Developing talent in a voluntary organisation

 

 

Introduction

I was invited to join the facilitation team for a talent programme called i.MOVEit, run by the Scouts last weekend.  As the programme’s title suggests, its purpose is to encourage participants to make change happen.  In the case of i.MOVEit, the change emerges from the ideas conceived by young adult leaders, aged 18-25, and is part of a broader national strategy for growth influenced and shaped by young people.   

i.MOVEit started about 7 years ago and is run by regionally-based teams in response to their local plans to develop younger adults into leadership roles earlier than might be expected.  

The programme is in three parts:

1.  A weekend event during which participants are introduced to the basics of leadership and management and begin to identify a change management project to work on over the following 6 months. 
2. Project work for 6 months supported by an experienced adult. 
3. One day follow up workshop to hear back on progress and to continue learning.

Reflections on the weekend event

 

A quality product

What impressed me most of all about this event was its quality.  I have been involved in corporate leadership development for over 25 years and the attention to detail was as good as anything I have experienced – and all run by volunteers to boot.

Networking

Just like any other management development event, the taught content probably plays second-fiddle to the networks being facilitated.  The 26 participants, drawn from Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire, were able to mix and learn from each other along with some excellent guest speakers in influential leadership roles in the national Scouting organisation.  

‘Give us a break’

How many programmes have you ever attended that allow participants time-off to play or chill-out within the core time of the programme?     

On i.MOVEit, there were two one hour breaks in the agenda, on the first full day, to allow participants time away from the taught sessions.  There was a choice of archery or air-rifle shooting for those who wanted something structured or there was the option to simply take time out, chat with other participants, or go for a walk in the woodland location of the event.  The point is that there was no training or formal learning taking place; it created a space to recharge, which felt to me very important.

The medium is sometimes to message.  Several speakers talked about the importance, especially in a volunteer role, to look after yourself.  ‘Give us a break’. QED.

Who has potential?

Each of the programme participants had been nominated by a local line manager.  However, unlike some corporate talent programmes, talent was not being defined using any kind of matrix of potential.  Nominating managers will have used some kind of sub-conscious metrics, but certainly nothing formal. 

At the end of the programme, the facilitators reviewed the contribution made by each participant. Given the programme inputs, who, in our view, was taking an active interest in helping the organisation to grow its youth-shaped vision?  Our discussion was informal and supportive. We wanted to be able to give feedback to the nominating managers about how their participants had responded to the programme and where further support might be of most benefit.  We certainly won’t have got all of our judgements right.  However, focusing on who was taking an interest in making change happen seemed a sensible way of thinking about talent. It also connects with the purpose of the Scouts, which empowers young people to make a positive contribution to society.  

Shaped by young people – do we yet believe it?

As I mentioned earlier in this post, The Scout Association's 2018-2023 vision is to be more inclusive and to be shaped by young people.  There are plenty of signs of progress being made in this area: from the appointment of Youth Commissioners (aged between 18-25) to facilitate the youth-shaped programme, to a shift, albeit gradually, towards younger adults being appointed into significant leadership roles.  

However, whatever structural changes are being made, the test is in what younger people are feeling about their ability to influence.  With Baby Boomers still occupying many of the key decision-making roles in Scout Groups, or in the structures that support them, the actual balance of power is skewed.  

Notwithstanding the excellent example of i.MOVEit, I noticed that, for some of the participants, there was a difference, not at all surprisingly, between the espoused vision and their everyday lived-experience.  The doubts expressed were concerned with their ability to influence older people, and/or that older people perceived them as ‘not yet ready’.  The Scout Association is in the midst of an ambitious change agenda, which will, quite naturally, take some time to acheive.  There will need to be plenty more encouragement of younger adults, via i.MOVEit and more, as well as feedback to older leaders where their unconscious biases hold back the emergence and acceptance of new ideas. 

Conclusion

I am a volunteer with the Scouts and I have a consultative role in Northamptonshire to help shape and influence talent management practices.  Attending i.MOVEit gave me direct access to a critical mass of younger leaders who are the target audience for my work.  It was a source of great encouragement.  There is a strong pool of young talent coming through who are keen and capable to effect change.  

In fact, programmes like i.MOVEit demonstrate how seriously The Scout Association is about effecting the desired shift.  But changing a culture from one that's been hierarchical and elder-led, to one that's open to new ideas, from wherever they emerge, represents a signficant and continuing challenge.  My role is to use talent management as a symbol and signal of the desired change.