If only

[Eamonn]

I know that there are times when I'm not the brightest light on the Christmas Tree.

I read the two threads about the District Commish and the Cub Master and I found myself being kinda confused and my head was spinning.

To be honest I didn't get a lot out of them and didn't post anything due to this confusion.

As I read some of the replies I couldn't help but think that the answers were based on Scouting and the BSA should or might work in a world where everything was in place.

If everything and everyone done and was doing things the way the good books say that they should be done.

I do not, at least most of the time? Have a problem doing things the way the good books say and suggest that they should be done.

But...

The truth is I've seen a lot of times and places where for lots of different reason things are not done "By the book."

Sometimes this is due to someone who has some sort of power thinking that his or her way will and does work better than what the good books suggest.

Sometimes things have to be done the way they are done just because there are reasons why they need to be done that way.

Used to be when someone had a problem the easy answer was to tell that person to have a chat with their U/C.

The sad fact is that in the area where I live there are less then seven U/C's for 68 units.

District Commissioner has become a title handed out to some poor smuck who will get lumbered with ensuring charters are in and any idea of Commissioner Service is long gone.

District Committees? Are a joke.

They consist of a bunch of old timers who maybe should have been put out to pasture long ago? These well intentioned few, wear too many hats and spend way too much time looking back talking about the way things used to be.

 

The good books seem to work on the idea that Scouts and Scouting is like the Field Of Dreams, with people just waiting to volunteer and take on tasks.

If only that were true.

Parents today are both working.

Many don't work Monday -Friday 9 till 5.

Their kids are involved in other activities along with Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting.

Local business people are fighting to survive, they don't have the time or the money to support local Scouting like we seen in them good old days.

They can't take the time to attend endless meetings and plan FOS campaigns.

In many schools the mention of the BSA brings up fear of repercussions from groups who are unhappy with the BSA.

School night happens when schools are busy.

Busy with setting up after school activities and school programs.

Making time for Scouting volunteers to come in and do boy talks and have teachers hand out yet another flier is a pain.

 

While many of us forum members have a real passion for Scouts and Scouting.

I sometimes wonder if we really understand what's really happening in the real world?

What the young parents of that cute little Tiger Cub is going through?

The good books are great, but if only we had the manpower to make it all work the way the good books say.

Maybe the time has come for us to look at other youth organizations and see how they get things done?

Maybe the time has come for us to say and admit that we just don't have the people to do things as they are now set up.

Maybe we are not using the people who are willing to volunteer in the places where they can do the most good?

Maybe they look at old codgers like me and think "I never want to end up like him!"

Eamonn

 

[Twocubdad]

You're absolutely right, E. I've sometimes thought that the badge for completing leader training should be a pair of rose-colored glasses.

 

[DeanRx]

Went to an annual planning meeting on Saturday with scout son for his Troop. Boy led, they have some challenges, but all in all its a good group.

 

Well, they start in deciding what the unit wants to do over the course of the next year and a half...

 

Many times, the adults in attendance had to stop the lads and ask them to THINK about how realistic the activity was or how much it would COST and how the funding would appear.

 

I think much of the time with adults as well as kids - people wish to do big things. Its great to plan and dream big. If you don't, then you'll never really challenge yourself to do more than you think you can.

 

However, that pesky reality often rises up. I see it in business plans, in church councils, in BSA units. We're going to do X,Y,Z this year... um, yeah... with what additional people and with what additional budget?

 

The idea that most of the folks sitting around the table making the choice are already at their limit (both in vol time and disposable income) to do much more without eliminating something else off the agenda.

 

Its great to want to do things, but you must have the manpower and $$ to do those additional things. It is often overlooked or even moreso, taken into account, but the reality of the logistics is minimized.... "Oh, that'll just cost $50 more per scout and 2 more aduly vols to go along." When in reality, it costs $200 more per scout and you need 3 to 4 adult vols and you get 1 to step up! Then everyone is disappointed that the plan didn't work out. Its not that the plan failed, its that you failed to plan in reality!

 

Its a symptom of our entire nation. Goverments put out new laws and mandates without funding HOW they are going to enforce it. Companies try to WILL increased sales out of their staff with no additional $$ for marketing or new product or additional salespeople. Volunteer units overestimate their fundraising and underestimate the vol hrs needed to pull off an event ALL THE TIME~!

 

Does it mean we are bad people? No. Does it mean we are setting ourselves up for failure? Maybe. Does it mean it'll be harder than last year to pull off a quality program, YES. But its also in those small incremental reaches past what we think can be done, that economies, and nations and scouts actually expirience GROWTH.

[Eamonn]

SeattlePioneer

While I have friends who are professional Scouter's, coming from the UK I know and have been part of a Scouting organization which works well without professionals.

A couple of years back part of the strategic plan of the BSA stated that we would recruit a million more volunteers.

As we all know these plans are little more than a wish list.

 

When I looked at the two threads that dealt with the District Commish and the Cub Master, the replies seemed to assume that the District where this was all happening operated as the BSA thinks a District should work.

I think that I was very lucky when I was serving as a District Commissioner and later as a District Chair. That I live in a place where the BSA is looked upon with friendly eyes and where old time traditional values are still in place.

Finding parents who were willing to tag along with their kid, serving as Den Leaders, ASM'S was never a problem. Asking and finding people to fill a spot on a committee was hard work.

To do things the way the BSA suggests they be done means that we need another million volunteers. But that just isn't happening.

We need to take a long hard look at:

How we select/recruit volunteers.

What we need them to do.

What they are willing to do.

 

I can sell someone the idea that they will serve on a Membership Committee that will meet 3 times and put an all out effort into two weeks work a year.

I can recruit four or five people who will donate a large sum of money and each ask three or four friends to do the same.

When the District calendar is being put together the Chairman can ask a couple of people to take care of the Camporee and people to take care of the training's.

Other than ESBOR's what else does the Advancement Committee really do?

 

I think the time I spent sitting on different committees that did next to nothing was a real waste of my time, Especially when more got done in the parking lot after the meeting or when we met for an adult beverage later.

 

Long before Units started worrying about the guy from the District coming to push popcorn sales or FOS, the units in the area where I live worried that the District was trying to poach their best leaders and adults.

Ea.

 

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello Eamonn,

 

 

>

 

My presumption has been that the "Scouting Alumni" are the presumed cadre of new leaders envisioned by the strategic plan.

 

 

>

 

 

As a district membership chair myself, I there are some packs that can find leaders to carry out their own pack recruiting plan.

 

Most of the rest depend on myself or the District Executive to do much of that work for them.

 

In eight years as district membership chair, I haven't found anyone willing to join me in becoming a skilled person to help units with recruiting or the wide variety of other things a membership committee should be doing, such as assisting with the Webelos-to Scout-Transition.

 

Ideally the District Executive would be doing little or no direct service himself, even for recruiting and Friends of Scouting. He OUGHT to be concentrating of recruiting volunteers to do that work, but volunteers are too hard to come by these days.

 

Sad, but that's what I see.

 

 

[Lisabob]

You know, I was a district membership chair on two different occasions. The first time, nobody told me - my name was on a piece of paper, but it was news to me. (At the time, I thought this was a rare occurrence - now I know better.) The second time, I actually agreed to do it & kept the position for a couple of years. I backed out when it became a 40+ hour a week job. Just couldn't do that, and got very little help from anybody, but took all the blame if we didn't hit membership targets that were set by somebody way above me without ever having consulted me.

 

To be honest, there were many things I could see needed doing that were pretty simple. Many of these were system-wide, by which I mean that with one plan, we could have a positive impact for many units, rather than doing triage for individual units. I would have been happy to do some of them, even if it meant doing them by myself.

 

Things like: doing a round-up kick off and training night for district cub packs; developing a district webelos-scout transition guide and program; developing a standard letter for contacting dropped scout families with info about other units in their area and encouraging them to rejoin; establishing a recruiting presence at community events; developing a district plan for starting up venturing crews, etc.

 

So we did all of those. I even got a little bit of help on some of them. Some of them even worked pretty well, although others (district plan for venturing crews) flopped.

 

But when "membership" also morphed into "unofficial UC" for the entire district because if we lost a unit or a bunch of people dropped from a dysfunctional unit, I had to make up those #s, it got to be a bit much.

 

When "membership" suddenly meant "you need to attend all the district RTs, district membership mtgs, council membership mtgs, district committee mtgs, go on calls to businesses who might support the cost of starting up new units, meet with the district field director routinely, have the district exec. on speed dial, be in the roughly 50 elementary schools in the district to hand out fliers at lunch time; and also actively find and develop new leads for new packs in towns of 30,000 that already have 10 cub packs," I couldn't do all of that.

 

When I started getting harassing calls from a certain field director (who wasn't even in my district) at home at night, asking whether I'd called so-and-so from such-and-such or why I hadn't blanket-signed-up every head start kid in the county for a Tiger den without ever having met them or their parents, and *telling* (sigh) me that I would use evenings in the week around Christmas to drive to leaders' houses unannounced to inquire if they had any stray completed (or even mostly blank) registration forms under the couch cushions, well, I admit some of my responses weren't entirely polite.

 

Then I thought: "These people are crazy." And "When do they think I should do my paying job?" And "I've forgotten what my family looks like." And "Now I see why they have such a hard time keeping a district membership chair."

 

So anyway, I finally stopped doing it - any of it. It didn't seem possible to just help out with something specific, without people trying to dump the whole thing back on me.

 

The point, I guess, is this: Eamonn is right, we don't use our volunteers very efficiently. We don't give them clearly defined tasks, or the tools with which to do their jobs, and we don't resist the urge to pile onto them. And so we turn off people who would have been happy to do something, but who don't want to get suckered.

 

If we ran our packs/troops/crews/ships/whatevers this way, they'd fall apart (and we all have seen this). So why do we allow for our districts and councils to be this way, at least on the volunteer side? And why do many of us perpetuate the myth that, really, everything is totally functional?

 

 

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello Lisabob,

 

 

>

 

 

Wow! You REALLY got sand bagged with all the demands made on you!

 

 

I haven't been sandbagged with demands. I decide for myself what my activities and goals will be as district membership chair. I've offered to meet with the DE annually to jointly set membership goals we could both work on, but that hasn't always been of interest to the DE.

[Eagledad]

>>If we ran our packs/troops/crews/ships/whatevers this way, they'd fall apart (and we all have seen this). So why do we allow for our districts and councils to be this way, at least on the volunteer side? And why do many of us perpetuate the myth that, really, everything is totally functional?

[Beavah]

Yah, I agree with everybody!

 

I think we have made da program way too complicated, bureaucratized, and specialized. For both the boys and adults, but especially the adults. It's why I got down on Blue Cards a while back, eh? I'm just not convinced we need a system that requires 6 different people to handle paperwork to give kid an award. They can be Valedictorian or Varsity MVP with less bureaucracy.

 

The reason we dont use our leaders very efficiently is because we dont match their personal skills with their responsibilities.

 

If there is any one rule that should be stapled to the forehead of every adult involved in Scoutin', this is it. It's not about following books to the letter. It's about findin' the right people to do important tasks, and sometimes reconfigurin' the task to match da skills of the person. The SPL doesn't have a job description. The SPL has a troop to lead, and needs to figure out how to set things up so that he does things that he's best at, and find an ASPL and other leaders to do things that he's not as good at.

 

Same with troop and district and council adults.

 

Beavah

 

[Eamonn]

" so we turn off people who would have been happy to do something, but who don't want to get suckered" -How very true!

 

"Hi Mrs Jones, thanks for volunteering to be a Den Leader. Here is the directions to the Council Service Center you'll need to go there and buy a uniform and once a month pick up the pins, beads and badges that you will need. Then there's the directions to where we have the monthly Leaders meeting, we also have the Pack Committee meetings there, you don't really have to attend but it's the only chance that you'll get to see the treasurer and get reimbursed for any money you spend. The monthly Round table meeting is a must that's held in the church hall. Because of the problems we have had in the past we do ask that you don't bring any children with you. But it's a good time and a lot of fun. I'll contact you later with the dates of the training's, the Halloween party the pop corn sale and by the way how much can I say that your willing to donate to the FOS?"

 

Ea.

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello Barry,

 

 

>

 

 

Actually, I do a good deal of recruiting adult leaders as well as youth. The "Was I too BOLD?" thread illustrates how I helped a unit recruit a new Cubmaster and Committee Chair after the departing Cubmaster was ready to give up.

 

I recruited a new Cub Scout Roundtable Commissioner to take over from me recently.

 

Unfortunately, few people seem ready to devote themselves to the work of district membership chair. Only about four of sixteen or so districts in my council have membership chairs.

 

 

Still, my skills at getting additional adult leaders is mediocre --- I have to mostly plead guilty as charged. A person with more talent in that direction would do better than I, but I am the only one available.

 

 

>

 

 

I experienced that as well. I identified failing units and sent anguished e-mails to the District Commissioner and District Executive --- I never got a reply to any of them, and they mostly failed, except for the one I've been working to rebuild the past four years.

 

 

As I understand it, the District Chair is supposed to be a skilled and outstanding community leader --- not necessarily a skilled Scouter. Our district mostly recycles skilled Scouters as district leaders, but they tend to lack the contacts and skills that are really needed to bring new leaders into the district.

 

 

[BS-87]

Eagledad's right!

 

Being lazy forces a person to get by in life by developing other skills than actually being a contributor.

 

So long as you learn quick, recruit well, and delegate everything with precise communication; what more could anyone want in a leader?

[Oak Tree]

what more could anyone want in a leader?

 

Well, just a wee bit more. I want them to be able to make good decisions on what to do in the first place, and I'd like them to make good decisions when they are down in the trenches doing stuff with me.

 

But in general, yes, I think the traits you list are key ones for a good leader.

 

And like Beavah, I agree with everyone too. I love reading Lisabob's and Eagledad's experiences - not because those particular ones have happened to me, but because the descriptions are honest, and true, and highlight exactly how the system is set up to work.

 

It's clearly absolutely essential to recruit and delegate. And you really really benefit from matching people to jobs. Beyond that, the problem is with the system in the first place. I am quite frankly amazed that we get volunteers at the district level at all. Who wants to be a membership chair? And part of the reason that it's hard to find people to help at that level is because it doesn't align with anything that's important to them. I think it's hard to get enthusiastic about keeping the district membership numbers up. And setting up training sessions? Teaching a class can be fun, but doing all the logistical coordination behind the scenes on a volunteer basis over a long period of time?

[Eagledad]

>>Actually, I do a good deal of recruiting adult leaders as well as youth. The "Was I too BOLD?" thread illustrates how I helped a unit recruit a new Cubmaster and Committee Chair after the departing Cubmaster was ready to give up.

[Eagledad]

>>Being lazy forces a person to get by in life by developing other skills than actually being a contributor.