Post by Jane K. Stimmler, contributing Women on Business writer
There are many reasons why women should consider getting involved in a community organization or extracurricular activity. It is important to be an advocate, help others, make your voice heard, and contribute. In addition, it makes excellent business sense. If you look at the resumes of industry leaders, you will see that many of the most effective and successful people in business understand that volunteer work is an integral part of networking and adds to their leadership experience and development.
Remember, while you are giving time to a social cause, charity or professional association, you’re helping your career by gaining leadership experience, networking opportunities and business contacts.
More specifically, you may realize advantages such as:
- Gaining valuable information
- Learning interpersonal and leadership skills
- Building allies and developing reciprocal business relationships
- Acquiring new business opportunities and leads
- Understanding various outside organizations
- Being asked to join a board or committee position
And – another important advantage – helping others!
While these activities require an additional time commitment during the work day, and outside of work, the benefits in terms of one’s personal, business and career satisfaction are undeniable.
In order to gauge the level of your activities outside of your job, and whether it is adequate, ask yourself the following questions (excerpt from Breaking into the Boys Club):
- Have you carved out time outside of work to volunteer?
- Are you a working member of a professional, civic or charitable organization?
- Do you consider volunteer work to be a strategic part of your career and leadership development?
- Do you engage in any extracurricular activities that build contacts?
- Are you receptive when asked to participate in outside civic and community activities?
If you feel you’re on the right track for becoming more involved in activities outside of work and raising your profile in the community, congratulations! If not, you may want to step up your activities in order to take advantage of the benefits and opportunities provided in outside civic and community work.
If you are having trouble seeing where and how you could add value to an organization, here are some examples of what you can offer a community organization:
- Marketing & PR advice and input for events, fundraising.
- Management & personnel guidance.
- Financial expertise on how to save costs & leverage dollars.
- Technical help in how to manage data base client & donor information.
- Contacts for resources and donations.
- Leadership experience for driving initiatives.
And, below are some tangible ways you can gain by becoming involved:
- Exposure and visibility through chairing or hosting events and public speaking
- Persuasion and influence skills developed through fundraising
- Team- building skills through leading projects and initiatives
- Networking skills honed by making introductions for the organization
So…if you are already participating in volunteer activities, you have a leg up. If not, have I convinced you to give it a try? Let me know how your community or professional activities have worked for you.
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 30-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored a dozen books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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I could not agree more about getting involved in outside/community activities as a way to do good and perhaps help your career. In addition to both of those very important aspects you’ll also meet more people and you never know when someone you meet today could be important tomorrow. If nothing else being involved gives you practice in becoming more comfortable with more people. (And you just might meet a friend who can’t help you in business but adds a great deal to your life on the personal side.) I’m reading this great book on women’s networking, confidence building and going after their dreams and the value of meeting people, and relationship building is stressed time and again. (The book is “The Power of Women United,” by Tina Dezsi and Lisa Bandola. It’s a series of articles by more than 20 women and how they became successful.)
One woman talks about all the moves she did in growing up, and how they helped make her who she is. It’s all part of the same thing, to me.
According to Native traditions, women made a great contribution to the community. You go Gals.
I really want to work on my leadership skills and this might really help. Thank you for posting this.