Your Dream committee

[cajuncody]

If you could create a committee from scratch, what positions would you consider the most important and why? This is to give me some food for thought on a possible woodbadge ticket item.

Kristi

[EagleInKY]

Kristi-

 

Are you talking about a pack or troop? I'm assuming pack. Some common positions for either would be:

 

Assistant Committee Chair (CC in training, back them up, etc.)

Treasurer

Fund Raising Chair (don't make the CM & the Treasurer do this)

Activities Chair

Training Chair (responsible for training all adult leaders)

 

In the pack, I'd also add in:

Pinewood Derby Chair

B&G Banquet Chair

Camping/outdoor events Chair

 

How's that for a start?

[cajuncody]

Yes it is for a pack. I am writing my ticket and one of my items is to have a real committee, not just one on paper. I don't want to get too overconfident but what percentage would you start out hoping to get trained right off the bat?

Kristi

A good ol' Eagle!

SR-725

[theysawyoucomin']

You just about have them all.

There is similar thread on the Woodbadge forum right now.

 

Three beliefs beyond the Scout oath and law are required.

 

1> Your son and my son deserve a Trained leader. Let us do EVERYTHING in our power to get ALL the leaders and all committee members trained. Have every parent take youth protection online. That Wolf Cub is only going to be 8 for one year, let's give him a year he'll remember forever. He'll turn around and give your grandson something following your example( good or bad)

 

2> If you say you are going to take charge of something and we don't hear from you asking for help, THEN YOU"D BETTER GET IT DONE. It's for the boys- all for the boys. If you don't keep your commitment somebody better be sick or bleeding because there's no other excuse for letting the boys down.

 

3> Our creator has given us all an equal amout of hours in our day. 8 for sleep, 8 for work and the rest to support our kids. We can not expect four people to run a rewarding program for 60 kids. Long before Hilary, the Africans said it takes a village. Every member of the village must give a portion of his or her time and talents to the organization.

 

The old cranky man's rant is over.

[EagleInKY]

A certain amount of training can be expected of everyone. We expect all "contact" leaders to get YPT, hands down, no excuses. We also expect anyone who goes on campouts to take it, whether they are registered or not. Anyone with access to the web can do it easily. Or, arrange for it to be done in a group setting at some point.

 

I think you should also expect the Fast Start and NLE for all. These are so simple, you can incorporate them into your committee meetings. Take the first 15 minutes of the first meeting to do Fast Start. Take 1/2 hour of the next meeting to do NLE. etc. (I may not have the times exactly right, but you get the idea).

[Cubmaster Jerry]

Can I assume that you mean to make a distinction between 'most important' and ones you 'need'. Of course we need all that EagleInKY mentioned and probably a few more. However, I have found that there are a few that, when outstanding people are in place, the unit excels.

 

Committee Chair - An obvious one. Someone who is a good organizer and communicator.

Secretary - Invaluable. Right now, I have the best.

Treasurer - Another obvious one. Sometimes the 'new math' is tricky for some people.

[cajuncody]

Right now my list includes: COR (we don't have one right now, he just quit) CC, Treasurer, Activities Chair, Fundraising Chair. I want 100% trained as an end result but I was refering to Committee Member Training right off the bat. YPT, NLE, and Fast Start right off the bat for everyone. The Committee Member training may be more difficult for every one to schedule in the up coming month or two but would hopefully be completed in the first year.

Kristi

[SemperParatus]

Don't forget advancement chair.

[FScouter]

Are there any ideas in the Cub Scout Leader Book?

[Lisabob]

I would add a membership and/or round up chair (Could be one job or two separate). This person should be in charge of keeping on top of registrations and keeping a current pack roster so you can communicate with the families easily. They should also attend your district/council round up training and help plan your pack's recruitment efforts.

 

You can also find a discussion of leadership positions in your Cub Leader Handbook (ch 7 I think) and a fairly helpful set of job descriptions at the Virtual Cub Scout Leader's Handbook website (not an official BSA site but a lifeline to cub leaders everywhere) at this link: http://www.geocities.com/~pack215/leader-roles.pdf

 

In terms of developing your ticket just be sure to give some thought to how you'll recruit people - it is one thing to have all these positions and quite another to fill them with qualified volunteers. That's a mistake I made after going through WB as a cub leader, probably because I was so "pumped up" that I figured *everybody* would want to volunteer, and that they'd all do a good job. Nope. Finding volunteers is tough but dealing with the problems caused by ill-suited volunteers is even tougher.

 

As for training, we did three things. First, some of us on the committee simply decided that training would become the norm. So we created a training chair position (me) and told people they needed to be trained - didn't ask, plead, etc., just told them when they signed up that it was part of the package. Since YPT can be done online for free, the committee made it pack policy that all registered leaders do YPT within the first three months. You can compare this to the Bobcat for the boys - they need to get that before they can do anything else (except Tigers of course).

 

A few of the "older" leaders who didn't want to bother quickly found themselves surrounded and outnumbered by people who supported training as a means of ensuring the pack program would be delivered correctly, by competent leadership. Amazing what this did for the outlook of those "older" leaders who either had to get with it or lose their influence in the group.

 

Second, I went out of my way as training chair to find a great many training opportunities, far in advance of the actual dates, and publicize them in writing, secure commitments to attend, and then take care of all the details. You can't rely on Council to do this because face it, most pack leaders don't interact much with Council. You need an advocate inside your unit and you need to make it as easy as possible for people to attend. Among other things I developed a "welcome" letter outlining what the specific trainings were, why they needed them, and when they would be offered within a 50 mile radius of our town (not just our district/council). It includes a check-off sheet for leaders to sign up for training. Once they returned it, I would take care of all the scheduling and minutiae. I sent this out in August/Sept. (right after round up for fall trainings) December/January (spring trainings), and March/April (summer trainings). If you want I can email you the template I used, just let me know.

 

When people did get trained, we made sure to recognize them. At the pack level we did all kinds of silly stuff (top banana awards, etc.) and at the district level we made sure they got the various cub leader knot awards that were available, once they'd met the requirements.

 

See Virtual Cub Scout Handbook's "Leadership Recognition Plan" at http://www.geocities.com/~pack215/leader-awards.html

 

Or ask your council/district staff about this.

 

Third, the pack either pays up front or reimburses people for "regular" training (YPT, NLE, CLST, BALOO, OWL, OLS, etc.) and up to half of woodbadge. Once someone had committed to attend though, we wouldn't reimburse them if they canceled last minute and we still had to pay the training provider. This cut down on people who SAID they'd go but actually didn't.

 

We started with a CM and one den leader trained for their positions -none of the committee members - and then the CM quit anyway, which is what prompted the committee to take a hard look at the situation. Lack of training was exacerbating (sometimes directly causing) a variety of problems in the pack. So we set a goal of reaching the minimum training targets for quality unit within one year. That first year was the hardest until we had a critical mass of trained leaders. We did meet the goal though.

 

After 2 1/2 years we were at 100% trained, both on the Den Leader/Cubmaster side and the committee member side. The difference in our pack programming was unbelievable. Those in leadership started having fun again because we were less stressed and better prepared, which in turn helped with recruiting new leaders. And new leaders in the pack today seem more open to going to training because that's just part of the pack "culture" now.

 

Good luck w/ your ticket!

 

Lisa'bob

A good old bobwhite too!