"Hello, you'd like to help.....OK you need to fill in a CRB form before we can talk about it...", "You'd like to help us do some administration.....but I've been doing my very best with administration as well as running the programme for two sections and cleaning the HQ"....."We don't provide uniform for adult leaders here.....we always have bought our own so therefore new adults should too - it demonstrates their commitment"...."She can only help us every third week....what's the point in that? Makes capitation expensive!"

Welcoming and training new adults is a real challenge for us. It sounds bizzare doesn't it, we cry out for more help, yet every one of the quotes above, are real (in fact, from groups in our own district in recent times).

Members of our District Adult Recruitment Team (DART) regularly meet new adult volunteers and welcome them, discussing consistent messages and sharing their real experiences of a rewarding volunteer experience. A new adult receives a welcome pack and is next introduced to a Group or Unit to be inducted into role. 

Despite this, our conversation of adults to leaders remains quite low and therefore is a priority area for development. Hannah contacts all new adults a few weeks after their enquiry and completes an email survey of their experiences. As the data gathers, I'll share this with GSL's.

• Action: What is the welcome culture of your group? What would a new adult actually do? Is the role defined? Who will 'manage' their induction? Who will check it's being done? Do you provide uniform? Is your meeting place welcoming? Sell scouting to a new adult as a great experience, rewarding, social and fun afterall, that's why you do it isn't it?
  
  
• Action: Our RDO has recently prepared an induction checklist which will be shared with GSL's and ESL's. It defines the kind of induction we believe will engage adult volunteers further and ensure that they will feel supported. 
  
  
• Action: Identify the actual vacancies that your group/section has available. In our district we log this in an online tracker. View the tracker. GSL's can edit this.