534 – Cultivating Leadership Skills Through SWB Projects and Committee Participation
Leadership Development Through Volunteer Activities
Cathy Furlong
Statistics without Borders
Leadership is having a vision of an end-product and working with a team to achieve this vision. Building relationships is crucial for success at any level; in a volunteer setting, working with others and as a team is an essential skill to both the success of the project and the sustainability of the organization. There are similarities between motivating and managing people in a work setting and in a volunteer setting, but leadership is not the same as managing. Moreover, the cultivation of leadership skills includes their development as well as their deployment. The panelists will focus on the the cultivation of leadership skills in terms of the sometimes-subtle differences between workplace and volunteer settings, the inherent challenges that arise a volunteer environment, and the successful leading of others with whom you work but may never meet in person.