Legacy building: What might be useful for next year's SADD group to know?
No matter how this year went for SADD in your school, a big difference you can make is how you set up next year’s group. There’s that classic quote that is very accurate by Tom Peters that says:
“Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders”
Something that our SADD staff team notices each year is that the schools and SADD committees that ‘pass the torch’ well generally have better momentum and success the following year. For a lot of you this year you may not have been able to run all the activities and events you had planned, but something very important and key that you can do is give next year’s group the best chance for success, and that is leadership right there!
So here is a list of some things that might be useful for next year’s group to know!
How SADD works/what the aim is. Depending on how things work at your school this might be very important. (If you are one of those schools that hands the role on to someone on a council in Year 13 they may not know anything about SADD, so this will be very important for you).
Why you got involved, what it meant to you, and what you learnt through the process.
What you did this year, how it went, the good the bad and the funny!
Pass on any plans or half done ideas you had from this year that may not have quite worked out, or been completed.
Good SADD events/workshops to attend.
Contacts, contacts, contacts (who is helpful and good to know etc)
Specific things that are relevant to your school and are helpful e.g ‘Mr You-Know-Who is very helpful for funding’, or ‘If you want to run an assembly get permission two months beforehand’.
Perhaps let them know if you will be available to contact for questions next year too.
The work that you have put in this year (even the small things like plans, ideas, or connections) is all groundwork for next year’s group to build on and we cannot emphasize the importance of it! Whatever you have done and learnt this year will be helpful to pass on, so please do. Making change is often a slow moving train and momentum is built each year, so ‘passing the torch’ makes a massive difference in the long term.
We have even made a document that you can download and fill out to pass on to next year's group. If you don’t know who that will be, give it to a teacher to pass on next year, or even to our SADD team to pass on. If you are in Year 13, now is the time to do your bit and finish well as a leader. If you are still gonna be around next year, it is still worthwhile thinking about this stuff because it will be really helpful coming into next year!
Download your the Pass the Torch worksheet here
We are really proud of the work that you have all done this year and especially proud of your resilience and adaptability, please do know that every little thing you do builds on creating a road safety culture and you are making a positive difference.
As always, hit us up with questions, ideas and support, we are always here to chat and help!