Our members, the resource to success 🧡
“This isn’t a robot. It’s a machine to build the people who will change the world”
Hello everyone! Yes, we know this is a build thread, but as a team we focus our entire year on building more than just a robot. Building a robot is a tool to build something way more valuable: our members. We are convinced that our members can positively impact our community. But how do we educate and train them to become valuable self-directed professionals?
Within the Resources Department, we focus on 2 different resources: People (human & intellectual) and Capital (material & financial). Both resources form the base of the existence of our team.
In the first post of this build thread you have already seen our revised team structure. This team structure is the base of the growth path of our team members. Next to all the competition related tasks, each department and underlying sub-department develop programs to educate and train their members. When a student joins the team, they will walk through several training programs to unleash their full potential.
Skills Class 1 
Skills Class 1 (SC1 for short) is a training program set up for all first year students in order to familiarise them with every aspect of the team and prepare them for the build season in the best way possible. We have been organising SC1 since 2019 and have been tweaking it ever since. Where we used to spend the 14 team evenings we have before the build season starts giving presentations about everything that happens in the team, we have now come up with a new format that has yet to be tested.
After an introduction to the team and FRC, the new students will work on a project in a reserved spot at the build location. In 7 weeks the students will face challenges for which they will receive help from more experienced team members in order to familiarise them with asking questions. The main goal of these weeks is to explore and find out where your interests are. During the 5 weeks after this period, students will take a deeper dive into the aspects of a (sub-)department of choice. By doing this, they also work together with the people of that (sub-)department so the students can fulfil an important role during the build season.
Skills Class 2 
Skills Class 2 (SC2 for short) is a follow-up on SC1. With a year of experience now, former SC1 students will be able to choose one or multiple (sub-)departments in which they want to spend their time and want to learn more about. It is the sub-department lead’s and mentors’ responsibility to create a training program which teaches the students to execute average to complex tasks within the sub-department during the build season. A student will remain a SC2 student until the season they turn 18 years old.
From student to mentor 
Once the students have done SC2 they now have 2 years of experience within the team and will be free to follow their own ambitions. For some team members this means that they will either be an active or inactive support within a sub-department. Being a support does not bring many responsibilities and is a role for the people who want to keep being involved in the team but are now focusing on, for example, finishing their school/studies. Some members, however, have the ambition to become a mentor. These members will take on the responsibility of guiding SC1 and SC2 students or leading a project and a team with guidance from experienced mentors. Some might even become sub-department leads! Next to being able to train these students and transfer information and knowledge, the main focus will be on how to cooperate with a student to make sure they learn the most out of it and feel comfortable while learning. This also means that being a mentor will bring more responsibilities than being a support.
Buddy system 
The build season is known as a very hectic period where many things run parallel to each other… For many new students this means that they might get lost in everything that is happening. They also might be scared to ask questions. Therefore, each SC1 and SC2 student will be linked to a more experienced team member. Together they will form a buddy couple. The older buddy will be the go-to person for the young buddy. The young buddy can ask any question and the old buddy will either answer the question or link the younger buddy to someone who can. They can also be seen as “siblings” within the team, in which the older buddy makes sure its younger buddy is feeling good, can spend their team evenings in a productive way and checks in on their buddy in general.
Personal development 
Next to all the technical knowledge, the personal development of our team members is a very important goal for the team. Things such as communication and cooperation are core values and are inherently being taught as it is part of our culture. Together with partners we have several training sessions for our members. Our management team has been discussing the team structure and team strategy with our key partners who have shared their experiences. On top of that, some of our sub-department leads are currently following a Project Management & Agile Leadership course given by a local technical university. The skills our members learn from these sessions will also help them in their daily lives. Our partners also offer visits and internships so our team members can get a feeling of how professional companies within our environment function. Up until now around 30 team members did their internship at a partner company!
Family 
A word that you will hear a lot when asking our team members to describe the team: Family. Obviously we keep working very hard on improving the points mentioned above, but the achievement of creating a family with 75+ members is worth more than all the blue banners on this planet. It is not something that is being taught. It is a feeling that arises when members join the team. It is part of our culture. This family feeling goes hand in hand with the development of our members as well. For example, students from different ages and levels meet up to do their homework together, explaining things to other people and helping each other. But also doing fun things that are not team related such as sport events like (ice) skating, cycling, playing football (or soccer 
), watching movies together, or just having a chill evening. The social aspect is huge in this and not something to be left out.
Future steps
The development of our members will always be a high priority within the team. Therefore we will never stop improving the programs we currently have. Each year we will evaluate the tips and tops and process the results into new revisions of the programs. As the years go by and the ambitions of the team keep growing, we do realise that the knowledge of the team must grow alongside that.
Written by: @Wesley4481 - Resources Manager