Integrator Handbook

This is an Onboarding Tool for Integrators from any Working Group (WG) or Local Group (LG). In this handbook, you should find the resources you need to Welcome new and existing Rebels to your team or LG. If the Rebel is brand new, be sure to give them the REBEL STARTER PACK. If they have some experience and knowledge, you can give them the REBEL NEXT STEPS PACK. If they are the sort of person who likes a bit more training, you can invite them to the XR Foundation Programme 4-week course. The most important thing to remember is to be welcoming and patient. This handbook has been put together by the UK Rebel Pathway Team. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us on Mattermost via the UK Integrator Support channel.

Preparing for new rebels

Preparing for new rebels

Why do we need new rebels?

For a movement that aims to mobilise 3.5% of the population, that seems like a daft question! However, it can be useful to think about why we need new people beyond just the obvious.

New rebels are the lifeblood of every team

We know we need numbers to win. We may think about it less, but we also need the energy, skills, ideas, community connections, diversity and fresh perspective new rebels bring us. Last but not least, we need our stretched coordinators to be able to take a break sometimes!

Sometimes it can seem like bringing new rebels into our groups just creates work. Maybe the team is very busy and has experienced inducting a rebel who quickly left again. At times like these, it is tempting to think "oh, we'll just do it all ourselves".

However, if we close ourselves in this way, it can easily lead to a downward spiral. Without a continual flow of new people, the team ends up consisting of experienced but very stretched people with no time to show others how to do things. Then, when one of those experienced people needs to step back, things can really go wrong. A healthy group has a mix of people of all levels of experience, with a steady flow of newbies learning, moving on to more complex work, showing others how to do things and relieving the more experienced coordinators of work.

Setting the tone

Before you even start recruiting or doing outreach, think about how you will look after the people when they arrive. New people will need extra care and attention at the start (typically for around a month). It is best that coordinating this work falls to someone who is not frazzled from doing a ton of other things and typically this will be the team's integrator.

This does not mean it is the integrator's job alone to make new people feel welcome! This is a job for everyone in the team.

Of course, no one can guarantee that your rebels will stick with you, but there are some things you can do to make it more likely. We had a People's Assembly and asked why people stayed. These answers came up the most:-

And we really felt part of XR when:-

So, drawing from this, the kinds of things which encourage people to keep coming back include:-

If you can provide these things, then you will have gone a long way to making a supportive and welcoming environment for the new rebels who arrive in your group.

Preparing for new rebels

How do we genuinely welcome everyone?

Principle 6: we welcome everyone and every part of everyone.

We need to build inclusivity and accessibilty into our teams from the outset. Have a look at the following resources to see how your team could become more welcoming and accessible.

XR's DIsabled Rebels Network have produced the following resources:

There is also a wealth of practical advice on the We are Everyone page of the toolkit.

XR's Co-liberation group has produced a library of resources relating to oppression of all kinds.

Principle 7: we actively mitigate power.

Here are some ways we can try to balance out who holds the 'power' in our teams so that everyone's voice is heard:-

Rare exceptions

There are a few rare cases where you might not be able to include someone, i.e. if their needs are beyond what you can reasonably meet, or if they risk causing harm to other people (see ‘Supporting your new rebels’).

Preparing for new rebels

What does an Integrator do?

It can be slightly overwhelming joining XR - so much to learn, so many new faces, all that XR jargon and even a new structure to work around. And this is on top of the anger, frustration or desperation we feel because we face the Global catastrophy of climate change as a result of systemic injustice and racial inequality, the effects of which are already being felt all over the world. It can be a lot to process.

And sometimes we forget to welcome new Rebels into XR, simply because we are often so involved in a project which is taking all our time and attention.

For this reason, we should have an Integrator in each of our teams and Local Groups (LGs) - to welcome new Rebels and to make sure that existing Rebels are finding their way on their journey through XR.

Check out the Rebellion Academy Module Working Group roles for some videos about being an Integrator.

Standard Integrator mandate

Purpose: to make sure that team/LG members are flourishing and productive and that the team/LG has members to fill its roles and support its workload.

Mandate:-

Different teams break this down differently (for example, you might have one person handling recruitment and a different one for onboarding) but someone will need to be responsible for each of the tasks listed above. Work out who will do what ahead of time so that everyone is clear what to expect.

Not got a team Integrator?

Then this is the first role to recruit for! You may think this person would need to know your team inside out in order to welcome others; but really the most important thing is for them to be friendly, empathetic and willing to learn as they go along. Sometimes, it even helps for the integrator to be recently new so that they can use their own experience to help others. There are lots of resources on this toolkit to help them.

Cautionary note: if you are using the volunteer website to recruit, it is important you get to know a new Integrator before giving them login details to your group account since this is a position of great trust and involves handling sensitive personal data.

Recruiting new rebels

Recruiting new rebels

Outreach

Information on how to find new rebels by different types of outreach are on other pages in the Toolkit. Here are some links:

Recruiting new rebels

Volunteer Website

XR-Header-v4-(with-text)-small.jpg

volunteer.extinctionrebellion.uk

This website works just like a jobs board and aims to help volunteers find roles and groups to find volunteers. Any XR UK group can apply for an account and recruit this way - you just need an official email address. In practice the site is mainly used by UK-wide, national and regional groups which are less likely to find their rebels on the streets or at an in-person meeting.

(On this website we've used the term 'volunteer' throughout rather than 'rebel' as it is better understood by people completely new to XR.)

Setting up a team account

To get started, you will need to get a group account.

  1. Go to volunteer.extinctionrebellion.uk/integrator
  2. Watch the short (7 min) video which explains how the site works.
  3. Scroll down and click 'create group account'.
  4. Use your XR group's email to set up an account - this needs to be an email that is checked regularly (please note we can't take personal email addresses).
  5. The application comes to the Rebel Pathway team for approval.
  6. Once the application is approved, you will receive an email with a link to click on to complete the registration.
  7. You are up and running and ready to post roles!

Writing an appealing role

  1. De-jargon! Try to look through the eyes of someone who knows nothing about XR. You can explain the ‘correct’ terms for things later if needed but for now communication is key e.g:

☹ Internal coordinator, external coordinator, integrator, regen, rebel

😊 Team guide, team representative, team builder, wellbeing, volunteer

  1. Make it accessible Volunteers rarely have both good skills and lots of time. Asking for lots of time excludes certain groups of people and makes us less diverse as a movement. Can you break down the role? e.g. Internal Coordinators often get asked to do everything!

☹ Internal coordinator (hours: full time)

😊 Team guide (hours: 10-15/week). Recruiter (hours: 2-4/week). Newbie support person (hours: 5-9/week). Wellbeing champion (hours: 2-4/week). Secretary (hours: 2-4/week). Admin helper (hours: 2/week). Facilitator (hours: 2/week). Team tech support (hours: 2-4/week).

  1. Be clear what you want someone to do, especially in the job title. The more specific you are, the more likely you are to get what you are looking for. However, if you just need more team members and plan to find out what they want to do later that's fine too! If you do this, try to have a few tasks your newbie can help with right away.

  1. Include key words in your description. Ask yourself which search words people are most likely to use if they want a role like yours.

  1. Consider type of role: do you need a permanent member of the team or could the work be done as a time-limited project? The second of these is likely to attract more people, especially those who are skill-rich but time-poor.

Managing your applications

Keeping up with your account shouldn't be too much of a chore! The website is easy to use and you just need to remember a couple of key things to make things run smoothly and bring new people into your team:

  1. Make sure you regularly check the email address you used to set up the account. If you get any applications, a notification will be sent to this email address.

  1. Use the 'action' column to let volunteers know what is going on after they apply. Clicking here sends an automatic email. Try to at least use the first 'thumbs up' when you get their application to tell people you've received it and know they are waiting

  1. Contact your volunteers! This is super important; no one wants to offer their time for free and then hear nothing. This might be the first contact they have had with XR and can determine whether they become an enthusiastic contributor to the movement or someone who goes away and complains about us to their friends!

  1. Don't be scared to say 'no'. Not everyone is suitable for every role; it has to work out for both the volunteer and the team. Of course you can still say 'no' nicely! If after chatting to your 'applicant' you don't think they are suitable for your role maybe you can suggest some other ways they can get involved in XR. You may not get a new team member but you can still help to grow the movement and leave the person feeling valued. (see 'Calling volunteers' below)

  1. Make sure you delete or hide any roles you've filled or don't need anymore. This stops the site clogging up with unavailable roles and saves you time contacting people who might apply for them.

    (NB roles time-out after two months and then are hidden automatically. If you want to re-advertise the role you can un-hide it and it will reappear on the site but it will carry its orginal posting date so if you want it to appear near the top you will need to set up a new role)

  1. Urgent roles: if your role is genuinely urgent, please email admin support at volunteer@extinctionrebellion.org.uk - we have the ability to bring these roles to the top of the list and give them a yellow highlight so that more people see them.

Searching for volunteers on the database

NB This option is currently only open to UK-wide teams due to data protection. Also, you will usually get a more enthusiatic and committed rebel from letting people apply for your roles. However, if you are struggling to find people and need a search, please email user support at volunteer@extinctionrebellion.org.uk.

If you are in a UK-wide team and are not getting suitable applications for your role, the first step is to do a quick sense-check: is it obvious what your role is and who it is for? If yes, then maybe you want to try a search of the database. Log in to your account and go to 'Volunteer Database' in the lefthand menu. You can search for volunteers by hours offered, prefered type of work, prefered location of work and by any search term you enter (this searches the volunteer's whole profile.)

Calling applicants

So someone has applied, now you need to get in touch! This should always be by phone rather than email - not only do emails often get missed or go to junk but a friendly first call can go a long way to making someone feel welcome and valued.

We know this can be a little nerve-wracking at first: how do you work out if this person is right for your role in just a short call? But don't worry - really it's just talking to good people with integrity. You can’t mess it up if you're open, enthusiastic and honest and “I don’t know” is a perfectly good answer - just determine if you think they’re a good rebel and a good fit to the best of your knowledge.

ALSO If the person isn’t right or doesn’t feel right, it is fine to end the call early and say "we will get in touch again when something that will suit better comes up", and advise them to go and investigate roles at their Local Group, or even to set one up. Be gentle and end positively and that is totally fine - not every rebel can do every role after all.

Here is a suggested roadmap to help when you start making calls:

  1. Read your volunteer's profile and application message (if applicable). Get a little excited about speaking to an amazing person who may be able to help.

  2. Dial

  3. If no answer, either leave a voicemail or send a text/telegram/whatsapp.

  4. If they answer, give a clear enthusiastic intro:

“Hi XXX, it’s XXX here with Extinction Rebellion, XXX team. I’m calling because you [put your hand up for volunteering with us/applied for our XXX role]. Is now a good time to chat?” Let them answer.

  1. If 'no', arrange a time to call them back.
  2. If 'yes', ask some open questions to get them talking. You want to gain their full attention and start collecting clues about them and if they’d be good for your role/s. Let them talk and hope they don’t ramble on too much or start telling you exactly where XR are going wrong and asking to meet the management. (Listen carefully for disruptive behaviour / vocabulary.)

Example questions

“How are you feeling about the CEE bill?”

“How are you feeling about XR?”

“What do you know about organising with XR?”

  1. Once they are right there with you in the conversation (and haven’t revealed themselves to be a flat earther), build some RAPPORT - maybe share a similar anecdote and relate to their experiences. So, ask questions you can relate to but keep it heading in the right direction.

Example questions

“So are you in a Local Group?” Listening. “Wow yeah mine too; they’re amazing and the Council has now declared a Climate Emergency”

“Do you have mates (volunteering) in XR too?” Listening. “Great - how's their experience, are they finding it rewarding?” Listening.

“Did you see that the EU have now declared a Climate Emergency?”

THEN ASK “So have you joined a Rebellion or Action yet?” Listening. “Wow yeah I was at XXXX action and met the most incredible people” OR “Well don’t worry we have plenty of roles that don’t require you to [Go to London for 2 weeks / Get in trouble with the Law] - like the one I’m calling about”.

  1. Now find out about their background and skills. Use open or closed (yes/no) questions depending on how keen they are and how long you have to chat to them etc.

Example questions

CLOSED: “So I saw you had Accounting skills, which we’d love to bring to our XXXX team. Is that true?” OPEN: “So I saw you had Accounting skills, which we’d love to bring to our XXXX team; can you tell me about that?”

CLOSED: “So have you ever managed social media accounts?” OPEN: “So what’s your experience with Twitter, Facebook, Insta and such?”

CLOSED: “Have you done much copywriting?” OPEN: “Are you someone who’s good with words and writing?”

  1. You can use alternative questioning if you have a few roles that you want to narrow down, e.g. “Would you say you’re more of a tech person or an arts person?”

  2. Once you get a rough idea of what they are about and their strengths and specific skills, ALWAYS ASK: “How confident are you with using apps & technology to communicate?” THEN ask “And how much time do you expect to have to commit to tackling the climate emergency most weeks?”

  3. If all has gone well and you think they are a match for your role, then you can give an overview of the team and what sort of thing they would be doing in the role.
    "You’d be doing XXXX and working with a great team on XXXX project/action/topic. How does that sound?” Let them think.

  4. DISCUSS TIME COMMITMENT. The rebel needs to be comfortable in understanding that the time required is something they can offer, or it's simply not a fit. They are then likely to drop out in a few weeks having cost your beloved team time and effort. That said, it can be hard to gauge and we have to go with our gut here often. Do stress that they don’t have to solve everything on their own and that they will have great supportive people around them.

  5. If they need specific technical skills, DIG DEEPER on those now. Likewise, if you have reservations on time commitment, personality, commitment or anything else, follow your instincts here.

  6. If you're happy then lay out what will happen next (but minimise barriers to entry).

  7. Handle any last questions they have but feel free to say they're best off speaking to the person you're passing them on to.

  8. Wrap up. “Great that's fantastic and I can't wait to introduce you to the team.” Thank them for stepping up to volunteer.

AND THATS THE CALL!

Data Protection

It is of course very important to be aware that you are handling people's personal data and to treat it with the greatest respect. The data on the site is protected by website security and should not be copied elsewhere unless strictly necessary, in which case it should be deleted as soon as possible. All integrators must read and understand our Volunteer Agreement which contains our Data Protection Policy. (We ask new rebels to sign this, after all!)

Site support is available by emailing volunteer@extinctionrebellion.uk

The website has been set up by the UK Rebel Pathway team and is maintained by the UK Rebel Pathway and UK Digital teams.

Welcoming new rebels

Welcoming new rebels

Building Onboarding into your Team

We know that one of the main reasons that rebels stay with XR is that they find a community with us. So how can we ensure that we are as welcoming to as many people, and as many different people, as possible?

The Job of Welcoming

It is an integrator's job to find, contact and induct new rebels into the team. It is the whole team's job to welcome them.

Make Sure:-

  1. a team member steps up to have a 1-1 chat with the new rebel in their first week!
  2. a team member steps up to be the new Rebel's "Point Person" or "Buddy" for their first few weeks, that single port-of-call if the new rebel has any questions; and
  3. the team invites the new rebels to any social gatherings coming up or any activities they may wish to join.
    • (This is especially important if you organise in multiple chats, ensuring they know what's happening)

New Rebel in the Chat!

When a new Rebel is added to your chat (Mattermost, Signal, Telegram...) make sure to say Hi and welcome them. Make sure they know the purpose of various chats and where they can ask for help.

A Rebel's First Meeting

Do:-

  1. ensure that the team has included their roles and pronouns in their screen names or start off with a round of names and role descriptions; and
  2. have a least one person offer to stay behind to check in with the new Rebel, see how they found their first meeting and if they have any questions.

Don't

  1. use lots of acronyms and XR jargon! Try to have someone there to call people out on their jargon and ask them to define things.

This page was written by @Raenyah please contact me if you have any questions or think something needs to be added.

Welcoming new rebels

Supporting your new rebels

Access needs

Find out about your new rebel's access needs and any other ways they may need to be kept safe. These may include any disclosed disability that might affect their participation in our community (such as the use of assistive technologies to read emails and the web) as well as participation in events (such as physical access needs, mental-health issues and dietary or other invisible needs).

Gathering this information must always take account of someone's right not to disclose anything, as well as their need of proper support if they do disclose something.

Keeping each other safe

Any organisation needs to keep its members safe, and we need to make sure that we know if anyone in our community might be classed as vulnerable. If you find any concerns related to a Rebel (whether about their needs or about their potential impact on other Rebels), you may need to draw up a support plan so that Rebels can be protected from anyone who might harm them, either deliberately or accidentally. You should draw up a support plan in consultation with the Rebel who is its focus, and assure them what we want them to take part and are aiming to provide them with the support they need to do this safely.

Where else can rebels get support?

Please signpost your New Rebels to the pages How we care for one another? and How we protect one another? in the Rebel Next Steps Pack where they can access information on:

Please check your New Rebels have read How we protect one another? in the Rebel Next Steps Pack and understand the behaviour they are expected to follow.

Welcoming new rebels

Inducting your new rebels: Checklist

integrator-checklist.PNG

Checklist template

This checklist template is a tool you can use to keep track of how far through the onboarding process your rebels are and what to give them next. Go to File > make a copy and save a sheet for your team. The stages listed there are our suggested ones but you can make it your own. (Hover your cursor over the headings for more information.)

Key induction materials

1. Volunteer Agreement

This covers our Priciples and Values and Data Protection agreement. It is good to send this early and check the rebel has signed it (digitally), particularly if the rebel is likely to have access to other people's personal details. Ask them to forward you the email confirmation when they've signed it.

2. Rebel Starter Pack

The Rebel Starter Pack is the first resource that can be sent to all Rebels who have just begun their journey with XR.

It's designed to answer questions such as:-

It covers:-

3. Welcome to XR online sessions

introduction to XR sessions FB

These sessions are currently run on a weekly basis via Zoom and are about 1.5 hours long.

Included are:

Use the lnk in the heading above, or register directly via this Zoom link.

4. Rebel Next Steps Pack

This is designed for Rebels who have already begun their journey with XR and are now looking for more detail about how XR works, how they can participate and which trainings might help them.

It covers:-

Welcoming new rebels

Inducting your new rebels: Roadmap

1) Contact your new Volunteer (UK, regional and national groups)

These are the people who have applied for your advertised role on the volunteer website or people you find on the database who seem a good fit for your team.

2) Send them some initial information

Not too much! It is easy to overwhelm people at this stage. This is all your Rebel needs at the outset:-

  1. The Rebel Starter Pack.

  2. Volunteer Agreement - ask them to sign digitally and send you a screen shot of the confirmation.

  3. Your Team's mandate.

  4. An invite to your next group meeting.

  5. This Roadmap (optional) - it can help Rebels to see what to expect, where they are in the induction process and to request next steps proactively.

3) First Group Meeting
4) Induction / orientation

Tailored to your team and staggered according to your Rebel. It is best to let them absorb one thing before moving onto the next.

5) Direct them towards concrete tasks

Super important for volunteer retention! People are more likely to stick around when they feel valued and affirmed.

6) Check in, check progress

Try to have a weekly call with your new Rebels.

7) Invite them to a circle meeting (optional)
8) Final debrief / allocation of role

After about a month, most new Rebels will feel like they have an understanding of XR and how things are structured. You have now shared your skills and contacts - this marks the end of your guidance!

Have a meeting to debrief;

Every rebel journey will have a slightly different conclusion; please take some time to reflect on your experience.

Welcoming new rebels

Inviting Rebels to the Hub and Mattermost

New Rebels can find out about using the XR Communications Hub here.

Ask the Group Admin (formerly known as Tech Champion) for your group / team to send a Hub invite to your new Rebel member using their personal email address. If you don't have a Group Admin / don't know who your Group Admin is, then please email tech@rebellion.earth letting Tech know what you need, i.e. the name of your Group Admin or your Regional Admin.

If you have more than one new Rebel member, multiple invites can be sent in one go, just make sure you put each new Rebel's email address on a new line in the invite box. You can also add a personal message to your invitees in the Message box. (See image below)

Screenshot-of-Hub-invites.jpg

Here are two short videos to help your New Rebels get onto the Hub and start using Mattermost:-

The Foundation Programme [Integrator Handbook]

The Foundation Programme has been designed to do a lot of the onboarding work for you! Invite your new rebels to take part.

Please see The Foundation Programme book on the Rebel Toolkit for the information that students receive on applying.

The programme comprises :-

Zoom trainings

Selected reading and e-learning

Support, help and guidance from the course directors

Send your new team members this link to apply.

We have received positive feedback from our students:-

“Very informative and very welcoming”

“I was inspired and motivated by this course”

“I found the course very useful as a grounding to XR ( I wish I had done it earlier, I would have been better prepared for some actions) and to help me find where I could contribute in the working groups.”

“having now started to engage with SOS (Self-Organsing System team), I see that a lot of the training I did has put me in a very good position to understand most of what's going on in meetings”.

Integrator (Onboarder) Training and Support

Integrator (Onboarder) training:

Resources for new rebels:

Resources for Integrators:

Case Studies:

Integrator Support:

Peer support:

Contact the Pathways team:

Vision Reminder

Vision Reminder - also known as the Solemn Intention Statement