Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria (VFBV)

Darley VFBV Volunteer Leadership Scholarship Program

The first 25 volunteers started their leadership training under the new VFBV Darley Future Leaders Scholarship program on May 8 2010.

The volunteers are working towards a nationally recognised qualification in management, in a course involving seven days of face-to-face class work and considerable off-campus course, project and assessment tasks, spread over six months.

Funded with the assistance of the Victoria Racing Club and international racehorse breeding organisation Darley, the VFBV Darley Future Leaders Scholarship program had its first session at Wendouree Fire Station andthen continues in six more one day sessions at other venues chosen to be as convenient as possible to the participants.

The course covers skills suited to volunteer, career and community situations and include units on;

Leadership
Decision making
Planning
Safety and risk management
Team effectiveness
Making presentations
Managing projects
Engaging the community

Some of the underlying themes were identified at the Open Space Summit run by VFBV late in 2009, and the first two days of the course focused on leadership, team effectiveness and communication, the skills at the heart of the scholarships' aims.

The course will also add to the participants' capabilities in useful skills such as public speaking, business writing and influencing. It comprises a mixture of lecture style teaching and interactive activities designed to suit the needs of the adult student.

Recognising that many of the participants may be returning to study for the first time in years, the organisers have provided them with return to study and study skills material to help them get started.

And while the program is currently funded for one year, VFBV is pleased to announce we are continuing the scholarships in 2011.

About the Darley/VFBV Scholarship

The Leadership Scholarship aims to:

1. Recognise and develop current and future leaders in VFBV
2. Build networks and work on important issues for volunteers and the VFBV
3. Lead to award of a recognised qualification so skills and capabilities learned through the Scholarship may be transferred to all areas of the participant's life.

Completing the Scholarship will lead to award of the Certificate IV in Frontline Management.

Time Commitment: The program will run over 7 months with seven monthly sessions.

Method: the program will include face to face, guest speakers, and plenty of active learning and discussion.

Assessments: will include individual work with small group project work to address key issues.

Costs: the program will be fully supported by VFBV. You will need to provide transport to the program venue.

Overview: Certificate IV in Frontline Management BSB40807

There are ten units in the qualification and four of those must be core units. The units selected below match the qualification requirements and the key issues discussed last year for the program.

We have sourced suitable resources for all of these units which will mean both the requirements of the qualification and your expectations as parties to the Scholarship are met.

The Units are:

BSBMGT401A Show leadership in the workplace (core)
BSBMGT402A Implement operational plan (core)
BSBOHS407A Monitor a safe workplace (core)
BSBWOR402A Promote team effectiveness (core)
BSBCUS401A Coordinate implementation of customer service strategies
BSBADM409A Coordinate business resources
BSBRSK401A Identify risk and apply risk management processes
BSBCMM401A Make a presentation
BSBPMG510A Manage projects
BSBREL401A Establish networks

We will deliver the program over seven (7) formal face to face sessions with details contained in the table following.

The focus will be on applying all of the content to meet each participant's voluntary, VFBV, employment and community roles. This is primarily achieved by application of principles and tools or models into the various different contexts.

A couple of obvious examples are in applying the basics of effective presentation skills and risk management in their voluntary and employed roles. In the voluntary presentation and risk management context he/she may be coming from a leadership position in the CFA and community, whilst as an employee the presentation may be internal or external sales, and risk may be from a much narrower perspective.

The principles are the same but the application may change in a different context. This flexibility is a skill in itself.

Other relevant macro-issues we will touched on and reinforced throughout.

Delivery

Each day will comprise:

a. Preview and day's objectives

Key learning objectives
Course requirements – competency and element overview
Explanation of assessment requirements
Expectations of participants

The first day will encompass an overview of the entire course and a general introduction to each other and to the course requirements. For some it may be a reintroduction to adult learning models.

b. Slides, discussions, exercises and workgroups work through key issues for each of the topics and sub-topics of each day.

i. Where two competencies are covered in one day the delivery will be roughly split 50/50.

c. There is plenty of focus on discussion, idea sharing, scenario exploration and application of ideas - not just lecture or a guest telling. That is boring and people do not learn well that way.

Role plays and small group activities and discussions are utilised where possible and practical.

Guest speakers will be used to demonstrate or talk about a specific issues or experiences which will enhance learning and lead to focused discussion &/or project work.

d. A wrap up at the end of the day to highlight key points and issues and reinforce main learnings.

Follow up homework and assessments will be issued and further follow up via email, and by phone if required, will be put in place. Participants will be buddied up as much as possible in 2's, 3's or 4's to facilitate more localised support.

NOTE: You should take into consideration that the face to face sessions outlined above are only part of the conduct of the scholarship. In accepting any Scholarship offer, candidates should consider that the qualifications they are undertaking are significant and there will be a commitment from them in between formal sessions to complete coursework and assessments. As indicated a feature of the program will be telephone and on-line support.

Ideally assessments will be completed progressively throughout the course. At the end of the first session we divide the group into small groups of 5 or 6 to design and work on key projects.

These projects would be relevant to the volunteers and community and to the course requirements. For example:

Consider the critical issues in designing and implementing a performance management and review system for the various levels and functions of a broadly dispersed voluntary organisation.

What would it look like?

What would it aim to achieve, what are some risks and how might they be managed?

What are critical success factors and KPIs and how would they be measured, monitored and reviewed?

Which stakeholders might you need to consult with, how and why?

We might all learn something from this as it is a challenge that has faced many volunteer managers for many years!

Course Materials

All course documents and handouts will be provided however we encourage participants to have normal note taking materials and equipment with them for each face to face session. Access to a computer with word processing software is just about mandatory as is an email address for the distribution of course materials in between sessions.

Expressions of Interest

We are calling for expressions of interest for our 2011 Leadership Scholarship Program.

As a valued member of VFBV you are invited to complete the expression of interest below if you would like to commit to participating in the next year's program.

The program will commence in April 2011

If you would like to participate in this exciting initiative please make direct contact with your VFBV District Council Secretary, each VFBV District Council is preparing to nominate potential candidates by 30 September 2010.

Places are strictly limited so please forward your interest for this program only if you can commit to the full program.