Pack Committee/COR Relations

[Chairman]

I am the new Pack CC and am 27 years old. I was asked to do take the CC job at my church by the COR and have found myself in the middle of a hornets nest. For years our small pack has been held together by the COR and some concerned parents. I am the first CC they have had in 3 years and it shows. The problem is that the Parents/Den leaders/Committee Members all feel that they have and are being verbaly abused by the COR and now want me to do something about it. they have all threatend to leave if this issue is not resolved, leaving the Pack in shambles. The COR is a dear friend, and highly respected and awarded Scouter who I feel chose me for this job so that I would back them in this ongoing fight. I am at a loss and really don't know what to do.

 

Needing advice

 

The Chairman

[AlFansome]

Are the leaders indeed being "verbally abused" by the COR? Depending on the severity, I wouldn't blame them for walking away.

 

Because you are a close friend of the COR, you will (by default) be seen with suspicion by the parents and leaders if they indeed have negative feelings about the COR.

 

You need to sit down with the committee and leaders first and hear them out. Actually listen to their issues and complaints and see if you feel they might have merit. Like it or not, you are now in the middle. However, because of your relationship with the COR, you may be able to be effective in solving any problems that exist if indeed the COR needs to be convinced to change his/her behavior.

 

In addition, if there is bad blood between the COR and the parents, you can act as a buffer between them, if necessary. The COR doesn't need to be involved with day-to-day operations of the pack if you are a strong, involved CC. At least in the near term, keeping the COR at bay may be one of your goals until some amount of trust is built between the two sides.

 

Good luck.

[Hal_Crawford]

You may want to enlist the assistance of the Unit Commissioner or DE to help mediate.

Good luck.

Hal

[Beavah]

Yah, I think AlFansome's third paragraph is da way to go, eh?

 

Your response to all the pack folks is "Hey, you're dealing with me now. I'll deal with the COR, but you don't have to worry about that. Now, let's work on..."

 

That can be a fine structure goin' forward. The COR with his/her experience and desire to "push" for program pushes you to work on things while maintainin' your good working relationship, you then "translate" for the rest of the pack and build teams to get the job done. You're the buffer. Havin' a COR viewed as a taskmaster gives you a stronger hand as a CC and teambuilder. It can be a great way of usin' both of your talents and keepin' everyone happy and on track.

 

Beavah

 

[Chairman]

Thank for the insight. I think that I am going to ask the COR to take a back seat and let me run things my way for a while. Your right the COR does not need to be there for the day-to-day business and should let me handle it anyway.

[SSScout]

What Hal said. And what ALF said. That said, be aware that you as CC can steer things to a certain extent. Take your given authority seriously. Your COR friend called on you for a reason. Remind him of this as necessary. It's good if you can present the choices to the folks involved so that as much as posssible, everyone will think the idea was theirs.

 

Get your DE and/or UC to arrange Committee member training, in person if possible, but some is available on line http://olc.scouting.org/index.html . The training is labeled "Troop Committee", but it is germane to Cub ScoutPacks, too. And, believe it or not, there are guidebooks available for Committee folk AND the COR. Check with your Council Store. Convince folks of the importance of all agreeing on being trained for best effect. Coffee and donuts. This will help clear up some misunderstanding and give everyone a new place to start from and a common language.

Your job is first fence mending, next coordination, not so much excuse making.

Assume all the participants want what is best for the Cubs and the Pack and try to ignore the ego problems as much as possible.

 

You can do this. Have faith. "It's for the kids".

 

[emb021]

Hate to re-iterate what some of the other say, but my take is this.

 

* sit down with the committee and find out what the issues are. Could be a legitamate issue, but could also be they just aren't doing their job, the COR was trying to get them to do it, and they got their noses bent out of shape.

 

* set down that with yourself as CC, things will be different. Make it clear that (both to the committee and the COR), that the COR will deal with you and only you and not the committee. You will run the committee. (but give this a positive spin, and not sound like your laying down the law to a bunch of misbehaving children).

 

* make sure everyone gets training. Make sure your COR gets training and does their job (which is more of representing what the CO to the council), and let you do your job of oversight of the committee and unit. Make sure your committee gets training, done by the district.

 

[scoutldr]

"I am the first CC they have had in 3 years and it shows"

 

Your statement is a little confusing...a Pack can't charter without a CC. Were they just "in name only"? Usually it's the COR who is "in name only". If the COR is actually engaged and doing his job, perhaps the Committee resented it and didn't like the "interference". I know in my unit, that would probably be the case, if our COR came in and started telling us how things were to be. I don't have any solutions...it will take time...and perhaps some turnover of personnel before things start to get better. My advice...don't try to turn it around overnight, or you will just get more resistance. It didn't get that way overnight and it will take time to "morph" back to where it should be.

[Hal_Crawford]

Things aren't always done by the book. When my son joined cubs they had a CM who had been CM for about 7 or 8 years. At one of the first pack meetings we attended the CM said that there was a problem with the pack re-chartering. It seems that council had noticed that there was not pack committee. As far as the CM was concerned there committee was unnecessary; they had gotten on fine without one for years. The council had inserted some names of people that weren't associated with the pack to get the re-charter done but gave him a month to get a real committee. He said he needed at 3 volunteers but we wouldn't need do anything. I was sitting with two other Wolf dads and we looked at each other and said "we can do that". A couple years later the CM moved up to boy scouts with his youngest. I stepped up to be CM but only on the condition that there be an active troop committee. One the two other committee members became an active CC and the third became the treasurer. A year later the unit was operating a lot mote "by the book".

 

Oh, did I mention that the former CM was also the COR? I think that now the computer systems are set up to catch things like no CC, no MCs, CM and COR the same person. By the way, the CM was a great guy and the pack ran really well even though it was a one man show. The CO loved him, the parents loved him and the cubs had a great program. The only thing I couldn't get was why anyone would want to work that hard?

 

Hal