SC Team Management Guidelines!
Hi All,
Want to clear up some misinformation and set the record straight on appropriate communication methods between volunteer teams.
- Under no circumstance should teens and adults be using Google dashboards (and the chat feature within them) to communicate. All communications are required to happen on 7 Cups! This is true for ALL age groups, but VITAL for teen & adult communication in particular.
- CM staff members must have access to your dashboards in case we need to review information on the team or step in to help if a leader becomes inactive.
- Please do not hop on google hangout calls to discuss matters. If you
Please let us know if you have any questions!
@Laura thanks for this clarification.
It seems that all people using team dashboards ought to have 7cups gmail account or at least a gmail account with their user name split into first and last name for the gmail account so they maintain anonymity.
Also what do you think about having a template of a dashboard that has the basic info that 7cups wants on there so we do not have to guess?
@soulsings I think a template or example dashboard is a great idea! We can put something together. That would be especially helpful for new CMLs.
@Kate yes I would like that as I have not done one for 50+
Also might do one for 18+ and one for teens even if they are the same so leaders know to keep them separate.
@Kate I kinda have one but each time you have to make own form etc as responses blah blah <3
@Kate
@soulsings
haha I got my answer thanks to you both
@soulsings
Souls are you recommending we all follow a "mold" on how we create our team dashboards? I believe how we create our dashboards shows charactor and team sprit. Can you clarify please?
@soulsings @Laura
I agree because the current way we give access to folks there is no way to remove the access while if we used the 7cups user name email we can remove them after they are no longer on the team. However, we wouldn't know if folks copied the dashboard url and gave it to others.
@DanaMH
on my dashboards and I know many leaders do this I have their 7cups emails. I have been leading this team for a very long time and I have had no issues/problems. I try to share the link the regular way and it does not work for everyone-
Can you lay out a bit more clearly what this means please? I'm not sure what the criteria is for a dashboard.
Is it possible to share a word document or a spreadsheet that both adults and teens use? I'm thinking something as simple as a spreadsheet to have a schedule.
I do understand the not chatting aspect.
@AffyAvo I find have sheets for schedule burdensome so I have a revolving schedule as a thread in the subcom like this https://www.7cups.com/forum/MindfulnessSupportCommunity_106/TeamAnnouncements_1365/MindfulnessSessionScheduleSeptember25thOctober15th_88524/
@soulsings I'm trying to get clarity on what's allowed vs. not though. Would a scheduling spreadsheet be allowed to be shared? I'm imaging something where someone could clearly show when they are not available to help figure out a schedule. A shared calendar would also accomplish the same things. So minimal comments in words.
@AffyAvo the problem is that not everyone has an anonymous name on an anonymous email. Sharing a sheet or doc view only is fine but teens and adults cannot share the same sheet or doc.
Everyone can participate in the forums so that is ideal for teens and adults to communicate.
PMs are fine.
Meetings like the subcom leaders work for adults and teens separately. Both meetings may post summaries.
Hope that helps
@soulsings That does. I hope we can get extremely clear guidelines laid out soon, plus some very clear how-tos.
There are still other details I have questions about, like does it matter when anonymous emails show vs. the animal anonymous thing that google has? Hopefully we can get the above so additional questions like mine are few and far between. The how to should also include information regarding changing everything that currently does not meet the guidelines to options that do, with retaining as much information as possible.
@AffyAvo
the not chatting means dont use the chat option in google stuff.
As an observer, it's really strange to me, and really disappointing, to see people struggling to find ways to collaborate safely and effectively online when simple, cheap and effective tech solutions could be implemented within 7 Cups. I guess maybe getting the tech to serve the community better might be one of the areas where our new COO, @MerlineSaintil , can improve strategic focus.
@Laura I'm currently confused by something, especially now that I see that teens are on it. I'm going to PM you about it.
@Laura
is this only about teens and adults collaborating on the same sheet or docs together?
So can ATLs collaborate on same docs and sheets with teens?
@soulsings Yes, the issue is non-ATLs communicating with teens. Approved ATLs are fine!
@Kate
Maybe you can answer me as I don't see Laura answering on here but everyone else. Yes thank you to everyone being supportive in this
Kate my issue:
For my team it is very hard to gather everyone even on 2-3 schedule team meetings. I'd like 1 team meeting every 2-3 months, as they didn't want 1 every month as well things don't change. So I created a doc sheet and lead a team meeting AND also tagged Laura (which said it was ok to do) this was so that we all were following the rules and so on.
It is to hard to gather everyone and personally I don't like doing 2-3 meetings per team meeting and plus 2-3 meetings for teens. Yes we can use the forums but well its a team and we need a closed space we can talk on team things without the community over looking and committing on.
Please clarity-thank you
@RumpleSteeleSkin this thread is so hard to follow.
Was the rule all about making clear off-site contactt between teens and sfulad doesn't happen?
@laura @kate is it okay for us adults to continue writing documents collaboratively? (collection for event ideas, manuals, ...)?
@Kate okay thanks for defining the problem. Hope we can craft guidelines that underline that as the main issue.
@Laura Heyo, so I'm a little confused (well kind of a lot confused about everything) and seems to me that quite a few others feel the same confusion. I know I've spoken to people who say my particular dashboards are fine - and I appreciate the faith they've given me, but I also realise when I come to change the dashboard I have no clue what would be in the lines or going beyond the lines of the guidelines! I also realise that if at any point in the future, I want to start a new project, start up new documents - I am confused at what is allowed and therefore I think it would be best to back away and let someone who knows. Therefore, I am asking these questions:
Many Sub-Communities share a sub-community dashboard with Teens, Adult-Teen Listeners, and Adult Only Listeners. Now I realise that Adults and Teens can't communicate but I also am confused at how we go about this with the dashboards. Now I am not saying, that we are using live chats, the chat feature in google or any other forms of live chat between our teams. What I mean by this is for example a communication sheet. You can see our Eating Disorders one here (press). We have recently also brought in an Icebreaker section - much like VL dashboard has which you can view here (press). Most of our team members are Adult-Teen Listeners, and therefore can communicate at all times - but the issue here is that with these guidelines how do we go about this? We have several Teen Leaders, and also have a couple of Adult Only Leaders. Do we need to choose one to share age group to share the dashboard with? With the communication sheet - it's actually been suggested to me by numerous of people (in higher roles than me) so where does this boundary cross? Should we delete them?
Also, similar lines to the first one - and I realise i'm in a kind of unique position - but I lead a Support Team for Teens, now with this comes a Support Team Dashboard, that I use to communicate with teens constantly in regards to which discussions they will be hosting, concerns and team related things. I am an Adult-Teen Listener and I work with teens closely but I am confused at if this is allowed. I also know that I have given people access, and that this is okay - but where would be closing the line with this? Is it just if we let Adult Only Listeners In? Then I have another question - we were thinking of letting CML's view our sheet (not edit) in order to have a little idea of what goes on with the support team, how would this work if the CML is an Adult Only one? Would we have to avoid giving them this access?
Also I'm not sure if it was mentioned on this thread (opps I am writing on the many tabs so can't double check) or in a meeting/pms but I know that we are now to make sure we have a @7cups.com email on each document. Which I am perfectly okay with, and ensure transparency. Now, where I am confused is how far this goes? I do several transcripts, summaries and support sessions that are view only - therefore the only person who can write anything is me, i.e no communication is recieved on these documents. Do I have to go through every one, and give access to you all? Even if its like a quick document i send to say the group support meeting agenda, and than it gets forgotten about? To be on the safe side, for now I have made a folder with Support Sessions and shared it with relevant people - but with transcripts this gets harder, and I am still not sure of the boundary?
Also with locked dashboards - here I am not talking about regular main dashboards. Mainly Leadership Dashboards (I only have one dashboard that is emailed based and it is Support Plus Leaders, for an example) now obviously we have admin, and ambassadors linked up with this dashboard - but we also only share with the leaders of the teams. Is this allowed? (obviously each of them have cups gmails) I realise it's not ideal, but I also think theres important, sensitive information on there such as the feedback form, that I'd rather Support Session hosts didn't see until they were pmed (i.e if they get a horrible feedback form, from somebody who is just taking their anger out than perhaps we'd rephrase or take a more sensitive approach when sending their feedback - and if they were to see this it could be upsetting) Where is the boundary of this?
Wowzers this was longer than I was thinking heheh, I hope you enjoyed the lots of thoughts that were mixed into this! I get very confused and ask a lot of questions so opps xD I love the fact you are trying to keep our community safe though, and I super appreciate everything you do!
CC: @bear228 @rumplesteeleskin @vivelespatates @vinylfly
Can we get a list of offsite tools that are allowed to be used?
Can any of these tools be used by teens and adults (nonATLs) to provide information to each other?
Are there any things where the answer to the above is no, but an ATL can then share it with the opposite age group?
A lot of different views and ideas and thoughts.
I think maybe I am a bit offended, confused and concerned?
Offended because it seems that we are maybe being accused of inciting offsite contact or allowing any contact with teens from non-approved listeners (ATL's)?
Confused because a lot of us were trained to use dashboards or grandfathered and inherited them but are now responsible?
Concerned because apparently we have been doing something wrong and it is unclear?
The way I see it is as @Kate says the idea is to protect TEENS.
From my view, I can see that there is going to need to be a lot of checking access and clearing up of dashboards, and that isnt easy when you think of the workload most CML's and STL's already have. But it is important. I just want to know and understand so I can explain and share with my teams and others what we should be doing.
I have a few questions/observations!
1) Access to dashboards - to really be safe and fulfil our obligations we will all probably need to make new ones so that we know who has access. It would seem that the best way to limit access seems to be via 7Cups gmail accounts? (meaning username7cups@gmail.com) Via link is anonymous but means that a link can be passed on to anyone or any age or role?
but -------- using @gmail addresses means that in theory everyone can see everyone else's email including teens so contact may be taken away from the chat feature where it can be seen - to email where it cannot? Or do we just exclude any adult who is not an ATL or exclude all Teens from the team dashboards or have two
2) NEVER use the chat feature - this seems to be used mostly for the projects, interns, grading etc. This should also expand to the comments and notes features too? Unless of course all the users are ATL's or Teens?
3) Team Meetings - All CML's now have to be ATL's which is obvious so that they can talk to all team members. (OK maybe 35 and 50 will be excluded?) Team meetings build enthusiasm, and friendship, they can brainstorm ideas and motivate and inspire and it is a shame is some members are excluded because of age, so how do we ever overcome this safely within the guidelines unless there is a Teen Team and an Oldies Team? Or do we just exclude any adult who is not an ATL or exclude all Teens from the team dashboards?
- use the forum? - use the sub-community bubble? - have two meetings?
4) Offsite contact - What is offsite contact? Obvious ways are things like whatsapp and outside apps and sites. We all know that.
a) But what about using the 7cupsgmail to send a doc to another 7cupsgmail?
b) Or sending a spreadsheet link to another 7cupsgmail?
c) Or what about an adult leader talking via gmail Hangout chat or message or room to another adult leader? I have used all of these with other Leaders/Admin/Staff so it gets confusing?
@Laura
It seems to me a less complicated way to clarify all this would be to ask, "What is it about our forums (and feeds) that makes it OK for adults and teens to communicate with each other there?" Then whatever it is that makes it OK in those places should make it equally OK in other places, logically.
@MistyMagic
@RarelyCharlie my thoughts but we are opening Pandora's box by asking this question.
Please can I just ask who has access to this forum and Kitchen Table?
This forum is public. Guests can read it. Members, Listeners and Therapists can post here.
@MistyMagic