June Pro RoundUp: Mindset Resources for Volunteer Coordinators

The past 2+ years have undoubtedly been a challenge to our organizations, and volunteer leaders across the globe are breathing a collective (but cautious) sigh of relief as pandemic restrictions slowly lift, volunteers return to service, and departments are again recruiting, training, and placing talent into key positions.

On the surface, this all sounds great. It’s the moment we’ve been working toward…that elusive return to “normal” with a dream team of eager volunteers and dedicated co-workers back in full force. There is definitely excitement in the air, as well as a renewed sense of momentum and purpose.

However, there might also be some burn-out and fatigue, some struggle to return volunteer departments to what they once were, and perhaps even some feelings of trepidation about the future.

All these feelings are valid, but we have to decide which ones are going to empower and propel us forward toward our goals, and which ones are going to hold us back.

It all comes down to mindset, and the good news is that we get to choose our path forward.

Everything Starts with Mindset

You’ve probably seen the meme about things we can control and things we can’t. We can’t control other people’s attitudes or choices, we can’t control the weather or the traffic, we can’t control the economy or global politics.

But…we CAN control our own attitudes, actions, and mindset. We can choose how we view the people around us and the work ahead of us. With the right mindset, a roadblock can turn into a challenge, a setback into an opportunity, and scarcity into abundance. The right mindset can visualize the outcome in a tough situation and do the hard work to get there, and inspire others to believe in our cause.

As our founder and CEO Tobi Johnson says, “Everything starts with your mindset.”

You Can Choose (and Change) Your Mindset

We believe in the power of mindset here at VolunteerPro (can you tell?), and we’ve compiled a helpful list of information, tools, and mindset resources for this month’s Pro Round-Up.  Whether you need a reset, some redirection, or just a reminder that you’re on the right track, we made this list for you.

Mindset Resources to Retrain Your Brain

The interplay between your physiology and your thoughts is both complex and incredibly fascinating. The mindset resources below delve into the neuroscience of mindset and how to literally retrain your brain.

How To Change Your Mindset to Cultivate Resilience (forbes.com)
Key Quote: “Energy follows attention. In other words, the things you are noticing, focusing on and paying attention to are the things your energy will go toward. If you remain focused on the negative, the gloom and doom, your energy is likely to be low. You may feel depleted, tired, irritable, angry. If, however, you can switch your attention to what’s good, what’s beautiful, what’s working, you can direct your energy to higher ground.”

The Neuroscience of Growth Mindset and Intrinsic Motivation – PMC (nih.gov)
Key Quote: “Numerous studies have examined the effects of intrinsic motivation, including the adaptive consequences for individuals such as exposing them to novel situations and developing their diverse competencies to cope with unforeseen circumstances. In addition, intrinsic motivation is the propensity for individuals to learn about new subjects and to differentiate their interests, thereby fostering a sense of purpose and meaning.”

Neurobiology of Resilience: Interface Between Mind and Body – PMC (nih.gov)
Key Quote: “The neurobiology of resilience is complex, involving many convergent systems that ultimately affect brain function and behavior. One of the main challenges will be to gain a holistic model of resilience that encompasses both peripheral systems and key circuits in the brain to answer central questions in the field.”

15 Ways to Build a Growth Mindset | Psychology Today
Key Quote: “There are a variety of mindsets, each of which can help or hurt our well-being. A growth mindset is simply the belief that our basic abilities can be developed and improved through dedication and hard work. It’s not so much that this belief is some kind of magic. It’s just that without a growth mindset, we don’t exert the required effort and so we remain perpetually stuck.”

The Neuroscience of Building a Resilient Brain – The Best Brain Possible
Key Quote: “Resilience is not a trait that you either have or don’t have. It’s a skill that can be learned. You can develop resiliency by intentionally changing your thoughts and behaviors. Over time, through the process of neuroplasticity, your physical brain can change to reinforce the skill.”

Your Powerful, Changeable Mindset – Stanford Report
Key Quote: “You see life through your own unique lens. This is your mindset – the assumptions and expectations you hold about yourself, your life and the situations around you. Research shows that mindsets play a significant role in determining life’s outcomes. By understanding, adapting and shifting your mindset, you can improve your health, decrease your stress and become more resilient to life’s challenges.”

5 No Good Mindsets That Block Nonprofit Talent Management (tobijohnson.com)
Key Quote: “Transforming negative, limiting beliefs into positive, enabling ones exponentially increases your faith and confidence in your abilities and those of your volunteer team. But, you must first become aware of your knee-jerk reactions in order to alter your thought patterns. If you do this consistently, you will form new, better-serving thought patterns and belief systems.”

For more mindset inspiration, listen to episode 3 of the Volunteer Nation Podcast, “Moving From a Scarcity Mindset To Abundance” HERE>>

Mindset Resources to Assess Your Attitude

Sometimes it’s hard to get perspective when you’re living in the urgent every day. You can take a step outside your own thoughts and get a birdseye view with the links below. These mindset resources provide some helpful self-assessments and worksheets to help you identify your current attitude and how to overcome self-sabotaging thoughts.

Saboteurs | Positive Intelligence
Key Quote: “Saboteurs are the voices in your head that generate negative emotions in the way you handle life’s everyday challenges. They represent automated patterns in your mind for how to think, feel, and respond. They cause all of your stress, anxiety, self-doubt, frustration, restlessness, and unhappiness. They sabotage your performance, wellbeing, and relationships.”

What’s My Mindset? (mindsetworks.com)
Key Quote: “Our mindsets exist on a continuum from fixed to growth, and although we’d like to always have a growth mindset, the reality is that we can only be on a journey to a growth mindset. The goal is to recognize fixed mindset elements in ourselves and then reflect on feedback and strategies for how to improve.”

The Miracle Mindset Worksheet (VolunteerPro)
Key Quote: “According to Sources of Insight, ‘Mindsets are those collection of beliefs and thoughts that make up the mental attitude, inclination, habit or disposition that predetermines a person’s interpretations and responses to events, circumstances and situations.’ Translation: Mindsets dictate your actions. BUT, if you recognize them, you can change them.”

Quiz: What Makes You Resilient? | Everyday Health
Key Quote: “Every single day, we make decisions that bolster or hinder our resilience. In partnership with The Ohio State University, Everyday Health conducted a national online survey, The State of Resilience, asking over 3,500 people about their resilience. Here, answer the following questions from the survey by choosing “this” or “that” to get insights from one of the country’s top resilience experts, Amit Sood, MD, about what your choices say about your resilience — and how they compare to the survey results.”

What comes after a mindset shift in your organization? Check out How to Build a Powerful Nonprofit Leadership Philosophy HERE>>

Get Stronger with Tools and Community

In addition to the right mindset, finding your community and increasing your knowledge and skill are key to your program’s long-term success. You will find these things, and more, within the VolunteerPro Membership community.

VolunteerPro Premium Membership helps you build or renovate an effective, what’s-working-now volunteer program with less stress and more joy, so you can ditch the overwhelm and confidently carry your vision forward.

It is the only implementation program of its kind and helps your organization build maturity across five phases of our proprietary system, the Volunteer Strategy Success PathTM.

Within membership, you’ll find in-depth training on all the volunteer topics you’ve been researching, including how to inspire your team and change your mindset for success.

Membership includes access to a huge digital library of what-works-now content, live monthly seminars, workshops, and coaching calls, as well as a vibrant community of volunteer leaders to share ideas and questions with.

Enrollment for new members is open NOW, with discounts available for monthly and annual memberships. But don’t delay because prices go back up after June 8th!

You can find out more about membership HERE.