Getting Ready for the New Programme Training Plan

Saturday was the first time I had used the revised change management training plan and I was amazed how closely the training followed the plan. I didn't like the "Communication technology changes" ice breaker so I changed it for a reflection exercise as leaders had experienced the new programme pilot trainings in the morning so they were already in the right zone to reflect! They did comment the image in the top right of the slide which I believe is a wi-fi man in a deck chair looked like a chicken! The links from the official ice-breaker are a bit weak to say the least.

I also inserted a slide with the Kubler Ross Change curve as the rest of the training is based on that theory and if you don't explain the theory its difficult to make it all stick together. We didn't play the snakes & ladders game but leaders spent a few minutes recording the cons (snakes) and a positive response (ladders). Because the numbers were on the low side, only 7 leaders, it was easy to get discussion going and there was a lot of experience in the room to share, when it came to seeing change through someone else's eyes. We ran out of time to do the resistance & potential solutions fully - we did talk about some but not to the extent the training plan suggests.

Leaders had been honest at the start in that they were looking for a way to return to their units/districts and be able to sell the new programme to them. We were able to take the time at the end to reflect on how they could use the lessons we had just discussed when they got back home.

New Programme Pilot Training with aeroplanes!

Yesterday I was down in Bristol & South Glos for their County Day on the new programme. I was doing UMA's, Skill Builders & Awards in the morning and Change Management for the new programme in the afternoon. As usual leaders from this county are on the ball and familiar with the basics of guiding. We started in the main auditorium for the overview new programme training which was cleverly done with a stand up if …. activity. I was amazed that such a huge proportion of those present had been leading for more than 10 years. The new programme bingo was an effective interactive method to present so much information but shame so many people called "bingo" at the same time!

We started earlier than I was expecting and it was a push to finish as there were so many questions, many I couldn't answer, which is never a good position to be in. Leaders were struggling to get to grips with the logistics of how the new programme will work. It would have been so much easier if I could have shown them a Skills Builder, or even just had a statement relating to how much time an average skill builder will take for brownies. Also the skill levels really need a different numbering system to the activities in the skills builders; and next time I will start off with a statement stating these are different things. We also need more detail about the recording tool as time was wasted in conjecture. I spent a lot of time scrolling backwards and forwards between the powerpoint slides describing the requirements.
 
Top constraints on the aeroplanes were in first place the cost which featured on 11 of the 16 planes. Second was lack of leaders/adults to run different activities at the same time and third was recording of both individual brownie progress and when anniversary badges are due to be awarded. We did discuss solutions and I think there will be some illegal copying occurring! They also liked my porridge pot idea of saving badges up and having a termly award ceremony to invite parents and raise the girls anticipation in order to celebrate achievements. There was one new issue that trainers had raised at the earlier pilot, which was the number of risk assessments required in a term in order to complete all the UMA's and skills builders which I had never thought of.

A few leaders are planning to start in January 2019 due to concerns that the availability of the new programme resources will be scarce because the demand will be so great on July 21st.

Additional resources I used included the Volunteer code of conduct, Participation on a plate, Girls Attitude Survey and I plugged the Region Swebots resource by showing the intermediate & advanced instructions for making a paper plane.

It was a pain having to move classrooms at lunch time but I had help to put the furniture back. I brought my own lap top but used my USB on their network which was fine but then I have to virus check the USB every time which is a nuisance.
   

An Assessor for Guiding I thought I'd be .....

Following the arrival of the Level 4 Safe Space materials this week I decided to have a sort out of my trainers box and came across this neatly produced on a Guide Association Unit Overview form by J Walker and assessed by A Record on 14.6.02!

An Assessor for Guiding I thought I'd be,
Achieve a D32 and a D33,
My candidates train Guides, Brownies too,
They plan, make resources help train the new,
A portfolio they must make,
Containing witness statements, evaluations, observations, a piece of cake,
For Guider such as those assessed
The competence level must be the best,
Kate, June & Ann excel in training,
To complete the Qualification they are obtaining,
I question, observe, advise, report,
And am always there for support,
OCR the standards set
As an Assessor I ensure they are met,
Throw nothing away that's what they are told,
E-mail, letters, session plan worth there weight in gold,
The portfolio is complete and they have done their best,
To the Internal Verifier for the first test,
The date approaches, the EV attends
The certificate of achievement CHQ sends,
A unit complete hooray, hooray,
Congratulations to all, its made my day.

Hooray for GDPR resources

If you don't already subscribe to the Discover & grow newsletter - you should. Below is an extract from this weeks newsletter published this evening: 

We're developing resources to help you get ready for GDPR

ChecklistOur checklist includes all the actions you need to take to get ready for GDPR

GDPR information
Find all the information you need so far

Keeping information safe
Our leaflet tells you what you need to know about data protection and handy dos and dont's

Handling personal data
Follow these procedures to make sure you're handling personal data appropriately. 

Managing information policyOur policy setting out how we collect and use information appropriately and store it safely.

Reporting a data breach procedure
What to do if personal data has been lost, stolen or shared inappropriately.

Personal data requests procedure
What to do if you receive a request about a person’s personal data we are using.

Check out the FAQ's too, highlights include:

• If a parent refuses to have their details stored in GO they would have to withdraw their daughters membership.
• No more yearly consent forms but termly ones are ok as long as activities and dates are kept up to date.
• Data breaches should be reported within 48 hours
• Starting section forms changing to allow you to keep part of the form with parents signature
• A home contact must be a member of GG now.
• Starting section forms are being amended to include new photo consents from May 2018 and remember photo consent finishes when the girl leaves the unit, you can still keep photos for archives but not to use publicly.
• There are guidelines being developed on using Slack, Dropbox, Eventbrite, Survey monkey etc
•  Commissioners are responsible for ensuring volunteers know about data protection guidance we all must comply with the Code of Conduct.
• Health Care Plans can not be left in meeting place cupboards, if they can be accessed by anyone outside of GG.

Getting ready for the new programme.

A Guiding conversation is now available and can be found here: https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/globalassets/docs-and-resources/managing-volunteers/new-programme---guiding-conversation.pdf

The first page has a really good diagram illustrating how the new programme is put together, and page two re-enforces the Five Essentials and how it figures in the new programme. Its a good discussion generator.

Picture worth a thousand words

I recently needed a badge machine for a guiding event after trying to borrow 3 different ones and being thwarted for a number of reasons I took to the internet to see what I could find and got a real bargain from a site in the Netherlands, www.vidaxl.co.uk.

This is the 58mm version and I have discovered there is a huge variation in badges so they really do need to be ordered from the same manufacturer as the badge machine. The machine arrived really quickly and was easy to assemble. This one cost £85.99 without badges but the circle cutting tool is quite weak so looking out for a better one on ebay. Planning to use for our June fund raiser event so the brownies can make personalised duck racing badges for sale, with supervision. Already re-couped some of the costs from another group.  

Protecting our members personal data

Very  topical information at the moment as the UK prepares for the GDPR going live later in the month. This post card is issued by the Information Commissioners Office and is the basis for the data protection leaflet we received this year with our membership cards