why you accept
specific leadership roles
 Should visualize end results or outcomes
for the team and for you
 Recognize what motivates you to lead
 Identify what resources and support are
available for you to be successful
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
8©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

9. Understanding Volunteer
Motivation
 Recognize three psychological areas of needs:
achievement, affiliation and power **
 Volunteers are motivated by specific aspects of
these areas
 Not all volunteers are motivated by the same
aspects
 Leaders should take time to understand what
motivates individual volunteers
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
9©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

10. ©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.
Open DIALogue:
Share your insights
What are other challenges
you see for volunteer
leaders?
10 Secrets of a Volunteer Leader
10

11. Characteristics of Successful
Volunteer Leaders
 Experience in leading groups or teams
 Good interpersonal and communication skills
 Enrolls others in the vision and goals
 Coaches and mentors to bring out the best in
others
 Respected among their peers
 Organized and disciplined (they plan, follow
through and things don’t fall through the cracks)
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
11©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

12. The 10 Secrets of Successful
Volunteer Leaders
1. Enroll others in the
vision
2. Goals without strategies
create failure
3. People never argue with
their own data
4. Listen to underlying
messages
5. Understand what makes
people tick
6. Share the power
7. Delegate and manage
the process, not the
people
8. Take time to celebrate
accomplishments
9. Learn from the past
10. Maintain your personal
balance
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
12©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

13. Sharing Secrets (lessons learned)
 Enroll others in the vision
 Paint the end result for the team
 Create a common destination
 Enroll—help others to buy, rather than sell—or tell
people what to do
 When possible, let the team design the vision
“Leadership is the art of mobilizing others to want to
struggle for shared aspiration.” –Kouzes and Posner
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
13©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

14. Sharing Secrets (lessons learned)
 Goals without strategies
create failure
 Don’t assume that goals
have game plans
 Without a map,
everything is harder and
takes longer
 Help team members
define how to achieve
goals, anticipate
challenges and create
contingency plans
 People never argue with
their own data
 Perception is reality
 Solicit feedback, ideas
and solutions
 Use collected data—it’s
always right in the
contributor’s eyes
 Create ownership to
share the credit when
things are successful
and the blame when
they aren’t
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
14©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

15. Sharing Secrets (lessons learned)
 Listen to underlying
messages
 Team members tell us
the truth; and we don’t
always listen
 Listen for limited time or
skills
 Match team members to
the right roles,
responsibilities and
limitations
 Don’t set up a team
member, you or the
organization to fail
 Understand what makes
people “tick”
 Team members are
motivated by different
needs
 Take time to learn about
their expectations and
the best way to motivate
them
 Remember: WIIFM
 People love to serve
under leaders who have
a special gift of
understanding others
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
15©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

16. Sharing Secrets (lessons learned)
 Share the power
 The best use of power is
to share it with others
 A true leader
understands there is
more power in a team
than in one person
 Sharing leadership roles
and enhancing skills in
others helps develop
succession-planning
 Delegate and manage the
process, not the people
 Delegation is an art--the
ability to match roles and
tasks with skill sets
 Let go of absolute
control and develop trust
 Provide a process for
communicating status
 Define expectations,
roles and timelines
 Provide support and
oversight
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
16©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

17. Sharing Secrets (lessons learned)
 Take time to celebrate
 Don’t end a project and
then jump into the next
one
 Slow down and “smell
the roses” with the team
 Be careful of team
member burnout
 Acknowledge successes
 Remember: the party at
the finish line is as
important as the race
 Learn from the past
 Take time to evaluate
the year or project
 Discuss best practices
and lessons learned
 Document and
incorporate lessons in
records to share with the
new team
 List recommendations
for going forward
 Remember: history is apt
to repeat itself if we don’t
learn from the past
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
17©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

18. Sharing Secrets (lessons learned)
 Maintain your personal balance
 Balance your career, family, friends and community
commitments
 Manage the team’s vision, commitment, roles and
accountability to the vision or purpose
 Take responsibility to nurture your own soul, reach
your own dreams and practice self-care
 Leaders who are run-down and stretched to the limit
can’t lead very well
 Remember: team members learn from good role
models
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
18©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

19. Summary of Session
 We depend on outsourced leadership to
help accomplish our Program of Work
 Being a volunteer leader is challenging
 Volunteer leaders have lessons learned
to share with new leaders
 Successful volunteer leaders enroll,
listen, mentor and balance diverse needs
10 Secrets of a Volunteer
Leader
19©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.

20. ©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.
Open DIALogue:
Q & A
Share your insights and
resources
10 Secrets of a Volunteer Leader
20

21. ©2012 Hight Performance Group, Inc.
Contact us for more information
or to share comments
(720) 304-0747
cathi@hightperformance.com
10 Secrets of a Volunteer Leader
21