It’s finally spring! How’s the weather where you live? We cats in Knoxville just got buckets of rain.

This month, we share wise resources for more empowered leadership for volunteer coordinators and and tips for improving communication within your team. Check out new ways to address passive aggression, offer meaningful feedback, deal with not knowing the answers, and manage conflict and decision-making.

Sounds terrifying, doesn’t it? Let’s jump in anyway. We’ll be better for it.

Empowered Leadership for Volunteer Coordinators

When a Volunteer is “OK,” but not OK – Volunteerplaintalk
You know when volunteers say they are fine with a new change, then you hear them grumbling under their breath or constantly complaining? Volunteerplaintalk has five applicable tips for addressing these situations without provoking anger.

How to Solicit and Receive Feedback You Might Not Want to Hear – VitalSmarts
Feedback is the monster we’re all afraid of, right? As a leader of volunteers, giving feedback hard, asking for it might be even harder. This article will help you facilitate those necessary occasions that call for self-awareness and purposeful growth.

Ask Empowering Questions – How We Lead
We often think of our boss as our authority, but what if we flipped our perspective internally. Instead of asking, “What does my boss want me to do?” what if we asked, “What can I do to help my company succeed.” Empowering questions find authority within and do the right thing accordingly. Check out this insightful article for more.

Three Unexpected Reasons Why People Don’t Ask Questions – Box of Crayons
Leaders of any capacity feel pressure to have all the answers and keep the questions to a minimum. You don’t want to look like you don’t know what’s going on, right? Well, Box of Crayons challenges this theory with some very convincing advice about what they call the “3 Advice Monsters.” Really good article.

Setting Clear Expectations to Minimise Volunteer Conflict – Flutterbye
Conflict is impossible to escape when people work together. But, as a leader of volunteers, you can take certain steps to minimize conflict and provide clarity to your team. Flutterbye gives us four management areas that with a bit of adjustment will decrease overall conflict.

Can You Be Decisive — Without Being Divisive? – Serve to Lead Group
A lot goes into making decisions as a leader: motivation, necessity, emotion. Often, it is difficult to come to a conclusion without dividing some part of your team. Serve to Lead turns to historical figures for some actionable advice.