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  1. Today
  2. DuctTape
    Yep. The finding one's successor is the problem I identified years ago in so many organizations. This doesn't work. It focuses on finding a person. Instead I believe it is better and more effective to focus on one's replacement's replacement. This requires focusing on the system instead of an individual. People come and go, which is why the "find one's successor" most often fails in the long term. It does not sustain itself, it has a single point of failure. When the focus is on creating a system by which leaders are nurtured, recruited and supported then the system itself generates succe
  3. Yesterday
  4. OaklandAndy started following Is Becoming a MB Counselor Worth the Effort?
  5. OaklandAndy
    100% worth it. I taught Rifle/Shotgun during summer camp for 2 years, with some other events outside of camp, and the look on their faces when it "clicks" is satisfying EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. Feed the bureaucracy their paperwork so you, and the scouts, can reap the rewards.
  6. skeptic
    And the obvious fact our small units NEED the adult help is often why we do not get the cubs to join us. They go where the group is larger and has the adults involved more highly and in larger numbers. You can almost see the parents thinking as the politely thank us for the visits.
  7. DannyG started following https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2024/06/04/what-is-the-scouting-edge-here-are-some-key-findings-from-the-latest-research/? and Is Becoming a MB Counselor Worth the Effort?
  8. DannyG
    Yes. It is worth it. I will soon complete my first year as MB counselor. Also ASM for the troop. It is amazing to watch scouts grow, learn new skills, and bring them back to the troop. There seems to be an all-around registration issue going from paper applications to electronic. I am stuck trying to renew. The prompt says to renew in the electronic system but nothing about my MB counselor position is in there.
  9. DannyG
    I found the call to action years ago when I rejoined Cub Scouts with my son. It became apparent that the Pack would quickly fall apart if new parents did not take on any leadership roles. It took me about a year to relearn the program, another year to find a place because we had a dedicated den leader, then we were running the show. Out of 8 youth that joined my son's new den as Tigers, at least 6 of their parents eventually became registered as leaders: Den Leaders/Cubmaster/Committee Chair/COR/Treasurer, etc. I had skills to bring as a former scout. But even parents who had no past experienc
  10. SiouxRanger
    I came to the realization decades ago that the first step upon assuming a role in Scouting was to start looking for a successor. I thought that accomplishing that could take several years. It soon became apparent that my efforts would have scant success in that in a troop of 15 scouts, or so, with two pairs of brothers, leaving 13 pairs of parents as prospects, and subtracting me and the other 3 or 4 parents already active, and subtracting most of the moms who are welcome but show little interest, that left about 8 "eligible/prospective" successors. Of those maybe one or two had been s
  11. Last week
  12. DuctTape
    Yeah, leader burnout is a real thing. this is true in most organizations who fail to have a systematic approach to future leader recruitment and training. This also permeates to the youth; for good and for bad. I have found that the best philosophy for myself is to build the capacity to cultivate your replacement's replacement. This future forward approach requires longer term planning than the typical "find one's replacement". It is difficult for sure. I still have not figured it out completely. I have figured out that just having that principle as the premise helps tremendously as it
  13. Eagledad
    I'm talking about leader burnout. When leaders burnout, the program becomes boring and the scouts leave. Your idea is sound from a marketing perspective, but it doesn't approach the real issue. Barry
  14. SSScout
    I'm not going to try and quote stuff here, but the gist of the survey mentioned may be correct, and the sex abuse settlement may be one of our crosses to bear (reputation?) ,but that is not why kids join Scouting.... Some sort of Scouting. Kids go to school usually because their parents want them to. We (parents !) realize we want our future (kids!) to know stuff. How to read, how to write, how to , as my dad used to say "cipher" . They stay in school, hopefully, because they (the kids ) come to LIKE learning, if it is done well by gifted, talented teachers. It is a challenge to speak,
  15. AltadenaCraig
    @Eagledad Would you agree that given the right messaging, this too presents an opportunity? The messaging would somehow convey to parents it's not only safe & welcome to drop-off your scout, but expected. This inasmuch as it's the scouts' program. As I recall in my Scoutmaster days it took half of my effort to corral parents and separate them from the scouts to give them space. Of course, such a program relies totally on the capabilities and goodwill of SMs, ASMs, & CMs. But I'm thinking for the average parent Scouting should offer a relief from adult burnout.
  16. Eagledad
    I interviewed hundreds of scouts and parents. I narrowed the cause down to adult burnout. I can write paragraphs on how burnout drove out thousands of families, but the the BSA simply lost between 50 to 75 percent of their cub families by crossover. Barry
  17. InquisitiveScouter started following https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2024/06/04/what-is-the-scouting-edge-here-are-some-key-findings-from-the-latest-research/?
  18. InquisitiveScouter
    Romans 3:21-28 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness,
  19. skeptic
    I would suggest that it is a good deal of misinformation and a large dose of negativity by the rabid media. Until we find a way to make it clearer how much good the program supports and can do, and get that in front of the people, it will stay hard. Much of that goes right back to the loss of local news and neighborhood exposure. We had our names in the local papers, and even photos. We had little fear of people knowing we were Scouts, as the negative hype was yet to explode. The issues were still there, but the societal responses were far less vituperative and most understood that was NO
  20. MattR
    Unfortunately that doesn't encourage them to join scouting. I mean, if so many people know the benefits then why aren't they involved? Thats an important paradox to understand. It's just my hunch but maybe people are just parroting what they've heard and really have no idea what Scouting is about. Most scouts, when asked if they are trustworthy, cheerful, friendly, etc, will say yes because the scout law says "a scout is ..." so they must be. I've come to the conclusion that I'm none of those things. I certainly try but I'll never live up to that standard. It's easy when everything
  21. PACAN
    Sooooo. Did they ask any of the 91 or 83% of respondents if they "agree" why they were not joining or if they left the program why?
  22. Eagledad
    I'm not surprised. Go visit all your neighbors and they will say the same thing. This very subject came up several times on the forum during the sex abuse litigation. The high image drives a lot of those who felt the drama from the sexual abuse should have been the last nail in the BSA coffin. A few of those anti-BSA folks are still on this forum and use every chance they can to take a dig at the BSA. But the problem they have is BSA sex abuse media reports are rare, media reports of sex abuse in schools occur almost weekly. The truth is that most of the damage to the BSA image has c
  23. AltadenaCraig
    To me, the light is found on p. 20 of the report, near the bottom. That's where they list "Even non-Scouts agree! Scouting has a positive impact on its members". Specifically these two bullets: 91% of non-alumni adults and 83% of non-Scout youth agree that Scouting helps character development .... and... 81% of non-alumni adults and 82% of non-Scout youth agree that Scouting had a positive impact on its members’ leadership abilities. Just think, in spite of all we've been through, over 9 out of 10 non-alumni adults still agree our movement helps character development. Sh
  24. AwakeEnergyScouter
    Bear Habitat is rank required and wildlife observation is still a required part of the adventure, so I am also unclear on the problem. Personally, I like almost everything I'm seeing, and lot of the new adventures seem like invitations to gamify more outdoors programming to me. I've been focusing on Webelos first, and I see several of the new adventures as ways to get the scouts to get better at outdoors life and scoutcraft. A lot of the requirements seem to split up into plan/prepare for the outings during meetings and then go do outdoor adventure, which is exactly as it should be. There
  25. skeptic started following https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2024/06/04/what-is-the-scouting-edge-here-are-some-key-findings-from-the-latest-research/?
  26. skeptic
    A great survey, but sadly, not necessarily accurate. Like most such things, the data is skewed to the desired outcome. I agree, as most likely recognize, that I Think Scouting can be America's answer still, but this study does not reflect my own community experiences. While bystanders at service events tend to be positive towards our youth and the group, they are usually not representative of the larger public. The negative image created by the overblown media attacks have done serious damage, and unless we find ways to prove otherwise, and also help people realize that the bad things the
  27. Eagle94-A1
    That is the thing, most packs still use a 9 month cycle based upon the school year. In all my years in Scouting, in multiple councils, only 1 pack had a 12 month program, and even then it was modified: instead of weekly meeting, it was biweekly fun activities to have Cubs earn the Summertime Award. In fact the entire reason why that award was created was to give an incentive for packs to remain active in some way over the summer.
  28. Tron
    I think a lot of this comes down to the fact that we all need to swim against the current and when we see or hear about dumb people doing dumb things with firearms we need to make sure the council executive is made immediately aware of things. I totally get that criminally speaking the situation was a misdemeanor; the real question is what has Aloha Council done to fix the total lack of firearm safety within their council? Were all of those low functioning judgement volunteers kicked out of the program? Was the camp ranger and staff fired for letting that happen on their watch?
  29. Tron
    Not required; but part of the rank still, yes. You have whittling for knife safety and you have knots added to the fishing adventure. I am not sure what the complaint is here? If you're running a 12 month program as prescribed you can easily add these adventures and provide the learning experience for the scouts.
  30. Tron
    I think the presentation is good. I'm focusing on the improved YPT training, I think it was a real BIG statement when Glen Pounder pointed out that a council has had zero YPT reports (including near misses); moving to annual training is a big improvement, partnering with homeland security is a thing, right, there's resources there that Scouting America can use to keep kids safe.
  31. swilliams
    Didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so you get an upvote instead.
  32. InquisitiveScouter started following National Annual Meeting NAM May 5-9, 2024 Orlanda
  33. InquisitiveScouter
    If we wanted you to have an opinion, we'd give you ours 😜
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