JTE -- What did you learn?

[Twocubdad]

So for the unit which have completed the Journey to Excellence process, what have you learned?

 

I'll start.

 

First, we're at the Gold level with 1800 points.

 

Advancement -- I'm surprised the standards are so low. Under the old Quality Unit program, we were usually in the 70's, due largely to the First Year/First Class program and a large percentage of new Scouts. But we've dumped FY/FC so we're down to about 55%. Honestly, advancement is what it is. I really don't care about this number.

 

Retention -- our pct. is higher that I thought it would be at 85%. I had no idea what the percentage was, but looking at the roster I know the situation/reasoning for all drops. I'm looking after the trees and don't worry too much about the forest. I also learned that if I really wanted to bump my retention rates, we wouldn't process membership applications from boys until they attend two campouts with us. A large number of our drops are kids who joined and never showed up (equal numbers of Webelos crossovers and totally new Scouts.) Maybe we need to raise our dues.

 

Growing Scouting -- BIG YAWN. At 6% we're silver. But with 50+ boys and a big pack feeding us, this is not a concern. This seems to be a silly goal. There needs to be an exemption for units over a certain size. As a Cubmaster, at Roundtable I would sit on the back row with two other CMs representing 100+ member packs. We would blow razzberries and throw stuff anytime the DE mentioned growing our units.

 

Training -- did not qualify. The requirement that 100% of ASMs have SM Position-Specific within 3 months got us. Several of my new guys had schedule conflicts with the two courses offered this fall. And I've got a couple "launch failures" on the rosters -- guys who registered but haven't become involved at all. But we had 20 people go through a half-day of committee-oriented training last month, and that doesn't show up at all. I'm satisfied with where we are on this.

 

Camping -- blew it out of the water.

 

Patrol Method -- got silver only because our Scouts would rather attend summer camp with the troop than spend their week at NYLT. I'd like to see our guys at NYLT, but that our guys prefer to spend the time with the troop says a lot about the quality of the program, too.

 

Service -- blew it out of the water two or three times over.

 

Webelos -- ditto

 

Budget -- zero. A known issue the CC has been working to solve.

 

Courts of Honor -- Why is this in here? We do summer and winter. IMO, more would be a waste of time.

 

Fitness -- Huh? Bronze level. Is this for a Boy Scout troop of a Varsity Team? Is physical training a new eighth part of the troop meeting?

 

Register on time -- Whatever. I've discovered that if we don't turn our recharter in on time, eventually someone will come get it. But yes.

 

Big Picture -- I don't think I learned anything I didn't already know. Our weaknesses are known and are generally things we've been working on. Our strengths generally blow the JTE standards away. There is a lot of stuff I think we do really well that's not reflected here at all. And there are things in which the troop leadership apparently disagrees with National as to its relative importance. We're not going to change our program just to chase a JTE patch.

 

We didn't bother with JTE last year, so this year we've invested a lot of time figuring it out adn identifying baselines. We've had 4 or 5 adults invest probably 12 or 15 hours into trying to do this "right". I'd call that a poor use of resources. Next year we'll be a little further along the learning curve and won't require that much time. But if it requires this much time routinely, we'll either wing it or punt entirely.

[pchadbo]

First, I am a pack CC, we were named a unit of honor 4 out of ther previous 5 years for our council the only year we missed it was retention/recruitment as we crossed over 12 boys in a pack of 40.

We kept doing what we had been doing all along and near as I can figure, the only thing we learned was how to fill out a new form. But, as I said we were already exceeding and have been for years. . .

[Basementdweller]

My DE is very motivated to get his bonus and this is directly tied to how much cash he takes home.

 

 

The best part is I don't even have to actually fill it out to get gold level because my DE will do it for me.

[Scoutfish]

I have to echo pchadbo comment:

 

" We kept doing what we had been doing all along and near as I can figure, the only thing we learned was how to fill out a new form. "

 

 

Out of a possible 3,000 points, we scored 2,600 points by doing what we have already done.

 

But, I can see where it would be a guide as well as a goal for start up or new break away units.

 

[Eagle732]

Great post Twocubdad, our units did almost exactly the same. Only exception is that we send a Scout to NYLT but ours is over two weekends in the spring so it's not competing with summer camp.

 

I picked up some great ideas on how to score even higher next year and since a Scout is Helpful I'll share them with you.

 

1. Do an advancement projection one month prior and if needed push through borderline slackers.

2. Raise dues, then only the serious kids will join and we'll be comparable to rec. sport in cost and perceived value.

3. Hold new apps two months, this avoids the new kid loss on the books. This rarely happens but every scout counts (towards the numbers). When parent start asking where their son's membership card is we'll just say council lost the paper work.

4. Hold all adult apps until after their training is complete. They can still do their job and go on camping trips but just won't be registered.

5. For the budget just tell them we have one, that's easy.

6. Court of Honor 4 times a year, just pencil 'em in, no one's counting.

 

 

With all these improvements along the insignificant things we already do like going camping and working the Patrol Method (I'm a big GGB fan!) we should easily break 2,000 next year!

 

 

 

[qwazse]

I have yet to review this with our crew president. (Getting a few adults to push paperwork has consumed an obscene amount of energy.) But, since we went over the standards last November, I think the kids will have learned that seemingly easy goals are no slam-dunk.

 

Did anyone review their JTE with their SPLs? I would love to hear from any SPLs who may have gone over this with their troop.

[GKlose]

Our number came in at 1800 also -- some quick observations.

 

We had two outings that didn't fall into either the long-term or short-term column: a 5-day canoe trip, and a ski trip where the guys stayed in a bunkhouse at a ski resort. Besides those we had 10 outings that met the short-term qualifications and two weeks at summer camp. Not bad for a troop that just a couple of years ago wasn't even getting in six outings a year. I will claim partial credit for helping rejuvenate the troop culture and activity level. Most of the credit goes to an SPL that far exceeded expectations, and did a great deal to rejuvenate youth leadership and activity level.

 

I'm kind of annoyed at the service project category. Logging it in to Good Turn for America shouldn't make a difference (I don't need another account, with another password, on yet another system) -- even so, we schedule six projects a year -- this year, two were cancelled (one because of weather, one where help wasn't really needed); and on top of it, we "staffed" service projects for 7 Eagle candidates. That might be a record for our troop, and we'd have a hard time squeezing more in with our new activity level.

 

We fell short in one category, training, because we have a couple of adults trained as ASMs (including our CC) but really function as committee members. I'm hoping to correct that this next year.

 

We also don't have a troop budget. We tend not to spend that much, and we don't fundraise all that much. So we got a 0 in that category. I'll probably do a straw budget this next year and have the committee talk about it, just so we can say we did. :-)

 

BTW, "Fitness" is on the 2012 criteria, right? Not on the 2011 criteria?

 

Guy

[Get Outdoors]

We're 1875 and will not be turning it into council.

 

1) The form is a poor indicator of the true health of the unit.

 

2) Someone got paid a whole lot of money to put this program together.

 

3) Set up to make council look good. (bonuses)It's all about the numbers.

 

Pretty much a waste of time.

[Eagle732]

Ours are filled in and submitted at recharter. The DE sat with our CC for 1 1/2 hours going over and filling out the form. He was a happy camper.

 

Fitness starts next year, guess we'll be doing PT every meeting

 

Another idea for more points. For fitness make up a form similar to the Tenderfoot requirement #10. Have Scouts take it home and keep track of their progress throughout the year. Turn it in at the end of the year. Anyone who turns it in gets invited to a "Let's get fit" pizza night! And as a bonus extra cheesy bread and soda!

 

And we wonder why they leave.

And I wonder why everyone takes this stuff so seriously.

[bacchus]

I thought JTE provided some good goals for us to strive to make. We're gold, but there are always some things we can still work on. Those items have been noted and we are working on them.

 

What actually bothers me a little is that BSA is supposed to monitor progress across the board and modify the JTE goals accordingly. Is this supposed to be some type of bell curve?

[Eagle732]

Well the podcast they did on it last year said if too many units earn gold they would make the requirements harder.

 

So I assume that if a requirement was too hard they would reduce them.

 

I see for 2012 they've reduced the number of short term nights camping. Must be too hard to go camping once a month.

 

(This message has been edited by Eagle732)

[johnponz]

I do not understand people being upset about people getting bonuses at their jobs. We all like to get bonuses, and let's face it in the professional world, "if it cannot be measured, it does not exsist."

 

I am not against helping my DE get a bonus if he deserves one. I know I look forward to one in my paycheck at my non-scouting job.

 

By the way as with any other job, the numbers are going to get harder to reach each year. It is known as continuous improvement or in Corporate Speak, "raising the bar."

 

Scouting is the profesional Scouter's job, and it is only right that they should get a bonus if they are doing a good job. Today a good job is measured in numbers (at least anywhere that I ever worked).(This message has been edited by johnponz)

[Eagle732]

I can only imagine how tough it is to be a DE and have a substantial part of your salary dependent upon volunteers who may not have the same goal as many of the volunteers.

 

(This message has been edited by Eagle732)

[JoeBob]

Curious:

 

If we help our DE get his bonus, doesn't that also mean that we have to meet higher FOS goals to pay it?

 

Just being nasty...

[Twocubdad]

I doubt many folks really object to DE's receiving bonuses. Most are sophistocated enough to understand bonuses aren't windfall, but a performance-based part of their salary. That's a good thing. Sure, people get snarky on internet fourms, but that's just the nature of things.

 

My objection is to DE's bonuses being tied to us spending our time and effort on a process which has very little benefit to our units. Keep in mind this whole JTE discussion began with Basementdewller's DE declaring JTE participation to be "mandatory." This sets up a situation which is ripe for such abuse.

 

If you want to create performance metrics for the professional staff, knock yourselves out. But why are you bothering me?