JVN Blog

We promised to report back on our dynamic conference on the 11th July.

Sue Jones who is the Training Manager at the Volunteer Centre Warrington in England, lead the packed audience of 30 managers through her presentation ‘Me, Myself, & I’. It certainly provided a lot of food for thought. The essence of her message  was that today’s manager needs to be proactive, reflective, an influencer. a challenger and a good leader. She talked at length about putting yourself first in terms of training, knowledge and exchange of information, in order to be effective in your role of managing others. Lia Bogod who has just been appointed at JVN as Volunteer Development Manager said, ‘There is no doubt that the Volunteer Managers profile needs to be raised in the workplace and I look forward to helping coordinators work on these challenges.”

The afternoon session was a workshop where managers brainstormed ideas to develop themselves professionally. Ideas were exchanged on formal training and obtaining qualifications, also joining key organisations like the Association of Volunteer Managers Sue also emphasised the importance of Social Networking and how there is the opportunity to reach a wider community and develop a network of sharing amongst like minded professionals.

The feedback from everyone was very positive and the hope is that Managers feel they have a clear goal to develop professionally using the tools and material they picked up at the Conference. Well done everyone who took part.