Welcome to...

Elected Leader, Now What?

If you are here, you have likely already been put in charge of a group of volunteers OR are considering becoming a leader. Congratulations!

Leading individuals who have volunteered their personal time can be a very rewarding experience. It can also at times be a frustrating ordeal. Every person has a different personality, aspirations, influences and experiences. My hope with this online course is to increase your positive outcomes and cut down on the more trying ones.

The ideas came from both the joys and frustrations that I have experienced over the years while participating on AND leading several teams and groups in the corporate world, at church, for social functions, and entertainment events.

So much of what gets done depends on hours of hard work by volunteers. Some strategies for leading volunteers are the same as managing employee groups because we are still working with people to accomplish an objective.

However, the overarching difference is that volunteers do not receive a paycheck! This means you can't sway or withhold their pay to get them to do things. Instead you must lead through personal influence.

You are not managing people, you are leading them. What a privilege and important responsibility.

Volunteer teams can be formed for many types of organizations...churches, schools, community service, clubs, sports, charity, health, entertainment, hobbies, professional groups, and the list goes on.

The reasons for forming volunteer groups can be just as diverse...

...creating a vision for the organization's future

...planning an awards ceremony

...welcoming new people into the community

...teaching Sunday school

...raising money for the poor

...coordinating people to work at a homeless shelter

...caring for the welfare of animals

...being the head coach for a youth summer sports league

© 2016 Diane M. Dresback