Transformational Leadership Project: reflections and next steps

As our Transformational Leadership Project comes to an end, Scottish chief commissioner Elaine shares what we learnt and how we’re taking it forward.

As many of you will be aware, across 2025 we completed a variety of pilot projects as part of our Transformational Leadership Project. The project worked on trying new ways to help current commissioners get the support they need and enjoy their roles. It also looked to ensure that we have a pipeline of volunteers prepared to take on these roles in the future.

Thank you very much to those of you who took part in pilots and shared your opinions over the year. Highlights from the project include Lead 2025, our Own Your Path events for guides and rangers, developing the Routes community for 18-30 members, sending welcome boxes to new commissioners and providing peer support for county commissioners coming to the end of their role.

As well as success from the individual pilots, I’m pleased that we’re seeing improvements across the board for commissioners. 72% of commissioners in this year’s annual survey told us they feel supported by Girlguiding Scotland, which is a 26% increase from 2025. 74% would recommend being a commissioner to others (a 7% increase from 2025). These results are positive but there is still room for improvement. We also know that many areas don’t have a commissioner and we want to change that so that all our volunteers get the support and local leadership they need.

We are now building on what we’ve learnt in the project in a few ways:

• Our local commissioner support programme will take forward the successful pilots to provide commissioners with the support they need wherever they are in their journey. We’ve got upcoming training sessions and also our Grow 2026 online conference taking place on 1 November to support local recruitment needs.
• Routes will be continuing a programme of exciting activities, events and skill development sessions for 18-30 year olds. This will include a new mentoring strand and even more opportunities for people in this age group to come together and connect.
• We’ll also be continuing to shout out about the commissioner role across our communications, as well as other roles that involve managing or overseeing other volunteers. We will be loud and proud about the leadership development opportunities available to our members to ensure people are aware of the options.

Girlguiding Scotland is powered by volunteers and we are committed to ensuring that all our volunteers get the support they need. By listening to volunteers and trying new things, we have learnt where we can have the biggest impact. I am proud to see us taking this forward and continuing to deliver for members.

If you have any questions about how we’re taking forward learnings from the project, please email us on hello@girlguiding-scot.org.uk.