From Participants to Practitioners: The Journey of HUDL Associates

[Music] Hello and welcome to Huddle Up, the podcast from Huddle, where we're holding space for real stories, shared power and collective change. Huddle works alongside young people, organisations and communities to create fairer systems and better opportunities, not just for young people but with them and this podcast is where those stories come to life. Each episode will hear from young leaders, practitioners and partners who are reshaping how decisions are made and programs are designed. Together we'll explore what it takes to build equitable partnerships, share power meaningfully and create change that last. We believe that when young people are involved at every stage, from design and decision-making to delivery, systems become fairer and communities stronger. So let's huddle up and get started with today's episode and for today's episode. We are joined by five incredible associates of Huddle and Betsy, Kimberly, Lewis, Tehan and Thalia. Hi guys. Hi. So this is one of the episodes that I have been anticipating since we first started the series. I'm really keen to hear about your journeys into joining Huddle as associates because many of you, your first, I guess, connection to Huddle was through the different programs that you joined. And now all of you are in some way, shape or form, working as lead facilitators or coordinators on a range of programs at Huddle. So I'd like to kick off by coming to each of you and asking you about your journey here and the roles and the role, I guess, that you're holding now. Just so that our listeners know a little bit more about you before we go into the experience and the learnings and the challenges. You would like to start off, you would like to introduce themselves to the to our listeners. I'm Kimberly and I am a Huddle associate. Yes, so my journey started off in the involving young people collective as youth consultant and then I became a Huddle associate there after to kind of get to understand the work behind getting projects done but also bringing young people together. I'm from a community organizing background so it's very up my street and I love facilitating and working directly with young people so it was an opportunity to do that. I was a lead facilitator for two programs. So the first was children in needs a million in me program back in 2024 I believe. Don't quote me on this, I might be wrong on the year but I'd know I was definitely a lead facilitator for that program. I'm back again as a lead facilitator for the youth leadership program. Amazing, thank you. Betty, can I come to you? For sure, hey, I'm Betty. I met Huddle as one of the original members of the involving young people collective as Nathan. I joined the age of 20 and it was mid-pandemic and so we didn't actually get to meet in person for a couple of years but we managed to build a really tight community online and we'd meet like twice a month and I just felt like I knew everyone really deep me and I really, really enjoyed Kedgy and Florey's way of working. Like they really embed youth work in their practice. So we've all very held like well-being wise whilst also feeling that like our voice and the work that we're doing is really important and really mattered. So you have this kind of like cross-dealing of like feeling already adult doing your work and being in spaces you have to make like really interesting and important decisions whilst also being held as a young person accessing that to your first job and professional spaces. So yeah, I loved the way they worked and so as my time at the Esmeralda Evans and Bobbie Young people collective went on, I was asking Kedgy and Florey how I could get more involved in Huddleswork as I could see that our time kind of facing out of the involving young people work and I've been working with Huddles that ever since. I'm currently a deep facilitator at the Global Foundation facilitating their future communities connected but I'm also like what's a BBC Tournament needs and have like done consultancy projects in various organisations and like works with Kedgy, on that developing a social arm of Huddles. Yeah, I love it. I feel it's really, I thought it's really like interesting being behind the scenes of like you've participated in programmes and seeing just how much at work and intention goes into each session. I then seeing how the young people work with that. They just feel like it's all kind of like made up on the spot like I don't think that they've realised how much work it takes and I think that's a good sign because it makes it look effortless. Great, thank you so much Betty. Tiana, over to you. Thank you so much Kedgy. What a great answer Betty. I feel like that's quite hard to follow. I think my time with Huddles began back in 2018 or 2019 now. I actually started off as a programme participant as well where I did the Career Pathway programme which has been rebranded, repackaged and we run something quite similar now in partnership with the Damulity Letters called the Career Pathway programmes for school. And after doing that programme I stayed connected with Huddle and Kedgy and in 2022 there is an opportunity to rejoin Huddle as an associate and I was elated. It has been the highlight of my life ever since and it's my ultimate reason for being on this podcast but also for all of the joy that I have and I can share on the programmes I am on. In light of that I will let you know that I am the lead facilitator on the big programme that we run here at Huddle so I run a programme in a primary school. We started the programme two years ago now and it's been so successful that we managed to get a recommissioned. I am also the coordinator on the Mission 44 project and I occasionally dibble and dabble in everybody else's business so a little bit of Betis business, a little bit of Kim's business, a little bit of Talia's, a little bit of Lewis because I also am the logistics associate at Huddles so I help them with everything that they're trying to get done for the young people on their projects as well. I do my best. Lewis, I will see you. Of course, thanks, Kaji. I'm Lewis and I definitely say that I fell into working with Huddles so I originally was in like 2023 on my third year of uni. I sent an email randomly to charity called Mission 44 asking if I could do some internship with them for a scholarship I had and they just wrote back and was like, no, sorry, we don't offer that at the moment but keeping eye out for extra opportunities. So I was like, okay, and then a couple of weeks later they advertised this use advisory board position. No, it applied and gone that and then that's how I met Huddles because Huddles worked for like the delivery partners on that on that program. So I met Kaji, met Flory, Met Talia and didn't really think about anything I just got on with the program and then after about a year later I got involved in the program that Kim mentioned as well called the Million at Me award and I was a participant in that as well. So definitely all of my introduction was participant-based and then coming to the world end of uni, Kaji and I had a chat about doing some extra work after graduating and yeah, that's how I joined. So over the last year and a bit I've been working on the Children in Need You Leadership program as a program coordinator. So kind of like the cohort's first point of contact, administration and logistics and then also like a surprising amount of data analysis and feedback and stuff like, yeah, it's been great. Amazing, thank you. That's been really helpful. Talia, what about you? Yeah, I'm Talia. And yeah, my journey through Huddles was also for the involving young people's collective. I joined with Betsy in 2020 and that was great as like a way to get into this side of the charity sector because I think before I'd been a participant in different ways and I think getting into the grant-making space was definitely something I hadn't expected to be so interested in. So it was a great opportunity. As we came to the end of Artena, like similar to Bayer, I was really open to different working opportunities and yeah, I feel like since then I've just been all over Huddles basically like I've been on the the Mission for Evolve program. I coordinated the, we moved fund, even had a short stint on the future communities collective. I'm currently the coordinator for the involving young people collective and generally look at like how to support coordinators in this role. A lot of process and operations things. Yes. Amazing. So Talia, I want to stick with you for a second. So at Huddle, the way that we run programs is we always have like a, either two lead facilitators and then we have a lead coordinator. You are essentially the person who we kicked off the lead coordinator role with and you know it inside out, which is why you helped to onboard and support all of our coordinators. So could you tell our listeners what is the lead coordinator, what they generally responsible for and how does that look like in the role that you have currently with IYPC? Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think it's important to say like when me and Betty, what on the involving young people collective, we didn't have a coordinator and I think a coordinator is really important. because they take a lot of the not-stress, but they take a lot of the lead facility that allows both parties to do their jobs very well. I would say both roles are really important, but if you're a lead facility, a trynergy will equidination, I think it's next to impossible. And the role has really developed and it kind of depends by the project you do as well. Like I think some coordinators are more involved in the delivery and the facilitation and others really hold the admin and coordination and logistics and that kind of stuff. But it's come a long way and I think what's really cool about the Huddled Model is that Aquina is our whole project participant, so they really know and can identify like from being on a program what that means and they can anticipate the needs of the participants as well because of that or identify gaps that maybe you wouldn't see if you hadn't done a similar project before. So yeah, currently with the involving young people collective like almost six years into this project, even being like a thing, I think we've come a really long way with the coordinator and the coordinator is very embedded and helps deliver things to yeah, I hope that answered. You know, it was incredible. Thank you. Betty, I'd like to come to you if you could just describe what the lead facilitator role is. Sure. So the lead facilitator is responsible for holding facilitation of each of these sessions of the projects and so the programs are usually brought together and held together by regular meetings between the young people and the Trust and Foundation that we're working with and the Huddled team and so it is the lead facilitator's role to work with the Trust and Foundation to be able to build out a timeline of activities and a schedule of activities and events that the young people will be working on over the year and then as the lead facilitators role to build that into agendas for each of the meetings and it's really important as a Huddled facilitator to ensure that our meetings are like accessible, they're fun, they're full of joy, we're actually checking in with people as humans as well as like getting the work done and we care a lot about like how productive meetings but making sure that people aren't leaving exhausted and are leaving that energized and like ready to do the work. We also have a big responsibility of like checking in on the wellbeing of the young people that we work with and so we hold check-ins every two to three months and where we are meeting with every single one of the young people on the boards to make sure that the work is soothing their like capacity, whether they have any new needs and that we be aware of and just like making sure that they're doing okay as people, a lot of the young people work with our studying or working in their other time and so there's a lot of like stress and a lot of like demands on their time and beings and capacities and like there tends to be lots of things going on at home and in families and like it's our role to make sure that we are tucked into that if they need us to be and that we are making sure that these sessions that we're running that meet stand needs and so I would say that Leap 30 to us holding the kind of being as well as the work. Yeah thank you. Kim as another one of our Leap Facilities is anything that you want to add to what Betty said in terms of the role? I completely agreed with what Betty said. I guess to add on to that it's being a client liaison as well so I guess part of it is being the person that provides updates to the Trustful Foundation that's commissioned us to do this work to provide them updates on the young people on their skills or their progress or their development as well as measuring the progress in the program so recording the learning as you go along and being I guess the lead person who enables everybody to bring that learning together so whether that be the coordinator the young people themselves or the client. Thank you. So Tiana I'm going to come to you with the next question so when you think about when you first joined Huddle as an associate what feels different now? I think on a friction where I would say feels different is probably that I feel much more connected to the work and I feel like we have a lot of great structures in place thanks Tanya for all of the work you've done in the background to get us to streamline or a bit better. I feel like I am more a part of the team now and I think that's been held a lot by the associate meetings we had recently we had a very nice in-person social in London and it was fantastic to see everyone and have a little chin wax so I feel not very connected to the work and very connected to my fellow associates and I think that helps to bring even more joined to the space which I think is different from the beginning because I feel like we were still in Covid mode at the time when I joined. So yeah. Thank you. Lewis you're one of our newer associates so I guess I'm going to ask you that question so I want to just wondering like what that experience has been for you so when you think that when you first joined as an associate which was last year what feels different now? I would definitely agree with Tiana I feel like a lot more part of the team and also kind of it's interesting to have the kind of inside of knowledge I guess on what goes on behind the scenes as a participant and like coming straight out I mean also still being on Mission 44 I'm kind of struggling participant and a coordinator at the same time associations at the same time. It's been really interesting to see what it looks like to be a participant and everything's kind of breezy and coming together and we've got that everything's kind of floating and then behind the scenes what goes on as well like trying to hold trying to hold that's what things want smoothly and guess also another thing I was going to say has been really interesting to see more from like a development side is as a participant I'm kind of concerned with how am I showing up and what am I bringing to the space where as a coordinator that you're intentionally concerned with how are the other people how are the people how are the participants of the program engaging and so it's been really amazing to see how different people are different participants growing and developing in their own individual way as well so like however I might be growing as when individuals not what they're kind of prioritising when they're in a different program for example. Yeah yeah that's interesting so I'm going to move on to the next question ask how was your perspective or program delivery evolved and I'm going to come to Betty and Kim Dahlia first on that question how was your perspective on program delivery evolved? I think for me personally it's developed and evolved a great deal because when I was a participant as Lewis just kind of echoed that you don't realise the sheer amount of work that goes into making something happen I think the best way I could probably describe this is if you're working in our commission in star restaurant and when you when customers see that final kind of meal they it's pretty it's really tasty it's great to look at but you don't see like the sweat the blood the tears that go into making this happen and when I say sweat blood and tears I don't mean like obviously it's it's challenging work but challenging in a good way and I think challenging because we've got such a high standard that we that we uphold I don't when I feel like it's something that I would personally like more organisations to adopt that willingness to to reflect and be like how can we do this better like what how can we meet the needs of the young people that we have better and not just roll out the same program over and over but how do we meet the individual needs of that particular cohort and go over and beyond for them how do we make time on the program's special and I think that takes a great deal of skill and thought and care and compassion and also a great degree of flexibility and I think we've got that flexibility and apologies to my older facilitators but I think there's something about being young and wanting to adapt and and learn in the process that's allowed us to be more maniable we're not stuck and rigid processes we're willing to adapt and change and pivot when necessary and I think that's definitely been a big reflection for me so far amazing thank you Betty Dolly will do you like to add to that how is your perspective on the program delivery evolved before becoming a lead facilitator I didn't have those of experience with like building of a program that I've done I've delivered programs like in my work but the actually being behind the scenes and like building the program pre-programmed I've learned so much from that because I think that I had always thought it was better to have an attitude that was like a bit more like scrappy like doing a lot with a little and like working with what you've got but I think that working with Hadoel I've learned that it's okay to name that actually this work is going to take a little bit more time it's okay to name that this work is going to require more resource if we actually want to do this well and that recognising that like taking young people who've had just exited school into positions where they're responsible for like big decisions in like trust and foundations it's a it's a big journey there's a lot of inducting that goes into that there's a lot of training and like really holding young people through that process and it needs to be properly resourced with like time capacity and bonding and so I think that I now have a more realistic attitude towards that what it means to build a program and it's okay to name that should we need more if we really want to do this well and I think that that has made my work better quality like in all areas for me. Thanks Betty Thali I saw you nodding along do you want to add anything to that? I think that you made a great point like I think being a participant is a great experience for them. and coming on the other side really rounds it off, I think. And as Kim and Bet you were both talking, I was thinking about like just the art I've personally had working with Hadoel for a participant to now. And I think my development has been like unreal. I think I used to be the very quiet person who would like just not speak. And I think people who know me now are like, you'd be speaking this. So I didn't know I think has helped me come out my show and feel more confident, but also like competent to do things and like work on the things that I care about as well. And being a participant was a big part of that, I think, because you kind of need to know what it's like to be the person in the chair to like understand how they might perceive something. Since I was someone who was on the program, if I ever need to justify a decision or explain why we did something a certain way, I know why they feel maybe like a bit with their backup or not understanding that there are all these different things happening in the background. So I think it really, really helps me have a full picture of like some of the challenges, but also like how to make it better as well on the other side. - It's interesting that you say that, Charlie, because I know that like we've had conversations where we're in like design, process mode, and I'll be like, let's do it this way. And you'd be like, I don't know how that's gonna land or like I go back to you and I go, how do you think it's gonna land with people? And it's like, I know that I can trust that you're coming from, this has happened before, and I've experienced it as a participant. And I can assure you that it is not going to work or you're more likely to get pushed back. And that's really helpful. And I think that that's one of the main reasons why we recruit associates the way that we do because we want everyone to have actually experienced being on the program in order to really inform the process and to inform the design. My next question then is, and this is not open to any of you, you know, some of you've been an associate for like, what, five, four years? So I'm wondering like, what do you notice now that you didn't notice before? Either about yourself, either about the way that we work. Just, yeah, what do you notice now that you didn't notice before? - Things something that quickly came to mind, like having completed a IYPC cohort cycle, but then having completed another cycle now as a coordinator on the other side. So that's like six years into all of this often is the need to keep it cyclical, like the intergenerational cohort model is really important because being in that space, like I love it, it's an amazing space, but I also see the need to like bring fresh eyes and keep developing other leaders in the space. And I guess you didn't just be me in the same project for like 10 years, I think. So it really makes me believe in this model because we'll build on each other up as we go. And you don't want to get like, stay all, I guess, or like, used to things. And I think that's why we always use the term of like critical friend because we want to keep it fresh and we want to, yeah, be relevant. So I think being in the role for so long has definitely made me notice done. - I agree with Taliona. One of the other things I feel like I notice more now is just to share pressure that obviously organizations have to deliver any of this work and do it well and do it justice and actually ensure that it's, it's not hindering young people who's developing them, but then meeting the objectives of why you're doing the program in the first place. And that's a really challenging thing to do, I think, to go from a brief or a concept to then actually delivering it. And I feel like what I have noticed is, or at least what I've learned in the process is, it's not easy and at times it requires, it requires a lot of thinking ahead and sometimes the brief changing. And that's something I wouldn't have seen obviously as a participant, but in some of the programs that I've worked in, I've realized that sometimes the brief at the beginning is based on assumption or see before you've got that particular group of young people on board it. And rather than sticking specifically to that brief and perhaps maybe missing some of the valuable learning that might come out of maybe opening it up a little bit and amending it and then iteratively doing it, you miss out a lot. And I'm speaking from the example of the current project that I'm on at the moment, the Youth Leadership Program, which children in need. I really loved that we were able to co-design the program with young people when it wasn't a set thing that was just packaged and ready to go without their input because I think that made the experience so much more valuable. - Reson, thank you, Kim. Tiana, how about you? Is there anything that you noticed now that you didn't notice before? - I think the sheer work that can go into designing and building out a program is something that's been really surprising. So I facilitated on the Career Pathway Program, on the Crystal Palace and Bermansy Program. So I went from just receiving my session plan for Crystal Palace, going, banging it out, having a laugh with the students and it was great to being able to do that shift to do the program again, last year at Bermansy, which required a lot more active involvement in the planning of the sessions. And similar to Kim, adapting that session to the young people we were working with, a group which was mostly girls, which was all girls, actually, and a group which was mostly religious and we were doing it during the time of Ramadan and we had to come together as a group of facilitators to shift, whereas I consider my role as the lead under debate program where I'm relying on a lot of my own expertise to actually plan and flesh out that program myself, which means that I have to be open to learning from those around me, keeping my thumb on the pose of what's happening in my side of the industry so that I can deliver the most up-to-date information in the program. So it's been a lot of adapting, listening, trying to work on those button extents to ensure that the quality is higher at all times and it's been beautiful to be able to do that. And thank you, Keshif, for creating space for that adaptation. Thanks, Diane. So I think what's clear is that all of you have come kind of into your roles, whether that's coordinating or facilitating as a result of being facilitators and being in spaces where Hadoll essentially has held space, right? So I'm curious to hear from you, what does it mean to hold a program from your respective roles? What do you think it means to hold a program? - I think that what Hadoll brings is the expertise around what it means to support young people through a program. So trust and foundations rely on Hadoll to hear the brief, hear the work that trust and foundations needs young people to do. And the kind of decisions they want to be a part of and to hold a program at Hadoll means that you are transforming this brief into a journey for young people to be able to go on. And so it means recruiting young people that bring a varied range of experience and expertise and come from all over the UK and supporting these young people that can be as young as 16 to be able to access work by Zoom their peers and I'd be in spaces with people they've probably that never even met before and to be able to feel confident enough to be a part of decision making around a topic they've also probably never been involved in before. A lot of the young people who have had no experience or grant making and lots of them haven't even heard of the trust and foundations that they're working with until this opportunity. And so to hold a program means to support young people from this journey that this is all completely new and fresh to feeling really confident in making decisions that they feel that they're really well informed on and that they really trust each other to make decisions that feel right and themselves in the communities and the people that they want to support in the country. Don't you think so? Louis, I'm gonna come to you. What does it mean to hold a program from a coordinated perspective? - It's meant to spoke to a little bit around how hard all crowds are really unique role in facilitating like making sure the young people get what they need from the program and also what the organisation and the foundation gets what they need as well. And so I think the role hold will play in that space or in holding the space. To hold the space is actually how does creating the space more than anything. And I think that the onboarding period is so, so, so important speaking from the YouTube leadership program because in terms of creating the space, you're building by and from the beginning, same with the code design that you create in that YouTube leadership program with everybody. We had a session, a set of sessions where people were learning what they said they wanted to learn. And like how do we were able to go, okay, what do you, what do you guys want to learn? And okay, children need what, like what are the type of, what are the things that you need out of this program and create something which match both parties so that everybody could have a great time and enjoy it and all last relation building at the same time. And so I don't know if that's necessarily from the coordinated perspective, but I think like just in general, in terms of program design, yeah, to hold, it's actually the creation of the space that that had to offer. - I knew with that and I was gonna add to it quickly, Kaji just to say, I think what's unique about how do we say that we don't see the young person as a sort of individual, they come as a unit with whatever communities exist around them. So from like their parents, their schools, for example, and I think Hadoo does a great job of trying to link those trusted adults on that journey as well and that's something that we've definitely done through this recent program that I was talking about. And I don't think it's something that I've seen done elsewhere in the sector. I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but it's not as common sometimes projects tend to take place in silos and isn't then that unique. link for the young people to take it away elsewhere or for those around them to be not involved in the process, but that's scaffolding to support them in the process. Because as Betty mentioned earlier, young people are going through transitions, they're going through difficulties sometimes with school, home life, social life, social media now and the pressures with that. And I feel like Hidal works to try and see the bigger picture and see how we contribute to that ecosystem for that young person and link those parts of the young person's life together as well. Thank you. Really appreciate that. So the question I wanted to ask everyone now then is kind of like what for you have been the most common experiences and challenges that you've faced, stepping into the roles that you have at Hidal as associates? I feel like Lewis needs to speak first because being a coordinator is tough work. It is tough work getting people to respond to you. So Lewis, I think you should take this away. I was buying my time. But I think as a coordinator, I'm most grateful for when people are like, it's great to respond and able to respond and you put a form out and it's response, someone responds straight away or you don't have to send. I don't know, there's probably been some form that I've spent five, six, seven, eight follow up to get responses and the sound point of it is just all it quits, right? So that is, I think trying to get people to respond can be difficult, but also you have to appreciate that people have got so many different than conflicting priorities and commitments. And so how do you move on with what you've got whilst also make sure you can get as much as you can get? And that also comes back to how do we communicate with young people that we often use slack as like a space for young people to come together. Sometimes you have to always, you know, frequently have to do an onboarding with, okay, what does slack look like? And if we don't get that right, then maybe you have like lower engagement to begin with and find different ways to do it. So I think you're definitely getting former sponsors and things can be challenging. And I think just in terms of, in general, like these like social roles are freelance roles, right? And I think sometimes you have to, I think in a personal level, sometimes you have to kind of compartmentalize that in an ideal world for me, you'd be able to compartmentalize me that I can do project A on Monday, project B on Tuesday, project C on Wednesday. But in reality, everyone's like, everyone wants to do that. And people's projects and days are all intermingled. So just trying to be flexible with, okay, how can I do half an hour here and half an hour there and make sure that we, like get what we said we were going to do done? I hope so. Does anyone else want to share their common experiences and challenges that they've faced at stepping into this role? One of the things that I really appreciate and I think is a main challenge, but we've been able to mitigate it is us not knowing everything. So as an associate, I have moments, obviously, when you're designing a program and there might be pieces of knowledge that you don't know or you're not well versed in. But what's nice is that we can mitigate that through having a network of other associates or other people within the Huddled Network that we can call a button. Just a quick example on the program I had to call on Betty's expertise to deliver a session on influencing and looking within kind of your own sphere of influence and also your external sphere of influence. And it's something that I didn't have a lot of knowledge on, but I was glad that we were able to reach out to Betty and the advocacy academy to deliver that. Amazing, thanks, Kim. And then, Tiana, I wanted to actually ask you this question specifically because you're across multiple programs and you are one of our associates that works with our youngest group of participants. We also manage our junior associates who are 11 plus, right? And they're very new to the Huddled community. So, yeah, what are the common experiences and challenges that you've faced stepping into these roles? Yeah, I just want to echo Kim as well. Betty has been a blessing to me. She's been super helpful in terms of speaking to me just more about the role as a freelancer. That's been a challenge for me to really wrap my head around. So thank you, Betty, in terms of working with the many associates or juniors. What's the material of the mix? I don't know if it's going to be. Yeah, it's so awesome being able to work with younger kids. I think that one of the main challenges is sometimes really scheduling, getting people to be where you need them to be at a specific time. It can also sometimes be my communication because of my background. Sometimes I really need to wind it back a lot, trying to adapt like my tone, the words that I use, making sure that is this the most simple way I can say this. It's something that I've been working on and I'm still working on. KG has a lot of insight into this and I continue to develop that out to just leave certain parts of my communication out and making sure that it's as impactful as possible. It's as concise as possible to ensure that I don't lose the young people, especially the under 11s because I am working with year five and year six children. So it's just really adapting my communication style when I'm communicating with them and even with the parents because all of these parents are from their backgrounds. Some people are going to be really into complex language and other people just don't have the time to process it. And as you build those relationships and you're trying to build your own credibility as an associate as well, you want to make sure you keep them with you at all times. And so I really try to tailor my communication style to each group and it's been a bit of a challenge for me because it's not naturally how I communicate. So that's been quite entertaining, I'm sure, for KG to watch. Why do you bring in my name into this all the time? Because you're always like, no, no, no, you need to re-wred this. Thank you, Diane. And Thali, I absolutely have to come to you with this question because you and I have toughed it out over the years and I end up many, many approaches and many and troubles you in across various programs. So for you, what would you say other common experiences and challenges that you face stepping into the roles that you have at HODL? Yeah, I mean, I think before stepping into the coordinate role, I don't think I really appreciated how much of a bridge HODL is between the client and the young people. That's a very difficult role to hold because if the young people are the critical friend to the client, HODL is the critical friend to both and that doesn't always go down super well. And sometimes it's really hard to balance, I think. And then of the common challenges, definitely capacity, like I co-worked, TN said, everyone has so much going on. And I think when we started, it was COVID and we had an abundance of time, it felt like because we were just all at home. But then with this shift back to life as it was with online working, just filtered into it, I think we had to really go through quite an adjustment period, like finding a way of working that balance, both our life before and our online life, working from home and all that kind of stuff. And I think another challenge, I don't know if the other coordinate is agree or not, but I think I care so much about the work, but sometimes it just makes me very hard on myself. So if something even goes a little bit wrong in a program, I feel very upset for the young people even though they probably could brush it off in a second and haven't clocked it at all. So I think being passionate is not a challenge, but I just think it makes navigating some of the things that just happen anyway in the sector a little bit difficult at times personally. Amazing, thank you. Okay, so I'm interested to know then, and I'm sure listeners are too, what has the role revealed about your skills and your strength? I was surprised to see how much of the coordination that allows you to get into some level of data analysis, which for me, because my background in physics and STEM, it was quite like that was nice to have that kind of hold on to that. Firstly, in the recruitment stages, and when you're looking at like, when you're scoring different applications and everything, you can, it was just nice to get into the spread shoes there. But then also kind of read on the authorship program in particular, we did like collect a lot of feedback after every session. And like just being able to kind of look at the trends of how things change over time, what people were saying and both qualitatively and quantitatively was really, I mean, I was saying fun sounds so nerdy, but it was just really nice to get. But it is fun, Lewis. It is fun. You know I told you, you're like my ex so good, right? I told you it's ready. And I'm so, so bad at it still. And then I think another thing that it revealed, which was definitely as a prize to me because I wasn't expecting to do any facilitation over the length of the program. The coordinator was that, and it was, this is both a strength and a challenge maybe was like facilitating something that I can do as well. And I never really like for that. And I would be doing like that. And I especially also if you'd like seen me in Mission 44 as well, you know that I just don't love to do public speaking and stuff. So like anytime that I was encouraged to try and do it was really, was really great. And yeah, I wasn't sure how I would go when I did it for the authorship program, but and new things are always challenging of course, but I think it went really, really well. And the session got great feedback. So you know, the data analysis and everything that was wonderful to see. But it was, yeah, when it was that was formative for me and oh, I can actually do this stuff as well as just sitting in the spreadsheets. Yeah, and absolutely Kim, you were about to jump in. I was. I was going to say Lewis, I think your, your humbleness is your strength because there was such notable feedback from your emotional intelligence session that I think you played it down there a little bit. No, no, no, no. You also know how that space so much for me in terms of like just, I don't have to worry about any of the, like, well, where the resources are going to go because you'd already passed them out as soon as I started, like before I even move on to the next topic. So just flew really nicely and that was yeah, thank you for assisting Delusion. Thank you Tia and Betty Dahlia. What has this for rebuild about your skills and strengths? I'll jump in really quickly. I think my work with Hadoel it was my abilities that actually work with such a young group. I didn't think that I had the temperament for it but I actually love them. It's a little bit crazy. I love them so much. They are the highlight of my week. I never thought I had the like I said the temperament or the capacity to work with that young of a group because of how I like to communicate. So I think the work has been teaching me a lot about myself and also when I just started facilitating I always thought that I would need a co-facilitator just in case because I quite don't like doing energizers but I think because of the programs I'm doing I have to do a lot of facilitation by myself so it's making me get real creative with those energizers and it's really pushing me to enjoy to embrace more of the fun bits of the situation. When you were about to say endure the jury. You were going to say I have to endure it. Because I know that the young people look forward to it and I don't want to be the villain in their story right. I love it. I do it but I was even on Tik Toklokin for energizers. I am dedicated to becoming better at energizers and yes I am embracing my lone wolf facilitation now because I realised the energizer was the only bit I didn't like. So yeah, learning and growing. Amazing thank you. Bet you tell you anything you want to add? Yeah I just don't I love facilitating. I love working with young people. I love I've got a big part of Hado's practice. It is going on like retreats and making sure that we're meeting in person at least two times a year and they're just huge highlights. I think that such an important part of this work is that the young people were able to build friendships that inspire them, push them to the opposite dream bigger and I know that that's that part of what I value the most out of the involving young people collective like the relationships that I've built and I've made friendships for life. And so when I see young people connecting like undeekly and having debates and discussions and dreaming about like new ways of doing things together I'm just like this is the best, this is the work and so yeah I love building relationship with young people knowing that what people care about and also pushing trust and foundations to be like more daring with the amount of power that they're giving young people. I think it's okay if like not everything is you fled like young people don't need to lead everything but if we are that making sure that the power that we are giving with young people is valued is genuinely important to the work that the trust and foundations that are doing and that young people are prepared to be able to do the work like I care about that a lot and I think that I've like really built my skills in asking for more for young people and knowing what young people need in order to access the work. Amazing thank you. I wish we had like much longer to talk so I'm going to just ask you like two more questions and then we're going to wrap up today's episode. The question I want to ask is if someone wants to move from participant to associate what do you think they need to pay attention to or what do you think they need to bring to the role? You need to be on it in a way that you just weren't always before. Like I was definitely the person that a lawyer's been chasing like seven times to get something done and that's sorry as a coordinator relief certificate you just can't be that person anymore and that was a big like struggle for me that you just you can't leave messages unread on slack in the same ways that you've been doing and I know you're doing it. I feel like this has to this has to be the sound bite of this episode you have to be on it like you weren't on it before. Yeah like you're not one of 12 participants anymore it's just you and 12 people are relying on you actually and I think that was a big shift for me that I think that when you're part of a group you can kind of like hide in the group it's okay if you are too busy to make the meeting that week it's okay if you weren't able to like answer that form and I'm like I was definitely that young person but I think that being an associate of Hadool has given me a type of discipline that I just like didn't have before that I I'm managing an associate alongside a full-time job alongside that project and friends and family and it's just enabled me to be able to manage my time and see my time in like such different ways. And so I think it's a really valuable experience I recommend anybody to do it even the person that that struggles a manager in that time that you're just gonna have to manage your time belt you're gonna do it because you have to but I think that's my biggest thing is that yeah the biggest shift for me was just like my relationship with my time. Amazing thank you that was such an incredible answer. I was gonna say I would have blocked Betty from joining if I was coordinating and she was responding. When you when you got to the 7 when you got to the 6th rs we were like yeah exactly. You need to be compassionate with those people like those people like that one that was so me I'm just like I get it I actually get it but you just can't be that person as an associate. Completely agree with Betty so I think you need you need that but also patience and compassion in that it's not just about you obviously it's about other people when thinking about what other people might be going through it's about managing emotions as well and managing people which can be quite difficult but you will soon get to grips with it. I think the communication side of things is something that I definitely grew in. I would have said I was an excellent communicator before this which would have been absolute lie because I think I've developed to being a somewhat alright communicator but I've got a long way to go but these programs really helped me to do that because you meet so many different types of people from different parts of the UK so it's not just that you're managing different personalities but it's also different ways of just being different entities as well so it's that exposure that's really big that you should be prepared for. Amazing thank you and darling I'm going to come to you lastly for that question what what's what does someone need to know or do if they want to meet from participant to associate? I think like just trust yourself and trust the process of it like in the beginning. I imagine if you were yourself as the participant like when you just jumped in and everything never makes sense but like suddenly it did like the same thing will happen to you as a coordinator or a league of setter I think because you're not alone like you might be the only coordinator but you still have like the whole community or like me and Keggy to like answer any questions and I am that person who always asks you like so like you can always send me a message if you have a question but I think yeah patience is definitely a big one understanding that like it's not the end of the world if I didn't get all my survey responses because I don't know maybe someone just doesn't care about my survey and that's okay but yeah I think having compassion and just really I think it's such a nice working culture here I really really like coming back to the huddle space all the time because it's different and I think yeah there's so much potential to grow as a coordinator and take on responsibility that I think a lot of organizations are scared to give you on people sometimes. Amazing thank you so much I knew I was going to enjoy this conversation and I 100% did and I wish that we had longer and I feel like there's another episode that we can come back to this on this so thank you for joining us for this episode of huddle up and a huge thank you to today's guests for sharing their stories and insights if you'd like to learn more about huddle explore our work or get in touch about becoming an associate running programs strategy or supporting your organization you'll find links in the description of this episode make sure to subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening now join us next time as we continue holding space for real stories, shared power and collective change see you next time you