I joined in with a webinar yesterday a competitor to E-lectra called Zoom its a USA company https://zoom.us/ really easy to use. I downloaded the software a few days before and tested the link to make sure it worked. I joined in the webinar with only 4 minutes to spare by clicking on the link in the email, but another 8 joined after me! There were 23 participants in total and after an intro in which we were told it would be recorded, the presenter form Sunderland university switched to her power point presentation. It was easy to move the image of the presenter around the screen to read the slides, and the chat button at the bottom counted up as questions were asked. The host dealt with the questions stopping at the 30 minute mark and 50 minute mark to work through the questions by reading them out- useful as it gave the university presenter a break. Several of the questions were already answered by the slides to come at the half way point.
Ideally I would like a copy of the slides (they included a really good example of a graphical annual report) they are going to be posted alongside the recording at some point in the future.
This electronic classroom technology is so easy to use got to be the way forward for some topics.
Friday 30 March 2018
Sunday 25 March 2018
New Risk Assessment Template
We have a lovely new risk assessment template, which asks:
- if consent forms have been sent for the event,
- if the instructors qualifications are up to date,
- if the decision was taken to go ahead,
- the author,
- if the RA has been shown to the leadership team,
- when renewal is due.
Unfortunately its only available as a pdf at the moment, so I need to find a way to get a word version that can be edited. As it stands you can only have 9 risks! It looks really fresh and up to date and the new questions are a positive change. Anyone got a pdf convertor?
www.girlguiding.org.uk/globalassets/docs-and-resources/learning-and-development/a-safe-space-2017/level-2/a-safe-space-level-2---risk-assessment-form.pdf
Saturday 24 March 2018
Testing Safe Space Level 4
This was a very early request for the Level 4 training designed for commissioners, so the training materials were in draft, and it was evident that they had been compiled by different hands. The Power Point was different to the training plan and again there was a difference in the detailed guidance with the training plan itself. I made a conscious decision because the training products were in draft, not to invest time in the power point, but focus on making the exercises work.
There were 2 commissioners who hadn't completed Level 3 and they admitted that they wished they had one in particular mentioned some of the jargon I had used (the other has booked me to go and deliver a L3 in June to herself and some of her leaders). I was aiming to stick as near as possible to the plan but the commissioners had lots of questions they wanted answers too, so it was time consuming just to get to the start of the plan itself. The 1st burning question was how could they find L3 trainings for their leaders in region? The 2nd was what's the difference between school safe guarding and GG safe guarding? The 3rd most popular question was how are leaders and Commissioners supposed to know all of this material - the inference being that volunteer leaders will give up as they don't want to take responsibility. One commissioner inferred it was easier now to get administers and accounts people rather than leaders who will work with the girls.
The "Assessing Concerns" activity with each scenario split into 4 parts given out at 10 minute intervals worked really well, especially as the leaders were well warmed up by this point by the earlier 2 post it exercises. There was lots of discussion and I really focused on examining the issues around a concern, a compliant and a safe guarding issue. I took the boring route getting each group to feed back on their scenario. To get to this point it took the full 2 hours so all the way up to lunch including a 10 minute coffee break.
Over lunch we had a discussion about the Guiding Handbook - some comms are buying for their new leaders others are sharing it around, some were unaware of the contents. Straight after lunch we started with Data Protection which I was expecting to be the most factual but in reality was the most controversial. Membership cards had just been received that week so people had read the accompanying material but everyone wanted to understand the point at which material became historical and could be sent to Trading for storage - its not clear? There was a lot of concern about keeping residential forms after the event in the light of something being raised at a later date. Also questions about photos & archive materials - how much do they need to be culled and what about leaders who only have paper records and are not on email/IT.
Finally after another 40 minutes we progressed to section 2. To get some time back I speeded up the feedback on "What does a good leader look like?" and skills etc. I used the Infographic (see below) to illustrate Batari's Box which worked well. I also handed out copies of the honest conversation template which hardly anyone in the room was aware of but as a resource it was welcomed. Moving onto discussing the sanctions was the most surprising point for me. The Commissioners asked if it would be possible to have a way to get leaders to agree they have signed up to the Volunteer Code of Conduct and will abide by it? As we moved through the exercises it was becoming increasingly obvious the role of the Volunteer code of conduct could play in changing behaviour. {I had a printed version of the Managing concerns about adult volunteers policy and procedures and referred to them but nobody wanted to read them}.
By this point I was in my last 30 minutes of the 4 hours so the "Keeping yourself Safe" exercise was really rushed and I could have done more justice to it if there had been more time. I only had a few minutes to validate the objectives, give out the traffic light action planning tool and give the survey monkey link. I regret that whilst I had collected lots of concerns from them at the beginning of the training there wasn't the time to review them.
Logistics - my VGA adaptor came into play again for linking my laptop to the projector. The room (the pack holiday house lounge) is long and thin, so not ideal for squeezing in leaders for a training see photo. I'm obviously very old fashioned, and expect assistance with, at the very least furniture removal and was surprised on arrival to find the door had been wedged open, with no heating, tables or chairs out. I was grateful for the assistance of another trainer to set up, whilst I got the IT working. As usual the participants were really helpful at the end returning resources to me and stacking chairs.
I await the final Level 4 resources sometime in the spring, and look forward to perfecting L4 delivery.
There were 2 commissioners who hadn't completed Level 3 and they admitted that they wished they had one in particular mentioned some of the jargon I had used (the other has booked me to go and deliver a L3 in June to herself and some of her leaders). I was aiming to stick as near as possible to the plan but the commissioners had lots of questions they wanted answers too, so it was time consuming just to get to the start of the plan itself. The 1st burning question was how could they find L3 trainings for their leaders in region? The 2nd was what's the difference between school safe guarding and GG safe guarding? The 3rd most popular question was how are leaders and Commissioners supposed to know all of this material - the inference being that volunteer leaders will give up as they don't want to take responsibility. One commissioner inferred it was easier now to get administers and accounts people rather than leaders who will work with the girls.
The "Assessing Concerns" activity with each scenario split into 4 parts given out at 10 minute intervals worked really well, especially as the leaders were well warmed up by this point by the earlier 2 post it exercises. There was lots of discussion and I really focused on examining the issues around a concern, a compliant and a safe guarding issue. I took the boring route getting each group to feed back on their scenario. To get to this point it took the full 2 hours so all the way up to lunch including a 10 minute coffee break.
Over lunch we had a discussion about the Guiding Handbook - some comms are buying for their new leaders others are sharing it around, some were unaware of the contents. Straight after lunch we started with Data Protection which I was expecting to be the most factual but in reality was the most controversial. Membership cards had just been received that week so people had read the accompanying material but everyone wanted to understand the point at which material became historical and could be sent to Trading for storage - its not clear? There was a lot of concern about keeping residential forms after the event in the light of something being raised at a later date. Also questions about photos & archive materials - how much do they need to be culled and what about leaders who only have paper records and are not on email/IT.
Finally after another 40 minutes we progressed to section 2. To get some time back I speeded up the feedback on "What does a good leader look like?" and skills etc. I used the Infographic (see below) to illustrate Batari's Box which worked well. I also handed out copies of the honest conversation template which hardly anyone in the room was aware of but as a resource it was welcomed. Moving onto discussing the sanctions was the most surprising point for me. The Commissioners asked if it would be possible to have a way to get leaders to agree they have signed up to the Volunteer Code of Conduct and will abide by it? As we moved through the exercises it was becoming increasingly obvious the role of the Volunteer code of conduct could play in changing behaviour. {I had a printed version of the Managing concerns about adult volunteers policy and procedures and referred to them but nobody wanted to read them}.
By this point I was in my last 30 minutes of the 4 hours so the "Keeping yourself Safe" exercise was really rushed and I could have done more justice to it if there had been more time. I only had a few minutes to validate the objectives, give out the traffic light action planning tool and give the survey monkey link. I regret that whilst I had collected lots of concerns from them at the beginning of the training there wasn't the time to review them.
Logistics - my VGA adaptor came into play again for linking my laptop to the projector. The room (the pack holiday house lounge) is long and thin, so not ideal for squeezing in leaders for a training see photo. I'm obviously very old fashioned, and expect assistance with, at the very least furniture removal and was surprised on arrival to find the door had been wedged open, with no heating, tables or chairs out. I was grateful for the assistance of another trainer to set up, whilst I got the IT working. As usual the participants were really helpful at the end returning resources to me and stacking chairs.
I await the final Level 4 resources sometime in the spring, and look forward to perfecting L4 delivery.
 |
| I lust after a normal sized training space, with room to move around! |
Sunday 18 March 2018
Batari's Box or the Cycle of Conflict
Gorgeous infographic hats off to Mind Tools.com I'm going to use this as an illustration in my next training. A picture really is worth a 1,000 words!
Reflect on Safe Space just out of Region in Worcestershire
Yesterday was the first Level 3 I have done out of Region - only just though, 45 miles up the M5 in Worcestershire. Finally the Commissioners Day went ahead at the second attempt as the first one was snowed off, so that gave me something new to add to my risk assessment! Despite checking the post code with the hotel and being assured I should use the one on their web site, I still ended up on a housing estate in site of the hotel! However I had left plenty of time (to get the IT working) so it was no hassle.
I did have every sympathy with the County but in an attempt to start & finish Safe Space training so they could do other business in the pm, they had taken an alternative room in the hotel. Aptly called the Library, but maybe snug would have been a better description! If we had waited for breakfast to finish and the original room to be set up for us, it would have been a much later start so I think it was the right call. However, I had 14 leaders, a projector and a screen in a room so small that we had to move 2 chairs to close the door! Everyone had to file out and in again in the correct order and go to the loo at the same time! That meant the room was very hot very quickly and opening the window blasted the 2 leaders sat in front of it. (Another new one for the risk assessment).
I had to adapt the first activity so we made 6 piles at the front and passed the cards along the line to sit on the correct "team" card and this really impacted on the effectiveness of the activity as it restricted the amount of interaction. I was uncomfortable, as I was perched in the corner and had to stack the activities literally in a pile so I could use them, once used put them straight into my bag to get rid of them!
The IT was fine as I was able to use my own laptop, plugged into the Counties projector, using the hotel's screen & extension cable which I tucked under the table. As everyone had to go out in a crocodile nobody came round the front so no chance of tripping.We had to take an early coffee break at 11am, as the coffee was being laid out in the large function room where a group of Commissioners the same size were doing Safe Space Levels 1 & 2 so we couldn't disturb them later on, and they finished before us. We were very envious of them in the cooler room but after the break I was able to get the pace going, and along with it, the interaction started to come. As Commissioners they had a great deal of experience to share and that helped tremendously, and I was only a few minutes late finishing, but had to adapt the feedback from the barriers to disclosure exercise to make up some of the lost time.
I was keen to enjoy the buffet lunch, this training makes me so hunger, then get the 45 miles back down the M5, to my home, through the flurries of snow. Lovely venue - why do commissioners get to train in such lovely surroundings and with home made warm shortbread?
I did have every sympathy with the County but in an attempt to start & finish Safe Space training so they could do other business in the pm, they had taken an alternative room in the hotel. Aptly called the Library, but maybe snug would have been a better description! If we had waited for breakfast to finish and the original room to be set up for us, it would have been a much later start so I think it was the right call. However, I had 14 leaders, a projector and a screen in a room so small that we had to move 2 chairs to close the door! Everyone had to file out and in again in the correct order and go to the loo at the same time! That meant the room was very hot very quickly and opening the window blasted the 2 leaders sat in front of it. (Another new one for the risk assessment).
I had to adapt the first activity so we made 6 piles at the front and passed the cards along the line to sit on the correct "team" card and this really impacted on the effectiveness of the activity as it restricted the amount of interaction. I was uncomfortable, as I was perched in the corner and had to stack the activities literally in a pile so I could use them, once used put them straight into my bag to get rid of them!
The IT was fine as I was able to use my own laptop, plugged into the Counties projector, using the hotel's screen & extension cable which I tucked under the table. As everyone had to go out in a crocodile nobody came round the front so no chance of tripping.We had to take an early coffee break at 11am, as the coffee was being laid out in the large function room where a group of Commissioners the same size were doing Safe Space Levels 1 & 2 so we couldn't disturb them later on, and they finished before us. We were very envious of them in the cooler room but after the break I was able to get the pace going, and along with it, the interaction started to come. As Commissioners they had a great deal of experience to share and that helped tremendously, and I was only a few minutes late finishing, but had to adapt the feedback from the barriers to disclosure exercise to make up some of the lost time.
I was keen to enjoy the buffet lunch, this training makes me so hunger, then get the 45 miles back down the M5, to my home, through the flurries of snow. Lovely venue - why do commissioners get to train in such lovely surroundings and with home made warm shortbread?
 |
| Looking at the photo today - how did I manage to get 14 commissioners in here? |
Tuesday 13 March 2018
How to herd cats well!
Alternatively "7 tips to setting up a training exercise" I can't remember what I was looking for when I fell over this website 
They have an amazing list of resources on a variety of training topics, some are paid and some are free, you have to order the free ones in the basket then the company emails out to you. Bullet 6 is really relevant as it spells out the point of the group work stating to only intervene when the group is going off track as the "key is to keep everyone working at the same pace so the groups will complete the exercise at very nearly the same time". Bullet 7 is all about taking feedback from each group and ways to control repetition in the feedback.
The website is worth a look- the other resource I received was one on list making every trainers delight!
They have an amazing list of resources on a variety of training topics, some are paid and some are free, you have to order the free ones in the basket then the company emails out to you. Bullet 6 is really relevant as it spells out the point of the group work stating to only intervene when the group is going off track as the "key is to keep everyone working at the same pace so the groups will complete the exercise at very nearly the same time". Bullet 7 is all about taking feedback from each group and ways to control repetition in the feedback.
The website is worth a look- the other resource I received was one on list making every trainers delight!
Sunday 11 March 2018
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