Losing our DE

[WalnutDC]

I am a District Commissioner with less than a year tenure. I was informed that my District Executive is seeking employment elsewhere and was wondering what the process is when one leaves. Does the District Director fill in? Do they rotate a current DE to our district, or hire one from the outside? Should I expect a radically different Key 3? Just wondering what your experiences are. Thanks in Advance!

 

YIS

[moxieman]

I've seen all three happen. Of course, our council learned after a couple of greenhorn DE's in an 18 month period that it might not be the best thing to put a greenhorn in the second largest district (area-wise) in the Northeast. The last couple of times we changed DE's we had one rotated in from another district. One of our former DE's is now the field director. Another got shifted to a different district. In that case, council had a DE quit in another district and council decided to shift everyone around and then hire someone for the smallest (area and unit wise) district.

[Eagle92]

It depends. I know when I left, my FD and a coworker did double duty until they hired someone form the outside. A few years later, instead of the SDE taking over a district that was lacking a DE, and who was closer geographically, they had our DE driving back and forth until he got fed up and quit. So then the SDE had 1/3 of the council he was responsible for. Poor guy, had over 100K miles on his 9 month old car.

[WalnutDC]

I have heard the DE has been looking for another job for over a year so given the economy it may be awhile yet. I want to make sure the DE stays motivated. Our DE is awesome and it would be sad if she left. Our district has over sixty units and a greenhorn would probably not work out well. She reports to a DD, who reports to an FD, who reports to a DFS. I think if they would see their way to promote her to SDE or even DD, she'd stay - but I am not sure if money is the primary reason. I find it hard to believe with the pressures and stress and low compensation that anyone would stay on for so long. It is a credit to those who do and to those who try. I am hoping if we volunteers can continue to take some of her burden off of her maybe she will find the role more enjoyable.

[Eagle92]

'Nut,

 

The reason she may be staying as long as she has may be she didn't want to let you folks down. I know the reasons why I kept going on were A) I was about to get married and have a wife to support and B) The district had so much work to be done to get it up to par, and the volunteers were so good, I didn't want to let them down.

 

But the stress did take it's toll, not only on me, but also the wife. When she gave me a choice of job or her, I picked her. So glad I did

[BadenP]

 

I agree with Eagle92's post. The emphasis of todays DE is solely money almost to the exclusion of everything else, that is not a fun or desireable position. The hours do take a huge toll on the marriage and family. The huge turnover in DE's IMO is one of the motivating factors in reducing the number of councils and scouting exec's. Declining numbers, especially boy scouts and troops, will continue to be another factor as National continues its program of downsizing and consolidating. When I was a DE in the late 80's things were still pretty good, although I could see the beginnings of what has come to pass in the BSA. Honestly the DE position is just not attractive anymore to someone looking for a long term opportunity. Two years ago I was offered the opportunity to rejoin the profession which I quickly turned down. It really is too sad to see what professional scouting has become, there are parts of the good old days I really still miss very much.

[WalnutDC]

Yeah, I know her reasons are both personal and professional. It is sad to see that it has become a numbers game - I think she thought she could serve the youth better but the higher-ups are the ones putting the pressure on FOS and membership. She enjoys interfacing with the volunteers and yes I also agree she has been torn on leaving. It can't be an easy decision....

[TAHAWK]

When I was active as a district leader some years ago, we went through six DE's in 2.5 years. One quit in ten days -- never met a single one of us. One was a good friend - to this day. That rate of change was not unusual in that council under that SE.

 

Today, that council is losing 10-20% of its DE's a year through resignation, transfers, or firing. Seems like those that resign are the ones we volunteers want to keep.

 

How DE vacancies are handled depends primarily on how your SE wants it handled and how well the SE can carry out those intentions. The SE may want to transfer a current DE, reach out to another council, or hire off the street. You could ask.

 

The council I am in now has resorted to volunteers to act as DE's and use of "paraprofessionals" as DE's due to lack of funds.

 

If you are asking if a new DE will be different than the old DE, probably yes.

 

Change is stressful, not necessarily improvement, and wholly unavoidable.

[Eagle92]

TAHAWK,

 

You weren't in 3Rivers council a few years back were ya? Sounds like my of SE or DFS.

 

In the 20 months I was a DE, my council went through approx 16 DEs, a FD, and a Finance (Fi) Director. Shortest term was about 3 weeks: DE, technically he was still an executive trainee, went to the emergency room because he was in bad shape. And with no family in the area as he had just moved, his neighbor took him to the hospital and called the office. DFS told the neighbor that he had to be in the office in a specified time period, or he was fired. Neighbor eventually got the message to the DE and called back saying the DE quit.

[WalnutDC]

It's a shame the councils overwork and underpay the District Execs. The closer to the boys you get the less you get paid (of course I get paid nothing). I love the program but certain parts sure seem like some sort of racket to me.

[Eagle92]

Like any organization, you sometimes get the bad apples. BUT a good DE is worth their weight in gold. A great DE worht their weight in platinum.

 

I know we all have complaints about bad pros, heck I have done it myself. But I know that without a small, stress SMALL, professional cadre, a lot of things we take for granted would not happen.

 

When I was in the UK, one of the things I discussed was the number of pros they had and how things operate. They also have a smal cadre of pros, but they are mostly "wardens" at the various scout camps. One leader I talked to told me of the challenges she had getting advancement, it took her about 2 months because submitting the paperwork to buy awards goes through volunteers, and sometimes it is hard to catch up with them, esp. whent hey are on holiday.

 

I know the pros in my council have driven around the council to get supplies for me to run day camp and a few other council activities. They do a lot of things behind the scenes.

 

But again every council is different, and every SE is different. We currently have a SE who is program oriented. man I hope he doesn't retire anytime soon.