Direction

During my first few months I have meet with a Scout Masters, Cub Masters and other Scout Leaders to hear directly from them about their opinion regarding the state of the council. I conducted many meetings at Massasoit, Storer and throughout the districts. I facilitated the discussion through an exercise I’ve come to appreciate in other aspects of my Scouting career. The exercise creates consensus and direction while answering a single question. The question I asked “What can be done to help Scouting thrive in your community?” I encouraged the participants to think granularly and globally when thinking about “their community.”

I am committed to a high quality of program and service delivery; however, I cannot set the course. I am, after all, a servant leader. As much as it is “my council,” I am just your custodian. The council and all its assets belong to the Scouting Community. Scouting will NOT die even if councils do. That is clear. However, Scouting may become something of an Edsel. A popular car in its day, you can still find a few on the road, they are owned by eccentric, unique car collectors. Those individuals have a passion for a brand that has all but faded into memory.

The results of these meetings will help the council choose the direction that is consistent with the needs of Scouting’s most critical volunteers. (volunteers "on the ground") The decision making process is complicated by the limited resources available. I am dedicated to the public transparency of our resource allocation. If we are all going to share in the ownership of this council and its resources, then it is critical to get all our Scout volunteers “on the same page.”

Your answers have been very insightful. Often common sense is just that COMMON. Creating a direction for the council is the easy part because we all generally agree, and the further back we stand the clearer the picture becomes. Your top priorities for Scouting are:
Internal Communication: 91% this is often categorized with comments around the web site, consistency, (events being cancelled / or late announcements) difficulty acquiring answers.

Visibility / Marketing: 87% this topic is reflects comments about our image, and our presence in the community, both from a public relations standpoint, and a mass media presence.

Recruitment: 80% this topic is reflective in both Youth and adults. It often shows up as a need to make Scouting more accessible to parents: (Drop off parent syndrome) and for boys (Scouting should be cool).

Resource Allocation or “Council” Service: 79% this very broad topic is difficult to articulate, it is however, so consistently mentioned and impassioned that it requires sincere evaluation and adjustments. As I continued to respond to what everyone was trying to say I came up with two responses that seem to resonate with the feelings in the crowd.
1. Value Statement: I started asking the question, when you make a $1 contribution to Scouting (Boston Minuteman Council) How much of that $1 goes to ‘pay the debt?’ the answers have ranged from $.70 to $.40 – WOW! I then inform folks that roughly $.05 goes to pay the mortgage. In addition to shock, the deeper effect of the realization is an understanding for every $1 contributed our volunteer only receives $.30 - $.60 in value.
2. Council decision making process: I’ve drawn a simple illustration to show the council situation. With our extremely limited resources the multitude of options creates confusion. Governance (your board) has the 30,000 foot view, and is charged with seeing the options and, through me, setting the course. Trust and communication between all the folks “on the ground” and the Board (airplane) is crucial for setting the right course.



Camp and Outdoor Program: 69% this topic ranged from some granular observations about summer camp – to the global need to help Scout families appreciate the value of the outdoor program, in turn increase participation.

I’ve posted a simple chart to see the results of each conversation. To calculate the % I simply assigned a point to each answer 10 points for the highest priority 1 point for the lowest and calculated the average.

Where do we go from here?
Choosing the road(s) to travel is crucial to our ongoing success. Each “road” (council initiative) should help us gather additional resources, provide consistent and effective communication, increase trust, provide value to the “folks on the ground” and set Scouting up to be even stronger for our continuing journey. Because of our limited resources we must choose projects that wrap several priorities together.

Example, The Council Camporee: This event has such an ability to enhance a Scouts experience. Yet, the committee running the event reluctantly agreed that it was not coming together to fulfill its mission. We can (and will) however, re-schedule that event and focus our combined energy into increased communication, providing visibility, develop a recruitment / retention aspect to the event, and enhance packs and troops outdoor experience. That would serve four of the top five priorities set by our unit level volunteers.

We will host several meetings to “bundle” and “match” your priorities with council resources. The first three meetings focus on older Scouts: outdoor program, communication, marketing and retention. (September 22, 28 and 30) I’ll continue to use this online space to keep everyone informed. More opportunities to interact with the decision making process will follow.

Thanks for your patience, as always feel free to comment.