Supporting Local Communities Through Training

Community Matters’ training courses have been specifically developed for multipurpose
community organisations. They may also be of value to many other
community organisations and those who help or support them.

COURSES AVAILABLE

Technical and legal

• Developing your Community Building (3-day course)
• Sustaining your Community Building (3-day course)
• Licences and Other Requirements
• Managing a Charity
• Is it Legal?
• Employing & Managing Staff
• Profiling your Community

Developing policies procedures

• Strategic Planning & Implementing a Development Plan
• Project Planning and Management
• Developing an Equal Opportunities Policy
• Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers

Developing skills

• Leadership Skills
• Resolving Conflict
• Committee Skills
• Communication Skills
• Time Management
• Maintaining Enthusiasm
• Marketing your Community Centre/Project
• Funding Matters

How Much Does It Cost?

COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS

Members: One day course £350.00
Non Members: One day course £400.00

LOCAL AUTHORITIES/DEVELOPMENT AGENCIES

Members: One day course £400.00
Non Members: One day course £500.00

Training is VAT Exempt

These rates are based on contact time and include preparation and handouts for participants. Travel expenses are additional. Charges presume that clients provide the venue and refreshments. There may be additional costs for tailor-made courses. If you are interested in one of our courses or would like training on other related subjects please feel free to contact us, we will be happy to discuss your requirements.

Strategic Planning & Implementing a Development Plan

How does the Community Association across town manage to be so successful? Why is it they always seem to have enough funding to put on activities and how do they manage to get so many people to use the centre?

There are a few answers to these questions but the first answer would have to be planning.

Evidence shows us, across the country, that successful community associations meet the needs of their community by firstly drawing up a development plan to meet those needs. The plan need not be an elaborate affair it just needs to be straightforward and above all realistic.

This programme outlines the importance of planning and looks at what a plan should contain to be effective. Additionally the programme summarises the different types of planning and strategies that can be used. Then most importantly we also look at the financial implications of achieving your plan and where to build these in.

During the programme the importance of reviewing and assessing how the development plan is working is addressed, and if that is not enough you then start to work on a plan for your centre.

“ Made me realise that our association would need to sit down and actually plan what we were going to do, instead of running around from day to day.”

Developing an Equal Opportunities Policy

Your opinion is your opinion. We are not here to try and change it. What we aim to do is to show you how to present your organisation within our ever changing society. What we have noticed, however, is that people do change their opinions when they start to present their organisation and realise their duty, both professionally and morally, to encourage equal access and opportunity within their organisations.

How does it happen? Well, we investigate our understanding of the three areas of prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination. We also look at legislation surrounding equality of opportunity and how we draft and monitor our progress towards this important aspect of managing our community activity. A word of warning though, this is not for the faint hearted and does throw up challenging activities and discussions. You’ll be surprised at what can happen during this programme.

“ I was surprised at how easy it is to not realise you are discriminating against sections of the community without knowing. Gave me a lot of food for thought to take back to my organisation”

Profiling the Community

Don't be put off by the title. It is not as daunting as it sounds. This programme simply looks at what are the core values of your centre/project and do they match up with the community need.

Do you know what the community need is? If not the programme looks at practical issues of surveying your community. It also helps you to identify that there may be partnership agencies out there that already have the information you require.

The programme aims to help you identify what service provision exists within your area and by designing questionnaires to spot the gaps.

Participants will also be expected to identify what plans they can take back to their organisations.

“ I had been struggling to design a questionnaire but feel this course helped me understand what to do.”

Marketing your Community Centre/Project

A much misunderstood topic that many community associations often rate as quite low in the scheme of jobs to do. It is no use having a wonderful centre or great activities if you don't let the community hear about it.

Good marketing need not cost the earth and many examples of this are shown throughout the programme. You'll be put to the test talking about your centre/project and you'll have a chance to try out some of the methods discussed.

As an additional touch the programme also looks at presentation skills, another area often forgotten about by community associations. Tips and tricks to overcome nerves and how to plan a presentation are discussed. A fun day of learning new skills.

“ I was so nervous at the presentation skills part because I thought I would have to give a presentation. Learnt so much about laying out a newsletter - can’t wait to see the results.”

Employing and Managing Staff

" But I'm a volunteer on the committee I am not an employer."

Its a common statement being made up and down the country but it honestly couldn't be further from the truth.

If you have paid workers within your centre you have many legal obligations to these employees. If you have volunteers and no paid workers you still have obligations as employers.

This programme aims to dispel the myths of employing staff by showing what an employment contract is, investigating all the aspects from recruiting to employment policies.

The programme also covers the important but forgotten aspects of managing staff including effective
supervision, appraisals, coaching and mentoring.

While some of this programme does focus specifically on paid employees a lot of the material also applies to the volunteers you have within your centres.

“ I had never thought of myself as an employer. I work during the day and volunteer on the management committee. It scared me how much I didn’t know but now I’ll get it right.”

Resolving Conflict

" We never seem to get anything done because there is always some argument about something.”

Sound familiar? Well this programme recognises that because of the circumstances and constraints our organisation’s work within that conflict is inevitable but can be overcome. Its how you deal with it that counts. The enemy is not who you are in conflict with but the situation your organisation is in.

The programme identifies exactly what conflict is and allows you to identify how you currently deal with a conflict situation. We then go on to look at specific conflict methods used by people, and tactics we can use to get the best for you and those people out of a situation.

If that's not enough you'll also get a chance to practice these methods or at least some of the ones you feel comfortable with. Don't expect an easy day.

“ Felt good to talk about what had been happening and realise that we are all working toward the same thing but just have different ideas about how to do it.”

Leadership Skills

Does your community organisation lack clear leadership? Do you need others to sit up and take notice? Do you think you've got what it takes to be a leader? Need to know how and when to delegate?

Then this course is here to test and develop you. It helps you identify whether you are actually a leader or just another manager. We don't believe leaders are born - we believe they develop and have identified the traits every good leader has. The course looks at the many hats a leader has to wear and offers guidance through those roles from being a cutting edge person to being an excellent communicator.

Are you ready for the test?

“ This was a really good day - hadn’t really thought about some of the ideas we discussed.”

Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers

Statistics tell us that the numbers of people volunteering in the past 15 years has increased. Surprised? I'm sure many of you are as many organisations are saying that they are not able to recruit sufficient numbers. Talk of a crisis may be premature but it is the case that an increasing number of community associations are finding it more and more difficult to attract new volunteers.

The simple explanation is that the demand is outstripping the supply, leaving a shortage in some organisations but not in others. This raises the issue of organisational appeal. The key challenge for our organisations is to develop a recruitment policy that will help to ensure an organisation is successful in attracting its share of volunteers.

This programme identifies the key issues of why people volunteer and why it is necessary to have a recruitment policy even for volunteers. It then also tackles the issue of how to keep your volunteers by adopting a system that adapts to the different needs and ambitions of the people who are giving up their time for you.

Without volunteers you'll find it hard to develop.

“ There were some great ideas on this - we were also asked to talk about stuff we had done in the past that had worked well - got other good ideas from this as well.”

Committee Skills

What contribution do you make to your committee meetings? What do you think are your strengths and weaknesses? This programme helps you answer these questions.

We have all unfortunately been involved in meetings where we have felt frustrated for a number of reasons. In the main it all comes down to a lack of planning and meeting skills. By the end of this programme we should have rediscovered some of the skills and knowledge we have taken for granted. We will also have assessed our thoughts about the meetings we currently take part in.

The day will involve looking at the roles and responsibilities of the committee officers to clarify exactly what it is they do. We will also look at the pitfalls and good practice of meetings. Most importantly we will discover the true meaning of teamwork.

“ Felt good to honestly rate our committee and how much we achieve at our meetings. Also good to clarify what the Treasurer does as I am the Treasurer and there is much confusion about what I actually do.”

Licences and other Legal Requirements

Are you absolutely certain that all the licences and insurance you need for your community building are up to date? Do you know what insurance and licences you actually need for your building?
Don't worry this course gives you a comprehensive overview of everything you need.

The programme also looks at some simple systems of ensuring that you keep on top of the licences and insurance minefield. Although the programme is aimed at newcomers it is always useful for the veterans to update their knowledge - because as we all know - times change as does legislation and what is required.

“ The thing is I thought I was quite up on the licences but it just shows you don’t always know everything.”

Communication Skills

" It's not my fault they did not understand what I told them to do!" A cry we are often guilty of. The problem is this is not strictly true, in many cases it is our fault that people don't understand what we say. We fly blind in the art of communication.

This course aims to show how people communicate through their "preferred representational channel" and if that channel is not identified it often becomes difficult for that person to understand what is being asked or discussed.

The course also discusses the important aspects of communication with the viewpoint that communication is not just about talking but encompasses a vast array of other issues.

The course aims to be a fun day and includes lots of group work and discussion - after all - it is a communication course.

“ I had so much fun on this programme I began to forget it was a training programme. Lots of common sense issues that you just seem to take for granted.”

Time Management

There are 1,440 minutes in every day. So why is it that some people can run organisations effectively while others get bogged down with even the simplest of tasks? The answer is effective time management.

This course discusses and shows ideas that are already being used by people everywhere, and will prove useful in helping you to develop your own time management skills. We will look at eliminating time wasting through managing meetings, so stop saying you have no time - give us a call.

“ Its amazing just how much time I have used looking at pointless paperwork and taking non-relevant telephone calls. Also I now realise I should be delegating some of the work to others who have been employed to do it.”

Project Planning and Management

Project Planning and management has developed a reputation for being a skill that can only be performed by professionals who are experienced in all sorts of techniques.

There is no reason why this should be true. This course investigates the main areas of project planning and management, from the role of a project manager, setting up a project to controlling a project and finishing it successfully.

The course aims to understand and apply some of the ideas so you can improve your chances of managing projects to a successful completion.

“ Hopefully now I’ll stop running around like a headless chicken.”

Funding Matters

Don't know where to start? Feeling isolated? Don't know what the best option is? You are not alone. There are many directories, guidelines and booklets that have been published and many seminars held, all trying to show how to apply to trusts. However sources at grant givers tell us that the overall standard of applications has not risen despite all these tools.

This session is all about practical issues not about where to apply. We look at everything from the first discussion about applying through to the actual written application. It investigates common mistakes that prevent successful applications and analyses case study applications. We also look at finding the right funders and not wasting time chasing funders that are not related to our causes. It is a hard working day that expects a lot of input from the participants.

“ Fantastic day and loads of really good pointers for our future applications.”

Is it Legal?

This programme is aimed at organisations requiring specialised input into legislative issues. It aims to provide the participants with an understanding of the legal issues surrounding charities, trustees and employing and managing staff.

By the end you should understand typical constitutions and the powers they can enable, know what an organisation with charitable status can and cannot do, understand the benefits and disadvantages of being a charity, recognise the duties of a trustee and begin to develop points which will improve the effectiveness of the committee.

This course is heavy with legislation so expect to be taking a lot of information in. However the programme does offer extensive handouts for future reference. You won't need to be a legal expert by the end of the day but it will point you in the right direction.

“ Shattered, but it was worthwhile. I now have lots of reference papers in case I forget in the future.”

Managing a Charity

Thinking of, or just gained charitable status? Are you a new trustee or committee member? Then this
programme is for you.

It aims to give you an outline of the legalities of running a charity and the responsibilities of charity trustees.

The programme, amongst other things, helps you to understand the legal categories in charitable law and what the charity commission expects of a charitable organisation.

It looks to dispel any myths of what being a charity trustee means and has a fun look at what is a charitable activity and what is not.

Its a busy day with lots of information to take in, but will help you ease into the process of being or being part of a charitable organisation.

“ Got caught out on the quiz. Thought I knew what charitable activities were - laughed and realised I still had lots to learn.”

Maintaining Enthusiasm / Managing Change

According to most organisational experts, we live in a time of continuous change. Some people thrive within that environment whilst others struggle quite badly and resist.

This course aims to provide the participants with an overview of change by understanding the change process and what can trigger it. It also aims to show how to develop strategies to enable effective change. This could involve creating a culture that looks to change.

There is also discussion on keeping enthusiasm going through change as many people initially cope well then become frustrated if changes don't happen quick enough. Again strategies are discussed to help overcome this.

“ Wish I had done this course several years ago - great useful points and fantastic discussions.”