Learning how to use Pathways

This is not really about learning, its about the confidence understanding the basics brings. The very best way you can help a member is to promote one on one sessions with the help of a mentor, because what the member is really learning is Pathways’ “process cycle”. Second best is to become familiar with the Pathways Tutorial Index and realise that the video resources are, essentially, table topics – not long sessions. You can help by emphasising they are there to both inform and to spark questions.

The best way you can help a club is to suggest a session with a “Pathways Champion” – or better, that someone in the club takes up the role. A Pathways Champion doesn’t need to know everything about Pathways – they just need to be interested in finding out.

If you come across someone like that – or you are that someone – please contact our Webmaster to add them to our List of Champions.

The Special “Pathways Mentor”

There is indeed a module on mentoring in the Pathways programme and it is well worth doing; you will be a better mentor as a result. The bad news is that very same module can put people off mentoring because:

• Its not available until you have completed the first two levels of a path
• It takes about a year to complete because of the length of the mentoring projects
• It is not conferred until you have completed a path

Therefore, since Pathways was introduced in late 2017, only about 25 awards have been conferred (to December 2021). There is a wide misconception that you need this in order to be a mentor. Not true. If a member has finished a level, they can mentor others through that level.

Where the mentoring programme comes in useful is that anyone who is recognised as a mentor has done the transition between levels 3 and 4, which appears on the list of frequently asked questions as a hard thing to do. Anyone who is recognised as a mentor in theory needs to have contributed their upper level project visions on the “Share my Project” page. 

The Pathways Champions Group

If you’re not sure just what a Pathways Champion is, please visit this page.

The idea behind the Champions Group is to be able to provide resources for the promotion of Pathways, under the overall supervision of our Program Quality Director. This could take almost any form, including:

• One to one virtual sessions to help Base Camp Managers
• Club-based workshops, virtual or in person
• Drop-in sessions organised by clubs, areas or divisions
• Online or in person workshops
• Activities at Area, Division or District conferences
• Other Pathways-related activities as requested by members, club or district officers

The common form of all activities is that they are requested, rather than being driven by the Champions Group. 

The vision for the group is they are resources providers rather than organisers; it is up to others, including District Officers, to recognise the need.

Other Resources

Its your turn. Both the Members and Club Officers sections of this website have Pathways and Resources pages, which you need to be familiar with. District Officers, however, have very little outside the District Leadership Handbook and the District Leader Tools page that contains it (in the District Leader Kit).

Is there anything related to Pathways (apart from what’s in the above) you would like to see here because it is likely to be useful to you and your successor? If so, please contact our Webmaster to get it added.