Brigade administrators learn key skills
Brigade Administration Support Officer Cameron Hanley runs through features of Members Online.
District 9 brigades are halfway through a series of workshops targeted at brigade administrators – captains, secretaries, treasurers, lieutenants and volunteers interested in taking on the role in the year ahead.
“During our Annual Brigade Reviews we asked brigade administrators if they felt they had the appropriate skills to do their roles,” Brigade Administration Support Officer Danika Dent said.
“It was a confronting question and answer. In many cases, administrators hadn’t completed any further training apart from an out-dated Secretaries Essentials Course, felt their handovers were incomplete, or they identified significant gaps in their knowledge.
“In District 9, we also recognized that that there are a lot of new [online] applications, new policies, new requirements, and significant duties on brigade administrators that all help ‘get trucks out the door’."
So the District 9 administrative team (DBM, BASOs and DSOs), supported by the ACFO, came up with a list of frequently asked questions, identified areas of confusion and organised a series of workshops, with clear outcomes and led by subject matter experts.
“We were lucky enough that the BASO network provided a wealth of information on courses or workshops different Districts provide, but we knew we needed a combination of face-to-face and online sessions available at volunteer friendly times to meet the need,” Danika said.
“We called in the support of experts in brigade finance, volunteer recruitment, honours and awards and more. There was no way we could provide all the required information while also managing our own workloads.
“We came up with five online workshops book-ended with two face-to-face sessions. The workshops were based around:
- the roles, responsibilities, support available and Members Online
- Volunteer Recruitment Hub
- Honours and Awards
- Finances and Fundraising
- Child Safety and Wellbeing
- Insurance
- Memberships, requisitions and ‘Ask the Experts’.
“RSVPs have been consistent across all catchments, and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Most have really appreciated the opportunity to ask all sorts of questions and network with other administrators.
“Many of the participants have asked for sessions to be held yearly with election cycles.
“We’re really excited to be offering information and workshops with the experts in areas of focus for CFA, like Child Safety and Volunteer Recruitment Hub in particular.
“Our last workshop on 4 August will be a great one – we have the experts coming in to be able to answer any questions and we have representatives from the Child Safety Team, VFBV, Volunteer Sustainability Team, Finance, Community Engagement and more.
“It really is indicative of how District 9 works together and in conjunction with our Region and HQ colleagues for the benefit of brigades.”
The first District 9 Brigade Administration Workshop was attended by about 40 members.-
A screen-shot from the online session on Honours & Awards.
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The flyer as produced and communicated to District 9 Brigades.
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ACFO John Jugum welcomes members to the first District 9 Brigade Administration Workshop.
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The first face-to-face session at District 9 covered the roles, responsibilities under the Act and Regulations, finding our way around Members Online, special features, memberships and networking.