This blog post is a day later than our usual #ThinkAboutItThursday…but I was on island time this week. Don’t judge me.
We just got back from a weekend conference and a little side trip to the beach for some decompression and relaxation. Lisa and I attended the Women’s Prosperity Network (WPN) UN-Conference and Leadership Summit in Orlando.
With the disruptive moniker of “UN-anything,” this conference must be unlike anything I’ve experienced before, right?
It was all that and more. Instead of settling in and listening to the keynoters, I was a volunteer. That choice paid off in spades.
The Father of Modern Networking, Dr. Ivan Misner says, “Visibility plus credibility equals profitability.”
I met more people (Visibility). Masterminded with more people (Credibility). And served more people (Profitability) by being on my feet and open to all…rather than filling a seat and “soaking in it.”
By the last day of the conference, I was shooting interviews and booking edit sessions…all because people had seen me volunteer my time and talents during the general sessions at UN-Conference.
Volunteer work is great for personal development. Sure, it’s virtuous. Yes, giving has its own rewards. It’s also excellent training for managers and leaders.
Consider this passage on volunteering from Managing for Sales Results by Ron Marks:
“If you really want to make a career based on leadership…look outside your business for ways to practice and enhance the skills and competencies it takes to lead people. Go into your community and lead a group of volunteers.
Traditional management give you carrots and sticks. The sticks are the “or else’s” and the carrots are incentives. Whether the venue is your child’s soccer team, your house of worship, or your community, when you manage volunteers you generally work with your peers. This means you have lost the sticks and don’t have a whole lot of carrots. To motivate and enlist the willing cooperation of volunteers, you have to use public praise, recognition, and achievement awards. You need to delegate as much responsibility as possible, not so much to escape doing the work yourself as to encourage participation and provide credibility for praise and recognition.
Volunteer leadership will sharpen your communication skills because it demands sensitive tact and thoughtful diplomacy in all your contacts with the peer-volunteers you’re leading. In other words, you’ll need all the things you know you should use at the office but somehow don’t.
However, if you can get good at volunteer leadership, when you get back to the workplace and get the stick and carrot back, you won’t have to use them as much.”
Want more visibility and credibility among your peers? Volunteer.
Want to reinforce the communication skills of persuasion, recognition and appreciation? Lead volunteers.
In all things, do it from your heart. See a need around you and take action to meet it. Honestly, I couldn’t have sat in my seat for four days and not participated in the event. Producing and directing – whether it’s a production for a live audience or video content for a screen – it’s what I live for.
I encourage you to go do what you live for. If you’re making money at it, fantastic, you’re blessed. If you want to create more opportunities, volunteer your talents in your community from time to time. Someone will notice and decide they want you to serve them…and gladly pay you.
