The New BSA Strategic Plan

[Twocubdad]

First I must admit my bias against this sort of crap. This is why I don't work for a big company. It reads like a corporate horoscope -- no matter what happens they can claim it was in the strategic plan. I get the feeling this was written like the federal budget, instead of a real over-riding direction, just a hodge-podge of special interests patched together.

 

I tried to focus on the program goals. Maybe I just don't understand corpbabble, but it doesn't seem like much new there. Maybe that means they're going to leave it alone? (From my fingertips to God's eyes!)

 

I thought I understood this section to say they would be looking at new out-of-the-box outdoor programs (which to my mind would be stuff like the ATC and PWC pilot programs), but everytime I re-read the section, it seems more and more watered down.

 

Here's what it says:

 

Strategies to Achieve the Objective:

Look both inside and outside Scouting to determine what programs we should offer and how we should offer them.

Ensure that all programs are culturally relevant.

Stay market-focused and youth-oriented in our thinking and approach when making program decisions.

 

Specific Goals:

1. We have changed our programs to reflect the findings of a thorough program review and assessment that clearly identifies those elements that are appealing, exciting, and culturally relevant to todays youth and families. [December 2012]

 

In my opinion, if they're serious about increasing the interest and coolness of Scouting, they need to be looking a more interesting and new outdoor activities -- again, the ATVs and PWC are great examples. But what's the next mountain board? BSA needs to be out front of all the X-Game type sports. The neighborhood Scout troop needs to be the first place boys can go to try new outdoor sports, not 20 behind the curve, worrying about all the insurance and liability issues. How many decades did it take to get a Scuba merit badge?

 

Maybe what I'm looking for is written between the lines of this, but who can say?

 

I also kept seeing the phrase "culturally relelvant" everywhere, especially in the program section. What the hell does that mean? Can someone with their corpbabble Interpreter's Strip explain?

 

I agree that there does seem to be an emphasis on chasing the latest teenage tecnofad. We're going to get all ramped up on Facebook then chase whatever the next cool gizmo is. Why can't they fix ScoutNet so I can interface my unit's Troopmaster records without the help of three NASA programmers? Why can't they get the guys at Google to fix the web site so when I type "medical forms" into the search box it sends me to a dadgummed copy of the medical forms? Before they start chasing all the latest gizmos, how about bring the existing stuff up to the level of, say, Windows 3?

 

I'd like to see a study on how Scout-aged boys really use technology. Except for the oldest guys, high school juniors and seniors, I don't see the kids really into the stuff BSA seems to think they are. At 11 and 12, there are still an awful lot of parents who don't allow their boys to have access to all this stuff. Sure, everyone has some hunk of silicon and lithium in their pocket, but besides listening to music, texting or playing a game, I don't really see a lot of use for information/resource apps and such. The only people I know who have stuff like the handbook downloaded or use the skychart app are adults.

 

Did anyone else catch the line that we're going to increase membership by a half-million, from 2.8 to 3.3 million? Don't look now but someone's been in the Christmas brandy a little early! I think that's what you corporate types call a stretch-goal.

 

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Edited part, tying in to what some of you have posted while I've been reading and writing -- I think expectations for the outdoor program have changed over the years. It's what I call the Mountain Dew factor. When I was a kid, we were happy as clams to stop at the corner grocery and grab some stuff, then hike off the end of my street which dead-ended into hundreds of acres of woods. Now, kids think outdoor adventure is what they see in the Mountain Dew ads -- mountain boarding off the side of El Capitan, BASE jumping off the New River Bridge. The boys in my troop routinely do stuff I ONLY got to do at Philmont. First and second year Scouts in my troop do stuff I only did as a very senior Scout or even as part of a college outdoor group.

 

Troops have a hard time delivering this. We're a good-sized troop and we just don't have people trained to lead these high-end activities. Everytime we want to go shooting, arranging for a BSA/NRA approved instructor is a pain and/or expensive. Ditto climbing and rappelling.

 

My priority would be for councils -- and really regions -- to start looking at their council facilities beyond summer camp. Our camps have great facilities which generally go unused 45 or more weekends a year. My king-for-a-day decree would be for councils to staff their camp facilities on weekends year-round. And look for ways to run through the winter. Why doesn't BSA have a "summer" camp with a ski slope?

 

Obviously, money is a big factor. I'm not that stupid. But why doesn't BSA look at it's camp facilities the way an outfitter would. REI will sell me a kayak AND hook me up with an instructor/guide who will teach me to use it and take me on a whitewater trip. I can go in the ORVIS shop down the street, buy all the fly fishing gear I want and hire guide service for this weekend. Why can't a council camp offer BSA-trained instructors -- for a fee -- along with their facilities?(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

[shortridge]

But, we need to get past the press' tendency to constantly bash the BSA, or just ignore them. We almost all have had the same comments about why do they mention so and so was a scout, or Eagle Scout as part of a headline or lead-in to a story, but you have a hard time finding anything about the huge contributions of scouting to the communities through troop projects and Eagle projects. Even , when you give them the info, they often do not use it.

 

As a representative of the Fourth Estate, I feel compelled to chime in on this point.

 

First, Scouting generally needs a good, unified PR effort, from the top down. In my experience, local councils and districts don't know how to work the media well - or at least don't spend a lot of time on it. Media relations should be part of the pros' training curriculum, IMHO. It's more than just sending out a press release about popcorn sales every year.

 

As for the criticism of the media's focus on the bad things about Scouting - of course that's going to get better "play" than other subjects. It goes back to the classic definition of what's news - dog biting man isn't news; man biting dog is. An Eagle Scout who robs a bank is news. An Eagle Scout who organizes a flag retirement project is just an Eagle Scout doing what Eagle Scouts are supposed to do. Not news unless it's a really slow day.

 

I could go on and on about how districts, councils, troops, packs, crews and ships could work with the media to get better coverage - practical, not theoretical, stuff. I don't want to clog this thread up, but if anyone's interested in that discussion, spin off a new thread or PM me.

[BSA24]

BSA should initiate a national survey of youth from age 9 to age 20 to find out how they feel about the scouts and why. A survey of youth not in the program. BSA can afford to do this, and it is surprising that such a survey and its results have not been published to date. It's the only way anyone is ever going to know for a fact what the problem is.

[shortridge]

A few observations on the strategic plan.

 

- "Objective I: Scouting is 'cool' with youth." ... Whenever adults start using the word "cool," kids stop listening.

 

- National has one year to get Scoutnet's training interface upgraded. Good luck with that.

 

- "We have developed and provided to councils an innovative and youth-friendly conservation and environmental education program for use in local summer camps, schools, and individual units. [May 2012]" ... Now this has some potential. I just wonder how it's going to differ from the many EE programs that currently exist from more established conservation organizations and local school districts.

 

- "We have developed and shared with councils an assessment tool to help them understand which elements of their camping programs and facilities do not fully deliver an exciting experience for youth participants. Seventy-five percent of councils are demonstrating positive results from the annual assessment. [December 2012] ... Sounds like there's going to be some sort of national, uniform camp evaluation form. Whoop-dee-do.

 

- "We have established an interactive methodology for the National Key 3 to regularly communicate with local council Key 3s. [June 2011]" ... Sounds like you mean a blog, or e-mail newsletter, or password-protected website. You mean this doesn't exist already?

 

- The focus on positioning BSA as a youth advocacy organization is interesting, but launching a "national multiyear health and wellness campaign" seems like a make-work program for a few highly-paid National staffers, and a diversion from program efforts that actually get kids outside.

 

- "We have provided each council with a template for offering and operating (at the councils discretion) a five-day outdoor health and fitness camp for all youth living within its service area as a means of increasing health and fitness knowledge and participation among young people while showcasing the dynamic and engaging world of Scouting. [December 2012]" ... OK, this is stupid. No kid is going to voluntarily sign up for a week-long "health and fitness camp." A "super-challenging extreme outdoor adventure camp"? Heck, yeah. See the problem?

 

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Twocubdad wrote: My priority would be for councils -- and really regions -- to start looking at their council facilities beyond summer camp. Our camps have great facilities which generally go unused 45 or more weekends a year. My king-for-a-day decree would be for councils to staff their camp facilities on weekends year-round. And look for ways to run through the winter. Why doesn't BSA have a "summer" camp with a ski slope?

 

Obviously, money is a big factor. I'm not that stupid. But why doesn't BSA look at it's camp facilities the way an outfitter would. REI will sell me a kayak AND hook me up with an instructor/guide who will teach me to use it and take me on a whitewater trip. I can go in the ORVIS shop down the street, buy all the fly fishing gear I want and hire guide service for this weekend. Why can't a council camp offer BSA-trained instructors -- for a fee -- along with their facilities?"

 

The two obstacles to that are (a) cost and (b) the BSA structure.

 

Think about the guide services you're comparing council camps to. They're paying their people good wages, much better than BSA pays its program or field service professionals. Let's say your local council/REI pays a so-called "professional BSA instructor" $20 an hour to teach canoeing or fishing or climbing or lead some other such outdoor activity. At eight hours a day, 45 days a year, that comes out to about $7,000 a year, about a quarter of the average DE's starting salary. Not going to happen. The money isn't there, unless you start charging on the same level as a fly-fishing guide or ski instructor.

 

Secondly, paying people to staff camps flies in the face of the volunteer-driven BSA model. Many camps have what you describe - they're called campmasters, volunteers who stay at camp on weekends and run the show. But they're not running a full camp program - they're resources for the other volunteer unit leaders, maybe putting on a few hours' worth of specialty instruction in some topic. Why pay people to staff camp when you can have people who pay to staff camp? - is National's rather sensible way of thinking.

[Basementdweller]

That nice big fancy plan is all well and good, but I don't see how it helps ME recruit the next tiger den leader........Or encourage my scouts to attend day camp, resident camp.......

 

It does not improve the quality of the council camps, they are very shabby.

 

As a front line volunteer it doesn't help me one bit......

 

The folks in dallas can plan and plot and scheme all they want. It won't help me recruit any more boys.

 

 

 

[Eagle92]

I admit I haven't read the entire thing, just parts of it.

 

1) In reference to increasing CS retention, a few things may need to occur.

A) reducing it 4 year program ( T=2, W=3, B=4, and Webelos=5). yes this may hurt numbers initially, but I bet this would increase retention by avoiding burnout.

 

B)Update the program. By this I mean that some of the requirements have been around since before I was a Cub. requirements need to updated. Also the handbooks need a major updating with their illustrations. Heck a few of those today look identical to the ones I had.

 

C) MORE OUTING IN CUB SCOUTING!!!!! And yes I am shouting. Yes my son is breezing along, wiht a good chunk of advancement being done via school. Get more outdoorsy on the cub Level. I know at least in my neck of the woods yo still have some folks who say Cubs shouldn't camp. Guess what, I lost a Cub Scout because we were not camping enough!

 

As for uniforms that is not an issue if you have a program that folks want to be a part of. Heck the BSA uniform is easily identifiable, and doign away with a uniform will hurt the ' Brand"

[desertrat77]

Cubbing is too long, and too indoors. Webelos should be solely a one year ramp-up to being a Boy Scout.

 

Uniforms should have some semblance of ruggedness, style, and simplicity. And be made in America.

 

BSA should be co-ed.

 

While Boy Scouts are still enjoying outdoor-driven programs in some areas, in many areas it's a sedentary, indoor focus (often the direct reflection of the scouters of that area).

 

Stop the emphasis on high-priced gucci camping gear, and start respecting the pocketbooks of the parents.

 

Delete several (you pick) of the Eagle required "homework" merit badges (the infamous citizenship series, etc) and replace them with challenging outdoor choices.

 

As mentioned previously, there is a huge gulf between the outlook of the corporate folks at National, and the numerous sedentary units sitting in a church basement going over stuff in a book.

 

Regardless of where we stand, there is much work to be done.

[Mr. Boyce]

I've read over this twice now. I'm surprised that they have not been doing some of these things, mainly surprised the organization does not seem to have established some good pipelines to youth (e.g., focus groups, etc.) previous to this.

 

We can criticize the Corporate-Speak of it all, of course; this is 2010, and most of us have been around a bit with consultants and such, and we can recognize the iffy quality of such things.

 

For me, the biggest concern is the premise that the BSA is another "Youth Organization" and gets categorized as such. I think the BSA is special, a thing in itself, it's own category, and the usual toolbox of business answers might not be able to provide paste-on solutions.

[Mr. Boyce]

I like shortridge's comments. I've worked in PR and have always been stunned at how badly the grassroots communications is. One chief danger for the national entity is coming across as quasi-Nazi in this day and age.

[Knot Head]

I did a search and the word "camping" first appears on page 13 of 27 and once more on page 17. I found the word "fun" one time but lost count of the times I found "funds" and "funding".

 

When we have recruiting meetings what do we talk about and field questions about? Camping. That's why boys join our troop. We camp 11 of 12 months (no July - vacations). We do rock climbing, white water, canoe trips, backpacks.

 

Ask any scout what they do not like and they will tell you it is the citizenship and academic badges. They do them but they are not fun like a ropes course, wilderness survival or pioneering. Our guys are good citizens because we teach them to be, but to them the academic badges are just more homework. I've heard scouts laugh and tell stories from Philmont and canoe trips dozens of times. I've neve heard a guy yearn for the day they can begin the citizenship in the world badge.

 

Kids will attend activities that are fun. They like things they do not get to do at school like camp, canoe, cook on a fire, climb rocks, haul a pack 15 miles.

 

BSA24's post makes several good points.

 

 

[eagle90]

I wonder how much money was spent on this Strategic Plan, with its Pillars, Objectives, Strategies, Goals, etc., and whether that money could have been used to further the program itself and make a bigger influence on BOYS.

[Eamonn]

I kinda skimmed over the plan.

I was pleased to see that a good friend of mine was involved with it.

But when all is said and done these things are little more than a "Wish List". You only have to look back at the last one to see that.

Ea.

[sherminator505]

I see one glaring problem with this document: where is the citizenship component? The word "citizens" appears once, at the end of the Designed Future Statement at the front of the document. The word "citizenship" appears once, in a bullet point under Objective III of the Youth Advocacy and Strategic Relationships pillar.

 

In past self-descriptions of Scouting, preparation for CITIZENSHIP was a central talking point, and one of the reasons for instilling the ideals of Scouting was to help Scouts become the best CITIZENS they could be. This emphasis seems to have utterly fallen away. Why?

[perdidochas]

I'm with Knothead.

 

I think our boys learn citizenship, not so much by those three required merit badges, but by following the Scout Oath. I was on a EBOR last month. One of the boys was a "death bed Eagle", since the EBOR was about a month after his 18th birthday. He completed the three citizenship merit badges since the beginning of summer. Having been around this death bed Eagle since my oldest started meeting with the troop about 10 months ago, I have no doubts that the program (along with his mother) instilled citizenship in this fine young man, despite his not working on the Citizenship 3 until the last minute. I wish we would go back to the 1950s with this merit badge group--in 1950 there was a single Citizenship merit badge as an Eagle requirement.

 

Fun is the key, but we have to remember that fun for one is not fun for all. A recent campout my oldest was on, was widely acclaimed by some boys as boring--one new member quit because of it. My oldest loved it. He had a great time.

[Kudu]

NJCubScouter writes:

 

Some people in this forum (not necessarily you BSA24) seem to think the BSA is forever scarred just because for about five years, ending more than 30 years ago, it was theoretically possible to make Eagle without ever going on a camping trip or a hike...

 

Any cupcake can still "earn" an Eagle Scout badge without ever walking into the woods with a pack on his back.

 

That is not an exaggeration.

 

Such Cub Scout Eagles are the equivalent of a 1916 BSA 2nd Class Scout or a Baden-Powell Tenderfoot.

 

I agree with most of BSA24's excellent posts, but for the sake of discussion I would debate three minor issues.

 

BSA24 writes:

 

Overhaul the uniform to look like military BDU's. I'm talking radical, "holy smokes!" overhaul that eliminates colorful patches entirely and is subtle (black and green) - black t-shirt, green cargo pants, green BDU jacket with black rank emblem on pocket, green and black unit numbers & CSP, etc. Boys would rather look like they are going on a SWAT mission than going to 1910.

 

1) The primary problem with the uniform is not what it looks like, but what it stands for: A Cub Scout program for teenagers.

 

My very first Webpage (ever) was a photographic comparison of the advantages of BDUs over the official dress-designer uniform:

 

http://inquiry.net/uniforms/bdu.htm

 

Back in the 1990s we field-tested a black BDU "SWAT" uniform for an alternative Baden-Powell association. BDUs do have some practical disadvantages on the trail.

 

BSA24 writes:

 

BSA should initiate a national survey of youth from age 9 to age 20 to find out how they feel about the scouts and why. A survey of youth not in the program. BSA can afford to do this, and it is surprising that such a survey and its results have not been published to date. It's the only way anyone is ever going to know for a fact what the problem is.

 

2) Surveys are the kind of passive approach to Scouting that BSA millionaires love.

 

Presumably the answer is: Kids want Soccer!

 

The solution is not to ASK youth what they want: Simply TELL them what they want: The Scoutcraft program mandated by our Congressional Charter.

 

It is easy to prove the effectiveness of an active approach: Arrange to speak to an auditorium of sixth-graders. Tell them what you told us about "outdoorsmanship in scouts: pioneering, camping, hiking, canoeing, swimming, fish and wildlife conservation, leatherwork, wood carving, life saving, and other outdoor activity badges."

 

I have found that 70% of the audience will sign a list (in front of their peers) asking me to call their parents so they can join. If you hold their first meeting the same night, about 28% of that audience will register with the BSA without you ever mentioning Eagle or the so-called "Aims of Scouting" to their parents.

 

Those figures are in ADDITION to the Scouts in the audience who have already crossed over from Webelos! For what it's worth, a statistical breakdown of the missing 42% (70% minus 28%) can be found at the recent "Public School Recruiting Statistics" thread:

 

http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=297669

 

BSA24 writes:

 

...required for eagle and de-emphasize anything that is not classical scoutcraft. Consolidate all citizenship merit badges into one. Change the Eagle Badge to represent outdoorsmanship

 

3) There is a simple solution to the problem of classroom Citizenship and all the other homework badges: Just Say "NO" to Eagle!

 

Tenderfoot through First Class is mostly Scoutcraft (what little there is left of it). Back before 1972, when Scouting was outrageously popular, few Scouts ever went beyond Star.

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

http://kudu.net