Attracting & Retaining District Level Volunteers

[jsii]

Howdy! I'm a new Unit Commissioner in a district with 66 units and 4 UC's. Boy, a 16.5:1 ratio! Recently at Commissioner Basic Training I was the only attendee out of three districts who provided trainers. Obviously the Commissioner Staff in none of these district's is growing or interested in training for their existing staff.

 

Does anyone have any ideas for attracting and retaining district level volunteers such as Commissioners? What strategies have/not worked in your district's and what caliber of people did you attract?

 

IHS

Joe

[commandopro]

The most important part of recruiting Unit Commissioners is to have a long and deep prospect list. This is a simple statement, but can be challeging for many District Commissioners. It need not be.

 

1) Set up a time with your District Executive to review the rosters for the past several years for every Pack, Troop and Crew in your District. Take note of the Committee Chairs, Den Leaders and Cubmasters that appear for several years in a row, then suddenly disappear. Most often these are Scouters who served while their boy was in the program and then left. If they held one of those positions for a few years, they are a great prospect.

 

2) Work with your District Executive to obtain the NESA list for your area. Let them know that this report is available on ScoutNet, and they may call ISD if they do not know how to run it. Eagle Scouts make great prospects.

 

3) If you have a college campus in your area, reach out to students. Past Scouts and camp staffers can make great propects.

 

Finally, and most importantly: Meet with one of these prospects AT LEAST once a week. Have coffee in the morning, meet for lunch or catch an afternoon drink. In this case DON'T show up in uniform. Street clothes will be less intimidating for them. The Uniform will come in time. Be sure to ask for their involvement, and clearly communicate what you want them to do. Be flexible. If a person only wants to work with one or two units at first, fine. That's one more unit with a commissioner. And lastly, never get discouraged. The best sales people get more 'no's" than anyone else. Be thankful for the contact, and start building a realtionship even if it isn't going to work for them right now. That person my turn into a District Committee Member, a fundraiser or a Camporee Chair.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Interestingly, our District has a similar problem. I asked the last DC to have a meeting and ask the same question of the few U.C.s we have. We had two meetings with Round-the-table Brain Storming to come up with a list of people and or organizations that could be tapped for volunteers. We came up with a list of about thirty groups that might have prospects. Then the DC quit because he was also a SM with several other Scouting hats and his daytime job changed.

 

The DE then recruited a man with no experience but allot of drive. The new DC started the recharter process. He began calling and running to meetings and all but two units were recharted. Since we have a large geographical area and allot of units, it was a great accomplishment. He proved himself to be a hard worker. He turned next to recruiting Unit leaders from Roundtable or Camporees but without much success. (*This action is not recommended for obvious reasons.)

 

The first DC is compared to a man in charge of a ditch digging company and several other companies but cannot dig a ditch because he has too many other things to do, so the ditch doesnt get dug.

 

The second DC is also in charge of the same ditch company because he can dig a pretty good ditch but is not a very good people person. What he doesnt have is the ability to hire and inspire good ditch diggers to dig the ditches.

 

So to be successful at being a DC, find someone that is a people person. If the DC is not a people person, then find two good people person types and make them your ADCs. The job is to get others to do the work not do it yourself.

 

Scouting has work to be done so it can only be fun when you are not the only one.

 

FB

[Lisabob]

I think FB has hit on one big problem - mission creep. We recruit people to do one thing and before you know it, we are expecting them to do much, much more. Some people don't mind but a lot of people resist, often to the point of dropping out entirely. Myself, I've become very wary of my DE on this front. Several times he and I have talked about me "helping" with a certain area of the program. I'm happy to do that, but in most cases I've specifically indicated that I would not be a good person to be the chair because (due to my work schedule and family commitments)I can't get to most of the district meetings that this entails. Guess what. Within a month or so, he's assuming I'll be the chair and telling other people the same. Argh. In one case I pulled out of the venture all together because this happened. I felt as though I'd been set up for (public) failure by my DE, though from his perspective I'm sure that wasn't the intent. He is otherwise a great guy and very helpful. But boy, it irks me when the above happens and it makes it less likely that I'll want to volunteer for district jobs in the future, too.

 

I don't know how widespread this is? But I'm willing to bet it is pretty common.

 

 

[baden]

Recently our D.E. called and asked if I would participate in a District Manpower Conference. I sort of laughed to myself and said "I forgot, you just got back from Texas" Every newbie D.E. I have known has come back from PDL Tng. and immed. scheduled a Manpower Conf. I think I've been to about 10 of these cluster-flops. The 1st thing that happens is a review of the old charters, then a discussion of the NESA list, followed by a trip down memory lane about old District volunteers we might be able to blackmail into service. Prospect lists are drawn up, assignments are made to make the contacts, followed by a period of inactivity after which the whole thing is forgotten until the next D.E gets back from Texas.

 

I don't know what the solution is. I found that Unit Commissioners and other District volunteers are not like turkeys. You do not find them in flocks. They are more like Eagles and are usually found one at a time.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Lisabobs learning about the NO word is not lost on about every person that has this way come before. Most of us are more of afraid of not being asked again than accepting and failing due to stealing time away from God, family or self. Saying NO means, leave me alone until I have time and then you will get quality. But some that need to fill in a blank and are not concerned with ones abilities or lifes little priorities; they will get what they asked for.

 

I agree with baden about UCs being found like eagles soaring high alone among the mountain tops rather than buzzards huddled around the carcass. One point about sales, persistence will get a 10% return on effort given but ability will get 50%. An individual that has people skills will literally draw them in from their heights. I usually settle for ability. FB

[jsii]

Does anyone have experience with recruiting outgoing Scoutmasters or Cubmasters as Unit Commissioners? How'd they do? I think their recent experience with the program would make them better candidates than non-scouters or 'retired' scouters.

 

Joe

IHS

[Fuzzy Bear]

Recruit one person at a time.

Recruit a person that has people skills.

Recruit a person that you can be friends.

Help them get trained.

Go with them a couple of times to get them started.

Make sure that they know what you expect.

Communicate with them.

Have monthly meetings.

Have updates on possible problem areas.

Help to correct a unit problem when it is identified.

Be appreciative of their service.

FB

[FScouter]

Selecting and recruiting is not easy. Youve probably tried some approaches that were not exactly successful. You really dont want just any old body for the job. Any-old-body is almost always doomed to fail right from the start, causing damage along the way, and then you must start over. You want someone that will be effective from the beginning.

 

To get the right person you must know what you want, identify candidates (more than one) that have the right characteristics to be successful, and then SELECT the best candidate. Then you must give them the resources and training they need to be successful.

 

A suggestion: get a copy of the BSA booklet Selecting District People #34512E. Also, Commissioner Administration of Unit Service # 34128D has a chapter on recruiting commissioners. Both are available at the Scout Shop or through National Supply Division, 800 number in the front of the catalog.