Enduring Optimism, part 2

Volunteer Spotlight: Gayle Lantz

PUI: Can you give us an example of a leader that you consider to be strong and effective? What is it about this individual that stands out to you?
GL: One of the most impressive leaders I coached was already extremely successful, but wanted to learn more and grow personally. He looked for ways to challenge his thinking and gain exposure to new ideas and perspectives. He modeled what he wanted his team to do. His focus was on growing people as much as growing the business. Service over ego.

PUI: How essential has volunteer leadership been for your own professional development?
GL: My volunteer leadership experience at Career Connections, and with other organizations, has always been mission driven. My strengths are visioning and strategic thinking. If I see a need I really care about and believe I can impact, I will take action – even if the vision isn’t entirely clear at that point. I like to start initiatives that can grow. So professional development has been more of a byproduct as opposed to a goal. But my volunteer leadership experience has been essential in helping me grow personally and professionally.

PUI: What advice would you give to someone looking to find a meaningful volunteer leadership position?
GL: Just start something. Don’t wait. If you feel strongly about a cause, need or mission, talk to other people with similar interests. Voice what you really care about. You can make an immediate impact. Adjust and grow from there. That’s what we did with Career Connections. The need for people to find work was critical. We could have taken days, weeks or months to plan an ideal approach, but we had immediate expertise and support to offer. So we said, “Let’s get started!” I wasn’t looking for a leadership role. I simply wanted to help. I think that’s the case with many volunteer leaders. The leadership role finds them. They take action because they feel compelled to make a positive impact. Progress beats perfection when you’re trying to make a difference.

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Gayle, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions and provide our readers with such valuable insight from a proven leader.

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When you think of a strong leader, who do you think of? Why?

Leave a comment and let us know.

Need to go back? Click for the first half of the interview.

Enduring Optimism, part 1

Volunteer Spotlight: Gayle Lantz

Gayle Lantz is a leadership consultant, executive coach, author, speaker and founder of WorkMatters, Inc.  She helps organizations and entrepreneurs get clear and focused so they can grow their business and themselves more quickly. She also helps individual leaders who want to take charge of their own career path doing work that matters and provides a lot of good insight & information on the WorkMattersBlog. Her services reach local, national and global markets. As a volunteer leader, she is co-founder of Career Connections.

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Projects Unlimited, Inc. (PUI): From your perspective, how can volunteer leaders truly affect positive change in a member-based organization?
Gayle Lantz (GL): By keeping a clear and compelling vision in view. It’s not about “pushing and pulling” people, but inspiring members to be a part of something important that makes a big difference. Engage members in conversations about what the organization is trying to accomplish. Let them know their voice is needed as you move in new directions. Stop trying to do so much yourself, or you’ll burn out.

PUI: Are there any unusual “off the beaten path” type qualities of effective leaders that you find to be particularly endearing and effective?
GL: One quality is enduring optimism. People always want to have a sense of hope. These leaders view challenges through a different lens – one of new possibilities.  They also constantly raise the bar, resisting status quo thinking. They expand their vision of what’s possible, and are on fire to make it happen. Instead of trying to go from A to B, they already see G or H down the path. They think bigger.

PUI: Have you noticed any trends in the roadblocks that are keeping individuals or organizations from reaching their full potential as leaders?
GL: Yes. The biggest roadblock is usually their own mindset. Some individuals and organizations hold themselves back based on fears, doubts — unwillingness to take risk, invest or make a mistake. Mindset matters as much as (and sometimes even more than) skills. Also, organizations can be too slow in their decision making – overcomplicating the process – so they miss opportunities to make a stronger impact more quickly.

Click for the second half of the interview.

Time Commitment: How PUI Makes an Impact

Are you finding meaning in your service as a board member?

Let’s continue the discussion from our previous post.

Anywhere from 10 to 19 hours is a lot to spend on volunteer work per month. We know that you love the associations and nonprofits that you work so hard to support, but is your volunteer time and talent being used wisely and to its  full potential?

“The smartest and most effective volunteers we work with are individuals who are results-oriented,” says Ed Fields, Managing Director for Projects Unlimited. “These individuals understand that they are better serving their organizations if they recruit top talent – be they volunteer, full time staff or a professional management firm like Projects Unlimited. They stay out of nitty-gritty details and focus on governance, fundraising and advocacy.”

Consider inviting Team PUI to step in and take some of the details off your mind so that you can focus on securing that large donor, building relationships, or landing the big speaker for your annual meeting (your members are going to love you for that one…).

The PUI team approach has proven successful. We employ a few hours and the talents of multiple team members to complete tasks in the most efficient way that we can. In many cases, there are two to four of us working on one particular task at any given time. In a “traditional” setting, this task would have to be completed by one board chair or one board member alone. Our approach works because we are focused on the piece that best fits our individual strengths and knowledge-base. The result is less “fuss” time spent on things that one individual may not care to do or that they may not be particularly good at.

Here’s some insight into how Team PUI is spending time for three of our clients, on average, each month.

When I said in the previous post that your time requirements will likely ebb and flow, here’s the perfect example: the month of a membership luncheon for one of our clients, we spent close to 37 hours on the program. The month prior did not have a luncheon program and we spent a mere 4.75 hours on program planning. As one person, could you handle a spike in the time required of you like the one just described? Where would you have to pull resources from to get the job done?

Additionally, we know that we spend large chunks of time on special projects. Case in point, we spent 444 hours over 7 months on a fundraising campaign, and 507 hours across 5 months to plan a 3-day conference and expo.

Do you have this kind of time to dedicate to the details? Is there something else you could be spending your time doing to find deeper meaning in your service as a board member?

In closing, we are many people working for one — your association or nonprofit. Let us plan your meetings, prepare your financials, handle communication with your board and members, or set the stage for your big event of the year… the day-to-day tasks. You focus on building momentum, increasing your membership, working for change, developing key partnerships and promoting your cause.

And while you’re at it, just relax, because it’s handled.
We’ve got your back.

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We spend a lot of our time on tasks related to the board (meetings, communication, planning, etc.) and programs.

What tasks for your organization or nonprofit are you spending the majority of your time on?

Are these tasks using your volunteer time  wisely and to its full potential?

Let us know!

The Average Board Member…

Let’s engage in a little benchmarking exercise.

It might be beneficial to begin a series about “the average board member.” I know, we aren’t all average and don’t like to think of ourselves as such, but it doesn’t hurt to know more about what everyone else is up to in their association or nonprofit.

So, let’s kick this thing off and see where it takes us.

Topic 1: Time Commitment

Questions:

1. Have you ever thought about how much time you actually spend doing the “must do” tasks that allow your association to run smoothly and hopefully prosper?
2. Are you spending more or less time on these tasks than you would like to (and should) be spending?

The reality is that these hours are likely spent working on anything from producing a major fundraising event to the day-to-day tasks for your association or nonprofit and are, after all, hours that you could be spending on so many other things in your busy life.

According to the BoardSource Nonprofit Governance Index 2010, board chairs spend about 19 hours on board & committee work per month, while the average board member spends about 10 hours a month on the same type of duties. This alone is a lot of time, but how many associations and nonprofits are you serving? Chances are it’s more than one, so double or triple that 10 or 19 hours based on your involvement.

This is time that will ebb and flow and unfortunately, it will be largely out of your control. For example, what happens if an emergency with your association conveniently happens to pop up during tax season when you’re busy preparing your company’s return? Even without any emergencies, that’s 19 hours you could have been spending…

• On (multiple!) dates with your sweetie
• Visiting with an ailing elder
• Laughing with old friends
• Quietly praying and meditating
• Reading books — for fun (Do you even remember what that feels like?)
• Hitting the gym
• Building those important business relationships
• Teaching your kid how to ride a bike

Or, these are 19 hours that you could have spent building relationships with donors, recruiting top talent to your association or nonprofit’s membership, or securing a nationally renowned speaker for your annual meeting at the end of the year.

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Help us understand you better.
On average, how many hours are you spending per month working with your various associations? How many boards are you currently serving on?

Are you finding meaning in your service as a board member?

Perspective is a funny thing, isn’t it?

Leave a comment and let us know.

UAB: All In Casino Royale & PUI

A testimony.

“The UAB Minority Health Research Center hired Projects Unlimited to assist its Young Professionals Board with our Third Annual All In Casino Royale event. The event was very successful and raised significant funds for the Minority Health Research Center’s Healthy Happy Kids Program.

Shortly after the event, we held a wrap-up meeting during which Projects Unlimited submitted a summary report to the board. It was very well-done.  One of the most important components of our work on this board is the compilation of accurate results and useful feedback.  If we do not quantify our success each year in dollars and details, we will not know what is working for us and what needs improvement.

Projects Unlimited’s comprehensive review of the All In Casino Royale project will be extremely helpful to the board and to the MHRC moving forward.  We’re thankful for all the work they put into our board and our event!  They were an invaluable part of our endeavor.”

Donald J. Watkins, Jr.
Past President
UAB Minority Healthy Research Center
Young Professionals Board

Career Connections Helps Job Seekers Make Meaningful Connections

Career Connections, previously the Career Assistance Network for Birmingham (CAN-B), is working hard to help area professionals connect with resources, professional expertise, and other motivated job seekers to share stories and helpful tips during tough job transitions.

Gayle Lantz of WorkMatters, Gerriann Fagan of The Prism Group, and Lou Thibodaux, deacon in the Episcopal Church of Birmingham, founded CAN-B two years ago as a website. The initial goal of CAN-B was to bring together information from local church career ministries and monthly meetings for job seekers to find in one centralized website, and for job seekers to use this as a resource for networking opportunities and advice from job transition experts.

The Career Connections website has grown to a blog format with information on monthly meetings, other opportunities for networking, resources, and information on speakers for their monthly meetings. Their monthly meetings are not only opportunities for motivated job seekers to network and learn new tips from experts, though. These meetings have turned into a time for people to share their stories and experiences as they work through the sometimes difficult roller coaster that is a job transition. This was never a defined goal for Career Connections, but the leaders are happy to see that their work is offering support to others.

Career Connections is not the only group that has been formed to support the long-term unemployed during their job transitions; Career Builders, Career Assistance LLC, and others are just some that were highlighted in this article written by Roy L. Williams from The Birmingham News.

Career Connections meetings are held on the 4th Monday of every month. Join them this month at their meeting to hear from Glenn Phillips of Forte` Incorporated.