"But Isn't that a DEMOTION??"
Settummanque, the blackeagle ("MAJ)
Sun, 4 Jul 1999 16:19:30 -0500
Recently, on both Scouts-L and Embers, Scouters have reacted to the POSSIBLE
exchange of national professional leadership and the transfers of several
key national professional Scouters from the National Offices of the BSA to
various local Councils to serve as those Council's lead professional (called
the Scout Executive in most Councils; some have the title Council Executive;
I call them all generically "Council Scout Executives"). Each Council has
only ONE "Council Scout Executive", whom provides continuity to the BSA's
program in a geographic area, supported by his or her volunteer teams.
(I've previously addressed the POSSIBLE change in national professional
leadership and stated this MAY or MAY NOT OCCUR; my best "hunch" is that it
won't occur until the execution of the 90th Anniversary program in November,
if then; this is our current Chief's "prized personal project" and I am sure
that he would want to see and participate in it through the national
anniversary date next winter...)
A lady wrote me privately and asked a very good question; she didn't want
her name mentioned because she thought that she was asking an "embarassing
question" -- for herself (a new Scouter, she admits) as well as those
Councils "getting those people":
>...isn't those people that used to work at National and now going back to
>the Council, isn't that a demotion of sorts? Why would a professional
>want to work at a Council level again after working for years at >National?
I thought the goal for professionals was to get out of the
>Council and work your way up the ladder. They must not have done
>a good job.
*smiling*
On the contrary, working at the Council level is something that EVERY
professional aspires to. Every professional member of the BSA SHOULD be
looking at serving as a Council Scout Executive before he or she retires,
and many do.
But they can't stay in the same Council from the time they become a District
Executive, through being a Field or other Director, to being an Associate or
Assistant Scout Executive to being the "top dawg" at that Council. The
BSA's professional development program doesn't allow that and it's for great
reasoning, if you think about it a bit.
No, the transferrance of a professional from the National office (or from
its four Regional offices) to serve as Scout Exec of a Council is A GREAT
THING. Why?
First, understand that when a professional serves at the Regional or
National level, it is not so much a "promotion" as it is "professional
development" of that person. Each professional comes into the program and
is developed initially to think "field services", as a District or program
(Exploring now Venturing, camping, finance, etc.) Executive.
Later, he or she hones those basic skills by working in areas related to
their "core interest", or "support services".
A successful District Executive whom wants to "key in on" camping programs,
for instance, may work as a staffer at Philmont or one of the other three
national outdoor adventure bases for a couple of years, and then return to a
Council somewhere as a Camping or Program Director. Then, a few years later,
he or she may be "promoted" to a larger Council with an even larger camping
or programming staff. Then, he or she may opt to serve on the National
staff as a camping services director or associate director, or with
something related to the camping and outdoors operation (he or she may, for
instance, serve as the National Director of the Order of the Arrow,
Scouting's national honorary grouping).
Then, as a Council Scout Executive position comes open, in the place he or
she wants to work in, he may choose to return back to a Council to gain that
"key position", if he is selected. Some professionals wait at the National
or Regional level for "that right Council" 's Scout Executive to quit,
retire or become selected for another position so that "they can make their
move back home."
Scout Executives move from smaller Councils to larger Councils, to
eventually one of the BSA's "top 25 Councils" as time goes onward,
alternating their time between Council and Regional/National service, or
directly from one "class" of Council to a larger "class" or another one of
the same "class" but in a different part of the country. By then, they are
looking at Regional Director or Chief Scout Executive service or retirement.
The Chief Scout Executive has "traditionally" come from one of the BSA's top
25 local Councils (by unit numbers, program depth and membership). And
every Scout Executive's goal is to get their Council in that "top 25", which
increases the entire staff (and in particular his or her chances) of being
the next Chief Scout Executive of the BSA.
Much of this movement also has to do with personal preference. Every few
years or so, professionals are asked by their supervisors and peers where
they want to go to next. Like the military, there are vacancies which MUST
be filled by a particular "type" or "speciality" of professional and there
are other vacancies which can be filled by ANYONE willing to serve there.
And also, *grinning heavily* there are some locations that NOBODY wants to
work at (explaining the problem that some Councils have of "not being able
to keep a Council Scout Executive too long....they either retire or quit, or
move on to another place no sooner than we get them!)
So when you read here about a particular national director leaving the
National team for a local Council, be assured that it is NOT a "demotion" or
because he or she "didn't do a good job" at National. Likewise, don't always
assume that just because someone got "promoted to go to National" to serve
as an associate director or director that it is because "they did such a
great job, that National now wants them". It could be that they couldn't
stand being around "field volunteers" and want to see if the "air is better
from up at Irving than it is down here."
Thanks for your question. You've helped a lot of other Scouters to
understand what's going on here, and our fascination with what our
professional counterparts are doing (and who's going where, always important
to all of us! *smiling*)
Settummanque!
-----
(MAJ) Mike L. Walton (settummanque, the blackeagle)
http://www.mninter.net/~blkeagle
Joint Information Bureau Deputy Director
US SOUTHCOM FCE (Enhanced New Horizons)
APO Miami, AA 34042 (Soto Cano AB, Honduras)
personal inquiries via kyblkeagle@aol.com,
blackeagle@SCOUTER.net or blkeagles@hotmail.com
professional inquiries via fcepa@jtfb-emh1.army.mil or
waltonmi@usarc-emh2.army.mil
-----FORWARD in service to youth and the nation-----
