Learn about people involved – beyond their volunteer roles. Learn their likes, dislikes, talents, what excites them, why they volunteer, etc. This will create a sense of Team and unity that nothing can diminish.

Give potential leaders chance to prove themselves by providing limited opportunities for them to learn, grow and shine. Have them run a meeting, co-facilitate a training program, or make a presentation.

Provide continuous opportunities for feedback. This includes needs assessments, and interim “job applications.” People evolve and learn new skills. The organization that stays on top of their volunteer leadership development will never run out of potential and future leaders to carry on mission.

Build in “term limits” so that you have a continuous need for new, fresh ideas. Otherwise you will continue to hear “we have never done it that way,” from old guard making it difficult if not impossible to recruit people who wish to make a difference. Volunteers want to be heard. Volunteers want to know that their efforts are appreciated.

© 2005 - Heidi Richards

Heidi Richards is the author of The PMS Principles, Powerful Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business and 7 other books. She is also the Founder & CEO of the Women’s ECommerce Association, International www.WECAI.org (pronounced wee-kī) – an Internet organization that “Helps Women Do Business on the WEB.” Basic Membership is FREE. Ms. Richards can be reached at Heidi@speakingwithspirit.com or heidi@wecai.org.

How do you picture yourself at age 65? 75? 85? You've got a decent shot at living to be 100.

Howard and Marika Stone have been inspiring people to reinvent themselves as they get older. On their website, 2Young2Retire.com, they share dozens of stories of folks who have done just that. Their intention is to help others "navigate uncharted waters of longevity" and they do so with great passion and humor.

Whether we're 20 or 70, we can use mindfulness to help us see who we want to be next. The first step? Pay attention to what we consider to be FUN. Focus on what we do that feels like we're playing instead of working. Notice our "guilty pleasures"--those things we do when we think we should be working on something else.

Here's good news: You can get paid for having fun. You can help your community while you're doing what you can only describe as goofing off. You can learn new skills and demonstrate overlooked talents in a way that helps others while making you laugh. And it's not too early to start thinking about what that might look like.

Retire your idea of retirement and embrace concept of reinvention. Look at what you're dreaming about doing, and be mindful of how you can start "investing" in your opportunities for greater fun. That's my personal prescription for not-enough-Social-Security blues.

That, and perhaps finding a lovely house on coast in Brazil, where I can become fluent in Portuguese and become a painter, or a novelist, or start a school, or build a playground, or design a community garden, or write songs, or dance til dawn, or be happiest grandmother alive. Or all of above.

I'll tell my daughter to start looking.