A classic example where I should have grilled the training organiser about the audience as I hadn't appreciated just how many prospective trainers were present (and who didn't even know what a PDP was) and that the prevalent idea still appears to be that the PDP is a "to do list." An idea I thought we had got rid of years ago, but there were leaders asking in both sessions "well what can I put on it?". In the first session, after the first 15 minutes, I intervened and moved some leaders around to get a mix of experience in groups with new trainers. The empathy mapping missed the mark completely in both sessions. Self reflection on trainings was being carried out but not necessarily written down or consciously acted on. In both sessions I estimate there was only 1 leader per session actively practicing PDP (one leader had her PDP with her and she carries it in her diary to add to on the spur of the moment). There were some light bulb moments coming from the group work with the cootie catchers, and leaders realising the sorts of things they are doing, and that they can record on their PDP. The WAGGGS magnets went down well (the surplus going to a leader for swops on an international)! I asked the question from "Peas in a pod" evaluation who is going to go back and make a change in their PDP practice and the result was:
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| Leaders as well as girls like to hear the sound of the marble dropping into the glass. |
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| Fantastic to see Foxlease promoting themselves with a range of cookies and fudge in the shop and entrance hall - shame I never got to try them as they all got eaten at work rather quickly. |
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| The depths of coffee depravation that guiding has reduced me to - not quite freshly ground Lavazza beans but an improvement on the instant sticks. Increasingly appears guiding and drinking decent coffee are mutually exclusive. |
