Most councils have found it helpful to choose someone to be the Inquiry in the Community project lead. Their job is not to do all the work; rather, their job is to act as project manager, keep different groups talking to each other, and coordinate the big picture of project implementation.
A strong project lead makes a big difference. Look for the following attributes when appointing a lead:
- Has organizational support for their work.
- Is in a position to easily coordinate with multiple departments, regions, and/or staff work groups.
- Has a solid understanding of the roles of the membership, program, and volunteerism-related departments; familiar with the work of marketing and fund development.
- Has previous cross-departmental project management experience (or, previous experience managing larger projects within a department and the ability to have someone else mentor them in this new role).
- Is familiar with the Girl Scout Leadership Experience.
Project Lead Checklist
- Read the Overview, Why Inquiry in the Community, Planning, and some of the Implementation sections of this website.
- Identify a curriculum lead.
- Identify who will be part of the core team.
- Manage (and/or delegate) the logistics of the core team professional development and planning session: time, date, location, any food or lodging needs (if desired).
- Work with the curriculum lead to develop the agenda for the core team session; use our
planning_1day_core_team_agendaor
planning_2day_core_team_agenda meeting plans as a starting point.
- If the project lead has strong group facilitation skills, they might help facilitate the core team session.
- By the end the core team session, ensure that:
- The core team has identified 3-5 "connection points" in the council, where they will focus on implementing Inquiry in the Community curricula and resources (see the sample core team agenda for more about connection points).
- At least one core team member has been assigned as the "lead" on each connection point.
- These "leads" have a concrete list of their next steps, and have shared them with each other.
- Support the core team members as they implement their plans.
- Support the core team members as they conduct professional development and planning sections with staff and/or volunteer teams (if needed).
- Gather the implementation plans and timelines created by each group and evaluate each for timing challenges, overlaps, or potential for collaboration.
- Synthesize these timelines and share with each group.
- Support the core team members as they develop an evaluation plan to measure progress.
- Facilitate regular core team meetings to evaluate progress, make adjustments, and encourage collaboration amongst groups.
- Discuss evaluation data (such as surveys, interviews, or informal feedback) with relevant core team members to identify successes and challenges.
- As implementation begins, share groups' successes and help troubleshoot challenges.
