Transformation

Transforming our Volunteer Experience

We want to make volunteering with Scouts easier and more fun, so that we can attract and retain more volunteers, resulting in more young people gaining Skills for Life!

Read on for details of what this means, or click here for our one page quick briefing on improving the volunteer experience.

As part of delivering our Skills for Life Strategy, we’re going to transform the volunteering experience. We want to make sure our volunteers feel valued for everything that they do and most of all, we want them to enjoy themselves.

Together, we aim to:

• Recruit 10,000 more frontline volunteers nationally
• Have a compelling volunteer offer that demonstrates the value and benefit of volunteering for The Scouts
• Ensure our volunteer roles are modern, manageable, and fit for purpose
• Have an improved and seamless joining and learning journey
• Have more volunteers from a diverse range of backgrounds that reflect the demographics of society

What is changing?

We cannot grow to meet our ambitions for young people, from section level to the whole of the UK, without making some fundamental changes.

The culture we need to build is one that’s inclusive, supportive, digitally enabled, with clear roles, learning (not training) and welcoming.

Listening to our volunteers, young people and more we’ve identified three key areas for change:

• Providing a warmer welcome for everyone
• Delivering a more engaging learning experience
• Simplifying how we volunteer together

All of which will be supported by easy-to-use digital tools.

We’ll do this together over the next 15 months, to make changes that:

Providing a warmer welcome for everyone

• Volunteers feel welcomed, valued and at ease from day one
• Welcome conversation where you volunteer
• A buddy throughout your induction
• Volunteers being provided with the information, key knowledge and skills required to ensure they can be successful in their role
• Empowering volunteers through self-service tools for learning
• More tools to support local volunteer recruitment

Digital tools supporting this change

• Improved visibility of volunteering opportunities with easily shareable advertisements (with popular apps and platforms)
• Improved attraction of volunteers who have no previous experience of Scouting
• Transparency for new volunteers, showing them each step of their recruitment journey
• An automated and mobile friendly referencing system

Delivering a more engaging learning experience

• Personalised learning when you need it, tailored to your role
• Digital first (but not digital only) approach, revitalised learning including bite-sized learning, all in one place
• Wood badge is optional and available to all
• Existing skills recognised and sign off built in without separate validation

Digital tools supporting this change

• New digital learning system to support learners and reduce administration
• Updated and improved Core learning
• Learning accessible all in one place
• Improved accessibility features and support for all
• Easy to use compliance management and reporting tools

Simplifying how we volunteer together

• A shift to team-based volunteering
• Each team has a clear purpose with a set of tasks
• Clearer roles with titles that people inside and outside Scouts understand
• Improved team structures with clearer responsibilities and reduced administration
• Structures and teams which allow for individuals to contribute in a way that matches their skills, interests and availability

Digital tools supporting this change

A new membership system will replace Compass and support this change.

Easier and improved management of:

• Volunteer roles
• Permits
• Awards
• Nights Away Notifications
• Additional features added over time