New Committee Chair needs help

[Knot Head]

New Committee Chair needs help (and advice).

 

This board has so much knowledge it seemed appropriate to ask for your collective assistance.

 

The current committee chair of our troop recently stated that he needs to resign because of work related issues. I offered to assume his role if they could not get anyone else (like you know someone with some knowledge and experience) to take over. Not surprisingly no one else has yet offered to take the job. The troop has about 50 actives on the roster with about 30 boys going to summer camp this year.

 

The sum total of my scouting experience is about 13 months acting as a patrol advisor. If any of you can provide links to sources that you believe would be beneficial Id appreciate it. I don't mind taking on the responsibility and I really want to try and do a good job.

 

Recently Ive been reading what I could find on the macscouter, BSA and this web site. There is a chance Ive missed a good article on one of these sites so feel free to post links to help me get up to speed.

 

I hope there is training offered at the district level so please feel free to fill me in on that. Unfortunately I had family outing conflict with the recent wood badge training. Maybe next year.

 

Later this week the current chair and I will be meeting and hopefully he can shed some light on district training.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

[John-in-KC]

You don't tell us what training you already have.

 

Youth Protection

Fast Start ... use the e-learning center at My Scouting

New Leader Essentials training

Pack Committee specific training

 

then...

Safe Swim Defense

BALOO

 

Attend Roundtable. Most of the administrative information from Council is shared there. If your Cub RT is at all good, it also runs a model Pack meeting.

 

The Scouting website, in the Cub Scouting section, has lots of good info to help you spin up.

 

Visit with your Unit Commissioner. If you don't know who he is, ask your DE to have the District Commissioner give you a call.

 

KISMIF!

[Knot Head]

Thanks for the reply.

 

DONE -> Youth Protection

DONE -> Fast Start ... use the e-learning center at My Scouting

DONE -> New Leader Essentials training

nope -> Pack Committee specific training

 

then...

DONE - > Safe Swim Defense (also did Safety Afloat)

Nope acronym???-> BALOO

 

Thanks and post more if they occur to you. Good idea to hook up with the district guy for lunch or dinner. He probably has a plan and perhaps can hook me up with a mentor from another local troop.(This message has been edited by knot head)

 

Found these earlier... maybe they will be of benefit to others.

 

http://www.goddardkansas.org/troop776/Troop%20776%20Adult%20Positions.pdf'>http://www.goddardkansas.org/troop776/Troop%20776%20Adult%20Positions.pdf

 

http://www.troop477.com/html/Committee%20Bylaws.htm

 

http://t499.org/trooppositions.htm

 

http://www.goddardkansas.org/troop776/Troop%20776%20Adult%20Positions.pdf

 

http://laredolaw.net/troop90/Text%20Page/AdultLeaderDuties.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

(This message has been edited by knot head)

[Bob White]

Knot Head

Once the Instutional Head and Charter Organization Represenative have approved you as the Committee Chair there are enough official BSA resources to help you that you will not need to use unofficial sites on the internet.

 

When it comes to unit administration most of these sites are riddled with incorrect information formed from personal opinions and years of expeirence doing the same things wrong over and over again.

 

Since you mentioned that this was a Troop position, taking the Pack Committee Specific Training would not be the appropriate course for you, neither would BALOO.

 

You will need to take Troop Committee Challenge, which is available on-line throgh the BSA. I would also recommend you arrange with your local district or council to have a live presentation done with your entire committee so that everyone is on the same page.

 

Other resources you will find useful are:

The Troop Committee Guide (this is the handbook for Boy Scout Troop committees)

The Guide to Safe Scouting (you can print this off-line)

The Advancement Committee Poicies and Procedures manual

The Uniform Insignia Guide

Unit Money Earning Application, Local and National Tour Permits (available on line from the www.Scouting.org site)

 

And if you don't already have one, a recordkeeping software is a very good thing to have, Troopmaster is probably the most commonly used one.

 

But I would certainly start with taking Troop Committee Challenge training.

 

 

(This message has been edited by Bob White)

[FScouter]

BALOO and pack committee specific trainings are for Cub Scout pack leaders.

 

Troop Committee Challenge is the specific training for the troop committee chair. It will be VERY helpful in you position if ALL committee members also have the training. The committee works best if they're all on the same page with the same training.

 

You also need two copies of the Troop Committee Guide book; one for you and the other for the other committee members to share. Chapter 4 covers committee organization, responsibilities, and positions.

[John-in-KC]

I apologize... somehow I caught Cubbing, not Boy Scouting.

 

Indeed, NLE and Troop Committee Challenge.

 

You may WANT to take Scoutmaster specific, even if to simply understand what your partner in crime goes through.

 

Outdoor Leader Skills can be a good class, especially if you are new to the outdoors.

 

Roundtable still applies. Get to know your District Advancement Chair!

 

To me, one important person on the Committee is the person who keeps your unit database, whatever form it takes. This person has a lot of closely held info on your fellow leaders, as well as the kids. He/she will probably be the one who does the bulk of the recharter work and the Internet advancement work.

 

Enough said for now

[Knot Head]

Thanks everyone for the great replies.

[Beavah]

Yah, there's a few BSA trainings to take, as others have said, eh? That'll give you an overview.

 

Next, make an appointment to sit down with the former CC. Pick his brain. He knows how da troop has run recently, and how they've created a successful large, active scouting unit. For your first six months, buy the man lunch once a month as a standing engagement just to talk and get advice.

 

Next, ask your DE to give yeh the contact information for 1-2 other very active and successful troops in your area. Call up their CCs. Set up a regular lunch with them, too... every 2-3 months. They won't help you for da first months as you're just trying to keep things running (see talk to da old CC above). What they will do is give you interesting ideas and suggestions that might help yeh improve things here and there over time.

 

Plan on attending your district's round table and district committee meetings, at least on an occasional basis. Make contacts. Learn stuff.

 

Become a lurker or participant in a couple of on-line scouting communities. And yah, sure, read through other stuff you can find online, eh? There are lots of great volunteers runnin' successful programs out there. That information is precious. Sometimes rough, but diamond in the rough. Just be careful about any of it that claims "one right way" rather than offering ideas and suggestions. Like BobWhite says, that sort of claim is almost always someone who doesn't know as much as he/she thinks, and is probably inaccurate.

 

Beavah

 

[red feather]

First off congratulations on your 'promotion'

 

One if the things that the current CC and I did (SM) did was make a matrix of what needs to be done in what month to get the things done so that between us we would not forget much of what needs to be done when.

 

This is not perfect and is in a constant update mode but we do not miss much in what needs to be planned when. If we do then 'of well, we'll catch it next time'.

 

Get all the training you can, get WB and remember that if those who complain on how things are going, just offer them the job of correcting what they percieve as 'wrong' and move on from there.

 

Hopefully the troop that you serve is scout led. Let them and the SM take care of the daily stuff and be there for the other support that is needed in any troop.

 

hope this helps. The matrix we put together has really helped us.

 

yis

Red feather