Communities
Communities
Feature
A new approach to community leadership
RCOT ’ s Dr Nikki Daniels and Dr Christina Fuentes Tibbitt share details of the new approach to community leadership being introduced through the Reimagining Communities project .
O
ver the last few months , we ’ ve shared with members details of our new communities model and the new practice , professional and regional networks you ’ ll be invited to join when we launch RCOT Communities next year .
An integral part of our vision for new , inclusive and accessible communities is improving our approach to community leadership – effectively those active and engaged members who chose to volunteer with RCOT to advance both practice and the profession .
Members at the heart of our communities
Historically RCOT members have held community volunteer positions such as Chairs , Vice Chairs , Treasurers , Secretaries and many more .
Through our wider stakeholder engagement we have worked with our volunteers to understand how these roles have evolved and how we can better work with and support our volunteers to enable our communities to thrive .
Volunteers bring skills , expertise , time , passion and energy to their roles , but we heard that they can also feel burdensome on top of busy personal and professional lives .
Reimagining Communities enables us to consider how we can develop community leadership and evolve our volunteer positions to provide better support , integrate more development opportunities and ensure our volunteer management practices are both aligned with RCOT ’ s values and wider best practice .
Developing in partnership with our members and existing volunteers
We ’ ve had over 170 members supporting us in dedicated design groups thinking about all aspects of volunteering and how these can support our new networks . Thank you to everyone who ’ s participated in these rich discussions sharing ideas , suggestions and offering insights into their own volunteering journeys . Together we ’ ve developed a new approach to community leadership .
A new volunteer strategy
We have a new volunteer strategy that we ’ ll launch with the RCOT Communities platform and networks next year . The core principes of our volunteer strategy are :
• Volunteering is embedded with our overall vision and values and its impact is recognised and communicated .
• There is a proactive approach to inclusion , belonging , equity and diversity and to making volunteering welcoming and accessible .
• It ’ s easy for people to find out about volunteering opportunities , explore whether they are right for them and to get involved .
• Volunteers feel supported , are seen as part of RCOT and their contribution makes a difference .
• Volunteers feel valued and have opportunities to develop and grow through their volunteering experience .
• We have people , policies and processes to support , manage , develop and recognise our volunteers
This means we ’ ll move away from the formal committees and instead focus on community leadership opportunities , where members can both lead the profession through our new networks and develop leadership qualities , skills and behaviours .
We ’ re aiming to achieve Investing in Volunteers ( IiV ) quality standards , to ensure we have good practices in volunteer management and to demonstrate to our volunteers how valued they are and how committed we are to providing them with an outstanding volunteer experience .
Rooted in the CDF
We ’ ll use the Career Development Framework ( CDF ), which sets out guiding principles to inform learning and development specific to occupational therapy to shape and define a new set of volunteer roles .
16 OTnews November 2024