Adult leader transition

[jamist649]

When I was given the helm of the Pack back in 2009, it was basically dropped in my lap. A once large and active Pack was down to 10 Scouts, an inactive bank account with zero dollars in it, and 2 registered leaders. Due to the effort of alot of good people, we now are one of the largest in the district and have (arguably) the best and most active program around.

 

My son Webelos I and will be crossing over in February 2012. In an effort to keep the Pack strong, I decided to do sort of a "phase-in" approach to replacing myself. A few days ago at our Pack meeting I dropped a bombshell and named by sucessor and my assistant CM's sucsessor. The parents were shocked, but supported my picks. I had discussed the appointment with the two guys that I picked previously and they had agreed to it. We even had 2 parents to come forward DURING THE MEETING and volunteer to take over the DL positions vacated by this action. I almost fainted. This NEVER has happened before.

 

Anyway, I want to remain in my spot until February...I just want my duties to be gradually diminished. I have a rough timeline in place, but I was wondering if anyone had done anything like this before and how it worked. I don't want to have a situation where the oncoming CM or ACM is unclear on when/what/where things will take place. Any help on previous experiences would be appreciated.

 

On a side note, I'm SOO looking forward to the Troop with my son. Cubs have really worn me slam out. I love it...but it's so tiring!

[UCEagle72]

Some hundred or so years ago when I was CM I had a "primary" CA who we would "tag team" the Pack meeting. (While one was leading a segment, the other was prepping for the next segment.)

 

When my son went to scouts, I stayed behind for one year, and during that time, we added "yet another" CA (I already had 3) - and we started working him into the "rotation" at Pack meetings. By October, I was not doing every 3rd presentation, but, every 6th! (Opening, then maybe closing) -- so by the time I left ... I really was just sitting back and letting them run the show!

 

I told my son, the best gift I could give him was a year in Scouting without me -- and he found out what I meant when I showed up from work to his Troop meeting wearing the SM badge ... ;-) (I had been an SM in another State when he was just an infant.)

(This message has been edited by UCEagle72)

[saschuster]

jamist, your post is very encouraging to me, thank you for writing it! I was dragging into being CC almost two years ago, have worked my tail off building our pack and convincing parents how proud their boys would be to have them as their leaders and getting them into place. My son will start Webelos in the fall so I am already looking at who we have to replace not only me, but our CM and our advancement chair/unit trainer. Right now, we have no one who would be willing to step into any of those positions so I am hopeful that in the fall we recruit lots of excited and enthusastic scouts and can find parents who share the passion I have for our pack.

 

You are definitely right about how tiring it can be. We have at least two events a month along with weekly den meetings and are one of the most active packs in the district but it is a ton of work!! I am thankful I don't have a full time job, I could never do what I do and the pack would probably still be ok, just not as fun as it is now!

 

Good luck with the troop!!

[structuralrik]

Glad to hear about the parents stepping up.

 

The pack in which I am a den leader is doing the same thing. We have just announced a new ACM who will take over as CM next year when the current CM moves on with his son. We've also had parents step up to take over several commitee roles. (secretary, treasurer, CC). When my son moves on in several years I plan to stay on with the commitee for another year to pass along "institutional memory". I have learned alot from the den leaders who have been with the pack for a few years and want to give that back.

 

I read about the issues with leader shortage and feel like I was lucky to get my son into this pack. With 74 registered boys we have 30 registered adults (including COR, commitee, etc.).

[Scoutfish]

My predecessor, was CM for 6 1/2 years. She was getting burned out and ready to let go of the reigns.

 

Well, our pack is a school calendar pack. WE have a minimum of 1 summer fun day during June, July, and August, but after that, it's up to den leaders and the dens if they want to do anything else.

 

Hey, kids aren't the only ones who need some summer vacation.

 

So anyways, The old CM asked me to takeover about 2 weks before June. I was not officially taking over until we started back in last wek of Aug/ first week of Sept, but I started transitioning during the summer:

 

Meeting up with DE, going to scout office and handling paperwork, getting approval from CO, tidying up any loose ends with training. I also headed up the summer funs days and really started keeping in touch with all DL's too.

 

Since I was originally going to become a Weebelos DL, I also had to find a replacement for that too.

 

Anyways, by the time we started back up for the year this year..I was holding the reigns and everything went smoothly!

[Rockford8070]

jamist649, since you enjoyed Cubs so much have you thought about staying with the pack as maybe a committee member? Perhaps in a more or less advisory manner? I know we had a grandpa that showed up once in a while to throw new, well really they were old, ideas at us. It was great having that kind of experience around.