What do you do if you're a leader and want to enhance your decision-making skills through volunteering?

1 Choose a volunteer role that challenges you

Volunteering can expose you to new problems, perspectives, and people that can help you expand your knowledge and skills. To make the most of your volunteering experience, choose a role that challenges you to step out of your comfort zone and apply your decision-making skills in a different way. For example, you could volunteer as a mentor, a tutor, a fundraiser, a project manager, or a board member for a nonprofit organization. These roles can help you practice critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, and ethical judgment in various scenarios.

2 Seek feedback and learn from others

Volunteering can also provide you with valuable feedback and learning opportunities from other volunteers, staff, clients, or beneficiaries of the organization. Feedback can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses in decision-making, as well as areas for improvement. Learning from others can help you gain new insights, ideas, and best practices that can inform your decision-making process. To seek feedback and learn from others, you can ask for constructive criticism, observe how others make decisions, participate in training sessions, or join a peer network of volunteers.

3 Reflect on your decisions and outcomes

Volunteering can also help you improve your decision-making skills by encouraging you to reflect on your decisions and outcomes. Reflection can help you evaluate your decision-making process, identify what worked and what didn't, and learn from your mistakes and successes. Reflection can also help you develop self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and resilience, which are essential for effective decision-making. To reflect on your decisions and outcomes, you can keep a journal, share your experiences with others, or use a framework such as the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) model.

4 Apply your learning to your leadership role

Volunteering can not only help you enhance your decision-making skills, but also help you apply your learning to your leadership role. By volunteering, you can demonstrate your commitment to social responsibility, diversity, and inclusion, which can boost your reputation and credibility as a leader. You can also transfer the skills, knowledge, and insights you gained from volunteering to your leadership role, which can help you make better decisions in your work environment. To apply your learning to your leadership role, you can share your volunteering stories with your team, incorporate your volunteering values into your vision and goals, or implement some of the best practices or solutions you learned from volunteering.

Volunteering can be a rewarding and enriching way to enhance your decision-making skills as a leader. By choosing a volunteer role that challenges you, seeking feedback and learning from others, reflecting on your decisions and outcomes, and applying your learning to your leadership role, you can become a more confident, adaptable, and effective leader. Volunteering can also help you make a difference in your community and contribute to a cause that matters to you.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?