Problem DE

[desertrat77]

As far as scouters grousing here at scouter.com, I'm all for it.   Often our challenges are not unique to our locale.

Edited April 7, 2017 by desertrat77

[CalicoPenn]

OK, I'm reticent to even consider bringing this up since our council has had MAJOR issues before and when a bad member of the previous professional staff was complained about for some unethical things said, the volunteers who reported him were immediately blackballed from having any position on anything with council and were told they wouldn't be "allowed" to volunteer anymore. 

Solution:  Never complain personally - get the COR's and Institutional Heads to complain instead - let's see how quickly an SE will blackball a chartered organization - especially if it's one of the bigger ones, like the LDS church.

OK, so now the present. 

We have a brand new, very young, DE who came in and seemed like he was going to be very motivated and good. After all, he was a eagle scout and had held various major leadership positions in his council and with national as a youth. 

Now, he's turned out to be a nightmare. 

He's unilaterally changed our yearly calendar since our district chair hasn't been able to make it to the last couple of committee meetings.  Solution:  Stick with your own schedule of meetings - he either shows up or he doesn't.  In other words, just ignore him.   When the leaders tried to slow it down by bringing up the fact that all the units made their schedules for the entire year last summer and this wasn't going to get alot of participation since there would inevitably be conflicts. He just blew everyone off with an air that "we are just grumpy parents and don't understand that he's in charge".   Solution:  Again - ignore him.

Then, the calendar item of planning for next fall's roundups and school talks came up and he scheduled open houses for teh Packs on wed nights. One of the older leaders, politely, made the suggestion that we should look at a different night since many families go to church on Wed. Apparently this really peeved him, because he just made a "pfft" sound and rolled his eyes like it was the dumbest thing he's ever heard of.  Solution:  Hold your own fall roundups and school talks without him - stop relying on the professionals so much to do something that we as volunteers are completely capable of doing - and do it on your own schedule.  If he asks for help at talks he gives and someone has time, assist him - unless he demand asks in which case ignore him. That's in addition to him telling another leader who was asked by the DE's superior to find a Charter Org for a new unit and after teh group asked teh volunteer to be the CR since he was already once for them, the DE told him that HE was going to pick the CR.  Solution:  The Institutional Head contacts the SE and tells him that S/HE will be designating the CR and not this whippersnapper young DE and if they don't like it, they can take their charter and stuff it - and that they will make sure they let any other potential chartering organizations within their circle of associates know just how horrible the Boy Scouts of America is to work with and recommend that they never charter a BSA unit.

Aside from this guy trying to run a side business while he's working as a DE, he's managed to alienate almost every member of the district committee through his regular passive-aggressive lecturing about how we need to change everything we do, because it's apparently not good enough. Or, at least, it isn't as good as the district he came here from which only had about 1/3 the membership. Solution:  Ignore him.  I've also had several parents make comments about how he "creeps them out" because he has this obviously fake and poorly executed used car salesman personality and smile.   Solution:  Ask the parents to e-mail the SE to tell the Council to keep this person away from their children.

I'm seriously worried this guy is going to run off our only effective district committee in several years. Solution:  Just do your thing the way you folks want to do it and ignore this guy - meet on your schedule, not his, hold events on your schedule, not his.  But I'm also worried about making any concerns about him known to council since I have no clue how that will turn out.   This guy is creepy and doesn't instill confidence in his ability to do much beyond treat the district like his own little dictatorship. 

Anyone ever had a problem with a DE that just needs to find a career elsewhere?  Suggestions? Thoughts? 

 

One final thought - if none of this works and it gets to untenable to work with him and thus the Council and this is a universally held opinion amongst the District volunteers, then join a Unit (whatever level you want) and drop your volunteering for the District - all of you - from the District Chair and District Commissioner on down - en masse if you can arrange it - nothing signals disgust with a DE more than every single District Volunteer leaving.

[gumbymaster]

I would rather see experienced Scouters associated with high-functioning unit share their wisdom -- as Roundtable Commissioners, or Unit Commissioners, or New Unit Membership Chairs, or in whatever way they can that can reach the most units/boys -- so that other units can be high-functioning too.  I don't find complaining about some facet of their district or council on the forums to be productive, unless it's done specifically to somehow promote some improvement.  In my limited experience, most faults at the district level seem to be due to a lack of volunteers to staff it, or knowledge how to best serve the units, not due to maliciousness or criminal negligence.

 

I can understand the sentiment - and I recommend you stay away from the I&P forums then where many of us often forget one or more of the Scout Laws we live by and teach.

 

That said - airing grievances has a lot of good reasons:

1. It allows others to know they they are not alone and that others have similar issues (kind of like group therapy)

2. While we cannot solve many of the grievances, we feel better for having been heard and acknowledged - which is something that the targets of our grievance often miss.

3. By airing out our grievances here, we are less apt to take them out on or let them boil out into our interactions with our scouts and fellow scouters

4. By airing or grievances, we are less likely to keep them bottled up until we quit - thus this reduces leader burnout and turnover,

and

5. Usually, someone will eventually voice some ideas that may help resolve or deal with the grievance.

 

Finally, as a RT Commissioner myself, I use the issues raised in these forums to help craft the areas of need that I want to address or discuss at the Roundtable - trying to provide some help before it becomes a problem.  Now admittedly, I haven't really tired to approach issues that are direct confrontations with District or Council professionals or volunteers personally (individually); but we can address the overall need and how to satisfy it.

[Col. Flagg]

Isn't the "airing of grievances" part of the celebration of Festivus?