general+responsibilities

outdoors home > group management and leadership outdoors

//1.1 General Responsibilities //
//a. to individuals, to the group as a whole and where appropriate to parents/guardians. // //b. to the organising authority, committee or manager of the activity. // //c. to the general public, the environment, environmental bodies and organisations, local residents, land managers, the mountaineering fraternity, fellow leaders and Mountain Leader Training. //

Your prime responsibility is to ensure that everyone returns undamaged. This is a minimum, though; you should aim to ensure that party members enjoy the time and develop.

[|Example] from the field studies council detailing roles and responsibilities.

The balance between achieving a particular outcome (e.g. reaching a summit), developing teamworking and developing knowledge and skills of those involved (or just having fun) will vary, but if you are leading the group then the safety of the group members is your priority at all times.

Part of the role of the group leader is to ensure that everyone involved shares the same understanding of what the aim is - if some think they are going out for a fairly nonchallenging walk where the main motivation is to chat to people they have not seen for a while, and others head out with the intention of tackling a grade 3 scramble it is likely to cause friction and disatisfaction. (see the GRIPS mnemonic in the section on leadership).

Safety is not the only consideration for the group leader - Maslow's hierarchy of needs gives a good model for thinking about other things, and their relative priority:

