YouthNet blog

Tuesday May 20, 2008

Farewell to Lesley

The last few months have seen a few changes at YouthNet. First of all we had the departure of Dom, our Digital Interactive Services Director – you can read about his memories of seeing Mickey Mouse naked here. Next week sees another YouthNet ol' timer move on to pastures new. This time it's Lesley Bourne, our Partnerships Director.

Read on to find out what Routemaster buses have got to do with volunteering, and remember if you've got any questions for Lesley before she goes, please add them as comments at the end.

In your time at YouthNet you must have seen do-it.org.uk grow enormously. Can you give us a picture of what do-it.org.uk and YouthNet was like when you first arrived?

I was the second member of staff to be added to the do-it team.  I discovered that even though we had about 300 partners located all over the place from Northumberland to Cornwall, very few of them had really bought into the project, lots of them were terrified of using the PC equipment we'd issued them with and none of them really knew how to operate the database we'd developed.  They were all also very sceptical about this new fangled internet thing as a method of recruitment. So we embarked upon a programme of "loving them into submission" by travelling the length and breadth of the country to start to talk do-it up and do some training. 

And our office was situated right over the air vent of the Pizza Hut below – we'd all get hungry at about 11 when they started cooking.  You couldn't open the window in the summer either as the air coming in was warmer than the air inside – and more garlic scented...

And how about the volunteering sector as a whole?

Well it's more convinced of the power of the web now!  People are still a bit uncertain about how much help to give volunteers who apply via the web and I think we've got more work to do in helping volunteers and partners get a positive and efficient experience via online brokerage.  However, stats speak for themselves – web audience for volunteering is very diverse.

I think that the sector as a whole has become more "professional" in that there is now a growing recognition that volunteer managers need better support and training.  There is a fine line though in creating a great environment for volunteers to flourish and developing a culture of bureaucracy - I think the sector is terribly risk averse these days which is a shame.

Young people's volunteering is also currently the focus of government attention which has been a mixed bag for YouthNet – it would be good to see funders and particularly the government taking a more holistic view of the sector and thinking about how to encourage all parts of the infrastructure to work collaboratively together and in a sustainable way.

Keeping more than 400 partner organisations happy must be a bit of a challenge – especially when they all have differing requirements. Have you got any tips on how to how to manage that?

Benign dictatorship! It is hard sometimes but can also be very enlightening – there are a surprising amount of similarities and needs across the various parts of the sector.  Technically, it has been a very difficult project to keep all parties happy as people are in such different pleases with IT capability, kit etc.  I'd say that a key part of our success has been in consulting widely and being as transparent as possible about what you do next and why.  We have had to be tough sometimes, but reminding people of the end goal (i.e. volunteers needs) rather than their own organisations has also helped.

What's your best memory of working for YouthNet?

It's always heartening to see great feedback from partners and users when you get it right.  I saw a quote from one of our Volunteer Centre partners recently that said that we had revolutionised the way they work and that we were indispensable. 

And your worst/most frustrating?

I have the reputation of being the office Eyore, so I'm surprised you've allowed me room for this one – now where to begin.....

A perennial frustration is finding out that organisations are still saying "If only we had one place on the Internet where we could list/find out about volunteering".  A nice big fat Marketing budget could help solve that one.

My favourite worst memory is probably also my funniest – YouthNet had a brief dalliance with an "e-bus" with the idea that we'd have this sleek, mobile PC offering.  In reality, it was a temperamental old Routemaster bus that broke down with alarming regularity.  We took it to an event in Manchester– it died at Warrington services before it had even got there, and we spent the rest of the day performing death defying feats in the blazing sun to keep the satellite dish running and fending off the local little darlings who spent their whole time surfing porn.  The day ended with an AA man jump starting the bus and then us having to guide it offsite in the dark as the headlights had gone –happy days.

Where do you see volunteering heading in the next five to ten years?

I think volunteering still needs to get comfortable with the way that society has changed – no one has a job for life so it's unrealistic to expect a volunteer for life.  We need to focus more on giving people a great experience so that they keep coming back rather than worrying that they might leave.   Volunteering still needs to find a way to measure outputs and outcomes better so that we can steer funders away from the "bums on seats" funding formula.  I also think that the education sector could still be a great place to engage young people in volunteering – even at a primary school age – I'd love to see some developments around this as part of the new interest in young volunteers.

If you had a blank slate (and unlimited funding!), what would you do with do-it.org.uk?

Banks of techies beavering away on V-Base so we could meet all our partners needs, huge investment into the do-it website with a radically different application system, personalisation, enhanced searching, overseas opportunities etc etc. Obviously we'd need a whole new wing for the massive partnerships team so they can offer enhanced account management, develop e-training, offer consultation etc.  And the massive marketing budget to get us under the noses of the nation.

What will you be up to after you leave?

Moving the family to the hills of Wales where I will be indulging my self sufficiency passions with gardening, chickens, permaculture and bees.  And finally getting a dog with a bit of luck – our cats are going to love it........

If you could sum up your time at YouthNet in three words, what would they be?

Change, change, change