• Home
• Life Coaching
• BodyTalk™
  • BodyTalk™ System
  • Language of Health
• Massage
• E-Course
• Philosophy = Physiology
• Calendar
• Bernie's Articles
• Bernie's Blogs
• Bernie's Newsletter

Incorporating "Leadership from the Inside Out" into your volunteer experience

By Bernie Austin, NCTMB, Certified Life Coach, former AMTA-CA vice president

"Leadership from the Inside Out" was the theme of this year's Chapter Leadership Training, held at the 2007 AMTA National Convention. Approximately 200 chapter volunteers explored the subjects of self-care, time management and communication and learned four powerful ways to self-monitor their interactions with these parts of their lives:

• Awareness- Your own personal compass for what is going on in your head and how are you feeling in your heart. Acceptance- Willingness to accept where and how you are in a situation.
• Alignment- When actions match your values and goals. Adventure- When you operate according to your values and have a good time, you experience more enjoyment, intangible rewards and a true sense of adventure.

How can you apply these methods to your chapter volunteerrole as well as integrate them into your daily life? As you read the following, it is helpful to consider how you would monitor yourself using the four methods above.

Self-Care

There are times when your volunteer role may take you out of your comfort zone or add extra work to an already busy schedule, adding stress. Often, if you try to push through with your energy already depleted, you experience crankiness, ineffectiveness and general dissatisfaction. This is the time for extreme self-care. Give yourself a mini-break to allow for a clear focus on the tasks that lie ahead.

Time Management

As a massage therapist, I would venture a guess that you are already experienced in time management techniques. Managing your time as a volunteer is no different than managing your time with your clients.

• Make a plan - for projects, meetings, phone calls, reports or writing articles. What is it you want to accomplish? What time and tasks are required? Is an agenda needed?
• Set a boundary - decide how much time you are going to give to a specific activity.
• Agree/commit to it - have everyone agree to the time limits set at the beginning of a project, meeting, etc.
• Acknowledge the progress - review the progress of the project, meeting, etc. Have you met your agenda? End on time or ask for agreement to extend the time.
• Make a new plan - based on review. Strategize your next step.

By applying these suggestions, you will find greater focus, effectiveness and productivity in all your volunteer activity.

"Tools, Tips & Tidbits" on these subjects, provided by the Chapter Leadership Training Inspired Mastery coaches, are available on the Chapter Center of AMTA's website.