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For the first team we knew what the opportunity was, we just didn’t have a team. Also the nature of the opportunity meant that we wanted young people with at least an interest in what we were trying to do and ideally some experience of volunteering. Knowing the project we also knew that it was unlikely that sourcing a complete or existing team would be feasible. So for this first team we adopted a traditional recruitment strategy of advertising the opportunity and recruiting a selection of individual strangers. We’d worry about getting them to work as team later.

Power of 5: (n) a mathematical exponent to the order of 5

Background

Internally at VCE we had identified that while our award winning website met the needs of the general public very well it did not necessarily speak to young people. In addition there is quite a range of options for younger volunteers, such as MV Awards for their part time volunteering and Project Scotland for those looking for full time volunteering. Having identified the need for a youth specific website we were also smart enough to realise that as a bunch of 30 and 40 somethings, any attempts on our part to get in touch with the “youth” would probably be the internet equivalent of an embarrassing aunty turning up to meet your friends. We also listened to young people who said that we needed to address the image of volunteering.

The project would:

• Provide a rewarding, challenging, ‘real world’ experience for the volunteers
• Produce a functional, sustainable web site, that would successfully communicate to young people, within a set time period.

Recruiting the team

As stated we knew that to make this team we’d need to recruit a group of young people who probably wouldn’t know each other. Two of the team members came to us through the Volunteer Centre advisors and the other three came to us via the opportunity we published on our web site (proving that we were already successful in reaching some young people).

Five volunteers took part in the project.

1. Bobby came from a volunteering background in a range of youth projects.
2. Calum had no experience of volunteering, but came with a need for work experience, and an interest in learning more about web development.
3. Gail was part way through a Marketing degree.
4. Kathryn is an experienced volunteer and had already lent her design skills to a number of voluntary organisations.
5. Tina was an experienced volunteer at Gorgie City Farm, and is enthusiastic about online communities.

Planning

We didn’t want to define too much about the project, other than the outcome (a website) and the time scale. We wanted a few young people, in a workable team, to research, plan and carry forward the project, using the Volunteer Centre’s Communication Officer to facilitate the project, and assist with the technical aspects of developing a website. Planning was to be part of the challenge.

It turns out that there was something of a gulf between how we thought the project might run, and how it turned out.

We hoped the team would gel, organise and take the initiative, and come with the technical and organisational skills necessary. In reality the team needed a lot of support to identify tasks and establish a design process. The team was talented but lacked the ‘ready to go’ web skills we hoped to find.

While we hoped to have a ‘hands-off’ interaction with the team with the balance toward facilitation rather than leadership; shyness, inexperience and the need to meet deadlines meant that a guiding hand was needed to keep things on track. As a result, the Project Plan was a joint effort between the team and our Communications Officer.

Market Research

A youth oriented brand and web site has to be based on at least basic research. By presenting the team with selected data that we were already aware of, we cut some corners here. That said, a couple of volunteers enthusiastically searched the web and came back with some useful titbits of information that we weren’t aware of.

The most important findings were that

• The word volunteering was not inspiring for young folk
• Volunteering opportunities need to be flexible and meaningful
• Existing literature was seen as stuffy and dry
• Demand for volunteering is set to grow

Developing a Brand

One of our first realisations was that brainstorming is not a familiar concept to everyone. Some of the team found it quite difficult to take part in an uninhibited way.

With a bit of coaxing however, the team arrived at the concept of the Power of 5.

There is no mention of volunteering, the word ‘Power’ is, erm, powerful, and the multiple 5 presents a usefully flexible marketing device.

Designing a Website

Different members of the team clearly had different strengths. Some of them were pretty uncomfortable designing mock ups of web sites; all were struggling to produce anything using Fireworks – a standard drawing package. The successful design came from an attempt to work around these issues altogether, using collage. If we were to do a similar exercise again, we would probably avoid the steep learning curve of design software, and start with familiar, concrete design exercises that hopefully many young people will have some familiarity with. The inspiration for our final design came from Kathryn’s collage.

Technical Challenge

While the team had a keen interest in web design, they didn’t come with well developed web design skills. It helped that they knew what HTML is, but they weren’t quite ready to just sit down and write it.

Expecting to manage the project with minimal supervision and intervention, while trying to stick to stringent deadlines was entirely unrealistic.

We wanted the project to provide learning opportunities, but weren’t quite prepared for the variations in learning skills shown by our team.

If we were to repeat the project we might consider building it in to a learning programme, or using volunteers who have already started out in the web design industry.

Raising the Profile

A visit from the First Minister, Jack McConnell and Lord Laidlaw helped tremendously in raising the profile of the Power of 5. We believe it even helped put the lack of national web provision for young volunteers on the government's agenda!

	Power of 5 volunteer, Tina demonstrates the website to Jack McConnell and Lord Laidlaw.
	Calum performs for the media...
	Tina, Kathryn and Calum from the Power of 5 team pose with First Minister Jack McConnell.

 

Ongoing Management

At the end of the project three of the team left to pursue other things, and two stayed on to manage the website and to participate in the steering group set up to oversee its ongoing management.

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Learning Outcomes

For this model of team volunteering we recruited a team of young people who had no connection with each other for a project which had been identified. Interest in the specific nature of the project - ie webdesign - was a key hook for recruitment.

1. Stick to the Plan

Our original person-spec for volunteers was spot on, but we didn't stick to it. In retrospect it is possible to see that if we had stuck to our original intentions, i.e. to find volunteers with well developed, existing skills, it would have been much easier to progress such a skill demanding project.

2. Seek Advice

We failed to find volunteers at an appropriate stage of their professional development. Even if we were talking to the right volunteers, it was pretty hard to tell if they had the skills without some assessment criteria. It is perhaps in this area that a private company could have helped us by advising on how they worked their internship programmes etc, where similar demands come in to play.

3. Provide Structure

We were attempting to deliver the project to a fixed timescale. Expecting the team to gel together, make a project plan and find the skills necessary to deliver the site was almost beyond us given the time available.

To some extent the strength and capacity of the team is related to your skill in motivating and cementing them as a group. If you're really good at this, perhaps it will be possible to allow your team space to structure their own work. If you're not great at team building, or time is short, play to your strengths. Create a structure, define some tasks, and ensure that the work is completed to schedule.

 

1. Introduction
2. Team 1 - Power of 5
3. Team 2 - Streetwise
4. Team 3 - Green Fingers
5. What we Learned
6. Tools / Resources for Team Events