Doing Our Best toolkits

Girlguiding trainer Fliss and Division Commissioner Nicky explain how they’ve been making good use of the ideas and resources in the Doing Our Best toolkit for trainers

In August, at the British Girlguiding Overseas (BGO) camp, Compass ’19, Trainer Fliss Callanan used the new Doing Our Best toolkit in a session for volunteers from around the globe, including Nicky Parker, Division Commissioner for Malaysia.

‘The trainer toolkit is great – it has loads of ideas and resources that I could just adapt to my needs,’ says Fliss.

‘As the training at Compass ’19 was for anyone, it was interesting to have a mixture of roles to help us look at the checklists from different perspectives.

We started off considering what quality looks like to different people – a unit member, a leader, a commissioner – and then talked about the development of the standards and how they’ve changed over time.

‘We also played a round of safety bingo. With a BGO group, it was fascinating to share a variety of local adaptations – from desert risk assessments to earthquake drills.

‘The training really helped participants identify what we should be doing and highlighted good practice. We do so much great stuff and the standards are all about recognising where we’re doing well and anything we need to improve.’

Going to a face-to-face training session meant volunteer Nicky could tap into Fliss’s knowledge and also ask any questions there and then.

‘The activity looking at scenarios from different people’s perspectives, be it Brownie, a Brownie leader, parent or commissioner, highlighted that “quality” means different things depending on your point of view. What would make me concerned as a commissioner might not be noticed by others, for example,’ says Nicky. Doing Our Best means we have a consistent checklist that everyone can use.

Nicky also loved the safety bingo activity. ‘I’m planning to use this in our next division meeting where all units will have a representative. It will be a good lead into a discussion on the checklists and help us to identify any knowledge gaps or training that’s needed.

‘I think the Doing Our Best checklists are great, and the questions on the website around each of the points really get leaders thinking.

‘In Malaysia, we simply adapt them to our local situation – for example, we need all leaders to ensure their units are aware of procedures and know the different sounds for lockdown and lightning alarms.’