A few days ago, I learned that my beloved judo teacher, Sensei (Master) Keiko Fukuda, was awarded her 10th degree black belt. At age 98, she is the only woman in the world to ever receive this honor. Her promotion reminded me of many of the leadrship lessons I leanred from judo that I still use today, years after I left the sport.
In the harried rush to meet deadlines and respond to email, phone calls, and crises, we often communicate the best we can to our colleague, cross our fingers, and then rush of to the next thing. But is this most effective tactic in the long run? Probably not -- not with our paid staff and certainly not with our volunteers.
Many people think of volunteer screening interview as an exercise in risk management. That’s only partially true. Interviews can also be an opportunity to more deeply understand the motivations of your applicant, which can help you with volunteer retention down the road.
Gratitude shouldn’t be overlooked. It may be one of the most powerful tactics in the your arsenal to combat stress. For overwhelmed nonprofit staff and volunteers, it can be an amazing coping strategy.
Investing in nonprofit leadership development seems like a luxury nowadays, but is it? Does it make sense to invest in proactively developing team leadership skills? Or should we continue to let folks learn through endless trial and error, just like those of us who’ve been around for a while did? Do we have the time? What happens when the large percentage of Boomers who make up the majority of our nonprofit executive ranks are ready to retire? Who will take the reins, and are they ready to succeed?
7 Resources for Volunteer Coordinators That'll Gain You Respect We’ve been interviewing volunteer program managers across the country for a new service we are launching in April. It has been so much fun to hear stories about how people get started in the field of volunteer management and the challenge they face in finding quality [...]
If mastery, autonomy and purpose are keys to motivation, there is no better way to motivate volunteers than through leadership programs that allow volunteers to experience all three. But, how can you inspire volunteers to lead and support them when you have no time and little money?
Four Volunteer Technology Trends You Need to Know This week, I presented some new thoughts on key volunteer technology trends that nonprofits can tap for better engagement with my friends at Wild Apricot. I thought I'd share it with my readers. Check out the free recording Need Volunteers? Four Tech Trends You Need to Know below. Enjoy! If you’re [...]
How to Increase Your Productivity: Take a Vacation! For the last six months I’ve been working two jobs -- my continuing work with consulting clients and launching VolunteerPro, my new online community. To say my self-care has been lacking would be an understatement. When I found myself losing sleep and getting grumpy with my team, [...]
If you’re like most volunteer program administrators, you “wear many hats.” The constant need to multi-task is a critical issue that needs to be addressed. But, given the current economic climate and budget shortfalls, it’s not likely that help is on the horizon. To succeed in this environment, we may need to work smarter, not harder.