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Inducting your new volunteers: Roadmap

1) Contact your new Volunteer (UK, regional and national groups)

These are the people who have applied for your advertised role on the volunteer website or people you find on the database who seem a good fit for your team.

  • Call them (emails don’t work well as a first contact) and schedule a time to talk if they are busy. See this page for some tips about calling applicants.
  • Make time for their grief and questions, ask about their experiences, tell them about your group and how you hope they might help you.
2) Send them some initial information

Not too much! It is easy to overwhelm people at this stage. This is all your volunteer needs at the outset:-

  1. Intro to XR - The Essentials.

  2. Your Team's mandate.

  3. An invite to your next group meeting.

  4. This Roadmap (optional) - it can help volunteers to see what to expect, where they are in the induction process and to request next steps proactively.

3) First Group Meeting
  • Introduce them to other team members; give them contacts.
  • Ensure they know the hand signals and the process.
  • Read the Regenerative Reminder at the start of the meeting.
  • Make sure to give space for questions.
  • Have a post-meeting debrief- ask them how they felt their first meeting went and give space for any questions they have.
4) Induction / orientation

This will be tailored to your team and staggered according to your volunteer. It is best to let them absorb one thing before moving onto the next.

5) Direct them towards concrete tasks

Super important for volunteer retention! People are more likely to stick around when they feel valued and affirmed.

  • Have a list of simple tasks that a new volunteer can take on easily e.g:
    • Leafleting
    • Lobbying their local MP to support the Climate and Ecological Emergency bill
    • Paint the Streets: flyposting, chalk painting, stickering.....
    • Supporting us on social media
    • Talking to friends about the climate and ecological emergency and inviting them to a Welcome to XR session
    • Secretary-type stuff: taking notes, sending around action points etc
    • Emails: keeping on top of your inbox (they will need help to start)
  • Share Action Points - if you’ve got too many things on your plate, ask them for help!
6) Check in, check progress

Try to have a weekly call with your new volunteers.

  • Try to answer their questions and, if you can’t, let them know who can.
  • Try to gauge their understanding of XR and find out if there is anything they would like to learn about in more depth. If so, direct them to Rebellion Academy or specific talks / trainings.
7) Invite them to a circle meeting (optional)
  • This will help a new Volunteer see the XR structure from a different perspective and how information moves across the system.
  • You do not have to be in the Circle meeting with them but, by this point, they should be well acquainted with the team External Coordinator so there will be a known face.
8) Final debrief / allocation of role

After about a month, most new Volunteers will feel like they have an understanding of XR and how things are structured. You have now shared your skills and contacts - this marks the end of your guidance!

Have a meeting to debrief;

  • how was their experience, where do they want to go from here?
  • Will you continue to share the mandate?
  • Is there a way to split the mandate?
  • Is there a gap within the team they would like to fill?
  • Do they have a project idea of their own they would like to pursue within XR?

You should have built a good level of trust with a new Volunteer before asking them to take on roles that involve handling other people's data (e.g. mailing lists, an account on the volunteer website). Please make sure anyone taking on such a role has signed the Volunteer Agreement and understands the basic principles of data protection.

Every volunteer journey will have a slightly different conclusion; please take some time to reflect on your experience.

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