how we made a real turnaround to growth
DESCRIPTION
The growth story of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Guides and Scouts.TRANSCRIPT
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How we made a real turnaround
to growthANNA MUNSTERHJELM & ANNA KOLEHMAINEN
THE HELSINKI METROPOLITAN AREA GUIDES AND SCOUTSTHE GUIDES AND SCOUTS OF FINLAND
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This is us• One of the biggest scout districts in Finland with 8000-11 000 members. • Consists of three cities and one village = The Helsinki Metropolitan Area with one million inhabitants all together.
• 130 local groups, 10-15 employees, 300 volunteers. Annual budget approximately 1,5 million euros.
• paakaupunkiseudunpartiolaiset.fi/in-english
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What we did
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Once upon a time...• Number of members had decreased for 20 years in Finland. • In fall 2011 we decided to change the direction and made the Growth Plan.
• The Growth Plan was launched in our District Assembly and in regional meetings.
• The Growth Motivation Movie was watched over 1000 times in the first week.
• The Growth Project was led by the District Leader and the employee responsible for local group support. (That means us.)
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Scouting is for everyoneGrowth Motivation Movie (in Finnish): vimeo.com/30650608
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The Growth Plan• We (as a district) committed to 6 Growth Acts: • Launching new web page focused on marketing • Direct marketing sent to first-graders and their parents • Marketing materials for local groups • Founding three new local groups • Campaign for pre-schoolers • Launching a website offering concrete tips of using the Youth Programme for group leaders
• Local groups committed to 3 Growth Acts: • Taking more members (at least one extra group) • Marketing • Doing Scouting better
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Local Group’s Growth Plan
We get more
members We are more visible
We work better
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How we involved everyone• We took a good grip of the local groups: • We gave two options: to growth or to garbage? • We met every local group and offered tailored tools for growth. • Every local group made their own Growth Plan we worked on together several times. • We sent reminders to those who hadn’t payed their membership fee. • We rewarded the local groups that had the largest growth.
• We challenged every scout in the district to do their share: • Make a Growth Promise! • Leading by example: Leaders led new packs by themselves • We asked everyone to bring a friend to Scouting
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You couldn’t escape the Growth!
• We published new posts every week on The Growth Blog (partiokuuluukaikille.com) • Success stories • Practical tips • Yes we can! Motivation • Making Scouting more cool, uplifting our brand
• Facebook: Make a Growth Promise! The Growth Challenge of the Month • Scouting Quote pics to share on social media
• Growth was mentioned in every newsletter we send
• Every event and course was promoting The Growth Project
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A winning concept: Not-yet-scout
• An easy way to get to know Scouting or try Scouting no matter of age
• Scouts could ask their friends to come to weekly meetings and events • A big NYS-campaign on Valentine’s Day (Friendship Day in Finland)
• NYS-friends could even participate our district camp in summer 2012
• Term not-yet-scout has now spread to whole Finland
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What we learned during the first year of Growth Project
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Some things did not work out...
• Direct marketing letters to first-graders and their parents didn’t do the trick. (We just lost our money.) The next year we send them our magazine (for kids) and a volunteer leaflet (for parents).
• The Growth Challenge of the Month didn’t succeed as well. Maybe it just complicated our message? • We realized that our organization couldn’t support growth.
• It was hard to get any useful support from the national organization so we had to manage on our own. Luckily we found some good benchmark from Sweden and UK.
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... But most worked out very well!
• Not-yet-scout concept was super. 500 NYSs participated the district camp.
• The campaign for pre-schoolers reached 2500 six-year-old kids. That is 1/3 of the age group. • The local groups really committed to their Growth Plans and worked hard.
• The Helsinki Metropolitan Area got to know Scouting more than ever. Scouting was more visible in media and in the street view.
• We founded three new local groups.
• 40 extra groups were founded in 2012.
• Reminding people of their membership fee was good business.
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31.7.2013For the first time in
twenty years the decrease of our members had stopped.
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We realized: If you want a big change, you have to make big changes
• Strategy cannot be outsourced. If you want longlasting growth, you can’t do it just as a project (because all projects end at some point). • We made three big changes: • Change of attitude. Scouting is for everyone! It’s not an inside thing.
• Change of the way we work. From planning to doing. From either/or to both/and.
• Change of organization.
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Our new organization 1.1.2013-
GROUPS REPRESENTED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD
LOCAL GROUP
SUPPORT
TRAININGEDUCATION
PROGRAMME (EVENTS)
RECRUITINGVOLUNTEER
SUPPORT
COMMUNICATIONS
ADVOCACY
> TO TAKE CARE THAT YOUTH PROGRAMME
RUNS IN LOCAL GROUPS
> TO TAKE CARE THAT LOCAL GROUPS HAVE
ENOUGH RESOURCES AND SCOUTING IS KNOWN
AND VISIBLE IN OUR AREA.
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So where are we now?
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Scouting reaches more people in the Helsinki area than ever
• The campaign for pre-schoolers reaches 2500-3000 six-year-old kids in a year. • The ”Week of Adventure” campaign for first- and second-graders reaches 6500 pupils in a year.
• Recruiting, volunteer support and advocacy are becoming a routine (board member, district level groups and an employee). We have also started a new model of how to support local groups.
• We are continuously founding new local groups (this year at least 4).
• We are taking care of diversity and integrating immigrants by founding internationally-oriented local groups and cooperating with immigrants’ organizations.
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31.8.2013We got the best feedback,
award and push to keep going: the number of our members
had increased 8 % in a year.
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Our next challenges (and how we are tackling them)
• In year 2014 our theme will be Be prepared, be a friend. Every scout in our district will bring one friend to scouting. Personal contact is the best way to get more people in scouting. And the growth will continue.
• Integration of immigrants is a big issue in Helsinki Metropolitan area. We will arrange summer camps together with immigrants’ associations. We are also founding English-speaking groups.
• Helsinki Metropolitan Area is getting more inhabitants all the time. We found new local groups to the new areas (about 3/year).
• We are building even stronger system to support our local groups and volunteers.
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Why we think we made it
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We had one goal.
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We did it together.
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We worked our asses off.
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We made big changes.
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Want to grow? Start now.
• Have one clear goal.
• Choose the best change leader/leaders.
• Make a simple plan.
• Involve every person. You cannot communicate too much.
• Try out new (even crazy) ideas. Do it often.
• Work hard.
• Reward and throw parties - even for the smallest achievements.
• Be ready to make big changes.
• Yes you can! What is difficult, can be done immediately. What is impossible, takes a little more time.
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Phew. Thank you!Want to know more?Anna Munsterhjelm Anna KolehmainenDistrict Commissioner Regional [email protected] [email protected] @annamun Twitter @kolehmaisenanna