By Tim Huff
President & CEO, TLG
A few weeks ago, during a Habitat for Humanity build, I watched something small, but powerful, unfold. It was an early and chilly morning. About a dozen of us volunteers gathered around a warming fire of scrap wood that someone made. Most of us had barely finished our coffee, rubbing our hands together to warm up or wake up.
After some initial instructions, we were divided up into groups for the work. We each fumbled around a bit to figure out the tasks we were each given, but then we were off and running. After a while, I stepped back from my work to observe the scene. I saw everyone hard at work, moving from task to task with zero ego, no leadership hierarchy, …everyone just helping each other out to get the work done. Something occurred to me in that moment…
Character often shows up faster in community than it does in conference rooms.
What I observed that day embodied something essential to leadership, especially servant leadership. Giving back isn’t just generosity, it’s formation. It’s where values like humility, respect, responsibility, and empathy stop being posters on the wall and start becoming behaviors in practice.
At Turknett Leadership Group, we like to say that character drives culture and culture drives performance. The infographic for this month explores how volunteering strengthens employees, organizations, and communities. Beneath the data sits a deeper truth: cultures of character are built in the community.
Why Community is a Catalyst for Character
When a company engages with its community, people begin to see the broader purpose behind their work. The research is striking:
- Corporate volunteering boosts employee engagement and job satisfaction.
- Employees develop organizational pride, strengthening “helping behaviors.”
- Volunteering enhances job performance rather than distracts from it.
- It strengthens trust, both in each other and in leadership.
- And on a personal level, volunteering improves mental health, life satisfaction, and physical wellbeing.
None of this is accidental. When people serve together, something in the culture shifts. Walls soften. Silos crack, humility increases, and respect deepens.
Why? Because service pulls us out of ourselves. It calls us to focus on someone else’s needs and reminds us that leadership is not about authority, it’s about responsibility.
This is the heart of the Leadership Character Model, where Integrity, Respect, and Responsibility form the foundation of great leadership. And you can’t help but practice all three when you’re serving others.
Service Turns Values Into Behaviors
Organizations often work hard to articulate values: teamwork, empathy, accountability, community, integrity. But values are only real when they show up in behavior.
Volunteering provides the perfect environment for practicing those behaviors:
- Integrity shows up when people follow through on commitments and show up for something bigger than themselves.
- Respect becomes real when employees work side-by-side with people they may not interact with on a normal day.
- Responsibility is reinforced as employees take ownership of tasks that directly impact the community.
Community service is culture in motion. When people give back alongside coworkers, they see leadership character modeled, not as a slide deck, but as a lived experience.
What Leaders (Especially HR Leaders) Can Do
While executives often set the tone, HR leaders and professionals are the true culture shapers. They’re closest to the day-to-day employee experience. They influence what gets encouraged, celebrated, and repeated.
And when it comes to building culture through community, they have enormous leverage.
Here are four practical ways leaders at every level can help:
1. Model It: Be a Visible Participant. Employees notice what leaders actually do, not what they say they value. When leaders show up to volunteer events, stay through the cleanup, or bring their team along, it signals that giving back isn’t extra, it’s expected.
2. Make It Easy: Remove Barriers. People want to serve. What they often lack is time, clarity, and a simple way to participate. Leaders can help by:
- Creating (and protecting) recurring volunteer days
- Offering volunteer hours or flexible schedules
- Partnering with organizations that align with company values
- Setting up easy sign-up processes
Small logistical efforts create big cultural dividends.
3. Connect Service to Purpose. Employees are more engaged when they understand the why behind their work. Leaders can elevate volunteering by tying it to the organization’s mission, values, and impact. Answering questions like:
- “Why does this matter to us?”
- “Who are we helping?”
- “What does this say about who we are as a company?”
When people see the connection, service becomes identity, not activity.
4. Use Volunteering as Leadership Development. One of the overlooked benefits of community engagement is how much it grows leadership skills like communication, problem-solving, decision-making, collaboration, and adaptability.
Volunteering is often a low-risk environment where emerging leaders can step up naturally. HR leaders can intentionally use service opportunities as leadership micro-labs.
Micro-Servant Leadership: Simple Ways to Start
Not every act of giving back has to be a full-day event. Leaders can build a culture of character through small, frequent acts of service:
- One-hour micro-volunteering
- Skills-based volunteering in your own field
- Encouraging employees to serve a cause aligned to their strengths
- Sharing stories of service internally
- Recognizing team members who model servant leadership
These “micro-moments” compound into cultural momentum.
Who Do You Want Your Company to Be in This Community?
At the end of the day, culture is the sum of the choices people make, especially the choices to serve, show up, and care. If character forms culture, then community is where character is refined.
As you think about your team, your department, or your organization, consider this question:
What would happen if giving back wasn’t just something your company did… but part of who you are?
Companies influence communities. But communities also shape companies. And when leaders choose to engage, serve, and contribute, they don’t just improve the world around them, they build the kind of culture people are proud to be part of.
A culture of character. A culture of service. A culture worth leading!
Thanks,
