Job Description ?

[buffalo2]

DSteele

Could you share with us the position requirements for the District Commissioner and District Chair positions? And perhaps your interpretation? Think that we're pretty well served in my small corner but curious all the same...

Thanks!

[dsteele]

Buffalo2 --

 

I'll be happy to share these with you, but can we wait until tomorrow? I'll need to dig out the national position descriptions, and I'll also offer my experience in what works well and what doesn't.

 

One disclaimer -- please pay careful attention to my post and realize when I'm presenting my opinion. I don't want to use the word interpret, because some people might think that my words are an interpretation of law . . . that isn't the case. As always, your local leadership takes precedence over what is typed on these boards. This includes mine and any other member of the forums.

 

But I will get you an answer.

 

Are there any particular areas you have questions about? Or anyone else reading this thread?

 

DS

[dsteele]

First I'll give the "book" answer I found regarding the requirements of a District Chairman. I'll give my opinions in a separate post after that, then I'll give the "book" answer on District Commissioner and then another post with opinion.

 

I'm not clear on what you mean by "requirements." If you're referring to a position description, as the title of the thread suggests, I'll refer to The Task of a District Chairman, taken from the "Highlights for District Chairman" publication on page 4. If you're referring to qualifications, I'll refer to the same document, different page.

 

"THE TASK OF THE DISTRICT CHAIRMAN

 

A district chairman leads the district and does the following:

 

1. Identify and recruit enough of the right people as operating committee chairmen.

 

2. Initiate plans and help committee chairmen recruit an adequate number of members to carry out the functions of the district.

 

3. Plan, (with the district executive) and preside at district committee meetings.

 

4. Work with the district commissioner and district executive to stimulate and to coordinate the work of the district, to ensure the success of the Scouting units.

 

5. In cooperation with the district executive, ensure the completion of district goals.

 

6. Represent the district on the council executive board, once elected.

 

7. Recognize individuals, committees, and chartered organizations for their Scouting accomplishments.

 

8. Support local and national Scouting policy, procedures, and practices.

 

9. Help to secure support for Scouting from top community leaders throughout the district.

 

10. Annually appoint a district nominating committeee to select nominees for district officers and district members at large.

 

That's only one resource and it's designed to be an intro to the job and used as a recruiting tool. I like the Highlights series.

 

DS

[dsteele]

Whoops! I forgot to put the end quote at the end of #10 in my last post.

 

I agree with the list of tasks from the highlight books. If you have a chairman that does most of those things, consider yourself lucky. Notice that it is gender un-specific. One of the finest district chairmen I had the honor of serving with was a woman. She did a great job and hit all 10 points above beautifully.

 

Here is my list of things that are, in my opinion, NOT the duty of a district chairman. Feel free to disagree, but you'll notice that nothing on my list below is specifically mentioned in my quote "book" post above.

 

A district chairman's task do NOT include (although they could be bonuses . . . as far as I'm concerned, they aren't part of the job.)

 

1. Owning or wearing a field uniform. Nice bonus if you can get it, but that isn't part of their job.

 

2. Attending district events and roundtables. Nice if they do it occasionally, even nicer if they're known by the unit people, but not an absolute. The district chairman needs no Scouting experience. They need influence in the general community. It's great if they have Scouting experience, but they don't really need it to recruit, inspire, or get financial resources pointed to the BSA. Their district executive brings the Scouting technical expertise to the table.

 

Those are the "not requireds" in my mind. One thing I've seen a lot of district chairmen resist or play down, are the need for the district to meet it's financial goals. I'll admit it's more fun and for most folks easier, to attend a camporee than to go give a family FOS presentation, or recruit a Vice Chairman of Finance, popcorn chair, etc. That's human nature. When a district chairman does visit the camporee, he/she is (or should be) treated as a dignitary and feel very good about the program. Most folks go for that. When doing the financial stuff, some people are afraid they're going to be rejected and that isn't fun. But it has to be done. Besides, as far as I'm concerned, when you secure a nice big financial gift that will go a long way to keep the "behind the scenes" stuff running, it feels pretty terrific! Even if it's raining or snowing or blowing.

 

DS

 

We'll move to the District Commissioner in a while. I'm going to see what else is going on around here for a bit.

 

Sorry it took me so long to answer, buffalo. I had to think about this one for a while.

 

DS

[dsteele]

I'm shaking my head a little bit here. This thread has been "read 73 times" and only buffalo2 and I have posted and most of the words have been mine?

 

Oh well, never have so few suffered for so many and ya-da-ya-da-ya-da

 

I'll continue the boring lecture with the tasks as outlined in "Highlights for the District Commissioner." This time I'll try to get the quotation marks in the right places.

 

"WHAT DOES A DISTRICT COMMISSIONER DO?"

 

A district commissioner leads the commissioner staff and does the following:

 

1. Identify and recruit enough of the right people as commissioners so that all Scouting units in the district receive regular, helpful service.

 

2. Train members of the commissioner staff.

 

3. Supervise and motivate unit commissioners to visit each unit regularly, identify unit needs, and make plans to meet unit needs.

 

4. Administer the annual commissioner service plan, which gives specific purposes for commissioner contact with units at designated times of the year.

 

5. Oversee the unit charter reneewal plan so that each unit registers on tiem and with optimum membership.

 

6. Guide roundtable commissioners to ensure that montly roundtables are well-attended, and provide practical and exciting unit program ideas.

 

7. Plan and preside at monthly meetings of the district commissioner staff.

 

9. Work with the district chairman and district executive to stimulate and coordinate the work of the district.

 

9. Help meet district goals.

 

10. Represent the district as a member of the council commissioner cabinet.

 

11. Support local and national Scouting policy, procedures and practices.

 

12. Attend district committee meetings to report on conditions of units and to secure specialized help from units."

 

That hits the highlights. My thoughts will follow below.

 

Dang! This message was edited because I forgot the end quote mark when I finished copying from the Highlights book!(This message has been edited by dsteele)

[dsteele]

Now, I've been asked for my interpretation and I'll give it to you unvarnished and with no apology. All I ask is that you read it to completion. I don't mean to offend anyone, but I do like to cut to the chase as it were.

 

Now I'm talking about my preferences as I interpret them within the BSA guidelines. Your local council may do things differently. Buffalo2 asked for my view and I can and will give it.

 

As I see the key three positions in the district, I see the division of duties in this manner . . .

 

The district chairman is responsible for "new business." New money, new people, new ideas, and implementation of the above.

 

The district commissioner is responsible for "keeping what we've got." Rechartering units, roundtables, unit problem-solving, etc.

 

The district executive is on the payroll to provide the tools needed for the two volunteers mentioned above to get the job done. Others are on the payroll to support the district executive.

 

As far as I'm concerned, the commissioner staff, through the district commissioner, has it's most important duty in #5 above, which is:

 

5. Oversee the unit recharter renewal plan so that each unit reregisterd on time and with optimum membership.

 

Everything else related to commissioner service (which I'm quite passionate about although I'm also unconventional) is the "how" we do things. How do you make sure a unit recharters on time? Regular unit visits, promoting roundtable attendance, promoting training, making sure they have the latest information, building confidence, monitoring unit health, and supporting council operations.

 

In any case, and this is for the engineers in the mix and the sociologist (I'm in the second category) I relate the district key three to a "rounded triangle." My term, not the BSA's. I mean that the key three: the district chairman, commissioner, and executive form three points of a circle inside a wheel. The "spokes" if you will. If one is missing, you have a flat tire. If all three are in place and in harmony, you have a much smoother ride. The rest of the wheel is the unit leaders (youth and adult) and the district support mechanism. In order for all things to go smoothly, you need those three points to build around.

 

If you don't have them, you'll need AAA.

 

 

DS

[Eamonn]

Like the Steele Man, we make use of the Highlights Books. There is a Training Course for members of the District Committee, I will get back with the bin number.

I think that there is / was a video.

As a new District Chair. I am going out of my way to bring more and more community people onto the District Committee, most have little or no real "Scouting History" or back ground.

This is the cause of some hard feelings, and I hear the odd moan and groan, that I'm filling the committee with my "Type Of People" Have to admit to not understanding this.

Ok, so there are less Scouters on the committee, but my feelings are that it is up to them to do the important job, of delivering the program and we are just there to support them. Yes there have been a few "Hats" knocked off, but in the long run we will have a much better district.

[dsteele]

Eamonn:

 

If I had to recommend you to my council president as a district chairman candidate for any district I have ever served (all 12 of them,) I would do so without reservation or equivocation. Just leave the umbrella at home.

 

I applaud what you're doing.

 

In spite of the bad rhymes -- wait until you see mine, my friend!

 

DS

[jbroganjr]

Eamonn

I would like to second my support for your approach. When it comes to finance and membership, I think outside scouting is a great way to go. New Ideas, new approaches, new networking. The secondary gain is the positive message of scouting has been pushed outwards to folks who do not have a scouting background, but still signed on to help.

The other gain, less reliance on the same group of scouters to get everything done.

I welcome our district looking outside for finance and membership, as it allows scouters to concentrate on providing program. It allows our chairman not only diversity of view, but added resources. And at the end of the day, if the work is spread around more folks, there is less work to be done by the individual.

DS - like your description of a rounded circle.

[Eamonn]

Have found the book that I was looking for. It is: District Committee Training Workshop."A syllabus to help councils provide basic training for members of the district committee" (ISBN 0-8395-4160-0 No.34160 ) My copy is a 1994 printing, I don't think it has been updated, but it might have been, in fact it needs to be in order to allow for changes.

Hey Mr Steele, howz about "The Task Of The District Executive" ?

A wise man once said that a Sub Committee will get nothing done - Ok he wasn't that wise - It was me !!! However I was wrong. It happens.

This is kind of new to me and the district, we used to rush to fill in the names on the District Roster, and not make use of the nominating committee - We ended up with a committee of one !! Yes we had a membership committee that had a membership chairman, and no one else. Which is not only really dumb, but it just doesn't work.

We now have put together a top rate nominating committee, which has an ex-council president and people from the community. We start meeting in September, in order to get the roster ready for December, and now meet two other times a year. These guys are great. We started using the same form as the one used to "Select Quality Leaders" and once we have someone that we want to "Go After" We chose the best people to make an appiontment and visit them. This works !!!

Some of the people are on a committee that only requires them to attend a couple of meetings year. We/ I do sent them an invite to every meeting and minutes from all the meetings. (This is very important and worth the 37 cents.)Now they meet as a sub-committee and we keep the District meeting down to no longer then 90 minutes (Just like a pack meeting.)

Another good thing about all this is that we now get the attention of the powers that be.

It was ok, when I used to say something about Sign- Up Night. But it was just me and I say too much ?? But when the Superintendent of a school district sends them a note, we tend to get what we think is right. Boy I LOVE this system.

At present I have yet to make any real impact on the Charter Reps. I am sending them a post card reminding them about the meetings, but that isn't working. I think that I'm going to try and visit the Executive Officer of each unit, when the DE,makes the call and let them know that their rep is not doing such a great job and what a pity this is.This will also ensure that these calls are being made.

I still try and get to most of the Round Tables, but want to keep a low profile - It's not my Show.

I no longer attend the Commissioner meetings, they have their own "Boss' and don't need me in the way. I get all the big news at our key 3 meetings.

I will only attend any of these new Sub-committee meetings, if they ask me.

My big problem is the "Them And Us" I know that it is wrong, but while I'm in order about doing what needs to be done and see that it needs doing. At times it seems that "Them" The Council and "Us" The District, while working towards the same ends are pulling in different directions. I think that "They" Ought to be doing more to support us.The fact is that we are them, and this is my problem. A problem which I have and there is no one to go to with. Even our DE, seems to be following me, in this them and us thing. "They want us to do ..," Is common.

We have a new council VP of Operations, maybe we can work on this one. I think that as a council we need to do a better job of sharing goals, at times it seems that the stuff that comes "Down" to us is in the form of a directive, and we have little or no input. When this happens, we can opt to do it or not do it, and very often, (in fact we have never opted not to do it, when we do it,) it is done with a lot of ill will. And yes the idea of going to be a unit leader, seems like the best idea ever!!

But this too does pass.

[dsteele]

Eamonn:

 

I'd say it's past your bed-time, but I know better. As well, you know it's nowhere near my bed-time, even on a Friday when I have to drive to a Wood Badge staff development tomorrow.

 

However, growl I had to take a few notes to be able to address your points and will now proceed to do so. I have no umbrella in my possession, I'll have you know, but I'll do my best to proceed anyway. (aside: isn't it fun to play this late at night?) I'll make sure I'm in my coffin before daybreak.

 

On the topic of task of the DE . . . it varies by DE and by district. Judging by the direction it sounds as if your district is heading, your DE should be very busy pulling together the resources and tools your volunteers need to accomplish their jobs. A DE in this kind of district doesn't worry about making FOS calls, he/she worries about getting the lists to the people who need them and picking up the cards as soon as they are worked. It's a great position to be in. They become the advisors and facilitators they're supposed to be.

 

In districts that focus purely on events and programs, the DE, to keep their job, has to raise money, identify and recruit volunteers when they have time, form new units all by themselves, answer day-to-day questions, and generally "do" for volunteers what should be done "by" volunteers for the youth we all serve.

 

I can tell you, having served in both capacities that I'd rather be the servant working by buns off to give people the tools and information they need to do their jobs than the person working his/her buns off trying to do everyone's job to save their own employment. Neither one is easier than the other. One feels good (the servant) and one is a path to failure (the general runner-arounder.)

 

I can also tell you, and I'm writing to everyone now, that it's very difficult to make the switch. Sometimes a District Chairman has to whap the DE upside the head and say, "Hey, WE'RE doing the job! Help us to do it and get out of the way."

 

I heard that speech directed at me for the first time from an 8th level Manager at General Motors and again (professionals are like cats -- you can train us, but be prepared to do it again, and again, and again . . .) by a senior manager of the Dow Chemical Company. Fortunately, I was smart enough to listen to them and change my style.

 

I congratulate Eamonn on the progress with the nominating committee. The process does work and it can work very well. My advice to those who are new to it: 1) Do not allow the committee to be made up only of people with Scouting experience. Involve the community leadership if you want to draw people from "outside." 2) Do not let it be comprised of only men. There are plenty of very knowledgeable women with a love of Scouting who can add dimensions and names men would not necessarily think of, 3) demand that your DE provide input of names and desired attributes for the position.

 

Back to Eamonn -- I think the desire to go with your DE on CEO visits is admirable, but not necessarily advisable. The CEO visit is designed to be professional (meaning paid) to professional (meaning institutional head -- in large part churches,) visits. Let those guys "talk turkey." You should ask during key threes how they are going and feel free to pressure the DE to do them. It is a requirement of Quality District and then falls under your purview. But it's a DE thing.

 

I would suggest that if you want to impact the participation (and you're right on, my friend) of Chartered Orgaization Representatives, that you visit the COR personally and explain their role. That's not the DE's job. However, they are part of the District Committee and that falls under the District Chairman.

 

Now we come to the prickly part of your post, Eamonn. The district vs. council part. I'll try to explain it as best as I can, but the answer is likely to upset some people.

 

I think in your post, you're referring to tasks rather than policies. The council says you have to do/accomplish something and the district doesn't want to. Well, in that case, the district needs to remember its place.

 

Whoa! I'm leaving in the above few lines and want you all to know that I just re-read Eamonn's post. I'm glad I did. I left in "the district needs to remember it's place" because, upon re-reading, it's apparent that Eamonn did and does.

 

I'll change my approach. By that I mean the approach I was taking in this thread, but not the approach I have taken in several other threads.

 

If your district feels like you're being dictacted to from "above," for God's sake, talk to someone at the council level. I said talk to, not shout at or make demands.

 

In the district chairman's case, he/she should go to the Vice President of Operations or Director of Field Service, Field Director, Assistant Scout Executive, or Council President. Explain your concerns and ask why. Listen carefully, even if you don't get an answer you like. Be sure to explain your side of the story in as unvarnished fashion as possible and give as many facts as you can. I can assure you they will hear the other side of the story and any varnish will tarnish (hey, I made a rhyme! Watch out, Eamonn, I'm warming up!)

 

In all cases, pressure should stay volunteer to volunteer and professional to professional, but sometimes you have to go to the professional staff advisor and say, "Why is this being done? If I understand, I can help. But if not, why should I?"

 

Now, I do have to say that if your DE is joining others in complaining about "council" telling us what to do, you'll probably lose the DE soon. It's the same as in any company . . . when a salesman (actually insert whatever title you want here,) starts griping about the people who sign their paycheck to their clients, he/she is going to stop selling the product soon. Whether by choice on their part or the choice of their employer is immaterial. You're in for a change.

 

If your DE starts complaining to you about "council." Ask them to stop. Cover your ears if necessary. I've been supervising professional scouters for 10 years now. I don't mind them occasainally busting my chops if they don't want to do something, but I become a mad bull if I hear they're out in the field bad-mouthing the council that prints and signs their paychecks.

 

Did I answer the question? Feel free (anyone) to throw out more.

 

In the interim, I think it's gotten to be my bed-time.

 

Goodnight all.

 

DS