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Another area I found important in the course was managing stress and conflict. From being a branch
representative all the way up to national officers and the executive council, the roles can be
extremely stressful and isolating with long hours of work, in voluntary positions often above and
beyond paid hours. As a movement we need to be proactive in identifying stress and conflict and
managing it, providing tools and support mechanisms that can help to stop officers snowballing into
illness.
Financial management was an eye opener, looking into accounts, business structures, the cost of
sickness etc. we were asked if we knew and were understood budgets for our own area of the
organisation, whether we worked like that or just held a national pot that could be dipped into –
talking about the positive and negative aspects of both.
We identified quite obviously that membership subscriptions are our main source of income –
increasing them consistently isn’t a long term sustainable method to stay afloat but organising more
members is. An important point to reflect on is that the balance sheet of an organisation does not
show you the health of said organisation just the value of the assets. Also as a movement do we
keep with traditions for the sake of them when really they should be updated and re-looked at as
technology improves and patterns change.
Management communication delved further into methods of verbal and non-verbal communication,
the barriers around them and the importance of actively listening. We spoke about the importance
of grammar and correct spelling in formal communications and appropriate methods of
communication, language and jargon.
Management meetings followed on from this, getting us to identify different types of meetings
within the organisation, their purpose and suitability. We went through how to effectively prepare
for a meeting, the importance of evaluating them and actively following up on action points whilst
developing our own skills and performance whilst managing meetings.
Solving problems and making decisions covered strategic planning. We looked at social,
technological, legal and environmental impacts to our organisation and how to plan effectively for
them. We were asked whether our own organisation generally acts proactively or reactionary.
Whilst the assignments for coaching and mentoring were separate the section of the course placed
them together. We started out by asking as organisations do we effectively pick up when people are
failing or are we leaving them be.
Should we put in place a mentoring programme for new officials and are we coaching people
constructively? In our type of organisation people tend to be thrown in at the deep end with little or
no training which can be counterproductive especially if they are monitored and not supported. It is
also important to remember that even with experienced staff sometimes a quick phone call to check
that they are ok could be the motivation they need to continue to give 100% even when tired,
stressed or demotivated.
We spoke about the benefits of effective coaching and mentoring and how formal agreements
should be drawn up before anything proceeds. But also about the importance of training
coaches/mentors to ensure that the process is effective consistently
The last two sections concentrated on looking at ourselves and our own organisations and the
development needs we identified from taking part in the course. We recognised that all trade union
representatives from shop stewards upwards have to be leaders in order to gain members trusts and
beliefs of the organisation. Communication is key but we must always remember when being a