Fixing Commissioner Service

[NeilLup]

Having been a Council Commissioner twice for a total of 8 years, I find this an extremely interesting thread.

 

The problem is very real. To illustrate the problem, when I took the job the second time, we had about 450 Units which, at the 3/1 recommended ratio, would have required about 150 Unit Commissioners. We had a total of 12 of which about 6 were doing anything useful.

 

There was simply no way in the world that we could come up with 150 people who wanted to do what Commissioners do starting with 6. After my 4 years, we were up to about 40. A big improvement but still far, far short of what we really needed.

 

The problem that I saw was that there weren't anything like enough people able to do what Commissioners should do who were willing and interested in doing what Commissioners should do.

 

What is it, in my opinion, that Commissioners should do?

 

I regard a good Unit Commissioner as a little like a ski patroller.

 

They are unobtrusive and in the background. They visit occasionally and see how things are going. They are friendly and helpful and knowledgeable. They can give tips and help if asked. They know how to watch skiiers and identify who the experts are, who are the intermediates, who are the novices and who are the ones who can get in trouble. They can tell this just at a quick glance. They spend more time watching the ones who might get in trouble but aren't overbearing about it. When a problem occurs, they are there quickly and provide help to the limit of their knowledge and abilities. They know when to call for help and who to ask for help.

 

A difference is that a ski patroller can pull the ticket of a dangerous skiier while a Unit Commissioner can only pursuade.

 

There seems to be a feeling that a Unit Commissioner should have more experience than the Unit leaders with which he or she deals. In my council, the Cub Scout leaders typically had 2-3 years experience while Boy Scout leaders with 20 years experience were not uncommon. Where was I going to come up with 50 or so leaders with 20+ years experience to be the Boy Scout Unit Commissioners? Yet the units would complain that we didn't provide service. And if I had a nickel for every time that I heard that the only place "The only place that real Scouting takes place is a Troop" I could retire a wealthy man. There was a stated feeling that District and Council Scouters were useless drones.

 

There were a number of approaches we used to try to provide service which were too many to document in depth here. They included aggressive recruiting, triage of units for service, electronic communication, buddying up of some leaders, support through the Scout Shops, etc.

 

It will be interesting to see what is recommended from the National Council. Personally, I believe that through electronic communication, automated analysis of unit information, better on-line training, more efficient usage of the Commissioners that we have and positioning of Commissioner Service to make it fun and rewarding for today's leaders will get the job done.