Committee and Parent postions?

[infoscouter]

Sorry for the bum link. I'm usually better at that stuff, but I didn't drill down all the way to the actual publication. I should know better.

 

I agree about asking Den Leaders. Hopefully, they've gotten to know the parents in their dens. They should have had a couple den adults meetings by know, and learned who follows through, who has absorbed enough to actually sign the boy's books, etc. Through conversations, etc. they should know people's professions, interests and maybe some skills.

 

Combine that info in a brainstorming session with the Parent and Family Talent Survey Sheets at a Pack Leaders meeting. Make of list of your "mission critical" open jobs and then throw out names of people who might be appropriate for that position.

 

Time is coming up for your annual Pack Planning Conference. This is an ideal time to schedule a longer meeting and work on some leadership issues.

 

If you have a Pack Trainer, this would give that individual the summer to do Fast Start with the newly recruited leaders.

 

As a training chair, I always wonder if we should do more training in the summer. I don't know how many leaders would attend, but it strikes me that they would have more time when the press of pack programming isn't as intense.

 

Oh, and rjscout, I'm a her. I know my screen name isn't helpful and you can't tell, and that's one question I don't think the profile helps with.

[sssdigger]

We are in the same boat now. We have a Committee Chair who wants to step down, a Tiger Leader who is trained, and myself. I asked one of the dads to take over my Webelos den, and he's enthusiastic about it. The other DLs barely show up and we've almost lost the Wolves and Bears because of it. I've scheduled a parent's meeting for next week and we're going to discuss the plan for next year. Basically, I am going to see who is good at what and approach them individually to ask them to volunteer. Our parents are great, but they have litle knowledge of what's necessary to make this fun and successful for the boys. So, as CM, I am focusing on PR for a while and we'll make it work over the summer.

[Karen_216]

It's great to be able to have someone in all those postions you mentioned but be realistic. Start with your Major MUst Have-- Must have CC- CM- families can sare den leader duties- secretary postion items can be split up. Maybe once you have a few more people in positions then you can work on the other smaller positions. The committee memebrs can divide up parts of the bue and gold and assign dens repsonsibilites. Send out feelers for outings. Then pick someone attending to take the payments and do the registrations, etc. Sometimes you need to work people into positions slowly. Sometimes I find it easier to do myself and have to force myself to let go and ask someone else to do it. Maybe they just dont' know what is to be done? A list may give them an idea about what is out there but then say we'd like each family to help out at a meeting. Pass out signup sheets for events. Soon you'll find that parents are taking part more-- they just wenre'nt asked personally or now what's involved.

Good Luck

[fgoodwin]

Recruiting parents to help out is one of the skills covered in NLE.

 

[rant mode on]

 

Despite claims that NLE is useless, I think there are good parts to it that get overlooked because folks complain so loudly and often that it doesn't teach them how to do their jobs (which, of course, it was never intended to do).

 

[/rant mode off]

[FScouter]

Training may seem useless, particularly if the training staff deletes important parts, like the recruiting role play segment.

[backpack]

I agree with everyone that training makes a big difference. I would like to point out that we recently had a parent that we wanted for a Wolf Den Leader, who dramatically dissapointed us on a family campout. I can't go into details, but we would have never known without witnesses.

 

I think you have to pre-position folks personally. You can ask a room full of people to step up and no-one will, but if you ask someone on a personal level that works. Always be positive, such as "I like how you handled that activity, and I've noticed over the past several months that you really seem to enjoy this time with your son. We really need a leader for next year. We have a den leader, but need an assistant, or the program might not meet regularly without a second leader. I know you're here just about every meeting. Would you be willing to give this a try?"

 

Being personal and relating things they've done seem to help the best. We list the open positions on our website and in our monthly newsletters, and never get a response. Asking is the only way we've succeeded.