Training 3: Building the Team

Welcome to For Our Kids! You’re on your way to becoming a team leader in your area! You're joining a big community of like-minded parents all wanting to make a better world For Our Kids. 

A warm welcome from all our For Our Kids teams across the country, and our network's national support team - Ruth, Lorna, Natalie and Lella.

You'll start with a first meeting with our new teams organizer Natalie - here's what we'll do:

• Share our stories (Why we want to get involved/stay involved)
• An orientation to the For Our Kids network and the role of our team leaders (you can find a preview about this in our Organizing Guide)
• Talk about an action you'd like to take - your own idea or one of our current actions
• Discuss launching a team in your area with a first meeting 

Bringing people together in your community to talk about big topics like climate justice can feel intimidating, particularly if you haven’t been involved in something like this before. But most team leaders had no prior experience, and we're here to offer you support all along the way. We break down the process in three simple steps:  

After your first team meeting or "launch party", Natalie will connect you to other team leaders and teams across the country for added support and connection. You'll be connected through:   

• Our team Slack workspace, an interactive discussion forum where ideas, resources and tips are shared
• An invite to our team leaders’ meetings, which are every other month on a Sunday 10am PT / 1pm ET. More details and dates for 2022 here
• Our Team Leaders’ email list with monthly updates just for teams and reminders about team leader meetings teams

MOVE TO Training 2: Launch Party!

Take me back to the New Team Leader Training Homepage

Take me to the Resources and FAQs page

You’re ready to host your first meeting/party! This is the ‘find some friends’ part of our simple process.

Setting up the Launch Party or First Meeting:

• Pick a date and time that works well for you. Choose a date about a month in advance so you have time to plan and promote. If you already have a few people interested and you need to find a common time for meetings, here are some free scheduling tools When2Meet or Doodle.

• Make an outreach plan (see below)

• A FOK Organizer can  set you up an RSVP page on our website and/or provide access to our paid Zoom account if the meeting is online

Outreach Plan:

Successful first meetings have typically have 5-10 people in attendance. The goal is to find at least 2-3 other people to form a team with. Here are some ideas on how to find some collaborators:

• Start with who you know: Friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances at a community you're involved in. Think about parents/caregivers you already know who might be concerned about the climate crisis. Do some research to see who else is organizing around climate locally - maybe they have advice to share? Write a list! You can start with some 1:1 conversations or invite them to the first meeting.
• Local parenting forums: Facebook groups, email lists or neighbourhood chats. Share the RSVP there with a personal invitation so they get to know you!
• Promotion help from For Our Kids: We can spread the word using contacts in our database and via our existing For Our Kids teams.
• Here's an example outreach plan, in the form of a spreadsheet. Feel free to use it, or to make your plan in your own way such as simply writing it down in your notebook. 
• Here's an example invitation text you could use in an email or on social media 

Tip: Don't expect everyone who RSVPs to show up. On average, usually about half will make it. What's most important is finding at least a couple of other motivated collaborators to start with. Your group will grow over time and with inspiring actions that others will want to join. Small, committed teams can also do amazing things. You don't need a huge group to affect change.

Make an agenda:

Once outreach is underway, it’s time to plan the event. Here are suggested steps:

• Prepare an agenda: template agenda here. 

• Facilitation: Training for Change has an excellent overview of how to facilitate effective meetings & the role of the facilitator: Meeting Facilitation - the no-magic method. If you're hosting a virtual meeting, tips for facilitating online meetings. 

• Prepare to share an overview to For Our Kids. You could use this Template For Our Kids Launch Slideshow and make it your own. Or use this 4-min Welcome Video from the For Our Kids network.  

• Prepare to facilitate a conversation. Whether it's you or somebody else chosen for the task, there should be a facilitator to guide the conversation, to make sure people are able to participate equally, and to keep things on time. 

Dress rehearsal (the week before your Launch, with FOK Organizer)

It’s time to check in with a FOK organizer and make sure you're ready. 

• Check on # of RSVPs and get your list of registrants (with an update the day of event for last minute sign-ups)
• Make sure you feel prepared to facilitate the agenda
• If virtual - practice hosting the Zoom call (how to use the For Our Kids Zoom account)

Meeting preparation checklist:

• Arrive early to set up the space, we suggest a circle so everyone can hear and see each other
• Have a copy of your agenda & participant list 
  
  
• Have some way to take a few notes (make a note of who attends the meeting - you will want to follow up with them later)
• Have your slideshow or video ready to go 
• If virutal - computer is ready to go, with adequate wifi (2.5 Mbps minimum download speed is recommended: you can test your internet speed here - click ‘run speed test’)
• Login info for Zoom (FOK Zoom account instructions); Zoom link for the Launch Meeting (have it handy in case you need to send it to anyone at the last minute)

Take a deep breath! You’re going to do great. Have fun!

If you have any questions, or need more details, please reach out to Galen: [email protected]

Social media resources:

• Ask to join Team Leaders Facebook Group

• To create a new Facebook page (optional!), start here: facebook.com/pages/create

• How to create a Facebook event for your launch: facebook.com/help/210413455658361

• To see an example team Facebook page, check out the For Our Kids Toronto page.

Launch Party resources:

• Create an outreach plan! Here is an example outreach plan that you can copy or borrow from (spreadsheet)

• Example Launch Party agenda

• For Our Kids Launch Meeting Slideshow TEMPLATE

• For Our Kids Actions of the Month

• How to run a Zoom meeting

• Example invitation email text (For Launch Party, but adaptable for other events)

Team Meeting resources:

• Example meeting agenda

• Here is a short guide on facilitating online meetings

• How to schedule and run a Zoom meeting (FOK)

Website (forourkids.ca) & Nationbuilder resources:

• Tutorial video: How to create an event (RSVP) page in Nationbuilder

• How to Send Emails with Nationbuilder

• How to edit your forourkids.ca webpage

• List of For Our Kids Teams

Frequently Asked Questions:

• What are the Actions of the Month?

Every month, we put forward actions that your team may choose to take part in. We encourage new teams to stick to these actions for the first few months while your team gets established. Click here to see our current Action of the Month. Many actions from previous months are still relevant and can be used.

• What is Nationbuilder?

Nationbuilder is the software that hosts our website, forourkids.ca. It also allows us to communicate with our supporters, and allows you to send e-blasts to your team and to supporters in your area.

• How do I create an event RSVP page?

Tutorial video: How to create an event (RSVP) page in Nationbuilder.mov

• What is the the buddy system:

You have the option of being paired up with a more experienced team leader so that you can learn from each other and support each other in your organizing work. If that sounds interesting to you, just ask!

• How do I create a Zoom link for my meeting?

How to run a Zoom meeting

• Do I need to create an event RSVP page for every meeting, or can I just send people the Zoom link?

You don't have to create an event RSVP page on forourkids.ca for every meeting, but we recommend that you do. These events allow you to easily keep track of who is planning to come to your meeting. They ensure that you have email addresses for everyone who attends your meeting. They make it easy to send meeting and event announcements and reminders to your team and supporters in your area. They also make it easy for people to unsubscribe from meeting reminders, so you don't have to keep track of who to email and who not to email.

• How do I send emails/e-blasts to my team, using Nationbuilder?

  How to Send Emails with Nationbuilder (starts at minute 7:30).

• What is an "e-blast?"

  "E-blast" is short for email blast. Eblasts are emails sent through Nationbuilder, to your team or to all the supporters in your area

• Are there suggested roles for a team?

  Yes! Every team is different. Do what works for you. Suggested Team Roles & Team Structure:

  As team leader, your role is to organize the group, but the team leader (or leaders) should certainly not be doing everything. The way you choose to structure your team is up to you. Here are some suggestions for team roles:

  • Team Leader(s): We suggest having more than one team leader so there’s not so much pressure on one person. Many groups have two team leaders. Some even have a leadership committee of 4-6 people. Team leaders usually organize and facilitate meetings

  • Person in charge of Social Media: Probably, most people on your team will participate in social media, but it’s good to have someone “in charge.” You may even have one role for each social media platform, depending on how you use them. This person will create Facebook events for meetings and event

  • Person in charge of Nationbuilder: RSVP pages, E-blasts, Webpage: This person will use Nationbuilder to email supporters in your area and let them know about upcoming events, actions and meetings. This person will keep your webpage up-to-date and create RSVP pages. This role does not require a particularly techy person, but it does require some willingness to learn

  • Person in charge of Outreach: Everyone on your team should be helping with reaching out to new people that might want to join, but this person makes sure it’s really happening

  • Person in charge of Welcoming New Team Members: This person should plan to have one-on-one Zoom calls with new members to bring them up to speed

  • Person in charge of Actions: Everyone should be involved in actions, but it helps to have one person in charge of keeping track of actions

  • Liaison to the National For Our Kids Network: Keeping up with what For Our Kids is doing can take some time, and it may help to have one person whose job is to be in the know and report back to your team. Usually the Team Leader does this job, but it doesn't have to be the team leader.

What is the commitment for a team leader?

Your commitment is to your own local team. We will help you learn to share the leadership and responsibilities (many teams have more than one team leader). Starting out, you will be expected to organize and host monthly team meetings (on Zoom). 

For the first several weeks, we encourage you to meet with a For Our Kids organizer for one hour per week. 

The typical minimum time commitment for a team leader is about three to five hours per week. Beyond that, it’s up to you.

To help you get your team up-and-running, we provide you with this guided training series, split up into three parts. Generally, it will take about two months of one-on-one meetings (one hour each, once per week) to complete this training, but you may choose to move through it more quickly or to take more time.

• If you have any questions, or need more details on any of these steps, please reach out at [email protected]
• New Team Leader Training Homepage
• Resources and FAQs