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Section Guide 2011 3Section Guide 2011

Project team

Nominated

Veeli Oeselg, ESN Tartu, Estonia

Section Guide coordinator

Tania Berman, ESN Paris Dauphine, FranceCommunication responsible

Nikolas Spanoudakis, ESN Ioannina, GreeceStructure responsible

Martin Sinal, ESN Pilsen, Czech Republic

Best practice story competition responsible

Supporters

Lea Benirschke, ESN Uni Wien, Austria

Author of the chapters Event Managementand Sponsorship

Madara Apsalone, ESN Riga, Latvia

Initiator of the Section Guide idea,author of the chapters Icebreakers,Energisers and Teambuilding Games,ESN International Projects andInternational Education Through the Eyes of ESN

Orestis Vlachos, ESN NTUA Athens, GreeceDesign of the Section Guide


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4 Section Guide 2011 5Section Guide 2011

INDEX

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 9

FOREWORD 12

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 14

1. All you need to know to run your section 17

1.1. Organisational management 18

1.1.1. Section structure 18

1.1.2. Section ofce management 19

1.1.3. Section meetings 20

1.1.4. Administrative works and issues 21

1.2. Human resources 23

1.2.1. Leadership 23

1.2.2. Team management 31

1.2.3. Icebreakers, Energizers and Teambuilding Games 40

1.3. Project & event management 55

1.3.1. Project management 551.3.2. Event Management 75

1.3.3. Project and event budgets 90

1.4. Communication 94

1.4.1. Communication basics 94

1.4.2. Communication channels 96

1.4.3. Communication tools 96

Try clicking onthe titles of chap-ters you want to

navigate to


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1.4.4. More about Media Relations 99

1.4.5 Sections communication 100

1.5. Financial management 102

1.5.1.Easy accounting and budget management 102

1.5.2. Sponsoring 110

1.5.3. Funding 118

1.6. Risk management 150

1.6.1. Attitudes to Risk 150

1.6.2. Risk management 152

2. All you need to know about ESN 165

2.1. About ESN 166

2.1.1. An introduction to ESN 166

Vision 166

Mission 166

2.1.2. The structure of ESN 167

2.1.3. The activities of ESN 169

2.2. Sections in ESN 170

2.2.1. Section benets 170

2.2.2. Section responsibilities 176

2.3. ESN International projects 177

2.3.1. ESNSurvey [Since 2005] 177

2.3.2. Erasmus 20 [2007] 178

2.3.3. Happy Birthday, ESN! Together Twentyear [2008-2009] 178

2.3.4. SocialErasmus

Reach higher! Go further! Go Social! [Since 2009] 179

2.3.5. PRIME Problems of Recognition in Making Erasmus [2009] 180

2.3.6. ExchangeAbility [2009-2011] 181

2.3.7. Section in the Spotlight [2010] 181

2.4. ESN International events 182

2.4.1. All the ESN meetings and events in a nutshell 182

2.4.2. Regional and national ESN events 187

2.4.3. Participating at an ESN meeting and event 190

2.4.4. Organising an ESN meeting 191

2.5. IT & communication tools 193

2.5.1. Internal communication tools for sections 193

2.5.2. External communication tools for sections 197

2.5.3. Communication tools of ESN International 199

2.6. International education through the eyes of ESN 202

2.6.1. Student Mobility in Higher Education 202

2.6.2. European Higher Education Area 204

2.6.3. Main Achievements 205

2.6.4. The Main Challenges of International Education and Mobility 206

2.6.5. ESN vision and solutions for mobility 207

2.6.6. Non-formal learning 208

REFERENCES 215

APPENDICES 218

Annex 1. Example project and event budget. 218


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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AGM Annual General Meeting

BM Board Meeting of the International Board

CEP Central European Platform

CI Corporate Identity

CM- Cultural Medley

CND Council of National Delegates

CNR Council of National Representatives

CoE Council of Europe

CoMeet- All Committees Meeting

EHEA European Higher Education Area

ESN Erasmus Student Network

ESU European Students Union

EYF European Youth Foudantion

HE Higher Education

HEI Higher Education Institution

IB International Board

IFISO- Informal Forum of International Students

NBM National Board Meeting

ND National Delegate

NEC Networks & Events Committee

NEP Northern European Platform

NP National Platform

NR National Representatives

OC Organising Committee

PRIME Problems of Recognition in Making Erasmus


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0 Section Guide 2011

RP Regional Platform

SEEP South Eastern European Platform

SHS Students Helping Students

SM Section Meeting

SQ Section Questionnaire

SWEP South Western European Platform

UNICA Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe

WEP Western European Platform

YFJ- European Youth Forum

YiA Youth in Action

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FOREWORD

What is a network there for? To help you. In Europe, more than360 other ESN sections are working towards the same goals asyou: fac ili ta ting and enr iching the exchange t ime of int ernationalstudents in the city they live in. They all face the same kind of prob-lems as you may be having: teambuilding, project management,communication, finances As they are all formed by young stu-dents, more or less in touch with the university, with partners, withsponsors, they have common questions that can be answeredby common answers compiled in a manual this Section Guide.

A manual is a practical tool that you dont need to read from

the f irs t t ill the last page. You can go direct ly to the chapter thatyoure in terested in, read i t from the las t til l the first chapter, readsome parts of it only. And come back to it later when you havenew questions or look for some ideas. A manual is there when youneed it and on the shelf when you dont till the next time you oryour co lleagues wil l think that i t might give you some good ideas.

Some of the answers given by this manual are general and arerelevant for any students organisation working in the way ESNsections do. Others are highlighting what the ESN network is pro-viding to its sect ions.

In order to underline what ESN is bringing you, we divided thismanual into two parts : one explaining basic rules for the issuesyou migh t f ace, one deta iling the p rac tical solut ions that ESN isoffering to its sections.

In this way, youll get not only basic explanations on what youshall do/not do in terms of project management, sponsoring, part-nerships or communication, but also information about what ESN isproviding you: a webpage template, communication tools, servicesfrom international partners, projects that you can implement onthe local level, meetings where you can meet your peers and col -leagues and hear about their experience when they face issuessimilar as you may face as well

This manual was written thanks to ESNers that believe that thestrength of a network resides in its way to share, to offer and toprovide useful tools to it s members. They believe that this manualis a powerful tool to help you all to be, thanks to ESN, a strongersection.

13

Introduction

Section Guide 2011

2

Introduction

Section Guide 2011

In order to gather experiences from the sect ions directly, andto be able to illust rate sol id background inf ormation with pract i-cal tips and examples, we launched a best s tory competition inthe network. The s tor ies collected are gi ving you insights in whatsections did while facing a specific situation.

With this manual, we hope to help all sections of the networkto find some so lu ti ons to the issues they are facing. May theanswer to your question be in the book. If not, may ESNers, withyour he lp, prov ide an updat ed and more complete vers ion of thisbook in the year to come. This manual is meant to help but alsoto inspire sect ions may they all ge t st ronger thanks to what thismanual contains and thanks to all the ESNers that par ticipatedin its creation.

Enjoy the reading,

Your Sect ion Guide team


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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Hereby we would like to thank all the ESNers who helped us tocompose and realise the Section Guide. Without you we couldnthave done it!

Helpers

Daphne Scherer, GEG-ESN Genova, Italy contributing with ideasand helping to work out the structure of the Section Guide.

Elena Nikolova, ESN Skopje, Macedonia initiating the fundrais-ing part of the Section Guide.

Finance Committee members and especially Kadi Kenkfrom ESNTallinn, Estonia and Damien Lamy-Preto from the ESN InternationalBoard 2010/11 writing the chapter Easy Accountig and BudgetManagement.

Aura Balandyte, ESN KTU, Lithuania writing the Communicationchapter.

Monika Lapenaite, ESN VU, Lithuania writing the Communicationchapter.

Leo Smith, Secretary of ESN International 2010/11 languagecheck.

Katja KrohnESN LEI Greifswald, Germany proof-reading.

ESN International Board 2010/11 proof-reading.

Best practice story competition participants

Czech Republic

ESN Pilsen

ESN VSE Prague

ESN Buddy System Hradec Kralove

ESN Liberec

ISC OU International Student Club of the University of Ostrava

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Introduction

Section Guide 2011

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Introduction

Section Guide 2011

Greece

ESN Panteion

ESN Athens AUEB

Austria

ESN UniWien

France

ESN Besanon

Italy

ESN STEP Pavia

Macedonia

ESN Skopje

Spain

ESN Barcelona UAB

Switzerland

ESN Lausanne xchange-unil

Turkey

ESN Anadolu

Contributors of different examples

Marek Bser from ISC Mendelu Brno, Czech RepublicSurvival Weekend

Marco Cillepi from ESN Milano Statale, Italy Evento Nazionale Igor Kalinic from AEP-ESN Padova, Italy Carnival Party

Marge Taivere from ESN Tartu, Estonia ESN Ibiza

Piotr Cylke ESN EYE Lodz, Poland Hel(l) Surn

Frederike Herold ESN Potsdam, Germany - ESNters the City

Karin Persdotter ESN Vxj, Sweden - Seabattle


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17

Introduction

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Chapter1: All youneed to

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1.1. Organisational management

Organisational management is the basis of everything in your sec-tion. First you have to deal with it when you start up a new sectionand then you have to deal with it on an everyday basis. Even forexperienced sections it is recommended to evaluate the currentsystems and procedures every once in a while and determine theelds where improvements are needed. However, the manage-ment of a section is not only about small organisational issues,but also other elds like human resources, nancial management,communication and more, which are all covered in this guidebook.

In this chapter we will focus on the general organisational man-agement issues like section structure, ofce management, meet-ings and other administrative issues.

1.1.1. Section structure

The structure of your section is very important. If you manageto establish a functional structure you will be able to manage yoursections and the work of its members in a much more efcientway! Lets take in examination a typical structure of ESN Atlantis.

ESN Atlantis is composed of its board, its section members andits international students. Before focusing on each part of thissection, we will give you some useful denitions.

As section board members we dene active ESN members whoare in charge of running the section properly for a certain period.Board members are usually elected from the general assembly ofyour section and have the power to take decisions, but have alsomany responsibilities.

As active members we dene the members of your section who

organise some activities and take part in the meetings of yoursection or a regular basis. Usually a section has also many othermembers, who are not actively involved in the section, but everyonce in a while attend some meetings and help with differentevents. These could be dened as regular members. In additionthere can be a lso the buddies or mentors, who are assigned ascontact persons to one or a small number of international studentsto help them to integrate in the new society and learn about thestudy system and city (so-called buddy or mentor programme).

That means, your section consists of:

Section board + section members

And the section members consist of:

Active members + regular members + buddies/mentors

International students are the foreign students who study in youruniversity following a degree course or an exchange programme.The students visiting your university through an exchange pro-gramme, that means they stay for one or two semesters, we callexchange students. This group of people would be particularlyinterested in joining your activities so stay in touch with them!

International students = foreign degree students + exchangestudents

After these denitions let us have a look on the structure of ESNAtlantis. In this imaginary section the board is constituted of vemembers: the president, the vice-president, the treasurer, the

secretary, and the PR.Their duties are the following:

President: head of the section and of the board, represen-tation of the sect ion to stakeholders and local authorities,strategic planning and task coordination.

Vice-president: support to the president, human resourcesand event management.

Treasurer: nances, sponsoring and fundraising.

IT responsible: maintenance of your website and managementof event registration systems.

PR: public relations and communication management. Thiscould mean: creation of PR material, taking care of websitecontent, Facebook page, and management of the informationow within the section.

The structure described above is rather indicative. Some sec-tions have separated the posit ions and assigned a person respon-sible for HR or a programme manager for events. This means thatthe structure of your board is your choise and should be the onethat serves the needs of your section best.

1.1.2. Section ofce management

Your ESN ofce is or wi ll probably become your second home!But why is it important to have an ofce for your section?

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1.1.4. Administrative works and issues

Everybody tries to avoid or reduce bureaucracy. However if youorganise a functional form of bureaucracy, this will denitely havea positive impact on the procedures and activities of your section.

It is advisable to create statutes and register to the local authori-ties as a non-prot organisation or NGO. The creation of statutescan be time consuming, but it is crucial for the sustainability ofyour section as you would have dened goals, voting procedures,the board structure and other issues. As said above the creationof statutes can be a long lasting procedure. So if you want to savesome time, ask other sections for their statutes and adjust themaccording to your particular conditions.

When you manage to establish a legal entity for your section you

will be able open a bank account and manage your nances bet -ter. Your partners will take you more seriously. You will also havehigher chances to apply for grants as usually only legally registeredorganisations can receive funding.

Best practice example: Organisa-tional management tips

Do you have any special practical tips or tricks, which youare using for the successful running of your section?

ISC OU International Student Club of the University of Ostrava,ESN Czech Republic: Communication, communication, communication:o). In our section we are trying to give our members the feeling that

their ideas and opinions are important and that leaders of the sectionwill listen to them. We are trying to make clear that the opinion of anormal member is as important as a leaders one. Of course we are

in close contact with the staff of our universities international ofce.ESN Anadolu, ESN Turkey: The biggest thing that works in ESN

is a smile. You need to have more fun then everyone and try to makeeveryone enjoy the events so that the Erasmus can have also fun. Andif you are organising something, you should always think of your previ-ous mistakes or deciencies, aim always for the best. Another thingI personally try to do is to memorise exchange students names andsurnames. Its always nice that even the guy that is somehow above

the others, cares for them so much - it g ives interest to their lives

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Your ofce serves as a meeting point. This is where the regularsection meetings usually take place and where your internationalstudents can get their ESNCard or register for an event. It is apoint of reference. Moreover, you also need a postal address.Therefore it is advisable to nd a central and easily accessible lo-cation for your ofce. If you still dont have an ofce, ask for somehelp from your university. They will help you to nd a solution andmaybe it can be even located in the university premises, which iseasily accessible for the international students.

Once you get an ofce you must be able to manage it properly.Maybe its a good idea to designate a member as ofce manager.The ofce manager should be responsible for keeping the ofce ina decent situation and for making sure the ofce related activities(e.g. ofce hours, managing ESNCard stocks) are carried out inthe right way.

1.1.3. Section meetings

Regular section meetings are the meet ings you hold in order tomanage the current affairs of your section better. Many sectionshold this meeting once a week, but the frequency of such meetingsdepends on the needs of your section and the time availability ofyour section members.

During the section meetings important activities of the sectioncan be coordinated. This means that during your weekly meetingyou can distribute tasks, discuss and plan the future activ ities ofyour section, evaluate the outcome of past events, have generaldiscussions or some fun.

Section meetings are important because they improve the bind-ing and the communication between the section members (incl.section board members) while they help in the integration and thetraining of your new members.

Tip!

A disorderly office or an office closed during office hours can have

a negative impact in your section

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and personalities. Another thing is that its not only the conversationsthat people remember and like you because of that, i ts the favoursand kindness that you show to the people. For example, taking an illexchange student to a hospital, help them with their registration orinvite them personally to one of your events.

ESN Athens AUEB, ESN Greece: In order to avoid double work,we are trying to keep the knowledge management of the previous

years acti ve. We have a database with t ips, emails and use ful mate-rial from the events we did run the previous years and we use it tomake our life easier and to get the same event one step further! Forexample, we are having the City Race of Athens the last 3 years.We always look at the questionnaire of the previous year and we seewhich questions we can change to make it more interesting. On ourweekly meetings we also have a feedback round from the events thatwe already had.

1.2. Human resources

1.2.1. Leadership

Alexander the Great had to motivate constantly his soldiers dur-ing his long campaign. Fortunately you are not going on war but youstill have to deal with people and keep them motivated. Workingon the human resources of your ESN section may be the biggestinvestment you can do.

Delegating and creating smart goals is something you shouldknow well when running your section. We present you two princi-ples that will help you to improve these skills. If you implement those

two principles you will be able to manage your human resourcesmore effectively.

1.2.1.1. Learn to delegate

The more you delegate, the more time you delegate, the moretime you will have to manage people and improve processes. Inorder to delegate effectively, you need to ensure that the person towhom you delegate a task is provided with four things: Skill, Time,Authority and Responsibility. The rst letters of these words spellthe word STAR, which makes them easy to remember.

S = Skill. You need to ensure that the person has the skilland ability to do the task. This doesnt mean that they haveto be as good at the task as you.

T = Time.You need to make sure that the person has ad-equate time to complete the task at the pace that is likely for

their abil ity. This means allowing for the actual time this task

will take alongside any other tasks they need to do. If you aretheir manager, they may be reluctant to admit that they donthave the time. Try to ask open questions (When will you do

this?) rather than leading questions (You have enough timeto do this, dont you?) to ascertain their workload.

A = Authority. Ensure that the other people know that theperson youre delegating to, has been given authority to com-plete these tasks. You might just tell people that they willneed to provide the person with information and support.Without conrmation of authority, their task may be muchharder to perform.

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R = Responsibility.This is often the hardest one. You aredelegating something that you have a responsibility to getdone, so you must ensure that the person you delegate tounderstands that s-/he is responsible to you for performingthis task. One of the best ways to g ive the responsibili ty isto make it clear that you are sharing the credit for the suc-cessful outcome.

Understand SMART goals

When you set goals for people you need to ensure that thegoal you set is not open to misinterpretation and provides asmuch appropriate details as it can. To reach this goal thereis a mnemonic name: SMART. Lets explain what SMARTstands for:

S = Specic. This means that you need to make the goal asspecic as possible. It is easy to be vague, but more usefulfor you (to appraise performance) and for the individual (toknow what to do and how they are doing) to be clear anddetailed about the goal. You dont have to tell them how todo it, but you should tell them exactly what you want it tolook like in the end.

M = Measurable.Measuring things is the way we take anysubjectivity out of the future appraisal of whether the goalhas been met. Usually by setting a measurement we arealso able to assess the level of success achieved if the goalwasnt fully met.

A = Achievable. This is a stumbling block for many manag-ers. If a goal has to be accepted as achievable by the personundertaking it, doesnt mean that people can simply refuse agoal and only agree on something easy? The answer to thisis no. The individual is able to argue the case that a specic

goal is not achievable, but as a more experienced memberyou should know what is achievable or not.

R = Relevant.Every goal you set has to be relevant to theoverall purpose of the individual job and the overall goal ofthe team.

T = Time bound. Each individual goal you set will feed intothe overal l purpose and goal of the team. The teams goalwill feed into the organisations goals. Consequently any goalachieved late has a knock-on effect. Therefore it is absolutelyimperative that everybody is time bound - people know whenthey are expected to deliver.

1.2.1.2. Identify peoples personal motivators

There is one rule in volunteering, in order to create a sustainableorganisation. People volunteering need to nd a personal motivationfor staying, but at the same time this needs to be 50/50 for thisorganization: if there is only personal motivation it wont work in acollective group. Thus, the association explode and if there is noth -ing personal, then the members wont be renewed in the future.

The very act of discussing motivation with your people showsthem that you consider them to be indiv iduals, and you value themand want to engage them. Here is a straightforward way to initiate,carry out and follow through such a discussion:

Initiation.You need to get to know your team members asindividuals, so you need to have one-to-one discussions witheach of them as a general part of your role.

Carrying out a discussion.It is probably not productive toask, What motivates you?, as it sounds a little mechanistic.Start off getting to know something of the persons privatelife. What do they do in their spare time? Ask what makesthem happy. Ask them to describe a perfect week at univer-sity. What makes a perfect day off? Does this happen often?If not, why not? Ask what they want to get from the organi-sation over the next 12 months and what they see as theircurrent goal in ESN. Listen to their answers, and try to makethe conversation ow rather than being an interrogation. Beprepared to share your personal information with them - thisisnt weakness or over familiarity, but an expression of trust,partnership and belonging to the same team. Ask them whythey joined the sect ion. This will give you an idea what themotivation and the goals of the person are.

Following up.You should make some condential notes,because you cant expect to remember everything for all

team members, especially if there are more than three ormore of them. You will be able to identify rewards to offerpeople and to tailor your appreciation according to individualpreferences. You will be able to decide who best to allocateor delegate tasks to in relation to peoples references andaspirations. In short, you can help to motivate them!

1.2.1.3. Empower your people

You empower people when you let them take a leve l of authoritythemselves. Empowerment is counter-intui tive to many managers,but not to you!

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Lets see what empowerment really is:

Giving people more responsibility for their own job and ac-tions.

Asking people for their opinions and then considering theiranswers.

Explaining the reasons why things are done, but letting peopleselect the best way to do them.

Letting people succeed.

Letting people learn from their mistakes.

Encouraging people to use their intelligence, rather expectingthem to act l ike machines.

Allowing people to reach their full potential.

Nurturing peoples strengths and helping them overcomeweaknesses.

Giving people the right to choose their behaviour and theresponsibility to accept the consequences.

Being strong and condent enough to accept that you cannotcontrol everything personally.

What empowerment is not:

Allowing a situation of anarchy to develop.

Leaving the team to ght it out amongst itself, with survivalof the ttest.

Washing of your hands of responsibility for anything goingwrong.

Allowing people to make massive mistakes that will be ir-retrievable.

Sitting back and watching a seriously dangerous situationdeveloping.

Accepting the perks of the section president title, but notthe responsib ility that goes with it.

Empowering people - offering them more responsibility fulls thetop three motivators:

1. Interesting work.People will nd their job more interestingif they have more responsibility for their own work.

2. Appreciation.Empowerment proves to a person that youappreciate them because you are placing trust in them andshowing that you think they are competent and capable.

3. Engagement. Empowerment enables a person to engagewith their work, the other ESN members and you more thanwhen they are simply told what to do.

1.2.1.4. Coach a poor performer to improve

There are many ways to improve a persons performance, but ifyou can help them to nd their own way to improve themself, thisgives added benets. Firstly, the person takes ownership of thesolution, rather than just doing what you tell them to do. Secondly,they begin to learn that they can improve, which means that theywill do so without your intervention in the future.

One of the best ways to achieve this is to spend more of yourtime and energy asking the r ight questions than aiming to be theprovider of answers. It is a form of coaching, rather than teaching,and similar to the approach you should take when helping peopleto learn from good performance. I t can be complicated to coacha person, who is a poor performer. You can nd some tips onthis topic in table 1.

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Best practice examples: Ways ofmanaging members

How do you train your section members?

ESN Barcelona UAB, ESN Spain:

1. First of all, they need to see what ESN is, and especially dont letthem see bad behaviour from the res t of the members, especiall y fromtheir leaders.

2. They need to get involved step by step. It means: dont give them atrip to organise if they have been in ESN for only one month!

3. Also, dont force them and let them come to the section as theywant to. If you force them to come, they will feel bad and will not comeback.

4. To motivate them and make them come, its good to make themfeel part of something. That is, in the welcome parties, make them feelas they had always been part of the team in front of the exchange stu -dents. It will make them feel reaaaally good.

5. They also need to know what responsibility is. Make a small projectas a cineforum and charge them to ask for the room and write theevent.

6. Prizes are also very good: if your section has money, invite themfor a drink or a pizza somewhere as a Team night out, or just createan event and go out all together to make some team building.

7. If you do this correctly, it will be a great experience for all of you!

PS! If any newbie shows an arrogant behaviour, kick his ass! Theyshould always be in love in ESN!

ESN VSE Prague, ESN Czech Republic:

We have a so-called Buddy Wiki it is a document wiki where every-thing about our section is wr itten and described what events we or-ganise and how we do it, how our section works, who is responsible forwhat We are also trying to create there something like a history book-> to keep our history.

We have also a project called Mentoring an old member of oursection is a mentor to someone new (the mentor helps with all tasks,mentor explains processes in our section, mentor explains how ESNworks etc.). Mentors learn how to transfer their knowledge, cooperatewith new people, solve new problems etc.

We also offer subsidised courses from some companies to our mem-bers (about nances, fundraising, PR or marketing, human resourcesetc.)

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Table 1.Coaching a poor performer.

Step Purpose Beneft

1. Clearly outline thepoor performance.

To ensure opencommunication and

clarity.

Shows respect forthe person. Toughon behaviour noton the person.

2. State impact ongoals of person and

team.

To establish your con-cern and the conse-quences of the poor

performance.

Focuses on thebigger picture - the

results and out-comes of failure.

3. Ask the person fortheir point of view.Make sure you genu-inely listen and react

to the answer!

To get the whole pic-ture, all the evidence.

Encourages opencommunication,

shows your respectfor them, and en-

gages them.

4. Ask the personwhat they do to

improve the personalperformance.

To encourage a per-son to take owner-ship of the problemand nd a solution

that they think is with-in her/his ability.

The person doesthe work, makesyour life easier.

Shows respect andcondence from

you.

5. Ask what helpthey need from youand others. Again,genuinely listen and

respond to what theysay.

To ensure they havethe resources and

the ability to succeed.

Shows apprecia-tion. Increases like-lihood of success.

Is positive andsupportive.

6. Ask the person tosummarise the plan

that arises from 4and 5 above, includingher/his proposals for

review.

To ensure that bothparties focused on

the future and have amutual understandingof the way forward.

Clarity regardingfuture action. Em-

phasises that theperson can control

the solution.

7. Ask nal qualify-ing question: If we

do the things outlinedin this plan, can youguarantee me that

your performance willimprove.

To give nal opportu-nity to reality check

the discussion.

Increases likelihoodof success. In-

creases the per-sons ownership of

the outcome.

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1.2.2. Team management

Odysseus led the Greek army to the conquest of Troy though hisTrojan horse, but he returned home in Ithaca having lost all hiscompanions! Was he a good or a bad leader? Did he know howto manage his team in an effect ive way? Well , maybe its hard toanswer the previous questions, but we are here to give you someadvice in order to run your ESN section successfully.

How do you accompany your section members throughout theyear(s) in order to keep them motivated?

ESN Athens AUEB, ESN Greece:

Apart from the weekly meetings we organise one bonding trip, lasting2-3 days, once a year only for ESN members of our section with low par-

ticipation fee i n order to get a stronger connect ion wi thin the team.

ESN Panteion, ESN Greece:

We have casual meetings every week and we keep constant commu-nication with them... giving reports of what happened but also waiting forfeedback and report of what has been done. By having close contact all

the t ime and by g iving them the chance to join conferences and semi-nars, they get more and more motivated.

Do you have any kind of knowledge transfer method or toolthat you use successfully?

ESN Anadolu, ESN Turkey:

We usually write reports after every event and archive them in ourofce so that the following members after us can read them and have anidea on how they can do the job. Also we transfer our knowledge verbally

to our new members so that they can take serious responsibili ties afterwe nished our school.

ESN Barcelona UAB, ESN Spain:

From this year on we created several documents, especially Whatyou need to know as a newb ie, concerning all the aspects of runninga section, such as: ESN aims, ofce and what we do there, ESN Card,info mail with password to read also the Spanish members mailing listand stay updated, process of choosing trip coordinators, monthly bigparties: get the posters and where to hang them depending on every-ones faculty, the tasks of every member, the role of the president...Newbies get this document and read it carefully for the success of oursection!

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Which self-development opportunities do you offer your sectionmembers?

ESN Besancon, ESN France:

Our section is organised in committees (trip committee, party com-mittee, culture committee etc.) Each committee has two main people,who take care of everything from the logistics of weekly activities (cul-

ture) , to contact with suppli ers ( trips) and keeping the board updated onthe progress of the project.

Moreover, we try to launch new major projects every year (hosting aNBM, local events etc.) that are managed by a member that is not nec-essarily either in the board or in a committee.

Developing a project can be difcult, but it is very rewarding - wehave noticed that members that have taken on such responsibilities getself-esteem boost and feel (most often for the rst time) that they arecapable of achieving even greater objectives.

By the end of the year we also try to turn their experience in our sec -tion into a solid argument in their CV.


The best self-development opportunity is to give them a chance toprove themselves. Creating some workshops like project management orsomething similar. If you need, force them to join these things and try to

teach them the knowledge you possess with the proven inc idents. Givethem the chance to attend Nat ional Platforms or send them to trainingsso that they may transfer these experiences from one to another.

How do you integrate new members in your section?


The easiest way is to try them at rst in projects. Let them partici -pate, see if they are willingly doing this or just came to have fun. See

them on the job, l isten to the ideas they have and nally clar ify in yourmind which position would suit the best for them, or any of them will

not. If you know the history of the new member (for example if they areexperienced in AEGEE), teach the differences and nd a suitable place forthem to work and jo in the fami ly.

ESN VSE Prague, ESN Czech Republic:

We have a so-called Buddy Wiki, which was explained previously. Newmembers receive a welcome pack package of all information you needduring the rst days in our section. New members have a few meetingswith our HR department who helps them and explains them everything

they want to know.

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1.2.2.1. How can a team be dened?

There are several denitions for the word team, dependingon different situations. For example, the Massachusetts Instituteof Technology denes a team as: People working together in acommitted way to achieve a common goal or mission. The work isinterdependent and team members share responsibility and holdthemselves accountable for attaining the results.

You can nd several denit ions of team, but there are fairlyuniversal concepts, which can be dened as:

Teams have a common goal or purpose.

Teams have more than one member.

Teams have complementary skills and abilities.

Teams work together.

1.2.2.2. Types of team members

So now that you know what a team is, its time to pick up theteam members. Choosing the appropriate team members can beof vital importance for the success of your team and the projectsyou are running.

There are several types of team members. In table 2 you cannd the most common ones.

Table 2.Typology of team members.

Type Typicalfeatures

Positive Qualities Allowableweaknesses

Companyworker

Conservativedutiful andpredictable.

Organising ability,practical commonsense, and hardworking self-disci-

pline.

Lack of exibilityand unresponsive-ness to unproven

ideas.

Type Typicalfeatures

Positive Qualities Allowableweaknesses

Chairman Calm,self-controlled

andself-condent.

A capacity for treat-ing and welcoming

all the potential con-tributors on theirmerits and withoutprejudice. A strongsense of objectives.

No more thanordinary in terms

of intellect orcreative ability.

Resourceinvestiga-

tor

Extroverted,enthusiastic,curious andcommunica-

tive.

A capacity for con-tacting people andexploring anything

new. An ability to re-

spond to challenge.

Liable to looseinterest once theinitial fascination

has passed.

Shaper Highly stung,outgoing and

dynamic.

Drive and a readi-ness to challenge

inertia,complacency.

Proneness toimpatience,irritation andprovocation.

Ineffectiveness orself-deception.

Plant Indiv idual istic,serious-mind-

ed,unorthodox.

Genius, imagination,intellect and knowl-

edge.

Up in the clouds,inclining to dis-regard practicaldetails or proto-

col.

Monitorevaluator

Sober,unemotionaland prudent.

Judgement,discretion and hard-

headedness.

Lacks inspirationor the ability to

motivate others.

Team

worker

Socially

oriented, mildand sensitive.

An ability to respond

to people and tosituations, andto promote team

spirit.

Indecisiveness

at moments ofcrisis.

Com-pleter

nisher

Painstaking,orderly,

anxious andconscientious.

A capacity to followthrough, perfection-

ism.

A tendency toworry about

nothing. A reluc-tance to let go.

Nice, now you are able to make a successful selection of teammembers.

Tip!

Complementary skills and inter-independencies make a real team;otherwise the word team is just a label.

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1.2.2.3. Stages of team development

Teams pass through various stages before they start performingand producing results. Lets take them in examination.

1. Forming stage. Team members identify each other by name,role and history. In order to get this stage successfully com-pleted as quickly as possible, hold a proper forming meet-ing - get everyone to introduce themselves and share thisinformation.

4. Storming stage.The stage where, condent they are meantto be here, people start to jockey for position - to establishtheir credibi lity in the team. Some wi ll try to push themselvesforward because they want power or inuence; others willdeliberately keep low prole because they are shy, modestor lacking in condence. You need to set up activities to ndtheir level of comfort - for example any of the teambuildingexercises you can nd on the human resources chapter.

5. Norming stage. This is when you start to establish the rulesof behaviour between team members, and their relationshipswith you and the people outside. The norming phase cantake quite a long time i f left to happen naturally because therules will be established by a combination of trail and errorand custom and practice. Take control by holding a teammeeting to set up some formal ground rules.

6. Performing stage. The team nally starts working effectivelytowards its goals. For example, a soccer team is performingwhen it is playing well - tackling, keeping possession, winingground, supporting each other - even before it starts scor-ing goals.

Table 3 illustrates the Greasy Pole model. These are typical be-haviours in a team as it goes through the various stages. In orderto understand better the table you should read it horizontally and

try to identify some of these behaviours in your team. In this wayyou will know in which stage your team is and you wi ll be able totake initiatives and lead it to the next stages.

Table 3.Greasy pole model.

1.2.2.4. Lead and serve your team

Create tasks

This will include writing job descriptions that sets out genericdemarcations of responsibility, extracting individual targets fromthe team objectives, and agreeing developmenta l objectives forpeople to help them improve their skills and abilities.

Dening tasks. When writing job descriptions always refer tohow the tasks of the individual are connected to the vision of theteam and its objectives. If you dont do this, the job can lose itsapparent point.

Dening targets. When extracting individual targets from teamobjectives make sure that you allocate targets fairly rather thannecessarily equally. If you have someone who is more experiencedor who achieves results faster, then it is fair to expect greater

Forming Whofollowswho

Poorlistening

Feelingskept

hidden

Shallowrelation-ships

Statuscon-

scious

Do asothersexpectyou to

Thinking ofyour ownneeds andproblems

Storming Expressthe

feelingsabouteachother

Emo-tional

Lack ofdirection

Insecu-rity

Peoplegoing

againstexpecta-tions

Norming Newgoals,atmos-

phere ofhonesty,toleranceand listen-

ing

Deeperrelation-ships,

under-standingeach

othersvalues

andcontribu-tions

Estab-lish ownteam

disci-plines

Developas-

sertive-

ness

Do taskaccord-ing to

individ-ual andteamabilities

Perform-ing

Positivedirection

Initiat ive Creativ -ity

Flex-ibility

Open,honestrelation-ships

Matu-rity

Commit-ment,

pride inthe team,team spirit

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Best practice examples: Organisa-tional management tips

How do you coordinate and manage the everyday work ofand tasks within your section?

ESN Liberec, ESN Czech Republic: We use a lot of emails (Gmail)and shared calendars, shared documents, Google groups. On Mon-days meetings we set up targets, terms and deadlines. Now we arealso working on the project plan to use project management more.And we are also creating plan for next semester.

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things from her/him than from those who are new to the task,work fewer hours or have other duties that reduce their ability tocontribute.

Agreeing developmental objectives. Whenever you have the op-portunity, or secondments, set learning and development tasks,engage in teambuilding activities, work out process improvementsor even just nd some make-work tasks to keep the team busy.

Give praise in public

As a member of a team, it is important that you fairly recognisehigh effort and good results. You have to catch people doing thingsright in order to motivate individuals. To motivate the team, to de-velop and maintain team spirit you have to be seen to give positivefeedback, equitably across the whole team. This does not meanthat you have to offer praise to everyone, regardless their effort

or performance - that would be equal rather than fair. To generate team spirit you need to be seen doing these

things:

Say thanks and well done within earshot of other people.

Send an email to say thanks and well done and cc or bcc itto other team members.

When holding team briengs, add a word of praise to eachappropriate aspect of the progress report.

Send thank you cards. People tend to pin them up over theirworkstation or on the team board. If you think cards are outof fashion then you can send them an e-card o wite them anemail. In any case it is important to thank your people fortheir efforts.

Reward your peopleSmall rewards can mean a lot to your team members.

Listen to your team

Create an environment where team members are willing tospeak.You have to ask for opinions, ideas, comments andthoughts. You have to make it easy for your team membersto actually give their input. This means you need to be ac-cessible: give people your mobile phone number, your e-mailaddress, eat with them, have coffee with them. Make it clearthat any means of communication is acceptable.

ESN Besancon, ESN France: Our activities and the active mem-bers are divided in to committees, which allow sharing out tasks ineach committee and then the committees members divide the tasksas they wish. Each committee is supervised by one of the sectionboard members.

ESN Anadolu, ESN Turkey: We usually divide tasks to certainpeople and share our thoughts in a general meeting. If somebody isnot able to nish their duty we share this duty or give it to anotherperson. And the president should always check them if they are doing

their task or not.

How do you manage and lead the section members anddelegate tasks?

ESN Lausanne xchange-unil, ESN Switzerland: The best thing isto give special tasks to each member, so they feel useful . For each

point that we discuss, we make a think-tank with everyones inputs onthe subjects. It motiva tes the members and leads to solut ions thatsometimes dont appear at the rst look.

ESN Anadolu, Turkey: The leading system in our section is a littlebit different, because we work as a team and almost all the decisionsare made by the simple majority of the board members. We are allhighly motivated and ready for the new tasks unless we are totallybusy with the other tasks. The board meets so often and we are allfriends that know each other well. This is another important thing in

the section whi le de legat ing the tasks. Be ing f riends gives the advan-tage o f knowing peoples talents, capabi lities and free time amount sothis ends up with a better de legat ion.

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Prove that you genuinely listen.You have to take time todedicate to the team members talking to you. Answer yourphone, respond to e-mails, and dont scowl at people whenthey try to talk to you, avoid permanently surrounding your-self with peers who arent members of your team. Listenand summarise team members points, and question themintelligently about their opinions. Ask them to discuss thingsfurther or investigate. Always thank them for their time andcontribution. Act appropriately on their input. Give creditwhere it is due. If their suggestion or idea isnt going to beimplemented, then explain why.

Build and keep trust

As the team manager, there are some actions you can delib-

erately take to generate trust rather than simply waiting for it toevolve.

Trust levels rise when people feel that they are well informed.Share knowledge openly and freely. Do this verbally and in personrather sending emails and proving documents - people often haventthe time or incl inat ion to read reams of paper. Share also youropinions and humanity (if your team does not know anything of yourpersonal life, then you will always be relatively remote to them).

Trust levels rise when people feel that they can express them-selves openly. Encourage team members to share their opinionsand private thoughts regarding the teams purpose, processes,performance and future.

Lead by example

Leading by example can be an effective way to manage your mem-ber and to inspire them. In the table 4 we propose you some ideaswhich will make it easier to lead your members by your example.

Table 4.Leading by example techniques.

If you want peopleto...

You have to...

... use their initiative tosolve problems.

... tell them that they can use their initiative,encourage them to do so, give them the re-

sources to do so and reward them when theyhave done so.

If you want peopleto...

You have to...

... behave in an honestway.

... be seen to be honest with them, not justtelling the truth but also ensuring that youdo not keep back anything that is potentiallyharmful to your situation (being economical

with truth) and accept their honesty with goodgrace, even when it hurts personally or cre-

ates difculties.

... treat everything withintegrity.

... have the highest standards of personal in-tegrity yourself and treat any lack of integrity inothers as an offence. Dont abide by the wordof law, also abide by the spirit of law as well.

... help each other (and

you) out.

... help people out yourself when help is

needed.... full their objectives. ... articulate those objectives clearly and

precisely and then support the team in fulllingthem. Also articulate to the team what yourobjectives are and then be seen to be fullling

them.

... stretch themselves toreach their full potential,attend training and learn

from experience.

... stretch yourself, undertake suitable train-ing. You can always learn new things or get

better at things you do.

... do as they are told. .. . be seen to be doing so yourself.

... be positive and optimis-tic.

... radiate optimism in everything you say anddo. Be smiley, look for the positive side, have

self-belief.

... accept and respond toyour feedback effectively.

... accept their feedback about you and yourmanagement style, secondly thank them for it,

thirdly react to that feedback in a developmen-tal way and nally be seen to have changed asa result of it.

Remote teams

As ESN is a network spread across the whole of Europe andyou may need to manage a team of which members are remotefrom each other.

Here is some advice that will help you to manage your remoteteam in the best possible way.

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Create and follow special communication plans.Have aplan so people know how often they should expect to contactyou or hear from you, in what medium and with what type ofinformation. Also a decision - making plan that clearly setsout the process for levels of autonomy and authority. Havea strategy for conict resolution and/or escalation so yourremote people know what to do if something isnt going right.

Get to know your team members.Arranging occasionalvideo conferenc ing cal ls is essent ial. If you wouldn t evenrecognise your remote team member then the likelihood isthey dont feel much loyalty back to you or the team.

Stay in touch.Regularly get feedback about progress and lifein general. Contact people just to say hi and hows it going?Ask what support people want. Keep these people informed

about what is going on elsewhere in the team. Maximise meetings.When you hold a meeting make it as

valuable as you can. Set an agenda and stick to it, but so-cialise as well.

Use all technology available to you.Shaking someones handis better than seeing their face. Seeing someones face isbetter than hearing a voice. Hearing a voice is better thanjust reading words. Reading words is better than just know-ing that a team member or leader exists.

1.2.3. Icebreakers, Energizers and Teambuild-ing Games

All games, described below, are simple, require few resources,and should not take too much time. Feel free to experiment andmodify them as per your preferences.

1.2.3.1. Icebreakers

Icebreakers are introduction games short, sweet, and perfectfor the rst day to learn each others names. Make sure to includeeveryone and keep people engaged.

Grouping and Sorting

Time Place Participants Resources

10-15 minutes any 10+ none

Shout an attribute, such as the rst letter in the name, shoe size,month of birth, eye colour etc., and ask people to group togetheraccordingly in less than 10 seconds (time can vary depending onthe group size). Once the time is up, you check if everybody is inthe r ight group. Stand on chair for a better overview.

Sorting:play this game by sorting. All the same, this case dontask people to group, but to line themselves up in order of height,by birth dates, etc. To make the game more difcult, make par -

ticipants use sign language or use blindfolds.Alligators: ask as many people as possible to stand on a bench,

board, or in a marked area (small and narrow). Tell them that theyare in a lifeboat and there are alligators in the water. If any ofthem fal l in, the alligators will know they are there and they will alldie. And do the sorting exercise with or without additional difcultyelements of not speaking or not seeing.

Two Truths and a Lie


15-20 minutes any 5-20 pen & paper

Pass out an index card and a pen to each person who is playing.Then ask everyone to write two things they have done and one theyhavent. The more unique and interesting, the better. Other par-ticipants have to guess, which things are true and which are lies.

ID Guessing Game:collect the index cards from everyone, andgroup votes on who they think the card represents and which itemthey havent done.

Two Truths and a Dream Wish:instead of stating a lie, a personsays something that is not true yet something that they wishto be true. For example, someone that has never been to Hawaiimight say: I have visited Hawaii when I was young. This interest-ing spin often leads to unexpected, fascinating results, as peopleoften share touching wishes about their lives.

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Speed Dating


10-20 minutes any 5-20 none

Ask people to get up, pair up, and chat for 2 minutes with eachother about whatever interests them. Youll be the timer. When 2minutes are up, youll blow your whistle or make some other soundloud enough for everyone to hear. When they hear your signal,everyone is to nd a new partner and chat for the next 2 minutes.

If you have exibility, allow enough time for everyone to have 2minutes with every other person. If using this at the beginning of acourse or meeting, combine it with introductions. After the mixer,ask each person to give his or her name, and share somethinginteresting they learned from someone else during the mixer.

Introduce your neighbour: after 2 minute chat, ask people tointroduce everyone their neighbour telling the story in the rstperson.

M&M Introduction


10-15 minutes any 5-20 none

Pass around a bag of M&Ms and tell participants to take asmany as theyd like. When everyone has some, tell them that theyneed to tell the group something about themselves for every M&Mthey took.

Toilet paper introduction: pass around a roll of toilet paper andtell part icipants to take as much as they think they would need for

a ve day trip in the wilderness. For every square of it they took,they need to tel l something about themselves to the group.

Whose Story Is It?


15-20 minutes any 5-20 pen & paper

Pass out slips of paper and pens. Ask everyone to write downa brief story or experience that happened to them on the paperalong with their name. The more bizarre, the better.

Fold the slips of paper and put them into the container, shufingthem and mixing them up. A mediator picks out four slips of paperand calls out the names of the people.

These people go and sit on chairs or a couch apart from thegroup. The mediator reads off the stories and then the group triesto gure out whose story is whose. The group does this by askingdifferent people to tell different stories.

The people on the couch try to convince the group that the storythey tell really is theirs. After everyone on the couch has told a fewdifferent stories, the group votes. This is repeated until everyonehas gone up.

The main goal of the game is to have fun telling stories and learna few interesting or humorous facts about each other.

Map of Europe


10-15 minutes an empty roomor a hallway

10+ none

Stand in the middle of the room representing the actual loca-tion of the meeting (your direction of looking representing North)and have the participants form a map around you standing wheretheir country of origin would be (e.g. you represent Paris, hencethe part icipants from Belg ium would stand closely up right to you.If you were Moscow, they would stand further down left).

Check with each group, and, if necessary, have them re-shufingthemselves.

1.2.3.2. Energisers

Energisers can lighten up the mood of the participants and re-vitalise them. Use games at crucial moments during the day (e.g.after lunch or long presentations). In comparison to icebreakers,energisers should be more active. Make sure to allow enough time

to nish the game, while do not stretch it too much (optimum lengthon average is 15-20 minutes).

House Building


10-15 minutes room to makea circle

10-30 none

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Divide people in groups of four. There should be one reminder (ifthere is more than 1 reminder, some people cannot play, or youneed to come up with some creative solutions for house design).Each group of four forms a house in the following way:

the left and the right wall hold each others hands,

the garage attaches themself to one arm of the lef t andright wall each,

the inhabitant stands between the left and right wall.

When the remaining person shouts left wall (or any of theother house parts), all left walls (or the respective part) have todetach and nd a new house while the caller also looks for a spot.Continue these steps as often as you wish.

Pass the Bottle



10-30 2 plastic bot-tles (and/or an

apple)

Ask participants to form a circle. The bottles have to be passedaround the circle only using the legs while standing.

One bottle goes clockwise, the other one counter-clockwise. Forthe bottle that goes clockwise, the sender and receiver have toface each other and for the other bottle they have to look the samedirection (or vice versa). See which bottle passes the circle faster.

Pass an Apple:alike bottles, you can ask the circle to passoranges and apples (holding them by the chin).

Seat Moving Game



10-30 chairs

Make a circle with the chairs and one chair in the middle. Oneperson sits in the middle and should shout one attribute (like I amwearing blue socks.)

All the persons with this attribute have to change places whilethe person in the middle also tries to nd a seat in the circle.

Yes / No Game


10-15 minutes an empty roomor hallway

10+ none

Get the group to stand in the middle of the room. Offer a prefer-ence to the group (beach holiday OR mountain holiday), and peoplemove to either side of the room based upon preference. After theenergiser leader has used up their ideas, encourage participantsto come up with their own ones.

Get opinions: you can use this game also during a meeting. Tellan idea, and ask people to locate themselves in a certain distanceof in favour or against walls, depending on their opinion.

The Shrinking Island


10-15 minutes any 10-30 2 newspapers

Choose two teams of equal size. Explain that the aim of thegame is to see how many people you can t on the shrinking islandcomposed by sheets of newspapers.

Lay out sheets of newspapers/sheet on the oor. In the rstround the entire team stands on that space. After they have proventhey a ll t in this space you make the island smaller as the waterencroaches which means you take one sheet of newspaper away.Encourage people to be inventive in saving space and getting closerto each other in each round.

After the nal round, count how many sheets of newspaper theteam managed to stand on and announce a winner.

Sign Sequence Game



10-30 none

Form a circle. The rst person does a sequence or signs to startthe game e.g. party move. Next person has to do the previousmove and then their own. Pass on the sequence of moves aroundthe circle as the complexity grows. Encourage people to work to-gether and show each other the sequence.

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Human Twister


10-15 minutes any 10-20 pen and paper,hat

Write body parts on pieces of paper and place them in a hat.Gather participants into a circle. One at a time each person picksout two body parts. The rst is their body party and the secondis the body part of the next person that they have to attach it to.Continue until the entire group is in a twisted and amusing position.Take a picture in the end to memorise the moment!

The Bowl Game


10-15 minutes any 10-20 pen and paper,bowl

To prepare for the game, cut paper into small pieces, yet bigenough to write on. Have the players written down virtually anythingthat can be used for guessing: objects, famous people, moviesand places, anything that comes to mind (you can just use termsrelated to ESN or relevant topics). Fold the pieces up and put theminto the bowl.

Divide into two teams. Each team has one minute to describeas many pieces of paper from the bowl as possible without sayingthe word on the paper.

Each team gets one pass per turn and after that it is minusone point for every pass. Whoever has the most points when theterms in the bowl run out wins.

Human Knot Game


15-20 minutes empty room 10+ none

Form group of about 10 people each. Have each group stand-ing, facing towards each other, in a circle. Each person should bestanding shoulder to shoulder.

First, instruct everyone to lift their left hand and reach acrossto take the hand of someone standing across the circle. Next,have everyone lift their right and reach across to take the hand ofanother person standing across the circle. Make sure that no oneis holding hands with someone standing directly beside the person.

To play, the groups must communicate and gure out how tountangle the knot without ever letting go of any hands. You canimpose a time limit if you wish to make the game more challenging.

Signs Game



10-30 chairs

Have everyone sit in a large c ircle, facing inward towards eachother. Every player seated now must choose a sign, some kindof movement or motion that is unique to them. A sign must beeasily detectable by others, although not too obvious to attract alot of attention (e.g. waving the right hand).

Once everyone has created a sign, he or she announces anddemonstrates their sign to the rest of the group. Youre now readyto play the game.

The goal of Signs is to be stealthy and to try to keep passingsigns to other players as long as possible, without getting caught bya guesser who must stand in the centre of the circle. The guesser

tries to gure out where the sign is within the group and catch theperson who currently has the sign at that specic moment.

To play a round, choose one person to be the guesser. Havethe guesser close his or her eyes. Have the group silently chooseone person in the circle (randomly) to be the person who begins

with the sign.Player 1 (who starts with the sign) now has the sign, and her/

his goal is to pass the sign on to any other player without beingcaught by the person in the middle. To pass the sign, Player 1must perform his own sign and then any other players sign. Forexample, if Player 1s sign is make two thumbs up, and if Player3s sign is to pat the top of his head, Player 1 must make twothumbs up and then pat the top of his head in order to pass thesign onto Player 3. Player 1 is now safe and Player 3 has thesign. Player 3 now must do his or her symbol and then someoneelses symbol in order to continue passing the sign. The processcontinues, whilst the guesser (the person in the centre) attempts

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to catch a player who currently has the sign. The guesser con-stantly looks all around the circle, trying to detect any movements.The guesser is allowed 3 guesses. To guess, s-/he points to oneplayer and asks, Do you have the sign? If s-/he is correct, thenthe guesser wins the round and the person caught with the signbecomes the new guesser. If s-/he makes three wrong guesses,then the guesser loses the round.

Super Model, Elephant, James Bond.



10-20 tape

Form a circle. Ask one participant to be in middle, point at any

other participant in the circle, and shout any of the commandslisted below (if you have short time, you might want to limit com-mands to fewer, so people learn them faster). All commends referto three people selected participant, and the two part icipantson each side of him/her. All three players should immediately andcorrectly show their roles, and other participants should not move.If everyone executes the command correctly, the person in mid-dle points to another participant and shouts another commend.If someone makes a mistake, s-/he replaces the person in themiddle, who then joins the circle.

Possible commands:

Super Model- Participant should immediately pose as a fashionmodel. The two participants alongside the participant acting as asuper model (the one on the left and the right) take the role ofphotographers and mimic gestures of taking a photo.

Elephant- The participant uses both arms to make an ele-phants trunk (index nger and thumb held onto the nose and theother arm pushed through the loop). The two participants alongsideform a circle with their hands and place them on the side of theparticipant pointed to serve as ears of the elephant.

Jelly- Participant shakes her/his body like jelly continuously.The two participants alongside hold each others hands and forma circle around the target participant. The idea is to form a glassaround the jelly.

Queen Bee- Participant turns around and puts her/his handstogether behind the back (just above the buttocks) and utters themback and forth to mimic a bees tail. The two participants alongsidethrust their arms away from the bee and utter them like wings.

Washing Machine Participant bends forward and spins hishead around. The two outer players make a circle around with theirarms (the door of the washing machine).

Toaster Participant jumps representing a slice of bread in atoaster. The two participants alongside the participant acting asbread should form a toaster, holding each others hands (toasterpeople should not jump).

Mixer Participant stands with both hands stretched out withthe ngers pointing downwards. The other two players posit ionthemselves under the hands of the mixer and spin around.

Kamikaze Pilot Participant stretches his/her arms out tothe sides representing the wings. The players to the left and rightuse their hands to make a pair of glasses around the eyes of themiddle player.

Donkey- As donkeys are known to be stubborn, the 3 playersdo not move at all.

James Bond 007- Participant is James Bond, who performsthe well- known cool and casual gun pose of James Bond (handsmade into a pistol). The two players to the left and right are theBond girls who look at James Bond adoringly and say oooohhhJaaames.

Expect that people will be confused and make mistakes. Suchmistakes generate laughter and fun. This exercise can be repeatedduring the meeting, as participants learn the commands, so it canbe played in a faster phase, and introducing new elements.

1.2.3.3. Teambuilding Games

While any energiser helps with teambuilding, we have includedfew games that primarily work on building trust, ensuring collabora-

tion, and encouraging problem solving in teams. They are slightlylonger to understand and complete, and it is very important todiscuss the learning outcomes after game is nished. You will needbetween 30 and 60 minutes to lead and debrieng the followinggames, so if you need just a fun activity, or you are short on time,choose some of the energisers instead.

Guided Walk Activity


15-30 minutes empty room 10-20 tape

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Mark out a course using masking tape with various twists andturns that a person could walk around.

Split the group into two teams and explain that they will have totraverse the course blind folded and be guided the sounds of theirteam leader (e.g. clapping).

Blindfold people and bring in to room so they dont know thecourse. Allow teams to discuss how they will lead people throughthe course.

The rst team to guide all their members through the courseone by one wins.

PS! Anyone who steps outside of the lines has to start again.

Mineeld


15-30 minutes empty room 5-10 various smallobjects

Get the group to discuss things that are detrimental to function-ing as a group. For each characteristic/action, throw an objectinto the playing space, the mineeld.

Get the group to choose partners. One partner is blindfolded atone end of eld. The non-blindfolded partners stand at the oppositeend of the eld and try to talk their partners through the mineeldwithout running into any of the obstacles.

Allow participants a short period (e.g. 3 minutes) of planningtime to decide on their communicat ion commands, and then beginthe activity. Also take care that there are no collisions betweenblindfolded participants. Decide on the penalty for hitting a mine.It could be a restart (serious consequence) or a time penalty orsimply a count of hits, but without penalty.

Processing and reection ideas:

How much did you trust your partner (out of 10) at the start?

How much did you trust your partner (out of 10) at the end?

What is the difference between going alone and being guidedby another?

What ingredients are needed when trusting and working withsomeone else?

What did your partner do to help you feel safe and secure?

What could your partner have done to help make you feelmore safe/secure?

What communication strategies worked best?

Toxic Waste


30 - 45 min-utes

empty room (oroutdoors)

10-20 Rope, smallbucket withballs, biggerbucket, bun-gee, cords

This is a popular, engaging small group initiative activity which

always provides a rich teamwork challenge for about 30-45 min-utes. It involves thinking, imagination, action, fantasy, risk and anattractive solution.

Set-up:

Use the rope to create a circle that has at least 2,5 m indiameter on the ground to represent the toxic waste radia-tion zone. The larger the radiat ion zone, the more difcultthe activity.

Place the small bucket in the centre of the radiation zoneand ll it with water or balls to represent the toxic waste.

Place the large neutralisat ion bucket approximately 10 maway. The greater the distance, the more difcult the activity.

Put all other equipment (e.g., bungee, cords, and red herringobjects (optional)) in a pile near the rope circle.

Directions:

The challenge is for the group to work out how to transferthe toxic waste from the small bucket into the large bucketwhere it will be neutralised, using only the equipment pro-vided and within a time frame. The waste will blow up anddestroy the world after 20 minutes if it is not neutralised.

Anyone who ventures into the radiation zone will suffer injuryand possibly even death, and spillage will create partial deathand destruction. Therefore, the group should aim to savethe world and do so without injury to any group members.

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The rope circle represents the radiation zone emanatingfrom the toxic waste in the bucket. Emphasise that everyonemust maintain a distance (circle radius) from the toxic wastewherever it goes, otherwise they will suffer severe injury,such as loss of a limb or even death.

Give the group some planning time with no action e.g. 5 min-utes. Then start the clock and indicate it is time for action,e.g. 15 or 20 minutes.

Facilitator notes:

Toxic Waste is not an easy exercise and most groups willbenet from some advice along the way.

The solution involves attaching the cords to the bungee loop,then guiding the bungee with the strings to si t around andgrab the toxic waste bucket. Then with everyone pulling ontheir cord and with good coordinat ion and care, the toxicwaste bucket can be lifted, moved and tipped into the emptyneutralising bucket.

If someone breaches the toxic waste zone, indicated by thecircle, enforce an appropriate penalty e.g., loss of limbs(hand behind back) or function (e.g., blindfolds if a head en-ters the zone) that lasts for the rest of the game. If a wholeperson enters the zone, they die and must then sit out forthe rest of the activity.

If the group struggles to work out what to do, freeze theaction and help them discuss.

If the group spills the waste ent irely, make a big deal aboutcatastrophic failure (everyone dies), invite them to discusswhat went wrong and how they can do better, then rell thecontainer and let them have another go.

Ideas for varying the level difculty of the activity:

adjust t imeframe,

adjust distance between the buckets,

include obstacles between the buckets,

include red herring objects in available equipment.

Processing and reection ideas:

There are invariably plenty of key communications and deci-sions during the exercise that provide for fruitful debrieng.

The exercise will tend to naturally expose processes andissues related to many aspects of teamwork, including co-operation, communication, trust, empowerment, risk-taking,support, problem-solving, decision-making, and leadership.

How successful was the group? E.g. consider:

How long did i t take?

Was there any spil lage?

Were there any injuries (often in the euphoria ofnishing participants will overlook their errors andseem unconcerned about injuries and deaths causedby carelessness along the way. Make sure there isan objective evaluation of performance - it is rarely

perfect)? How well did the group cope with this challenge (e.g., out

of 10)?

What was the initial reaction of the group?

What skills did it take for the group to be successful?

What would an outside observer have seen as the strengthsand weaknesses of the group?

How did the group come up with its best ideas?

What did each group member learn about him/her self asa group member?

What lessons did the group learn from this exercise whichcould be applied to future situations?

Find more teambuilding games at: http://wilderdom.com/

games/InitiativeGames.htmlReferences:

1. Slater R. Team management secrets. London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2010, 128 p.

2. Slater R. People management secrets. London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 2010, 128p. 3) Bowyer J., Murphy A., BortiniP., Gallego Garcia R. Organisational management T-kit.Strasbourg Cedex: Council of Europe publishing, July 2000,92p.

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1.3. Project & event management

1.3.1. Project managementProject management has become the cornerstone of ESN sec-

tion development. It is one of the tools for organising tasks andpursuing concrete objectives.

1.3.1.1. Denit ion of project management

A project is a temporary process, which has a clear start andend, a set of tasks and a budget, that are developed to solve awell-dened goal. The main characteristics of a project can beformulated like this:

happening one time (temporary),

has a clear start and end (limited time),

has limited resources (time, money, people),

has a clear goal and clear objectives.

Trying to manage a project without project management is liketrying to play football without a game plan. The coach would get theplayers together and say, How should we play this game? Weresupposed to get more points than the other team and to do thatwe have to score.

Project management provides you with a process that you can

follow, a series of moves that will help you address some basicquestions before you dive into getting the work done. What areyou going to produce?

Tip!Events should be managed, based on the same principle as pro-

ject s!

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Project management is ensuring that a project makes the mosteffective and efcient use of resources in order to achieve theagreed goal.

A project manager is...

A successful project manager must have the following skills:

Leadership- inspiring others to create a vision and strive toachieve the common goal.

Good communication- ability to provide valuable informationrelated to the project status in a timely and effective manner.

Conict resolution skills- assisting in the resolution of anyproject conicts so that the project team members all feelpart of the process and want to remain involved in the pro-

ject. Negotiation skills- maintaining relationships with people who

are involved in the project.

Team building- assists the team members in understand-ing their roles and responsibilities on the project and workcollaboratively.

Listening skills- using good listening skills to truly hear andtry to understand what others on the project are trying tosay.

Relationship management- capable of working with all levelswithin the organisation by building relationships with them.

The project manager is also referred to as the project leader,because the main role for the project manager is leadership, sowe refer to him or her as a project leader. The role of the projectmanager is to:

provide direction to the project team;

lead the project team through the project management pro-cess (creating and executing the project plan);

issue status reports on the progress of the project versusthe plan;

facilitate the team process, which is the interpersonal pro-cess by which team members develop as a team;

remove obstacles for the team so they can complete theproject;

act as the key interface with the project stakeholders andpartners;

call and run team meetings.

1.3.1.2. Project phases

A project is basically composed of three parts (gure 1):

1. denition,

2. implementation,

3. nalisation.

Each phase builds on the phases that preceded it. If you do apoor job during initiation, then the next three phases will suffer. Ifyou do a bad job of planning andexecution the close out wil l suffer.If you do a bad job of execution, the entire project suffers. Eachphase ends with an approval process that must be completedbefore moving on to the next phase. This keeps you from skippingahead to the next phase prematurely. The approvals at the end ofa phase are called phase gates.

Tip!8 reasons why projects succeed

1. The organisational structure is suited to the projectteam.

2. The project team participates in planning.

3. The project team is committed to establishing schedules.

4. The project team is committed to establishing realisticbudgets.

5. The project makes proper use of network planning tech-niques and does not let the plan become an end at itself.

6. The project team works with bureaucracy, politics andprocedures and not against them.

7. The project team agree on specific and realistic projectgoals.

8. The target public is involved from the start of the project.

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Figure 1. Simple project phases schema.

One of the benets of having approvals at the end of each phaseis that it minimises the cost of the project, because project ex-penditure increases exponentially as you move from initiation toplanning to execution. The costs then drop off dramatically duringclose out. By making sure youve covered all your bases before youmove to the next phase, youll not only minimise costs, but avoid

wasting time as well.Whenever you are spending signicant resources, be that in

actual money or in the form of peoples time, its helpful to havego/no-go (quality gates) decision gates, such as phase gates, thatforce a decision to continue with the project. If you have a mediumor long term project (over six months in duration) youll also want

to include some go/no-go decision gates throughout the executionphase to make sure there is agreement that youre doing the rightthings and that the deliverables you are producing are stil l neededby the customer and the organisation. These execution go/no-godecision points a

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