Saturday 12 February
We arrived at noon and the first strategy meeting was held in the afternoon. Here, Barton Training Trust laid down the ground rules for working with children. The rule that really stretched us was that we could not be alone with a child. When there are three female adults and 10 girls, the logistics are frightening. It meant standing in doorways when one child went to the toilet while keeping an eye on another group in a corridor.
Sunday 13 February
The children were due to arrive at 5.30pm, so we spent the day organising activities for Monday. The plan was to have three groups offering outdoor games, arts and crafts and swimming.
Monday 14 February
We rose at 6.30am, ready to wake the children at 7am. All three activities were a hit with the kids. After the children went to bed, the problems started. We reviewed the day, but everyone was talking at once, some people were chatting in little groups and some weren鈥檛 saying anything at all. It was clear we needed some management. So we went round the table and everyone said why they were on the course. The least self-confident, one of the graduate engineers, was made chair.
Tuesday 15 February
The entertainment was the same as on Monday and the children were enjoying themselves. But the adults were starting to crack. Frustration, tiredness and the realisation that 30 children had 12 adults running around in chaos was causing friction. It wasn鈥檛 enough to be a mishmash of people; we needed responsibilities that were clearly defined. The crisis came in our evening meeting, when one member stood up, had a go at everyone else and threatened to storm out.
After much heated debate, we drew up an organisation chart that set out who was responsible for what. It wasn鈥檛 rocket science; we realised we鈥檇 formed a management team.
Wednesday 16 February
The realisation that 30 children had 12 adults running around in chaos caused friction
As a result of the discussion, we realised it wasn鈥檛 essential to entertain the children every minute of the day. We all relaxed a little and by splitting the children into two groups, we cut the number of activities. This freed up one team to plan the next day, so we could all go to bed earlier.
That afternoon, we had a feedback session with the experts from Barton Training Trust. They told us we had 鈥渇ormed鈥�, 鈥渟tormed鈥� (most turbulently) and, by Wednesday, had accepted 鈥渘orms鈥� and started 鈥減erforming.鈥� This means we had gone through a process of understanding that we couldn鈥檛 work in an ad hoc fashion, but we got organised only when we hit a crisis point.
Thursday 17 February
For the last day, we organised a treasure hunt. There were a few hiccups 鈥� the children completed it in 20 minutes, rather than the hour-and-three-quarters that we had expected. We finished the week with a disco for the kids.
Friday 18 February
The children left at 9am and our managers arrived to discover what we had learned. One asked if I would stay another week. At first, I thought not, but then I realised it would be a lot easier because we had organised ourselves.
Monday 21 February
Back at work. I feel much more assertive and problems seem positive.
Postscript
Lindsey McAllister is training and personnel manager at Galliford.
