Blog

We live in critical times, hard to deal with. As a result, it can be hard to find time to volunteer. Despite the obvious challenges that confront volunteers, it must be reckoned that PMI (Project Management Institute) chapters all over the world are majorly staffed by unpaid volunteers who work around the clock to deliver value for their chapters, communities, countries and the world at large.

To make volunteering interesting, engaging and fulfilling, volunteers and those contemplating taking on the journey need to have a mindset similar to that of an entrepreneur. In the case of entrepreneurs, the power of compelling goals that involve creating value for others influences their mindsets much more than creating wealth for themselves. Having a compelling goal shifts our perspective. It motivates us to constantly develop our innate abilities in ways that contribute to the greater good. Also, it energizes and engages us in ways that can enable us to accomplish extraordinary things, even in the face of adversity as covid-19 has presented to the whole world.

According to the United Nations’ (UN) State of the World's Volunteerism Report 2022: 

“Every seventh person in the world is a volunteer. Despite the devastating socio-economic impacts of the pandemic, global interest in volunteering has not waned, and volunteering in communities has endured. Communities have continued to respond to the crisis in significant ways, despite limited mobility and resources....” [Vol]

With this backdrop, I believe helping the global community to embrace volunteerism with the right mindset will go a long way to creating fulfilling experience for all current and would-be volunteers as it has done for me personally.

ABOUT THE WRITER, EMMANUEL AMANKWANOR

Emmanuel is a passionate business analyst, author, project consultant and trainer with an entrepreneurial mindset. He has volunteered for nearly 10 years with the PMI Ghana Chapter. He has had other pockets of volunteering experience with some local Universtities, Bank PM Teams, and Non-for-profit institutions.

He keeps looking for ways to improve his knowledge and skills to add value to any organization and individual he engages with. His experience in managing projects spans over 15 years. He has keen interest in cloud computing and currently has attained the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Certified Foundations Associate certificate. Other international certificates he holds are Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP), Disciplined Agile Senior Scrum Master (DASSM), Professional Business Analyst (PMI-PBA), Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) and Project Management Professional (PMP).

REFERENCES

https://www.nfte.com/entrepreneurial-mindset/

https://elimindset.com/the-five-dimensions-of-an-entrepreneurial-mindset/

[Vol] https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789210012416

https://pmi-portland.org/news-and-content/214-benefits-of-volunteering

https://thewildlifewanderer.com/5hardestthingsaboutvolunteering/#:~:text=Feeling%20overworked%20and%20exhausted,do%20as%20much%20as%20possible.