Team Leader Handbook

It’s really important to avoid ‘employment’-related terminology in your correspondence with volunteers (words like ‘job’, ‘promotion’ and ‘contract’). We need team members to retain a voluntary relationship with Greenbelt and not stray into territory which could be complicated by employment legislation.

The package for volunteers (wristbands, food vouchers etc) is offered to support volunteers in their role. Please make sure you avoid references to ‘payment’, ‘reward’ and ‘in return for x number of hours volunteered’.

By the time you read this, your teams will be full, or at least getting that way. Once your team is full, and if you have any more volunteers than you can make use of, please let the Greenbelt office know. If you are struggling to get enough volunteers please also let the office know so we can push adverts on social media and the GB website.

You have probably already organised the structure of your team. If you haven’t, can any of your more experienced volunteers take on some extra responsibility? Do you need some group or shift leaders? We don’t want to over-work our team leaders and deputies, so spreading some roles may help with this.

If someone isn’t suitable for your team please pass the details on to Caroline, with an explanation as to why you think they’re not best placed with you. We may be able to find another team for them.

Certain volunteers will require a DBS check. This includes certain members of the Children’s Team, Youth Team and Safeguarding. 

If you are unsure if any of your team need a DBS check please contact the office. 

Greenbelt takes safeguarding children, young people and adults at risk at the festival very seriously. The Greenbelt Safeguarding team train and guide staff and volunteers in all areas of safeguarding and will advise on the implications of Greenbelt’s safeguarding policy for your team. All information relating to DBS checks is dealt with in confidence and in line with Greenbelt’s safeguarding policy and adheres to the guidelines provided by the Disclosure and Barring Service.

If, or when, the time comes for you to step down as Team Leader, it would be really helpful for the office to have detailed handover notes. Any contact details of volunteers and details on how the team operates belong to the festival and should be handed over should you finish. New Team Leaders are appointed by the GB Office.

It is vital to ensure the quality of service and the ongoing development of the festival. So, we always need to think to the future. Please be on the lookout for volunteers on your team who may have skills or capacity to take on more demanding roles or extra responsibility – in your team, or somewhere else in the festival and pass their details to the GB Office.

Please provide clear information to your team members so that they know what to expect.

Here are a few things your volunteers will need to know:

• The name of the team they will be in (people do arrive not knowing which team they have volunteered for, or know it by a different name). Please use the team name as shown on Sheep, then it will match our lists.
• The name of the Team Leader and Deputy (and main contact person if different)
• Your contact details – email address for pre-festival and mobile number for during the festival.
• When you will arrive on site.
• When you need them to arrive.
• Where to collect temporary wristbands.
• Where your team will be based.
• What their role involves (including tasks, hours expected, how rotas work – will they have one long shift or a couple of shorter ones through the day, rotas – if available pre- festival)
• When and where your team briefing and any training will be.
• That you will distribute weekend wristbands, vouchers at briefings.
• That a link to the Volunteers Handbook should have been emailed out to them.
• Remind volunteers that, if their contact details change, they should log back into Sheep to amend them https://app.sheepcrm.com/login. If they have changed email address, they will need to let volunteers@greenbelt.org.uk know, so she can update their record.
• If their emergency contact has changed between the time they applied and the festival please ask them to let you know and then pass that information to volunteers@greenbelt.org.uk.
• Ask them to let you know if circumstances change before the festival and they won’t be able to volunteer.

Many teams are now using Whatsapp to communicate with their teams. If you don’t already, please consider doing so, as our festival feedback has shown this really helped all volunteers. There are some things you need to be careful with when using Whatsapp:

1. Don’t just add team members. It is possible to send an invitation to your team members, and they can choose to join.
2. Members phone numbers will be visible to all group members. Volunteers shouldn’t save numbers unless they have the explicit permission/consent of the person to do so, and we suggest that if a volunteer receives unwanted communication via WhatApp from another team member they can raise this with their Team Leader, or directly with Greenbelt so support can be offered if needed.
3. Not everyone will want to be in a Whatsapp group. Please ensure that if someone isn’t in the group, they still get all the relevant information they need. 
4. Whatsapp groups should only be used for the purpose of sharing information that’s relevant i.e. run up to and during festival only. We suggest that WhatApp groups are deleted or closed following the festival.
5. If volunteers make a connection and want to keep in touch via WhatsApp outside of festival time this is their choice but is also their own liability. In line with our safeguarding policy, adults should not message under 18’s, or try to make connections, outside of their role at the festival. 
6. Team Leaders have a responsibility to ensure that messages are appropriate, particularly if you have young volunteers on team. If there are any issues or concerns, Team Leaders should manage these promptly (i.e. have a direct but kind word with the person who is sending the messages that aren’t wanted or appropriate) and highlight concerns to your staff member/line manager or whomever else is appropriate so support can be offered.

• Click   above your chats list in WhatsApp. Alternatively, click the New chat icon.
• Click New group.
• You do need to add at least one person to the group to set it up, before you can invite others. Then click Next.
• Enter a group subject. This will be the name of the group that all members will see.
  • The subject limit is 100 characters.
  • You can add emoji to your subject by clicking the Emoji icon.
  • You can add a group icon by clicking on the camera icon.
  • Choose an image file and click Open. Once set, the icon will appear next to the group in your chats list.
• Click Create when you’re finished.

• Open the WhatsApp group chat, then click the group subject.
• Click Members > Invite to group via link.
• Click Copy link.
  • To revoke the current invite link and create a new invite link, click Revoke link > Revoke link.

Note: Any WhatsApp user you share an invite link with can join the group. Only use this feature with trusted individuals. It’s possible for someone to forward the link to other people, who could then join the group without additional approval from the group admin.

Instead of a Whatsapp Group, you may find a it preferable to set up a broadcast list. This will restrict messages to just the administrator(s) of the list.

Advantages:

1. Team leaders have complete control over messages. 
2. Important information doesn’t get lost amongst other messages. 

Disadvantages:

1. Volunteers can’t respond to messages, or ask questions that other might also have, so this could result in lots of separate messages

Tap More Options  > New broadcast.

• Search for or select the contacts you want to add.
• Tap 
  

Recipients receive a message from your broadcast list as an individual message from you in their Chats tab. Their reply will also appear as a normal message and won’t be sent to other contacts in the broadcast list.

Note: 

• Only people who’ve added you to their phone’s contacts will receive your broadcast message.
• If someone isn’t receiving your broadcast messages, ask them to add you to their contacts.