Reflections of a Youth Worker: Critiquing a Volunteer
By: Daniel John Carter
Tags: Supervision, Youth, Youth Work, Youth Development, Education

The volunteer did not seem to realise the subject of receiving feedback was being approached until after he received the complimentary words of his strengths over the week. During the moment of mentioning that I felt the volunteer found it hard to receive critical feedback, I began to get the impression the volunteer was starting to take in what I said. When I mentioned techniques for approaching for using such situations for developments, it seemed he was listening to my suggestions.

However, it was clear that my presumption was wrong as the volunteer was quick to relate it to just one item rather than the entire training in a very defensive manner. He was also very quick to blame any criticism of his workshop on the participants themselves rather than himself and his colleagues. I took note of this as ‘it is always important that we, as youth workers engage in the work of attention, noticing what people say about themselves and how they say it. We must also note how they interact with others and how others respond to them. He was angry at the participants themselves for causing what he considered a failed workshop. The volunteer made a brief comment that may relate to him taking part in the blame but then mentioned something I found quite hard to comprehend. The training course was about the experiential learning cycle however, the volunteer stated that they wanted the information rather than the experience to be the learning point of the workshop. Due to this, I tried to bring in other areas of the volunteers’ workshops that could not be attributed to the participants such as time management affirming that it was visible the time management was not particularly good. I also tried to bring back the idea of the experiential learning cycle by asking if he thought the ‘experience’ was lost due to the overload of information. The volunteer did not see this as the case which not only confused me but ignited demotivation in my work with this volunteer. This upset me as I wanted to help develop the volunteer’s ability in this area.

The Welsh Government states that there is a need to develop a clear coherent qualifications route and continuous professional development framework for those involved in youth work provision.

As I continued to touch on receiving feedback it was clear the volunteer did not want to speak about it, and I felt like we were going nowhere so I summarized the supervision and closed up.

I was trying to approach a difficult topic area through a positive start thinking it would pave the way for dialogue on the volunteer’s issues with receiving feedback. I was wrong, it did not work. The volunteer’s actions and words made it noticeably clear they did not believe they needed nor deserved any form of critical feedback for the training course. Although it seems the volunteer does have a perceived failure of one certain workshop as he related any problems in his work to that session. However, noting that he related these problems to the participants rather than himself, I believe was a manifestation of self-indulgent voyeurism. Where the volunteer became preoccupied with the feeling’s issues involved in a particular situation at the expense of other important aspects.

The volunteer had then put on a very defensive manner that was impossible to work with. I was wondering how to approach the subject that his workshop had not reached the aims of a training course on the experiential learning cycle and how to ask him what he thought about that. Alas, however, I approached the subject it was clear to see the volunteer was angry at the participants and was on full defensive mode.

I tried several approaches of getting the volunteer to question his work, in turn hoping this would allow him to accept other people questions on his work. However, it was clear the volunteer found very few issues in his work, or if he did, did not want to admit them to himself or I. Therefore, it seems may have been battered to close the session sooner and start again another day.

Looking at the approach through a positive start I still believe it to be the best method, it does not guarantee success, but its benefits still out way that of instantly bringing up a difficult topic. I believe I should have taken better note of the volunteer’s actions and words in the beginning and seen it was unlikely for supervision, or at least this topic area, to succeed at the time. It was clear from his anger and defensive manner than he was unable to see other few points let alone relate his work to the aims of the training course.

Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

“When someone is feeling angry, there is a danger that saying the wrong thing may inflame the situation even further. Words, therefore, have to be chosen very carefully in such situations” — Roger Harrison & Christine Wise

Continuing with several approaches trying to get the volunteer to question his work was the wrong move. Sometimes you need to be able to simply read those you are working with and understand what can be done, and what cannot. The supervision should have been closed up and the topic approached another day in a more relaxed environment.