Team Formation—Training the First-time team member

 

Team Formation

Training the First-time team member

The expectation of Kairos is one-third of each inside team will be first-time team members. Most

first-time team members have no experience in prison ministry. Many will have no experience in our

method of ministry (because up to 20 percent of the total team can be allowed on the team without

prior attendance of a Fourth Day community 3-day short course, Emmaus, Crusillio, Tres Dias, etc.) We

like to talk about “Team Formation” but you must train the first-time volunteer. What are some ideas

to accomplish this for the first-time volunteer?

(1) Assign a mentor to each first-time team member. The mentor should be experienced and should

be a faithful attender and participant in team formation meetings. Encourage the mentor to spend

some extra time with his “first-timer”. Telephone reminders and emails can be a strong

reinforcement to keep the first-time volunteer engaged with the team. Subjects such as what is

expected inside the warden’s house, what it means to be a host, and agape letters are examples

that the first-timer may not understand completely without some help.

(2) There is a resource that is inside the EZRA tool and is available under KAIROS DOWNLOADS on the

myKairos website (http://mykairos.org/docs/kpmi/training_non-4th_day_volunteers.pdf). This

four-page document is called “GUIDEBOOK FOR EXPERIENCED TEAM TO TRAIN NON-4TH DAY

VOLUNTEERS”. It can be printed off or emailed to the mentor. This guide will provide the mentor

with many specific subjects to discuss with the first-timer to prepare him/her for their role on the