Trouble in Unit Commissioning.

[Bob White]

First let me state right off the bat that these are my own opinions and observations. Most have been shared with people at the national office including the director of the Boy Scout Division (who by the way has little to do with Commissioning). That is a big part of the problem there is no one person who is really responsible for commisioner service. Commisioning is the red headed strep chid of scouting. peices aree handled by different divisions with no one really at the helm. It has been this way for some time and has gotten even worse recently with reoganizations and layoffs.

 

A bit of history. Area Commissioners were the forerunners of professional scouters. they were community volunteers who represented the Rules and regs of the BSA in local communities. They helped encourage charter organizatioons to organize troops and were basically the official scouting presence in a comminity. If you look at the commissioners badge of office you will see the wreath of service. Accept for the volunteers of commissioner service only proffessional wear that insignia. The reason is that commissioners, like professionals carry a responsibility to represent the policies of the BSA.

 

In that lies another problem. Commissioners responsibilities have evolved to the point where a District Commissioner's job is the same as a District Executives job but without pay.

 

Here is the Commissioning structure (and by the way these are all volunteers). There is 1 Council Commissioner who sits on the Council KEY 3 (the Council President (volunteer) and the Scout Executive (Professional) are the other two members. The Council Commissioner might have Asst. Council Commissioners to oversee specific projects such as an Asst. Council Commissioner for Roundtables, or Boy Scout, cub Scouts Venturing, etc. They coordinate the actions of the District Commissioners. There is 1 District Commissioner in each District. They in-turn might have Asst. District Commissioners (ADCs) to help oversee different areas of commissioning in the district. Then you have Roundtable Commissioners, (1 for each program) who each have Roundtable Staff Commissioners. Then you have Unit Commissioners. National wants each District to have 1 UC for every 3 uinits. I have yet to meet any District Commisions who actually have that ratio in active commissioners.

 

In a district the size where I live we should have 34 Unit Commissioners on top of the 2 Roundtable Commissioners, plus the District Commissioner. Thats 37 commissioners NOT COUNTING the ADCs and Rountable staff. That's alot of folks for one branch of district service. So where do they come from?

 

That is the next problem You see when Commissioner Sevice was formed they were neighborhood commissioners. Districts might have only had a couple dozen units. Today, with council and district consolidations, districts are huge and have become bohemoths to administrate. So units aren't right around the corner, Roundtable attendance in many councils suffer not just from program content but from time efficiency. We have leaders who spend 2 hours on the road for a 90 minute meeting.

 

Back to the UC problem. Where do we get all these commissioners from. Some come from the unit they are commissioning BIG MISTAKE, you will never get an objective health report from a commissioner talking about their own unit. I can tell you that when a UC tells you his own unit is "doing just fine" start looking to rebuild because they are about to collapse.

 

Some come from unit former leaders. Hey, there is a reason why they are FORMER. Either they weren't good at it or they burned out. Neither is going to make a very good UC. We need UC's to be cheerful communicators. They should be the human resource library of scouting. They need to understand how to spot unhealthy methods within a unit's program early and direct leaders to information source to get them back on track. It's a bog important job. So what goes wrong?

 

Units in good shape don't need commissioners, and unit in trouble won't listen to a commissioner. Some leaders even see the UC as a District spy sent to tattle on them. Over the years the role of the Unit Commissioner has soured in the mind of many leaders.

 

MY opinions.... Leave the District Commissioner in place as a member of the District Key 3, his/her role is to make sure that everything is done insure a quality scouting program is available to all eligible youth by being the scouting resource person for the other committees. Take Roundtables out of commissioning and put them under the training committee where they belong. Do away with Unit Commissioners and create Scouting Mentors. These Mentors would each specialize in different areas of expertise such as recruitment, fundraising, unit committee operation, new leader orientation, new unit start-ups. When a new unit started they would get a mentor for the first 6 months. If a unit had recruitment problems they could ask for a Mentor to give them some guidance. The district KEY 3 could supervise the activities of the Mentors.

 

If a unit was in trouble we would contact the charter organization and offer our help to get then back in the scouting track. If help was refused we would work in the background to have a placement plan in effect for the scouts when the unit imploded.

 

We waste good people trying to change bad leaders that don't want to change. I will expend any amount of time needed to help a leader who is having trouble that's wants to change. But if you are just bad at what you do and your charter organization doesn't mind, we could do more for the scout by being ready to pick him up when he gets dropped than by butting heads with a leader that does not want to honor his/her committment to follow the program.

 

I have talked with several Dozen District Commissioners, Roundtable Commissioners and professional scouters across the country and they all agree that commissioninng is broken and needs an overhaul.

 

BW

[purcelce]

Very interesting and informing post!

 

Cary P

ADC

 

[shemgren]

I have served the units in my area much more as a Mentor then the more normal "by the book" Commissioner and often I am sent by the District Commissioner to help units in trouble.

 

I continue in Scouting to help units in trouble and my DC and DE know that I am a seasoned Scouter that can help well in such cases. Unit that are failing, deep interpersonal problems, etc. are where I am specialize in. As an ADC, I have the freedoom to move around the distrct to help units.

 

I never had a great respect for the limitations of being a Unit Commissioner, since once the unit was helped, they felt they didn't need me much more and the "spy" feeling grew between me and the unit.

 

I discovered more by doing FOS presentations at different units in my area of the District and was able to see hot units and units in trouble around and then get them the help they needed, if they would accept it. This is unusally more easily done in a Pack than in a Troop.

 

Unit Commissioners work well in new units that need more generalize guidance, but many units only need a couple of meetings with a commissioner to help show them the way to solve their problem. Ocaassionaly, some units need more help, but the norm is the little contact.

 

The exception is those unit leaders who refuse any help and/or cannot be convinced that they need any help. In those cases, the commissioner has a hard time doing anything but annoying an already ruffled Scouter.

 

Bob, your idea is intriguing to me, but I feel such a change would difficult to impliment, since there are Commissioners who love the prestige that the title gives them. Some Scouters serve at the District level for the wrong reasons.

 

I have allways maintained and practiced that everything I do for Scouting is for the Scouts, whether training a new leader; helping a unit with a lack proper leadership; or showing Troop how the patrol method is the best way to run, I do it all for the Scouts.

(This message has been edited by shemgren)

[Bob White]

I agree with your methods shemgren, but it is impossible that every District can find one of you for every three units they serve. What happens more often then not is that one ore two scouters end up carrying all the unit commission real workload. I'd like to see us knock down a crumbling structure and rebuild.

BW

[shemgren]

Put that way, I aplaud your effort and will give it my support! I have helped 4 units in the last year.(This message has been edited by shemgren)

[Bob58]

Well done, BW. Some great background and some constructive criticism. How would the mentors interact w/ the emerging unit?

 

My Council is only 200 miles & 60, we're divided into a half dozen districts serving 30 to 110 units depending upon demograpics. No roundtable is more that 45 minutes from the units and most are well attended. Our district has 46 Traditional units and 6 crews. I took some criticism over the last two years for allowing three units to drop; council said, "No!"

chartering organizations said, "We're sorry, but we can't do this w/ limited reources and few boys." All three were institutional settings w/ underpaid staff (w/ no scouting background) and a transient population. Now we are carefully building units with an eye to the future. Sometimes I'm amazed at how good God can be! I count my blessings!

 

Our Council has just restructured our New Unit Organization Procedure to introduce a Unit Commissioner to the prospective unit asap. We are recruiting commissioners with an interest in the community or Chartering org and trusting that if we can get them trained & attending Commissioners Meetings we can at least convince the commissioners themselves that they aren't to become the spies tht shemgren mentioned. A little good will and the cheerful attitude goes a long way.

 

I must admit that I'm still working on several units that don't want to see a commissioner unless he can run interference w/ HQ; others appreciate the help at recharting. But out of 9 unit commissioners that serve our district's 50 units there are two older gentlemen that have units asking them to serve! These two guys attend regular meetings once in a while but they show up every time that they are invited to a special event. They sit in one committee meetings and occasionally camp w/ the troops. PopPop in particular has his finger on the pulse of the 5 units he works with. (Two pack/troop combos.) Both of these guys are retired and each brings a lot to every unit they serve.

[Eagledad]

Thank you BW. Very interesting and refreshing to here for some strang reasonl. I must chew on this for a while because there are some struggles in scouting that need attention.

 

I feel that eduacation is a starting place but the difficulty in this is the leadership has to lead first. And that is the problem I have run into starting with the Council on down.

 

Persistance has gotten me a long way in scouting, and I think this is one of those areas that needs a lot of it.

 

So let me present a situation that you have already read from me. Cub units today have a little more than the can handle, for a lot of reasons Webelos leaders struggle and don't provide a program the makes a boy want to continue to troop programs. We can banter the reasons, but I have watch this for a long time and I know that we can bring more Webelos to Troops if we could just identify those weak dens.

 

Other Districts that have an 85% or greater crossover have active membership committees that monitor the Bears and Webelos to watch for problems. I thought of doing this but as I said before, I beleive simplicity so the program can be handed over to the next adult. I want to use what should already be there.

 

My question is how do you see your solution to my dilema?

 

I will leave it at that for now and think around your post.

 

Thanks again.

 

I love this scouting stuff.

 

Barry

[Bob White]

Hi Bob 58,

I'm not saying I have all the answers on this, I just know that the situation needs major work. As I would envision it a new unit would be assigned a mentor for 6 months. They would work closely with the other functions of the District to walk the new unit or new SM or CM through the program. Not making the decisions but coaching him/her on how to use the methods and resources of the program to make the right decisions. They would be there not to say "here is what I would do" but to say "here is a resource that provides a method for you to do that successfully" and "what would be a way to do that so that it relected a scouting ideal". The Mentor would personally invite the leaders to attend training or arrange for training to come to the leaders. The would be available for meetigs to shadow the new leader and give praise or counseling as needed. They would be available through e-mail or phone as questions arise. After the first 6-months the contacts could be as needed or at events like Roundtables.

 

By having a Membership Mentor, units who were needing advice or knowledge of resources for that particular area could be sent to someone with those specific strengths. I know alot of scouters that are great at earning money and setting up budgets that have no idea how to run an advancement program. By having some mentors specialize in specific areas we could utilize the best aspect of each persons skills. I could see how a mentoring team of 12 could do more good than 36 Unit Commissioners.

 

Some people believe you need commissioners in order to evaluate unit health. I humbly disagree. There is a detailed monthly report available to District Commissioners that gives all the info you need to see if a unit is in trouble. It has adult and youth membership numbers, boys life registartion, training info, quality unit info, add Roundtable attendance and advancement info to the and you get a good picture of the unit. What it doesn't tell you is who the culprit or culprits are when there is a problem. That would require the appropriate Mentor to discover, IF the unit agreed to accept the help. I don't want to force our way into anyones door. The unit leaders and Charter Organizations need to know that the use of the Mentor program is a choice THEY make. if they want the support we are there, and if they don't want the support, that too is a choice.

 

My Parents taught me that no one every started smoking by accident. Everything we do is a choice. We choose to have healthy habits or we choose to have unhealthy habits. We choose to follow the program or we choose not to. Each has it's punishment or reward. Mentors would be available to those who want a good program for their kids, but it would be their choice to accept or reject. Either way we would be around to make sure the scouts are taken care of.

 

A recent business contact of mine shared how he was starting his Eagle project when his troop folded. He never got his Eagle. His family had no idea where to turn. That should never have happened. It did because his leaders did't care and his district was not prepared for the collapse. But I guarantee you they knew it was coming. Mentors would be there to redirect families to healthy units when a collapse occured.

 

Just my thoughts,

Bob White

 

PS. Eagle Dad, I have an entirely different view of the Webelos to Scout transition problem. If you would start a separate thread I would be glad to engage you on it.(This message has been edited by Bob White)

[Twocubdad]

Bob, I've not spent as much time thinking about this as you have, but my observations locally match what you are saying. We've got a good DC, several good ADC, but I don't know that I can name a single UC. Three years ago, they recruited one of our den leaders to be our UC. He quit after a year because he thought it was a waste of time. Apparently he's still on the books as our UC, though.

 

My view of the commissioners is that they tend to drift, looking for something meaningful to do. We have several good ADC who keep coming up with interesting projects, but they seem like B or C priorities, not really focused on core programs or problems.

 

I'm with you on the mentoring program. I think we do a lousy job supporting new units -- especially the small struggling unit where you've got two leaders and 8 boys clawing and scratching to get the unit to critical mass. The district needs to assign one or more volunteers to these units to help them out. And I don't mean someone to come to meetings and explain what all their square knots are for. Units like this need people to get involved for six months or a year at the program level. Get dirty, go camping, build birdhouses.

 

Here's a good example. I was our district's Roundup chairman this year. One of my goals was to balance recruitment over the district and direct the boys from the large units to the smaller ones. It didn't happen. The big units have enough leaders to send recruiters to several schools on school night. The small units could hardly muster the volunteers to participate at all. A prime job of the mentors should be to represent these new packs at school night and help direct families to these smaller units.

 

I know our district has a tremendous turnover in units every year and spends a great deal of effort recruiting new ones. Anything that could be done to get the new units over the hump and stabilized would be a huge advancement.

 

P.S. Eagledad -- I'm looking forward to your thoughts on Webelos retention(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

[acco40]

I've recently become a unit commissioner this fall for two packs and two troops. I was asked to become UC for the troop I'm in but declined for obvious reasons. Yes I'm new but trained.

 

One of the packs I am a commissioner for is brand new. I view my "job" as a mentor for the units. To units that want my help I gladly and cheerfully help all I can, remembering to for the most part respond to questions and quietly observe, not preach and tell them how to "do it." Some units don't want me to do much more than pick up and deliver their charter renewal paperwork. If so I backoff and cheerfully agree. You can only mentor is someone seeks advice.

 

Yes, we do "spy" on units in a way. The Council and District does ask us about the health of the unit and I tell them facts about the unit. I am very careful not to be judgemental and make assumptions about individuals or units.

 

One of the hardest tasks of Unit Commissioning is dealing with problem Scouters. So far, I've been lucky and have not had to deal with that issue very much. What I find difficult is that some of the units that I am a UC for, meet at the same time as my troop and pack (I'm a SM & WDL too). One of the benefits of being a UC is the exposure you get to other units and how they conduct business. New and fresh ideas are always welcome.

 

Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought one of the job task for UCs was mentoring so I say leave well enough alone for now.

[mk9750]

Bob,

 

I answer with only very limited understanding of the role of UC. I was asked to accept a UC position last spring, but decided to decline as I felt I would not be able to fulfill my current unit duties and what I understood UCing to be, and I wasn't willing to do both half assed. It is sad that good volunteers are not easy to come by for this position, because it could be valuable, but when I see the kind of people that have agreed in our area, I kind of wish more were like me and said no.

 

All that being said, I think your idea makes a lot of sense. We use a similiar method in our Troop. Troop Guide for new Scouts, then APLs are specifically in charge of mentoring boys until they are 1st Class. Mentoring to us means being available for help if asked, and watching out for signs of serious problems, like lack of attendance, lack of advancement, etc., and if anything is wrong, approaching and asking if help is needed. We also identify older Scouts who are strong in each of the Scout skills, and direct boys who need help to those Scouts. So if you're having a tough time getting past lashing, everyone knows to go to Pete, who could lash the Empire State Building if he needed to.

 

Secondly, I would add that whether a change was made or not, EVERY new unit Leader should be introduced to his Unit Commissioner, with a 20 sit down explaining the purpose and benefits, within weeks of taking over. At least in Boy Scout Troops, who tend to have more stable adult leadership, and by nature are a bit more staunch in defending their methods. If a SM has been with a Troop for 5 - 8 years, he believes he knows how to handle everything, and just won't take any help from the outside. A new SM, introduced early on to the benefits of a close relationship to his UC might use to service more, and before disaster was emminent.

 

Mark

 

 

[Bob White]

As you know acco40 being a UC for a unit in trouble takes a lot of time. I'm amazed that as a SM you would have time to help a troubled unit. One of the problems in commissioning today is that most commissioners only want their unit or healthy units and neither situation is helpful to the units that really need them. I agree that a large part of commissioning should be mentoring, but because of the current structure and attitude of many unit leaders that is not happening.

 

BW

[acco40]

The first thing that I practice as a Unit Commissioner is that you should not step in and do the roles of the Scouters for the unit. One of the packs I'm serving is losing their CC and CM in less than two weeks (Webelos II parents whose sons are crossing over). They have no replacements. I've been asked "what do we do!?" and have given them advice - written job descriptions for each role, a willingness (for the past threee months) of the current CCand CM to mentor anyone who may be interested, tips on recruiting volunteers, and on and on. You can lead a horse to water ...

 

The parents have to realize that it is their program, (well really the CO but ignore that) not mine, not the districts, etc. Are they in trouble? No not really. I have confidence that leaders will step up. But BW, yes it is very time consuming. I have been asked to take on more units and have politely declined.

[Twocubdad]

That, Acco, is what I think one of the failings of the Commissioner Service. What's wrong with a Commissioner becoming activly involved with a unit? A struggling unit can get advice out the wazoo. What they need are butts in chairs.

 

So let's say you have a small pack that's been carried along by the Cub Master who is now being transferred out of town. Because it's a small unit and small CO, they are having a hard time coming up with another CM. What's wrong with the Commissioner stepping in and running a few pack meetings and helping to recruit new volunteers?

 

What's the worse thing that can happen? Six months later we can say we honestly gave it our best shot, but there just isn't the support for a unit at that CO. Then, at least, the Commissioner/Cub Master has a relationship with the boys and their families and can help direct them to other units. Or perhaps the Commissioner decides that Cub Master is his true calling and decides to stay with the unit. We've lost a Commissioner, but gained a pack. Not a bad trade.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that districts need to get into the business of providing leaders to failing units. This is a very limited situation where a unit commissioner steps in to work with one of his units with which he has a pre-existing relationship.

[Bob White]

Hi twocubdad,

There are two reasons why we avoid putting ourselves into a leadership role in the unit. First is that it is not our unit and as such we have no right or authority to make decisions. It is the charter organizations responsibility to select an approve the unit leaders not the district's to insert people into them.

 

The other reason is best exemplified in the old adage "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime."

 

If as a commisioner(Mentor)you determine the unit does not have enough leadership then the appropriate thing to do is teach them how to recuit, because that is the real problem.

 

Bob White

(This message has been edited by Bob White)