Recruiting Leaders

[Stosh]

My new unit with plenty of adult leadership is in an area that used to have 5 Boy Scout units and the final one closed about 4-5 years ago. Council asked me to start one up. This area is not the burbs, it's the part of town considered "across the tracks" from the "real" town. As a matter of fact it was the railroad section of town for many years. Only one of my boys lives in a home with his natural mother and father. Some are bi-racial, and a couple of single moms. For camporee this past fall, one of the boys borrowed his grandparents tent so the patrol would have shelter for the weekend. The troop owns nothing at this point. The next closest troop to our location just folded last fall.

 

One can blow off my idea if they so choose, but it's really not fair to draw conclusions about it based on pure speculation and conjecture.

 

Stosh

[pchadbo]

SP,

I hear what you are saying and if you are able to do things the "BSA way" in matters of leader recruiting, can you please come about 3000 miles East and show us how to do it. Yes, in a perfect world, and sometimes in a lucky few cases, your tactics work. I think we all agree that this is the BEST method for recuiting new leaders. It is not however the ONLY method and desperate times call for desperate measures. I was CC for a Pack of 50 boys and had personally asked the partents of 42 boys to help with specific items, exactly as I was supposed to, only to be told they were too busy, worked late, had a cold, ran out of round-to-its or whatever they said. Only when I pointed out that 8 out of 50 parents were helping and events A, B & C would be cancelled did I get any response.

 

I appreciate what you are saying but sometimes, realty bites your behind and you gotta do what you gotta do.

[SeattlePioneer]

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Heh, heh! You make a convincing case that if Plan A fails, go to Plan B! No argument.

 

 

I guess the question is which method you'd prefer to try as Plan A. Obviously, I have my biases --- but if others have other methods, they are welcome to them and I'd be glad to hear about successes they have had.

 

My experience is that making a concerted effort to ask the best person to do the job is likely to produce better results than a "my way or we cancel the program" approach.

 

And I've cancelled programs in the past ---- notably our popcorn sale a year ago. This year the only person willing to do it was the Cubmaster. He did an excellent job, but it's unreasonable to ask someone to do two major jobs like that. On the bright side, I believe the Cubmaster has taken a real interest in finding a couple of parents to do that next year!

[Stosh]

Sometimes my approach does not produce the "best" in terms of leadership, but it will more often avoid "no one" in terms of leadership. One can have a reluctant leader who does a mediocre job and one can have a willing but less skilled leader who does a mediocre job. There's trade offs in everything. I just like the idea that when my parents and leaders step up to the plate they do so by selecting what THEY think they would like to do rather than what I think they should be doing.

 

Some people like to be asked, I'll give you that much. But others still would prefer to pick for themselves. Maybe it's a combination of both approaches that one must always consider.

 

To-date, I have NEVER asked someone to do any particular job. I merely put out the need in front of everyone and let them decide whether or not they want to participate in the venture. Some how I have always had my people step forward. This past year the parents organized and ran every fundraising activity for the troop. They raised enough money that the boys only had to pay a token $50 for summer camp. Those efforts were spearheaded by parents who could least afford to have their kids in scouting. They didn't have the money, but they were willing to work. When the parents didn't step up and a fundraiser was available, the boys took it on themselves.

 

I guess I just don't like offering up a "pig-in-a-poke" to my parents. I want them to know exactly what it is they are getting themselves into and then let them decide whether or not they are up to it. If so, here's a pen.

 

Stosh

[qwazse]

... and one can have a willing but less skilled leader who does a mediocre job. ...

Yep, that's me. The more skilled guy wasn't willing to be our advisor. He has chaperoned a lot of hiking miles between him and his family. So, it evens out in the end.

[SeattlePioneer]

The BSA guide to recruiting adults for Boy Scouts is "Selecting Quality Leaders"

 

For Cub Scouts " Selecting Cub Scout Leadership"

 

 

You can probably find these by Googling the name.

[scoutergipper]

Here's an interesting article from the Christian Science Monitor wherein a man with zero Scouting experience volunteers to become a Den Leader, and discovers that "Leadership" can mean you're really good at asking for help. http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/Modern-Parenthood/2015/0211/A-Boy-Scout-he-is-not-The-unlikely-den-parent