New Troop Committee Chair

[pargolf44067]

Hi All,

 

Our troop committee chair has decided to step down after three years in time so when recharter happens we can put the new committee chair on the paperwork. My question is, if multiple people step up to volunteer (I know, a nice problem to have), which is a distinct possibility, how does a troop decide which person to pick? As some background, our Charter Organization Rep, is that in name only. She is only there to sign paperwork, not an active part of the troop, so our COR would not be the right person to help make a decision.

 

Just curious to hear others ideas before we have to decide.

 

As an FYI I am the SM of this troop.

 

Thanks in advance!(This message has been edited by pargolf44067)

[bacchus]

Your COR is not just there to sign paperwork, but she doesn't know that yet. Regardless, you can move on without her if necessary. Scouting.org has a recommended system here: http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/TrainingModules/SelectingQualityLeaders.aspx . Talk with your Unit Commissioner for any other suggestions. Good luck with it.

[NealOnWheels]

I would suggest your outgoing chairman to form a selection committee as suggested in the link bachuss provided. This committee can consider the three volunteers or select someone entirely different. Then make the recomendation to the COR for approval.

 

It is important to select the best candidate and that person may or may not be one of the three.

 

Your input would be valuable to this committee as the person selected will need to have a good working relationship with you.

[John-in-KC]

What bachus and Neal said.

 

Sounds like your DE and UC need to pay a friendly business call on the IH and COR of your chartered partner. Then, it sounds like it's time for your unit to start providing som thank you service hours to your chartered partner. If the relationship is the way you described it, then it's because both sides didn't work the relationship... in about 80% of the cases.

 

There are 20%, such as Lisa'bobs CP, where they won't care...

[pargolf44067]

Thanks for the advice so far. I think I may have misspoke. We have a really good relationship with our Chartered Organization, including providing service hours to them and them allowing us to have a shed on site as well as meeting space. It is just that it is a relatively small church and nobody that is in the troop goes to church there so the person who is our Chartered Org Rep really doesn't attend the meetings. The COR as well as the Pastor of the church are well aware of what is going on and know they are welcome to come to any of our meetings that they wish.

 

They are happy with what we do and don't see a need to be more involved than they are. My comment was just meant as an aside that it isn't fair for the COR or the people who are interested in the CC position to have her make a decision on that. We, of course, will inform them of any decision made.

 

I hope I cleared up any misunderstanding that there may have been regarding our relationship with the CO.

[Crossramwedge]

If all the people who want to be CC are qualified ( Boy I know I am going to get flamed for this) then approach them and tell them you do not want any hurt feelings over this so you are going to put their names in a hat and the person drawn is CC. Simple, yes. Unorthadox yes.

 

Seriously, I would still approach the COR and inform her what is going on and ask her how she would handle it. She still needs to be informed. A lot of Troops operate by the book. They Involve the COR and IH form a search commitee who makes a recomendation so on and so forth. Thats the way it is supposed to be done. Then again there are other Troops who when a CC resigns just talk it over and appoint a new CC and then inform the IH. COR of the changes and then ask them for their blessing. Yes, thats not how it supposed to be done, but for some Troops it works. We meet once a year with the IH. The CC/COR attend most of the Scout meetings and even go on camp outs. We have a relaxed relationship with our CO as a whole. We consider that a good thing.

[Crossramwedge]

(This message has been edited by crossramwedge)

[Oak Tree]

This is more of a political/interpersonal discussion than a policy one.

 

First of all, you're in a very unusual situation if more than one person wants to be the committee chair. It's much more common to be trying to figure out who you want to convince to take the job.

 

It seems to me that your goal in doing this would be to get the most effective person with the least hurt feelings. If both candidates appear to be good possibilities, and you don't want to hurt either one, then picking a name out of a hat might work.

 

As a unit leader, I'd think that would be unlikely. There's probably one candidate I'd rather work with. What I'd do then is try to figure out what the other person could do that would be most helpful, and then ask them if they would take that position. Seriously, there are usually so many possible jobs that it should be easy to make a person feel useful.

 

It also may depend on who the COR views as the person who should bring her the recommendation. Does she see you, as the SM, the person who will come to her? Or the outgoing CC? It's almost certainly one of the two of you.

 

In practice I usually set up the transitions behind the scenes. Talk to the most promising candidate, get him to agree, and tell the COR. But I haven't been in a situation where that would have hurt anyone's feelings. I'll usually have some discussions with a few other leaders as well just to get a sense for what other people think and to make sure I'm not going down the wrong path.

[Lisabob]

The last time we had a new committee chair, we had a committee election. I do not think this is a good plan. For one thing, the person who lost clearly felt terrible about it, being publicly repudiated in such a manner. He then became less involved in the troop. While he might not have been the strongest possible candidate for CC in some respects, he has other talents that might have been better utilized, if he hadn't been embarrassed in that way. For another, I think the election ended up being, basically, a popularity contest. By the way, the same is true of how we pick SM's in this troop, with the same basic result.

 

While I am not suggesting that the individuals who ended up in these positions in my son's troop have done a bad job as a result, none the less, I don't think this is a solid strategy.

 

It would be better, in my view, to avoid the equivalent of middle school student government elections. Somebody said this is an interpersonal and political thing, and I agree. But nobody really wants to have to deal with that garbage in scouting (though we all know it happens anyway). So elections would be pretty far down on my list of preferred ways of dealing with this issue. If you have a disengaged CO, it is a lot tougher to pick good leaders, but perhaps you as the SM, along with the current CC, can ask for a meeting with your COR and put forward your joint preferences for who should replace the CC. Then you can announce that the COR has chosen So-and-So, and leave it at that.