FA/Orientation

ORIENTATION Orientation is the presentation of information and skills that every member of the committee requires regardless of their role on the committee. This differs from training which is the information and skills required for a particular role on the committee.

The orientation should exist in 3 forms;

a full prose version available in the office (Orientation Binders);

a shorter point form version for the person conducting the orientation to refer to, an even shorter point form hand out version covering only major, important points for the potential volunteer HOW: The orientation should be given one on one, verbally, supported by such handouts etc as appropriate. DO NOT simply hand the person a pile of handouts and assume that they have been oriented. If it's not important enough for you to tell them in person, then its not important enough for them to read.

Time: No longer than 2 hrs/session with a 15 min break in the middle. (ie. have more than one orientation session)

Points to cover in the Orientation

Explain the committees' purpose (and Noble Purpose, if known); emphasize the importance of the committees work to PERC, & the issues (peace, env, SJ) respectively.

Explain importance of the work that the volunteer will be doing (if known) to the committee, and hence PERC, etc

History of the committee (get more detailed as you get closer to the present, even describing what went on at the last meeting. Be sure to use the names of people who are still with the committee so that the person will start to get familiar with them);

When, why (reason at that time)and how the committee started

Major changes since then

Significant successes and failures the committee has had, and the reasons for each (as known)

Explain the committees' structure:

Who is on the committee

What each one does (their role)

Who has decision making or other authority on the Committee

Note particularly who will train the volunteer

Who will supervise volunteer's work

Who can volunteer go to for help, with problems, complaints

How the committee works (groups, individually)

Describe:

a typical meeting of the committee,

a typical "month" for the Committee

a typical "year"


 * make sure the person has active accounts on dotproject, mediawiki and the forums, and that they understand how they are used and how to use them.

Discuss: committee strengths, weaknesses (be honest) committees goals and plans, both short and long term major challenges the committee faces relevant organizational Policy and Bylaws that affects the volunteer and committee (have a comfortable prose version available - never use the legalistic original text(s) and the reasons for them committee policies and their reasons Describe fully: commitment expected from the volunteer, including - how many hours, how much responsibility) and schedule (is the work spread out or does it come in spurts) training expected, including meeting and group skills (agenda, facilitation, hand signals if used, minute taking etc) as well as skills relating directly to the committees' function the role that they can expect to take at the next meeting of the committee, and when they can expect to meet other committee members (if that is different from the next meeting) It is important that the volunteer can expect to be doing something relevant to the committee fairly quickly. Depending on how long it is until the next meeting (hopefully when they would start taking part in the work) it may be appropriate to have work or tasks ready for the volunteer to begin immediately (assuming the committee will not be meeting for several weeks). This can include: training fairly simple straightforward tasks study of handouts and/or other relevant material Run through hand-outs (if any) verbally. These should include: a phone list of members of the committee; a short version of the orientation;

This is the "short version" of the orientation found at: http://www.perc.ca/vols-only/wiki/index.php/Orientation%20Template This is some basic information about the PERCshop team, information that should be covered in the orientation of each new member. First item to consider is our Noble Purpose (yes! we do have one!). The PERCshop team's Noble Purpose is to effect positive social change and transformation. We accomplish this by teaching a variety of skills to community groups by means of workshops (aka PERCshops). Each team member is an active participant in the planning, preparation and animation of the PERCshops. Next, a little PERCshop history. The group started in the mid 1990's in response to a need within PERC for more highly skilled volunteers. Since its inauguration, key changes have occurred. PERCshops are not just for PERC volunteers: anyone can participate. The content of the workshops has also evolved, as some skills and tools were identified as particularly useful to learn and implement within groups. Moreover, the content of the workshop needed to be modified to adjust to the reality of repeat attendees; we needed new and expanded content! For more information on the content of the PERCshops, check out the following page: http://www.perc.ca/wiki/index.php/The%20Full%20Cycle%20of%20PERCshops You will find an overview of the entire PERCshop cycle (all 13 sessions). Change also manifests itself within the PERCshop team as members come and, sadly, go. What are the team's significant failures and successes? An on-going challenge for the team rests in our administrative up-keep. Our success, on the other hand, can perhaps best be measured by the feedback from PERCshop participants: it is almost always overwhelmingly positive.

ORIENTATION
Orientation is the presentation of information and skills that every member of the committee requires regardless of their role on the committee. This differs from training which is the information and skills required for a particular role on the committee.

The orientation should exist in 3 forms;

a full prose version available in the office (Orientation Binders); a shorter point form version for the person conducting the orientation to refer to, an even shorter point form hand out version covering only major, important points for the potential volunteer HOW: The orientation should be given one on one, verbally, supported by such handouts etc as appropriate. DO NOT simply hand the person a pile of handouts and assume that they have been oriented. If it's not important enough for you to tell them in person, then its not important enough for them to read.

Time: No longer than 2 hrs/session with a 15 min break in the middle. (ie. have more than one orientation session)

Points to cover in the Orientation

Explain the committees' purpose (and Noble Purpose, if known); emphasize the importance of the committees work to PERC, & the issues (peace, env, SJ) respectively. Explain importance of the work that the volunteer will be doing (if known) to the committee, and hence PERC, etc History of the committee (get more detailed as you get closer to the present, even describing what went on at the last meeting. Be sure to use the names of people who are still with the committee so that the person will start to get familiar with them); When, why (reason at that time)and how the committee started Major changes since then Significant successes and failures the committee has had, and the reasons for each (as known) Explain the committees' structure: Who is on the committee What each one does (their role) Who has decision making or other authority on the Committee Note particularly who will train the volunteer Who will supervise volunteer's work Who can volunteer go to for help, with problems, complaints How the committee works (groups, individually) Describe: a typical meeting of the committee, a typical "month" for the Committee a typical "year" Discuss: committee strengths, weaknesses (be honest) committees goals and plans, both short and long term major challenges the committee faces relevant organizational Policy and Bylaws that affects the volunteer and committee (have a comfortable prose version available - never use the legalistic original text(s) and the reasons for them committee policies and their reasons Describe fully: commitment expected from the volunteer, including - how many hours, how much responsibility) and schedule (is the work spread out or does it come in spurts) training expected, including meeting and group skills (agenda, facilitation, hand signals if used, minute taking etc) as well as skills relating directly to the committees' function the role that they can expect to take at the next meeting of the committee, and when they can expect to meet other committee members (if that is different from the next meeting) It is important that the volunteer can expect to be doing something relevant to the committee fairly quickly. Depending on how long it is until the next meeting (hopefully when they would start taking part in the work) it may be appropriate to have work or tasks ready for the volunteer to begin immediately (assuming the committee will not be meeting for several weeks). This can include: training fairly simple straightforward tasks study of handouts and/or other relevant material Run through hand-outs (if any) verbally. These should include: a phone list of members of the committee; a short version of the orientation;