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Do you have any of the following symptoms?
Funders |
Groups |
Time wasting meetings |
Painful meetings |
Suspect group’s mandate |
Not being taken seriously |
Activities that suit the committee not the community |
Funders keep changing their minds and their personnel |
Funds used for projects for which they were not intended |
Unable to resource new activities |
Connected to the past not the present |
Need help to redefine goals |
Need to deal with changing funding regimes |
Tokenistic representation |
Unable to understand challenges of governance and transparency |
Funders rowing back from group involvement |
Manager manages management committee. |
Umbrella group threatening take over |
Management committee won’t let manager manage.
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Being used to legitimate others' actions and policies. |
Gatekeepers who chase away younger people with fresh ideas
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Unable to attract or retain new members |
Our diagnostic technique
- Study group in action
- Review relevant policies
- Conduct individual interviews
- Identify internal and external influences
- Analyse services offered against local needs
- Who is in control? Manager? Committee? Funders? Gatekeepers?
Remedies
- Build trust – start with the easiest and least painful issues
- Develop a partnership approach
- Create appropriate problem solving techniques for the group
- Get group to understand the need for change and how to be in control of change
- Understand the needs of individual members. If not met, there can be disruptive behaviour or poor attendance
- Challenge unproductive behaviours such as lack of trust, lack of delegation, not letting others grow
Why use the Group Doctor?
Mary Malcolmson has been a member of community and voluntary groups through all the funding regimes from Urban Aid to Community Planning. She knows their struggle to survive and establishes a position of mutual respect. Using peer to peer mentoring techniques, she will work with a group over time to establish long term positive change.
Mary’s mastery of the group dynamic is applicable to grass roots organisations and partnership bodies alike.