With so little going on at the moment and trying to something meaningful with cadets, CP should be the last of our concerns. We did CP like we did eDofE ie at the sqn as cadets weren’t using it like people thought they might. Laughably it was no different to having them at the sqn and putting names on a list.
CP feels very much like a Big Brother tool for people with no life or doing anything of value for us at the sharp end. We seem to be doing things for people to sit around tables and nod sagely at some statistics and then bitch at us.
You’re doing it wrong then.
Cadet portal for us has been an amazing change with a massive reduction in admin. For wing events now, cadets get direct access to all the information that is needed, and can directly apply for events they want to take part in. Rather than the sqn staff having to gather the correct information, tell the cadets, get a list of names, email the organiser, get a list back of who can attend etc etc. Now the cadets can see what’s going on and apply. And as staff we can still get a full oversight of whose doing what by looking at SMS.
To think that it’s just being used as a statistics tool means that something is wrong with how it’s being used locally.
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That’s a matter of leadership, we made it a use it or don’t go on the activity system and strangely enough we had 100% of our Cadets using it. (We also used it as our only acceptable way to register an absence).
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Yep I know, but the cadets weren’t using it at home and I’m not getting into a row about it with cadets or parents lifer is far too short and I have better things to do. So doing it how we did and will do it, if it works is fine by me. If someone wants to take it up with my cadets they’re free to go for it.
It does seem for a non-statutory organisation we seem to generate a lot of stats around attendance / involvement for no real reason. Maybe it’s my lack of trust and confidence when it comes to our management since it found ewow and when bader was launched and the bully boy tactics employed to make people use it, ie if you don’t use it we’ll stop you doing things was one missive I recall. A mate of mine didn’t have a phone line at his sqn and was told do it at home or work, when he hadn’t completed a register for around a year.
Some people are always going to refuse to live with the times and you can only take them so far with the carrot.
Most people embrace modern technology and ways of working that make things better for everyone, but others are just stubborn and won’t play the game without a push.
I remember the old days of having to fax AT applications over to WHQ, the WATTO then had to attend WHQ read it and if it was ok WHQ then faxed it to RHQ where the same was repeated. Now if I had been that Wing SME I would’ve been fully supportive of Wing putting their foot down on electronic working. (I also would’ve lost it with WHQ if they had tried to keep us working to those old outdated systems).
That smacks of every govt dept and company with an online presence is entirely unwholesome and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
If I didn’t know better I’d take you as someone who works for an energy utility company, that keep trying to get me to have a smart meter and are unable to explain how it actually saves me money. Rather than sending them information about how much I use and when, with no discernable financial advantage to me.
We aren’t some government organisation that has to be accessible to all walks (and ages) of life. . .
We are an organisation for young people. Young people use technology, and even if they don’t have their own phone/computer due their families financial situation, they will know how to and mostlikely choose to.
Or the 21st Century?
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I’m assuming that this diversion from the topic means that you don’t have an argument that supports faxing entire applications last over using SMS?
Where have I said we don’t use it, it’s getting cadets to use it at home which is the problem and I have far more important things in my real life to get bothered about. So we came up with a solution.
why’s it matter where they use it?
I remember those days and I also remember faxing or posting permissions for a season in March giving flexibility to go when we wanted to, rather than recreating the same thing for every instance and not doing them en mass in March. When SMS was invented my mate and I submitted permissions for each weekend at our preferred location for April and May and told we couldn’t, when under the old paper system we could. Hardly progression.
And after that brief interlude of incoherent ramblings we’ll get back on topic please.
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Anybody else having to discharge a load of cadets who haven’t responded to comms or attended any parade nights?
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Yeah 50% of sqn
Not en masse, but we’ve gotten rid of a fair few on a piecemeal basis over the past few months.
We have been doing it bit by bit over the last few months, but had a sit down and went through all of the cadets tonight having a mass SMS cull.
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We lost a number of older Cadets and our whole cadre of Cadet NCOs! However the silver lining is that it has opened up an opportunity to a fantastic individual who is flourishing as a CPL.
I would say we probably lost c8 Cadets in total, so overall not bad.
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Out of how many?