Guiding conversations

Tools to help you generate informative and thought-provoking discussions in your local area

Guiding conversations will help you facilitate discussions at district or division meetings.

Each conversation focuses on a topic relevant to guiding, whether its managing challenging behaviour or offering a varied programme to girls.

As a commissioner, you can lead the conversation or support your leaders to take the lead. Your aim should be to develop practical solutions to issues in your area, so you can ensure all girls get the same, great guiding experience.

Top tips for using guiding conversations

  • Pick a topic that you or leaders in your area want to discuss from the list below and add it to your next meeting agenda. You might want to share the resource with your leaders before or simply introduce the topic during the meeting.
  • Encourage everyone to participate and try to keep conversations positive.
  • Try to think about actual examples to bring the conversations to life and come up with practical actions and possible solutions to issues raised in the discussion.
  • Use any negative feedback in a constructive, practical way to get to solutions.
  • Make sure these actions are acted upon. You could incorporate them into your meeting notes, or assign someone to monitor the actions separately.
  • Use our resources to keep the conversation focused and try to keep to the allocated time so your meeting isn't swallowed up by the topic.
  • Keep the conversation going by sharing resources and information relevant to the topic with your team after the meeting.

Download our guiding conversations

GDPR - talking about the new data protection legislation and how if affects how we handle information.

Doing Our Best - introduce our checklists for good quality guiding to volunteers in your area.

Giving girls a voice in local guiding - are your girls really in the lead? Find out what's happening in your area to get girls involved.

Behaviour - every leader will face challenging behaviour from girls in their unit at some time. Explore the hurdles they face and help them to develop skills to respond effectively.

Keeping girls safe from violence - this conversation is focused on how abuse and violence touch the lives of many girls, and what our volunteers can do to support those at risk.

Room for just one more?  - growing guiding is vital to our success. Discuss with your leaders how each unit can increase their membership.