Does the DE have to do it all?

[Eamonn]

Bearfootscout

in the other thread asks a lot of good questions.

I at times think that the pros who work for us get a bad rap because we don't understand what they are supposed to be doing.

Here is how I see it.

Maybe it's not in total agreement with what you will find in BSA publications an at the end of the day, they are what we need to go by .

Try thinking of a District like a Boy Scout Troop.

In a Troop we have. Charter Organization Rep.

Think of you DE as the COR.

Think of the Troop Committee Chair as the District Chair and the District Commissioner as the Scoutmaster. (The commissioner bit doesn't really work in this but we're not going to let that get in the way!!)

The DE just like the COR is the link between the Council and the District.

The District Chairman is the person who goes about finding the right people to do what needs done.

Most often, he will select some one who can put a team together to get work together to complete the tasks at hand.

When I was District Chair. I selected a program chair. She with a little help from the other members of the Key 3 went about manning the program areas:

District Training Chair.

District Advancement Chair

District Activities and Camping Chair(s)

I found people to fill the Membership and Finance Chairperson spots.

Each of these Chairs was charged with selecting a team who would get the job done.

My big job as District Chairman was making sure these people received the training they need to get the job done.

Of course I don't have a big red "S" on my undershirt and I'm not by any means Superman or Super-Scout!!

When these people needed something I wasn't able to give them I moved them to the people who ought to have had the know how.

The Council Chairs.

It isn't realistic to think that anyone can be an expert in every field.

Not a volunteer or a professional.

The best DE our District ever had was a female who was in her 40's when she started working for the BSA. Her only real exposure to Scouting that he son had been through the programs and is an Eagle Scout.

The District Commissioner is a little like the SM, in that he selects people to take care of different units, depending on where their interest or expertise lies.

So Bearfootscout, in answer to your questions

"Are there trainers that I can call to help when my district training staff is under staffed. "

This comes under the Council Vice-President for Program, who will have selected someone to be Council Training Chairman. He or She may not come dashing in on a big white horse, but he ought to be able to help with fixing the real problem, which is why the District is under staffed.

" Is there an activities committee person I can call.

Is there a Camporee expert I can get advice on how to make our district Camporees be great."

This would fall under the Council Activities chair and Committee.

Just as very few COR's are very active in the program area, the same goes for a DE.

While there are some very knowledgeable DE's out there I think you will find that in most Councils that there is a few volunteers who are experts in certain areas.

Most Councils will have a Professional sit in as an Advisor at most program group in fact all meetings.

Eamonn.

 

 

 

[baden]

Eamonn

 

I am not anti council, district or professional. I have known many fine DE's. I served four years as District Tng. Chair and another four years as District Commissioner. Having said that, I have become somewhat disillusioned with BSA operations as it pertains to Units and Districts. A District is an artificial entity that is the operating arm of the Council. Districts exist in theory to serve Units. The primary duties of the D.E. are the 3Ms. Membership, manpower, and money. Service to the Units is way down on the priority list for the typical harried D.E. I don't blame the Professionals. They are rated on their performance in meeting the CA's (critical achievements). These are typically set by the Scout Exec. with little or no input from the DE, the District Chairman, and the District Commissioner. Meeting their goals determines advancement and continued employment. Outside of the 3M's the biggest responsibility for a DE, in my opinion, is to make sure that Training of Unit Leaders is happening where and when it is needed. The DE's role in this should be supervisory, not hands on. They usually don't have the experience and really don't have the time to run Training. They have little or no place in Program. Again, usually little experience and no time. Some of the biggest busts I have seen as Professional are excellent former volunteers who see themselves as "Program Director" contrary to what they are told when they are hired.

 

Many Units run very well with limited contact with Districts, Council, and Professionals. To be fair, these Units were probably started with impetus from a Pro. There were Troops in the U.S. before there were Councils and Districts. I sometimes wonder if we wouldn't have better Scouting if we followed the model of the U.K. with limited Professionals and County Commissioners. Of course we wouldn't have a massive corporate HQ in TX and highly compensated National Staff. We would be smaller. Perhaps leaner and meaner.

[Eamonn]

baden

As you know I come from that green and pleasant land across the pond.

While I really like Scouting UK,it is a lot different than what we have here with the BSA.

We could spent many happy hours talking about the things that work and don't work in both.

But for now we are stuck with what we have.

Some years back, I did ask in a thread if DE's should or should not share their Critical Achievements with the other members of the Key 3?

At that time we had a few pros who were active in the forum.

Their feelings were it was their choice.

During my 3 years as District Chairman, the financial goals for the District were reached after negotiations between the SE and myself. At times these did get a little heated.

I wanted to see less money coming from the family campaign and more from the Community Campaign, he wanted to just see more money.

We can go on and on about membership. But at the end of the day we know that the units that provide a quality program will be the units that attract more members.

I have seen the best planned School Sign up nights fall flat while other with little or no planning do well. One only has to look at last year with the Race theme to see something that just didn't work!

I'm hearing more and more Councils are moving toward mandatory training for the top unit leader. I have to admit to finding the word mandatory a little upsetting.

Being as the Man-power in at the unit level is supposed to be selected and approved by the CO. I fail to see how a DE could be held responsible for that.

I do agree that a well liked DE who seems to be putting his or her heart and soul into the District is more lightly to have volunteers work with him and take on District responsibilities than some lazy toad that no one ever sees.But the real recruitment does lie with the District Chairman.

It does seem at times that Districts are left out there to fend for themselves and there is a break down of communication between the Council Chairs and the District guys.

My answer to that is "Have you asked?" The main reason people don't do things is because we don't ask. If you don't get what you need at that level move on up. The Chairs do answer to Vice-presidents who answer to the Council President. Council Presidents don't like receiving phone calls at lunch time on Sunday -Been there, did that.

This organization works best when volunteers talk to volunteers.

I'm more than happy to have the pro's take care of the photo-copying, mailing the information and making sure that the bulb in the projector is working.

Eamonn.

[baden]

Eamonn-

 

I admit that you have the drop on me when discussing Scouting-UK. I have always liked the idea of the County Commissioner but have no idea if it works well or not. Like everything else in Scouting I suppose it depends on the quality of the individual.

 

When I was speaking of Manpower in my previous post, I was referring to District level volunteers, not Unit volunteers. The D.E. is usually trying to recruit members for the District Committee. This seems to always be a CA around here. Having a fully staffed Committee. Sometimes it is a name in a slot, not much use.

 

Some D.E's I worked with shared their CA's with me, some didn't. Their call. I never asked. After awhile you sort of knew what they were anyway.

 

Our District has an unhappy history of recruiting Dist. Chairs on the basis of what they can contribute to the Fund Our Salaries (FOS) campaign rather than a commitment to Scouting and willingness to use their executive skills to improve the District. The best Dist. Chair I worked with had zero Scouting background. He was a skilled manager with a strong background in Service Organizations such as Kiwanis and the American Legion. He wanted to know what we expected of him and produced results. He came to some District events such as Camporees to see for himself what was going on and always visited Summer Camp once during the camping season and always sat down with the Scoutmasters from our District to get their input. I respected him very much. He has stayed involved to this day as an ADC and is very effective in recruiting UC"s.

 

Your point about the breakdown between Council Chairs and District Chairs is valid. And I mean all the operating Chairs such as Camping, Training, Activities, etc. Our Council has 13 Districts spread over a good size geographic area. We have 3 CCC (Council Co-ordinated Committee) meetings each year usually Sept. Jan. April and all the operating Chairs meet with the Dist Chairs. This is a good format in theory but seemed to me to be little more than Rah-Rah sessions. Not always productive. I did enjoy getting together with everyone and much of the productivity came from rump meetings in the parking lot afterwords. The thing I enjoyed most about my time in District service was the people I worked with, Scouters are an interesting bunch. I made many longtime friendships during this time. I work exclusively at the Unit level now and am having a great times with the boys and my fellow Unit Scouters. I encourage my ASM's to involve themselves at the Dist. level. What they learn there comes back to the boys in better program. I fight constantly to get new leaders to Training. I often hear things like "I don't need to go, you already know all that stuff. I just want to help out with the boys." I have been trying to get my #1 ASM to Wood Badge for 4 years. No luck so far.

[Bearfootscout]

Thank you for the advice

But as far as the getting of new volunteers, should it be the COR's that get most of them. They know the people in their organizations. They know who was too busy last year but is now not so busy. Former SM or ASM that did a great job but a weekly commitment is more than they want to give, but a quarterly or a yearly commitment to a district event would fit them well.

 

Who's job is it to ask the COR's for names of possible Volunteers?

 

 

 

[Eamonn]

Bearfootscout

I'm a little confused -Nothing new there!!

When you say " as far as the getting of new volunteers, should it be the COR's that get most of them. They know the people in their organizations."

I'm guessing you are talking about having people volunteer at the District or Council level?

While at times I will own up to being a bit of a book thumper. Even I have to admit that our great organization doesn't at times have all of it's ducks in a row.

If everything went as it is supposed to went.

Once a month each and every COR would kiss Mrs. COR good-bye and toddle off to the District Committee Meeting. (When I was District Chair COR Reports were an agenda item.)

Sadly it seems that most COR's are not doing the toddling. Very few make it to the District meeting. (We had about 40 units, served by about 28 different CO's and even with post cards sent out to each COR each month we never seen more than six at a meeting!!)

Of course if the COR was at the meeting and seen or heard that there was a soft spot he or she could suggest giving someone a call.

Most of the time it falls on members of the Committee to go out and do a little arm twisting.

Of course just like a Scout unit the bigger the committee the more recruiters you have and the more recruiters know more people and can cast a wider net.

Every now and then someone will volunteer to do something. Sadly at times some people volunteer because they are upset about something and that person might not be the right person for the job.

Finding a nice way of saying thanks but no thanks can be hard!!

They say the best way to eat an elephant is one spoonful at a time, but if you have lots of people with spoons the elephant gets eaten a lot quicker and goes down a lot easier.

I've never eaten an elephant, but the more people who are willing to take on responsibility for helping to get the job done right make thing go better at every level.

Eamonn.