Transforming Our Volunteer Experience – Volunteering in teams

As you hopefully know, things are changing in the way Scouts is structured. Most people’s roles from November will be either Team Member or Team Leader – replacing the role you currently have.

This will make a big difference to those at District and Area level, not so much at Group and Section level.

For those at Section and Group level

All those who are currently Section Assistants and Assistant Section Leaders will become Team Members of their Section Team, with the Section Leader becoming Team Leader.

Group Scout Leaders will become Lead Volunteers for their Group, with any Assistant and Deputy Group Scout Leaders becoming part of the Group Leadership Team, alongside the Lead Volunteer and the Team Leader of each Section Team.

Fancy a bit more of a challenge?

The new structure makes it easier for those who volunteer at Section and Group level to get help out with District and Area.

Rather than taking on a sometimes intimidating role title such as ‘Assistant District Commissioner’ with all the onus on you, we will be working in teams from now on with tasks shared out.

We really do need more people to get involved by joining these teams. Currently a huge amount of tasks fall on a few people – from induction of new volunteers and sorting activity permits to arranging District events and maintaining District campsites. We need more people to do a little bit each, and this will be made easier and more flexible by working in teams.

If you’d be interested in this – even if just to find out more as to what it would involve – please fill in this sort survey.

All District and Area roles – including Assistant Commissioner roles – will become Team Member and Team Leader roles in one of the following Teams:

• 14-24 Team
• Programme Team
• Support Team
• Volunteering Development Team

The Team Leaders of each of the above Teams will also be members – together with the Lead Volunteer and Youth Lead – of the Leadership Team. Other people can also be members of the Leadership Team if the Lead Volunteer requires this, such as those who are existing Deputy Commissioners.

While most Section and Group roles will automatically ‘map across’, at District and Area level things aren’t so clear cut.

It’s time to think about which Team you feel what you currently do fits best into. For some, this will be obvious – if it’s not, please have a chat to your line manager if you’ve not already done so and work out what’s best for you.

Once you’ve made up your mind, please can we ask that you fill in this short survey.

The survey is just there to help us work out where we are and who’s on which Team. In some cases Teams will be at Area level, or shared across two or more Districts. It just depends on how many people we have.

We will also use this as an opportunity to invite new people to volunteer at District and Area level – without the commitment of ‘being it’ which used to go with the dreaded ‘Commissioner’ title.

Please can we ask that everyone fills in the survey as quickly as they can. It would be lovely to have the majority of replies back by the first week in August so we can start planning ready for September.

Any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Thanks so much for your time!