Welsh Cycling recently decided to refine its strategy for its volunteer workforce of officials, judges and event volunteers. This refinement included making the recruitment, retention and recognition of volunteers an easier and more integrated process. Maxine Rhodes, Volunteer Coordinator,  was responsible for implementing these changes and chose TeamKinetic to help. She wanted to change from an internal document based system to an accessible purpose built cloud-based software solution.

After receiving an initial recommendation by Cardiff Metropolitan University and others, Maxine was eager to explore how TeamKinetic could support the core purpose of the national governing body to get more people cycling.

Maxine explained that the objectives for Welsh Cycling were to increase the number of volunteers involved in existing events, expand the calendar of events and promote the accessibility of the sport.  With a large contingent workforce, made up of officials, judges and volunteers one of the key requirements for Welsh Cycling was to have a system that allowed the effective management of a large pool of volunteers.

Maxine outlined the key criteria that Welsh Cycling would be looking for in a new system.  Functionality was key and the ability for the software to “point, click and work the first time” was a fundamental requirement.  The software also needed to be future proof and easily scalable to allow Welsh Cycling to connect with other pools of volunteers outside of cycling.

On a personal level, Maxine believes motivating volunteers to be essential in maintaining a workforce. We were able to demonstrate how TeamKinetic helps Institutions, National Governing Body and Local Councils, to look at how they are rewarding volunteers.  Volunteers can log their hours, which provides useful data, collect achievement badges and use the Volunteer Hour Trade Vouchers, which enables them to exchange hours logged with the organisations, from t-shirts to coaching badges.

Maxine comments, “I think this is a brilliant way to expand the reach of your organisation as you are creating relationships, rewarding volunteers and establishing a community around your sport”.

The software has further enhanced Maxine’s role by making a greater depth of data and insight available through reports which can be used to show the value and impact of a voluntary workforce.

Commenting on her experience with TeamKinetic Maxine said,  “The thing that really impressed was the friendliness and accessibility of the team. They were so good at demonstrating the possibilities of the software.  It’s so much more dynamic than just a matching system. Then of course there is the setup. It has been very straightforward. TeamKinetic performed the initial steps and then showed us what to do so that we could just crack on – it’s great!

“Steve is just great, taking me through the implementation and training process. I love the sense of humour in the team. They are a lovely team to work with and I found this system in all honesty very simple to use.”

Welsh Cycling is now live with the TeamKinetic’s Volunteer Management Software in preparation for the Youth and Junior Championships and the Icebreakers Event which will run from January through to March. You can check out further information on:

http://volunteer.welshcycling.co.uk/vk/volunteers/my_news.htm?StoryID=610

For further information on TeamKinetic’s volunteer management software please visit teamkinetic.co.uk or call 0161 914 5757.