Journey Update - June 2023
We’re continuing our journey to prepare more young people with skills for life, supported by amazing volunteers who deliver an inspiring programme. Our aims continue to be to grow, to become more inclusive, to be shaped by young people and to make a bigger impact in our communities by supporting our volunteers throughout their membership starting from day one.
Part of this journey requires us to understand the changes that are on the way, and when these changes will be made. To help you with this, I have created a timeline of change which shows the changes to expect across the next few months. This timeline is a 90% plan of what we should be aiming for within our Groups, Districts, and County, and we should remember that some areas may be ready for change at different times to others.
You can scroll along the timeline using the arrows to the left and right of the top line with the years on.
Consultation with lots of internal and external groups has been completed throughout the last few years to help design these changes. These will help us reach our North Star.
A few members from the County Team attended Basecamp22 in Manchester and were hosted by HQ. Initial ideas and plans were workshopped and discussed here with members from across the UK.
This marks the start of our local change journey in Wiltshire. Three events were organised by the local Transformation Team for County and District Team Members as well as Trustees from our Trustee Boards (Executive Committee Members).
We need to start cleansing (and continue to cleanse) our digital records in Compass to prepare for transition to our new digital system. Every member is responsible for keeping their information up to date on Compass. Please reach out to your local District/County Team if you require support with this.
To share the exciting changes across our membership, some online webinars were delivered to all members. These were attended by lots of people holding varying responsibilities, helping to share the positive message across Wiltshire's membership.
We now have a new Volunteering Culture. Our culture focusses on us being at our best, keeping our values in mind, and supporting our fellow volunteers whilst encouraging new people to join us.
Executive Committees and their Members are now known as Trustee Boards and Trustees to align with Charity Commission guidance. The purpose of a Trustee Board has shifted to a governance focused output, with operational tasks now being completed by leadership and support teams.
We are moving to a teams-based approach to volunteering, with each team member completing certain tasks from the relevant team description(s). Tasks will be flexible to the volunteers availability and relevant to their skillset.
It's time to check in! How are you progressing with change in your area?
Let us know how you're getting on via email using this link: Contact the Team
Trustee Boards should now be aligned to POR and be using the new purpose statements to deliver outputs locally. POR should have been (or is planned to be) agreed as your constitution at your recent or upcoming AGM.
The plans for new teams and relevant tasks should be understood at this point, and you should have a good plan of how your members will move into your new teams. This will be simple at a Group level, and more complex for our District and County Teams.
There will be some vital steps to take at this point to prepare for digital transition. This will include ensuring Compass has been cleansed to the correct level, and confirming all data is in the correct place on the system.
Upon transition to our new digital systems, we will start to use the new membership tools developed by a wide range of staff and volunteer teams who have been working closely with proven suppliers. Our new systems will be mobile friendly and easy to use for all.
We will transition to our new welcoming process from this point, and will start to hold Welcome Conversations with new volunteers in place of our current Appointment Advisory Panels.
Our new engaging learning platform will become available, and will include the new Growing Roots learning modules, replacing our current Getting Started training modules. Woodbadge training modules will continue to be delivered as they are now with TA validation.
It's time to check in! How are you progressing with change in your area?
Let us know how you're getting on via email using this link: Contact the Team
Where should we be now?
As of June 2023, we have seen some amendments to POR which change current Executive Committees to Trustee Boards, with members becoming Trustees. There have also been changes to what trustees are responsible for and how the boards should run with new purpose statements listed in POR Chapter 5.
These changes align us with Charity Commission guidance, ensuring we are completing the correct governance tasks to continue the delivery of balanced and inspirational programmes for our youth members.
We are also starting to understand the teams-based working and our new team descriptions, with your County and District Lead Volunteers (CC and DCs) starting to plan how we will volunteer in the future with our new team structures.
Alongside these changes, we have a new Volunteering Culture making sure we continue to be at our best. Our new culture will encourage new people to join us, as well as making those who are already here want to stay, with a key focus on our values.
What comes next?
Across the next few months, we will continue to plan towards implementing our new teams and structures, as well as supporting our trustees with the changes to the purpose of trustee boards with upcoming AGMs.
By September 2023, we should have a good idea of how our new teams will work and understand what tasks will be carried out by each team. Trustee Boards should be delivering against the new purpose statements, and we should be continuing to understand these changes and how they will provide new opportunities to welcome new volunteers into our Groups, Districts and County.
Information on our other changes such as our new engaging learning experience and how we welcome new volunteers will be shared as we progress through the rest of 2023. These changes won’t take affect until our new digital systems are released in early 2024, so we have some time to fully understand these changes and how we can implement them locally.
To help us help you, we would like to encourage you to complete our first Check In survey using the link below. The survey is anonymous, and focussed on the understanding of each change in your local area.
Where can I find information to help me understand the changes?
We have published a variety of resources to help you understand and implement these changes on our website, with a focus on the current changes to our trustee boards and teams-based volunteering.
With AGM season in full swing, you may find the AGM Agenda templates useful for planning and running your AGM. Each template is specific to either Group, District or County AGMs and includes some supporting notes and a draft script to help you to align your AGMs with POR and Charity Commission guidance.
If you’d like to learn more about how our new engaging learning will be implemented, check out the videos and interactive learning tree currently on the Testing Hub.
I’m nervous about the new digital tools, where can I find support?
Scouts’ Digital Skills tool is an online hub that provides support and resources for volunteers who want to develop their skills and confidence in completing digital tasks. These tasks might include using the new adult membership system or more general digital tasks such as emailing, compiling spreadsheets or running video meetings.
To learn more about how to access the tool, and what is included, check out the information here.
I’d like to get involved with supporting these changes, how can I help?
There are many ways to get involved depending on your availability and skills. Check out our Get Involved in Transformation page to find out about how you can get involved and support your fellow volunteers with implementing these changes.
If you have any questions about the changes to our volunteer experience, please submit them using the Raise a Question form. Alternatively, you can email me at transformation@wiltshirescouts.org.uk with any questions regarding these changes.
Together, we can be confident that we will achieve our vision and that more young people and more adult volunteers, will benefit from all that Scouting offers.
Thank you for your continued support and patience.
Dan Bavister
Transformation Lead – Wiltshire Scouts
