Waitlist management is an important part of community planning. ACLs are provided with a waitlist report every month. The report includes information for every community and unit across Ontario and Nunavut. The first sheet shows each community and the second shows unit-specific information.
If a unit in your community has a waitlist, please reach out to the Guiders to let them know they have a waitlist and find out if any barriers are preventing them from taking on more members. Here are some examples of typical barriers and solutions to suggest:
Barrier: Ratio
Suggested solutions
- New Guider recruitment
- Asking parents to volunteer
- Recruit unit assistants
- Ask if there are any girls currently on the roster not attending who haven’t been removed and ask if you can temporarily increase the cap to accept the girl.
Barrier: Not enough space
Suggested solutions
- Offer to help source alternative space
Barrier: Guider Comfort
Suggested solutions
- Offer to provide mentoring and training
Barrier: Too many waitlisted girls
Suggested solutions
- Ask Guiders to take only some of the waitlisted girls
- Ask if there are any girls currently on the roster who are not attending but haven’t been removed
If a unit is not meeting the standard minimum it is at the discretion of the DPC and ACL to increase the unit cap if there are waitlisted girls. However, Unit Guiders must be respectfully informed of this decision. It is always better if decisions regarding waitlists can be done with the agreement of Unit Guiders. Sometimes, conversations relating to waitlists can be met with resistance. With this in mind it is often best, and more successful, if you approach these situations with a phone call, rather than email.
Any decisions and unit-specific notes, positive or negative, regarding waitlists should be communicated to memberunitsupport@girlguides.ca as soon as they are known. Should you require assistance, please contact your ACL Adviser.