AFS-USA to Expand Team Development Pilot Project!

From AFSWiki

In January 2011, AFS-USA announced the launch of the Team Development Pilot Project – a new way of deploying staff to work with volunteer teams, which we believe will help AFS USA to strengthen both our programs and our volunteer network. Last winter, six pilot Teams were selected for the first phase of the Team Development Pilot Project. Each of these Teams was assigned one full time staff person as their “Team Development Specialist.” This full-time staff person became the primary staff contact for Hosting, Sending, and Volunteer Development. For more information about this initial pilot please refer to the following articles posted on the wiki: Exciting Team Development Pilot Project to Launch, Teams and Staff to Launch Pilot Project, and Team Development Pilot Update.

Today, we are announcing an expansion of the Team Development Pilot Project to the following teams in January 2012:

1. Mass Bay Team

2. Carolinas Team

3. Milwaukee and Waukesha & West Teams

4. East Metro and Greater West Metro Teams

5. Kansas City Team

6. Steinbeck Coast and California Central Coast Teams

7. Grand Canyon and Las Vegas Teams

Changes in the Volunteer Development Department

The current Director of Volunteer Development, Scott Hume, will be moving into the role of Director of Team Development and will supervise the staff who will work in the 7 Phase II teams listed above. In order to bring these additional teams into the TDS pilot, the five current Volunteer Development Coordinator positions will be converted into Team Development Specialist positions and two additional Team Development Specialist positions will be created. Staff currently in the Volunteer Development Coordinator positions have been invited to apply for the new Team Development Specialist positions. Applications for the Team Development Specialist positions will be considered from other current staff and from volunteers living in the teams that have been selected for Phase II as well.

The current Volunteer Resources staff in Portland, managed by Damayonti Rowe, will continue to offer administrative support to volunteers and teams in areas such as volunteer registration, team chartering and team quality & compliance assessments. Nancy Frazier, our current Volunteer Development Manager will continue in her position on a part-time basis going forward and will serve as the key contact person for individual volunteers and volunteer teams in need of assistance or who have questions and/or issues they would normally bring to Volunteer Development staff. Nancy will be able to assess volunteer and team needs and requests and ensure that appropriate members of staff are assigned. There will be some additional changes to the staff structure specifically in the area of volunteer training which will be announced shortly and which we believe will also be able to assist with volunteer development needs in the coming year.

Important Dates & Next steps

• Late December: Staffing decisions finalized for the new Team Development group.
• January 13: Last day for current Volunteer Development Director, Manager, and Coordinators in their current roles.
• Mid-January 2012: Phase II Team Development Specialists begin training.

We are excited by the opportunity to expand the Team Development Pilot which we believe has been a positive learning experience for the staff and volunteers participating in the first months of the pilot. As always please feel free to contact me at kmccollum@afs.org with any questions you may have.

Kerry McCollum Chief Organizational Development Officer