- a) Representing scouting – be neatly dressed. Full uniform can be a little intimidating, try the new iScout colourful T-Shirts or polo’s – scouting is fun, we should look like a fun organisation.
- b) Be brave, be confident - do not be afraid to approach people. Just think, do you have fun in Scouting? Has it made a difference or impact on your life? Then just think of that when you go to speak to anyone else and remember that your offering a chance for scouting to do the same for them, their child or their family.
- c) Open and friendly - Smile, make eye contact, stand straight, step forward with confidence to engage passers-by.
- d) Don’t apologise – many people start a conversation – sorry to bother you – but … Be proud of scouting, we have a great offering and you should know many people love scouts even if they don’t know it yet (wink).
- e) Ask questions to build rapport - Hi, have you ever been a scout? OR Hi, is your daughter/son in scouts?
- f) DO NOT attempt to explain - roles, locations, hours, commitment, training, meeting times etc. etc. unless specifically asked, even then keep it short and to the point. Many times I see volunteers convincing leads NOT to sign up. We need to give the DC or specifically trained development staffers or volunteer development champion the maximum opportunity to get this lead to engage in scouting as a volunteer. To do this we need to have that lead attend either a 1-2-1 meeting or presentation about adult volunteering where all their questions will be answered OR better still to attend a local group and meet the group where they could potentially find friends and see scouting in action.
- g) Are they showing interest? Try - Putting pen to paper techniques - I usually ask “Have you ever done any volunteering?” always asking straight after if they would consider volunteering for scouts? This seems obvious but many volunteers simply don’t ask properly and seems to want leads to ask them “can I volunteer?”. Mostly the line I use is something to the effect “Can I send you some info about volunteering roles that you might find interesting? Maybe invite you to visit a group and see the kind of fun we have?” No? - No problem, thanks for speaking to me, enjoy the rest of your day. Yes? Great, if I can just get your postcode and email address then I will send you something.
- h) More info. – Asking for just a postcode and email is a very easy and low commitment way for us to get what we need (some info. on them). I have a small form designed to assist at events in guiding some questions to generate even more information from the lead at this point including: what is their interest in volunteering? Working with youth or more of an administrative, support or management role? How often etc. (email me LDO@glmwscouts.org.uk and I can send you the form).
- i) Even more info – Most people, once they are handed a form with the usual, name, address, postcode, email etc. will fill out the bulk of the form automatically. If they don’t want to give you some information, don’t pressure them, a nice request like “ it would be great if you put your name down, so I know who I was speaking to and then I can also address it to you on the email. Or Is this email the best or can I have your phone number as well just in case I can’t get you?
- j) Is it readable? - I have lots LOADS of leads just because of poor handwriting. I would suggest that you read their email address, name and phone number back to them so you both know its right. I am working on an small iPad application that will capture lead info into an online database (with an automatic email thanking them for their enquiry) to prevent many of these simple mistakes.
- k) Setting an expectation – I usually finish with setting an expectation for the lead. Something like “ So, thanks for that, I will be sending you an email, as you requested, with some information of scouting in the area, and one of our volunteers will give you a call, probably this week to invite you to something fun and they can answer any questions you might have, is that OK?“ 99.9% of people say YES. I always finish with “ So lastly as I mentioned Scouting is a volunteer lead program so the person who calls you will be volunteering their time so if maybe they don’t get a chance to ring you later this week it should be early next week OK? You know, sometimes life, family, work and stuff just gets in the way of the fun stuff. But you will have my email, with my contact details if you need to speak to someone quickly”.
- l) THANKS leaving them happy – We need to appreciate the lead and set them up with a warm fuzzy feeling before they walk away. I usually say something along the lines of - “thanks for offering to find out more about scouting, obviously I love the program and I hope that it will be fun for you to, thanks again, and enjoy the rest of your day”
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Event based recruitment - Generating leads
Thursday, 2 June 2011
Event based recruitment - Attract Vs. distract
Monday, 9 May 2011
Blogger: Dashboard
Power of a good turn - The Story of the Unknown Scout
One day in 1909 in London, England, An American Visitor, William D. Boyce, lost his way in a dense fog. He stopped under a street lamp and tried to figure out where he was. A boy approached him and asked if he could be of help.
"You certainly can," said Boyce. He told the boy that he wanted to find a certain business office in the centre of the city.
"I'll take you there," said the boy.
When they got to the destination, Mr Boyce reached into his pocket for a tip. But the boy stopped him.
"No thank you, sir. I am a Scout. I won't take anything for helping."
"A Scout? And what might that be?" asked Boyce.
The boy told the American about himself and about his brother scouts. Boyce became very interested. After finishing his errand, he had the boy take him to the British Scouting office.
At the office, Boyce met Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the famous British general who had founded the Scouting movement in Great Britain. Boyce was so impressed with what he learned that he decided to bring Scouting home with him.
On February 8, 1910, Boyce and a group of outstanding leaders founded the Boy Scouts of America. From that day forth, Scouts have celebrated February 8 as the birthday of Scouting in the United States.
What happened to the boy who helped Mr.Boyce find his way in the fog? No one knows. He had neither asked for money nor given his name, but he will never be forgotten. His Good Turn helped take the scouting movement international. The Boy Scout movement swiftly established itself throughout the British Empire soon after the publication of Scouting for Boys. The first recognized overseas unit was chartered in Gibraltar in 1908, followed quickly by a unit in Malta. Canada became the first overseas dominion with a sanctioned Boy Scout program, followed by Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Chile was the first country outside the British dominions to have a recognized Scouting program. The first Scout rally, held in 1909 at The Crystal Palace in London, attracted 10,000 boys and girls. By 1910, Argentina, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Malaya, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and of course the United States.
In the Scout Training Centre at Gilwell Park, London, Scouts from the United States erected a statue of an American Buffalo in honour of this unknown scout. One Good Turn to one man became a Good Turn to millions of children in American, and over 30 million others across the globe.
So, if you’re a Scout (even if you’re not) think about the fact that one good deed has changed the world for millions. Maybe you could do a few and see what happens?
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Scouting for Jobs: A guide to impress employers
the ability to teach others.
Institute of Training and Occupational Learning (ITOL): the professional body which recognises those specialising in training, development and occupational learning.
Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM): The Institute of Leadership and Management is a professional body for managers.
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Brand Management
Hi Scouters,
If like me you have had trouble sourcing all the fonts etc. to conform to the Scouting associations BRAND guide, help is at hand. I have compiled all the Section and Association Fonts into one place. (see the end of this blog for the download link). But before you rush off downloading and applying time and effort into conforming to the Scout Associations design I thought I would take a little time to inquire WHY?
Brands have become increasingly important in today's competitive world both for competitors and for consumers of products. The Scout brand is part of our Intellectual Property. It has been developed by the millions of scouts around the world over the last 100+ years and needs to be protected and nurtured. The Dictionary of Business and Management defines a brand as: "A name, sign or symbol used to identify items or services of the seller(s) and to differentiate them from goods of competitors." However a brand is more than a mere visual element of design. It is a collection of perceptions in the mind of the public. It a symbol, if you like it’s the embodiment of all we are and all we do..
The Scout Association and world scouting body invest heavily into managing consumers perception of the scout brand. Also they invested heavily in the initial positioning in the market so as to distinguish it from other competing brands. Brand Management begins with a branding strategy. Brand management involves building an emotional brand strategy. This is because people have a tendency to build a strong attachment to a brand. Brands evoke emotion and a good brand management strategy can increase brand loyalty among consumers. The perceptions in the minds of the consumers are in some ways more important than the products themselves. Another critical part of a brand management strategy is building trust in the brand. This can be achieved by delivering high quality products and also by creating products with an appealing design. A good brand management strategy involves making sure that the logo of the brand depicted on various products appeals to consumers.
Scouting is a strong recognisable brand with clear emotional attachments and this makes it attractive to external groups for co-branding, sub-branding and hybrid branding. These are all techniques that help companies reach out to new customers and leverage their own brands, thereby earning them more revenue. Our Brand managers are constantly striving to ensure that Scouting’s brand is not misused or commercialised. But we must all be conscious of not intentionally or unintentionally dilute and tarnish the brand image or knowingly allow others to do the same.
For brand management to be successful, it is also important to possess the right attitude. Brands must be constantly monitored and violations effectively enforced. So help us ensure that Scouting and all the hard work of the generations of Scouts an Volunteers around the world doesn’t go to waste, be a strong supporter of Brand management. Educate and police brand application and commercialisation in your Group, District, County or Region.
Yours in Scouting,
Matthew Black,
Development Officer GLMW
Thursday, 3 June 2010
Scouting Email, eZine's, eNews tips and tricks
Do you send a lot of email or publish an eZine or eNews for your scout district or county?
After sending a load of emails of to various people, I thought how much easier it is to communicate today. I can email any documents to my Leaders that they may need in a fraction of a second. I can also send information to multiple people in one go. Isn’t it great?
However, I have to remember I can’t just rely on email. Not only do some of our Leaders not have access but many don’t check it as often. There is also the trap of spam filters and even just plain getting lost in the crowd. I and not alone in receiving around 30-80 emails a day. So if I am particularly busy with appointments for a week or two so I can find anywhere from 200-1000 unread email in my box.
So, my advice to all you busy technophiles don’t just send email, grab the phone sometimes it is in most cases still the best way to communicate.
Oh, also another tip, read receipts for email will let you know if that important message got through but don’t over use it (I hate them on non-important stuff it costs me time and energy). For eNews or eZine add link tracking, I use tinyURL to publish eNews headlines with a little added content to entice the reader. This will give you a quick and dirty way of reporting on how many of those thousands of email newsletters you sent out were actually read. AND what parts were interesting enough to get users to “click-through” to your website to read the whole post.
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Use experts
If you can afford it use a professional to do the critical tasks in your organization. You may have a great volunteer that has put himself forward to do the county website but for the small extra cost of a professional you can have 100X's better results. The Scout association provides a lot of great generic support for example branding and consistency support for messaging. In GLMW we could benefit from a redesigned ITC infrastructure. Further, a coordinated rollout to the districts for a communications overhaul that centralises all contact data and volunteer opportunities for example would be a much more effective system than the disparate system that exists in most areas.
Matthew Black - ZQ6ZAZQDJ97S
Friday, 14 May 2010
Scouting and Mosaic piece together plan for more Muslim Scout volunteers
Thursday, 13 May 2010
Rant alert on Growing the Scouting movement and lack luster volunteers
If I can’t have a rant in my own Blog I don’t know where I can….so.
After yet another lack lustre comment from my Leadership over new initiatives to grow scouting. I am incensed and taking it out on my (currently one lol) loyal readership.
I am firm believer (and have proven that it works) that every child comes with a leader in waiting, it's simply our job to create a role that that parent wants to step into.
The Scouting movement must grow. Historically scouting in the UK used to be much higher in density, other countries have ridiculously higher penetration/population. On the world stage I think the UK is #15 or so.
I think that there is tons of scope for growth, new groups, new sections and more diverse ways of delivering scouting like community units, home based units business based units. All of which I have started in the US and none of which I am aware exist in this county.
Honestly I am a bit sick of leadership complaining about the lack of volunteers. All this negativity while, at exactly the same time, the parents of all the children in the program, children on waiting lists etc. are constantly being fed into a system that has a "childcare mentality" of what scouting is. I see almost all the parents of our scouting participants “dropping off” their children. To me Scouting (for the parents) is simply one step away from putting the kids in front of the TV or Xbox.
For me the scouting program is about, at is core, involvement.
I have seen and hear tons of hard evidence and millions of stories all about the fantastic difference in the lives of youth the scouting program has made. The fantastic impact that their scout leader has had in their life. The fantastic experience it has been for long time scouters to deliver the program. But at the same time as we KNOW how great it is I have to fight with entrenched leadership to open new units. Fight with existing leaders about giving parents one of the greatest gifts they could get in their adult life - a chance to know their child in a whole new way, to be their child hero and role model. In my opinion the problem, well the biggest problem, to having loads of volunteers is the existing culture and insular attitude of our current volunteers.
I have created a set of resources, funded vehicles for growing the movement and challenging the attitudes and entrenched resignation to volunteer recruitment. BUT ultimately my opinion, informed and supported as it may be, counts for almost nothing. As a volunteer lead organisation I cannot make one tiny iota of difference if there isn't some leadership and engagement to any initiatives I suggest.
Still, I have meet all my District Commissioners and I try to encourage and support them in trying something new. It must be something new because everyone knows that " business as usual" is simply going to give us exactly the same result i.e. Last year we had negative growth.
Thanks for reading my first and hopefully last rant in my blog.. lol I feel better already J
Young adults want more from a Scouting program
A brief inquiry into Scouting and its value to young adults
Scouting loses massive amounts of kids from the movement (our future leaders) once they move to secondary school and college. As a “product” we as the scouting movement “sell” scouting as Fun & Adventure. That is fine for a younger audience but I would contest that it is enough for the young adult in today’s world. So, what are young adults looking for that scouting isn’t providing?
I think there is a case to have our experts at the Scouting HQ to invest some time and money into having a much stronger “value propositions” for young adults and their parents on the topic of Career value from scouting. In Hong Kong the scouting program is almost ESSENTIAL to getting a top job of university placement. The proven values and skills young adults get out of their quality program is a valued commodity within this ultra-competitive job market. The US has a similar regard for their eagle scouts, other organisations around the world also have similar cultural attitude to scouting as a value to careers.
Adecco the world’s largest human resources company has invested millions in cold hard CASH into the World Scouting Organisation to forward the movement. When quizzed on their support the VP said that he recognised that scouting delivered the soft skills like leadership or confidence that was missing from conventional education curriculums. Their customers (most of the largest corporations in the world) were seriously looking for these skills in their future employees. The clear message for me is that we clearly have something to offer young adults and their education/career focused parents apart from “come along to scouts for a good time”. But is the UK scouting movement even capable of turning out the kind of program countries like Thailand, Japan, Denmark, Hong Kong, and the US deliver to their participants that makes them so in demand from top employers? – any comments?
I am working on a document/project that is a study into the application of the Dept. of Children, schools and Families and their 14-18 reform initiative. Basically they are looking to Industry to provide a step up to workplace training program they loosely refer to as "the diploma" and they are seeking organisation to use existing resource for on the job training and experience. This is a GREAT way for us to "sell" our Explorer and especially young leaders program to youth and parents.
The premise is as follows: We already provide leadership, confidence etc. (the attributes of the scouting program to youth) but with only a tiny bit of extra effort we could incorporate a "training program" that basically consists of the existing young leaders program, 1 1/2 hrs. per week unit volunteer work and another 1-2 days training on a more specific subject that interests the participant e.g. charity administration, event organisation, camp management etc. This would then open the doors to thousands of kids who are actively seeking practical work experience to put in their resume, from a world recognised organisation, with definite practical benefits to those looking for any job in volunteer management, charity or personnel management careers. For the Scouting association it’s a little paperwork, a tiny bit of management for an LDO and Voila' we have multiple mini leaders assisting leadership all over the county. Potential members, PLUS they will open the doors for us to their schools, colleges, and social networks for further recruitment opportunities.
Anyway this mini project of mine is just a bit of exploration into a concept from scout, explorer, and network participant feedback that they are looking for not just a good time anymore, kids and their parents are looking for VALUE from all their activities. Scout explorer programs can offer it, if we want to put that extra little bit of effort in for them to achieve it.
Oh , almost forgot there is also a whole thing about accreditation for training that we provide (and the “on the job” experience this could offer explorers would also qualify) being put into the new education credit scheme. This basically means that if you do accredited training then you can take that and apply it to a registered course e.g. Scouting for 1 year might get you 50% of a diploma in child welfare work.
Please feel free to contact me if this is something you are also interested in and I will see if we can collaborate on this potential discussion paper.
Yours in Scouting,
Matthew Black
Development Officer GLMW
ldo@glmwscouts.org.uk