Meet Sharon, a Site Manager at Royal Bull’s Head Inn – National Trust of Australia Queensland whose leadership brings history to life through connection, storytelling and community spirit. In this Share Your Story – Volunteer Managers Edition feature for International Volunteer Managers Day (IVMDay), Sharon shares how compassion, collaboration and a genuine love for people have shaped her approach to leading volunteers and preserving one of Queensland’s most treasured heritage sites.
Why Bold Leadership Matters in Volunteer Management
I believe bold leadership is necessary to develop and maintain an effective and passionate volunteer team. Clear, concise leadership helps avoid an excessive volunteer turnover.
Being a bold leader means leading by example, listening to volunteers’ needs and effecting change where required, providing an inclusive environment for volunteers and managing resistance to change.
Bold leadership involves being confident, readily able to make decisions, which in turn will inspire confidence in your volunteers. Sharing visions and future plans encourages input and feedback from your volunteer team. Strong leadership also requires addressing challenging situations and conflicts that may arise to enable problems to be resolved effectively. Creating a supportive environment is important as is adequate training.
Proudest Achievement as a Volunteer Manager
I have several achievements that I am proud of as a volunteer manager –
Being asked to be part of ‘Share Your Story’.
Securing a very strong (around 40 volunteers) for the Royal Bull’s Head Inn, which has enabled us to hold more events and lift the profile of the Inn.
Attaining second place in the Carnival of Flowers ‘Not for Profit’ category of the garden competition, again only possible due to the incredible workload and pride in the property shown by our volunteers.
One piece of advice for fellow Volunteer Managers
Be a good listener, role model, setting a good example for others and the ability to step outside of your comfort zone helps to motivate volunteers, increase efficiency within the team and provides a vision and direction for the future.
Using the above to guide, inspire and support your team of volunteers will provide and happy, safe, inclusive, positive and successful volunteer program.
View the full collection of our Share Your Story series and be inspired by the many ways Volunteer Managers are leading with courage, care, and creativity.
