A Pathway to Improving Leadership Skills, Broadening Networks, and Exploring New Fields

Leadership skills are mastered by practicing, and by experimenting, and volunteering provides great opportunities to do this. Sharing lessons learned in their own personal leadership journey, the authors provide practical steps to prepare project managers for their own volunteering journey to leadership.

Winner of the 2025 Gold Quill for Nonfiction from the League of Utah Writers!

The project management profession has grown through the hard work of many volunteer groups and organizations. The Volunteering Journey to Project Leadership explains how volunteering can help project management professionals grow their own capabilities and careers. It explains how volunteering in project-oriented organizations, or any organization where projects are delivered, can help project managers develop leadership skills, build strong and diverse networks, and gain experiences in new fields. Any project manager or PMO can get advice and insights from this book, which explains how to:

• Identify volunteering goals that align with career goals
• Find the right organization that complements professional aspiration
• Choose activities for enhancing careers in project leadership
• Strategically select the right role to advance careers

Based on the authors’ own volunteering and professional experiences, as well as interviews and informal discussion with more than 100 volunteers, this book is a hands-on guide to personal and professional growth in the field of project management. It is structured in three parts. Part I describes four ways volunteering can develop project leadership abilities. Part II focuses on leadership and adaptative skills, networking, and new skills gained by experimenting. Part III consolidates the learning and explains how to apply it at work. Each chapter ends with practical case studies, detailed interviews, key takeaways, and questions to reflect on.