When you engage others in your volunteer activity, you automatically become a service leader.

For some, leading people seems effortless. For others, it’s more of a challenge. But if you’re passionate about your cause and you want others to help you make your dreams a reality, then you need to be prepared to lead them.

Here are a few things to remember:

1. Ask others to help you with the project leadership and you can accomplish more.
2. Get to know your volunteers so you can better understand why they’re serving and how you can maximize their talents.
3. Manage personalities. Figure out who works best together and put together strong teams of volunteers.
4. As the leader, be prepared to make tough decisions when needed.
5. Communicate clearly and often. Make sure volunteers understand the project and their roles and have the details they need.
6. Help volunteers stay focused on the passion issue and what you hope to accomplish together.
7. Keep people motivated throughout the process, from recruitment to clean-up.

Think about your volunteer project and answer these questions:

1. How will you motivate people to get involved?
2. How can you keep them motivated?  What if someone is no longer interested?
3. What will you do if two volunteers don’t get along?
4. How can you help volunteers understand and stay focused on the passion issue?
5. What is your plan for communicating with volunteers – before they serve? while serving? after serving?
6. What are ways you can engage other people as leaders in your service activity?

Here are a few resources:

1. Get HandsOn!: Volunteer Leader Guidebook
2. Volunteer Recruitment Strategies
3. More Volunteer Recruitment Ideas
4. Nine Basic Rules of Volunteer Recognition
5. How to Lead Volunteer Reflection