Volunteer Essentials Pet Peeve
Experiences as a Leader 6 Comments 
councils, gsusa, leader issues, pet peeves, time
Welcome to the next installment of Pet Peeves, where I vent about irritations I deal with as a volunteer. This isn’t the typical stuff like parents and paperwork, but more about things that GSUSA or councils do (or don’t do) that makes things just a little frustrating for leaders. Or a lot frustrating, depending on my mood. But – I do try to offer some kind of solution after I complain about whatever it is that’s bothering me, so hopefully I can be of some help.
As a side note – during this past year’s City Slickers summer camp, I was telling my co-leader about situations I always seem to get mixed up in. She said to me, “Have you ever noticed that anytime trouble breaks out and you’re involved, at some point you say, ‘I was just trying to help!'” So sometimes my help is not the best thing in the world.
And here’s another side note – why the phrase “pet peeve?” I always wonder about things that nobody else seems to care about, so I looked it up. Wikipedia states that the first use of this word started in 1919, and it stems from the word peevish. So there’s your useless trivia for the day. Cliff Clavin would be proud.
Anyway, the following is a pet peeve that’s been bothering me for a while now about good ‘ole Volunteer Essentials. I’m assuming this guide is used by all councils. If you don’t know what Volunteer Essentials is, it’s basically a leader’s guide with all of the need-to-know red tape information, guidelines, and other basics. In other words, a lot of wordy text.
At first glance, it might sound like I’m just griping about nothing because the required knowledge IS going to be wordy, and that in and of itself is not my pet peeve. It’s that I’m usually in a hurry to look up something like how many volunteers I’m supposed to have per number of girls, and I don’t have time to flip through page after page and/or look at the table of contents (with no page numbers) to figure out if this information is under this heading or that heading. It becomes very tedious. I would also include the current chapter on every page’s header to make topics easier to reference.
Volunteer Essentials needs an index. Badly. I’ve suggested this a few times to my council, and they tell me GSUSA sends them a template that they can then customize as they see fit. Would it be so hard for GSUSA to at least provide some kind of initial index just to get things started? Councils could tailor it from there. I realize it probably would be a little time intensive to spend on something like this, but in my opinion, it would really help volunteers out. If Volunteer Essentials is supposed to be used as a reference, then an index should be a no-brainer.
And would it hurt to include a few pictures? Again, maybe some councils add their own graphics and mine just happens to not do this, but some of us are visual learners, and it’s easier to quickly pick up what we need to know with a graphic. They also help break up the pages and pages of black and white text so that it’s not so overwhelming. If color is too expensive, then make the graphics B&W. Just something would be nice.
I’d also include a small glossary of terms like World Thinking Day, Safety Activity Checkpoints, etc. Councils could add their own terminology that’s specific to their area. New leaders would especially appreciate this. It’s overwhelming enough to be brand new and handed this book of text much less to have to figure out what the heck people are talking about when they use unfamiliar terms. I’d even suggest that councils add some kind of short FAQ section. This information might already be posted somewhere else like the website or a programming booklet, but having everything in one place would be very productive.
So there you go – as I’ve said before, it’s the little things that make the difference.
Addendum 10/19/16 1:34pm: So after seeing some other councils’ VE versions, I have apparently thrown my council under the bus. Sorry Sara and crew. I was just trying to help. Maybe I should draw another comic for you all. 😉 FYI, they have promised that changes will be coming next year!
Wow! Once again the inconsistency between councils is a disappointment and something that the national team could have impact to guide all council staff’s to have the key elements. The VE is so important to new leaders – it really is the “GO TO” document for all questions – I’ve rarely not found what I need. Check out the Atlanta Area Council’s VE… it has page numbers on the ToC, it has an index, and a glossary…. I am very impressed with the effort that our council team has put into this document – and they update it with “slip sheets” each year where they send out a packet of only the pages that were updated saving time and cost of reprinting the whole thing – it’s not hard to insert the replacement pages (for those that still look at a paper version). With it online and available as a pdf, I don’t even look at the index, I just hit Ctrl+F and enter into the search field what I’m looking for. I give it five stars (out of five). (http://www.girlscoutsatl.org/content/dam/girlscouts-girlscoutsatl/documents/Volunteer-Essentials.pdf)
Strange, ours is online as well as provided in print. I keep the printed copy in my bag, but like having the electronic file so I can do a word search if I’m looking for something specific. I’m providing a link in case you’d like to see – perhaps your council would like to see first hand how other councils do things (or, maybe they don’t care).
It doesn’t have an index, but it does have a table of contents.
http://www.gscnc.org/content/dam/girlscouts-gscnc/documents/Volunteer/Kick-off%20resources%202016/VolunteerEssentials.pdf
Not only does GSCNC offer the electronic copy, but they also sum up a series of changes since the last edition.
http://www.gscnc.org/content/dam/girlscouts-gscnc/documents/Volunteer/Kick-off%20resources%202016/Whats%20New%20in%20Volunteer%20Essentials.pdf
Its not perfect. There are still lots of areas that need work (IE dealing with disbanding troops/non-continuing girls and money – they have left out info and are trying to pass on the info by word of mouth – BAD IDEA!), but it is a helpful tool for me, a leader and a SUM.
I Know What You Mean
I just looked at the two links that have been provided so far in the comments, and ours is not even close to what you all have.
So apparently I just threw my council under the bus. Yep. ::winces:: Sorry Sara and crew! I was just trying to help.
I don’t think you threw your council under the bus and your staff team should not be threatened by your venting of “why no paginated ToC or index?” We all need to face the reality – and this is a good example – that a federated organization is, as a whole, only as good as the weakest affiliate and as such, can suffer from uneven performance. That’s what is demonstrated here by looking at the three VE products that have been shared.
What makes one better than the other (none of them are perfect and none of them will ever be in a changing world) is a result of inconsistent levels of leadership, vision, and resources at the affiliate (council) level coupled with a “home office” that may not particularly be delivering sufficient value. If it is true that GSUSA sends a template to the Councils that “that they can then customize as they see fit” then the need to revamp what is the baseline expectation (and do some basic formatting in the template) might be in order.
GSUSA holds all the charters for the councils so it really is the governing body that sets the performance expectations. The fundamental issue here is why, when it is so simple to do, produce a reference guide that has no index or paginated ToC? It’s a reference guide – people need to find stuff quickly. MSWord is probably the backbone of the template and will automatically produce the ToC/index. Our older Girl Scouts know how to use these features, our staff should also.
If I’m not mistaken, all councils are grouped into peer groups based on size (number of girls/volunteers), revenue, and other measurement factors and I think council leadership (staff) actually benchmarks within those peer groups. Perhaps alongside the groups by size/$$/whatever, we need a mentoring philosophy within GSUSA where councils are grouped or partnered in a mentoring or big sister model where they can help each other. Very affluent councils where money is not as much of an issue may actually learn something about “using resources wisely” as they partner with a smaller council super efficient at thriftily garnering similar results but lack the rain making tips and tricks – and development of a VE with a paginated ToC and index. All we are looking for is the spark that ignites greater achievement by all. I’m not sure the ‘great transformation’ actually established a governance system that embraces constituent activism (or inclusion… that’s another post…)
You did not throw our council under the bus . They are a lot of New leaders/Volunteers that agree with what you posted!
I wish our council offered as much as these other council’s offered !
I don’t even like our “new” website , but that’s a totally different topic there.
On to the VE book. We are still using 2015 version , why not update it better , Pictures would be awesome!!!