SMRC Volunteer Leadership Programme
The Scottish Motor Racing (SMRC) Club kicked off a new innovative volunteer leadership programme in June to help their volunteers progress and develop.
The programme – spaning three sessions in total – has been developed from a collaboration between SMRC, the Scottish Training Team and Scottish Motor Sports (SMS).
The first session was delivered to a core group of 15 senior volunteers. It focused on developing coaching skills, using the MSA’s Introduction to Coaching course delivered by MSA Academy Manager, Greg Symes, and MSA Academy Coach, James Wozencroft.
Each of the senior volunteers will now aim to provide mentoring to five of their fellow marshals over the coming months. From there they will help the Training Instructors, Rupert Hine and Tony Brae, identify common training needs across the workforce. This will allow further training sessions to be developed.
Sandy Denham, Club Chairman, believes this is a big step forward for the club’s workforce. “Our marshals and officials are the beating heart of this club and other clubs across the country,” he said. “And yet I am becoming increasingly aware of the strain our volunteer workforces are under throughout British motorsport and the risk this poses to the future sustainability of the sport.
“Ultimately, this initiative is designed to help tackle this problem and ensure that skill gaps are identified and that succession plans are put in place, through identifying
the people with the will and potential to grow within the volunteer workforce.”
The next session is due to take place in October and will be designed to meet the demands of the club’s wider workforce.
Read more in the MSA Extra newsletter