VP Council Operations - Judging Success

[skucount 10]

I will soon be the VP of Council Operations.

 

Any advice? If you were to list the 3 main goals of this position what would they be? How should I or others measure my success at the end of the year?

[Eamonn 61]

We have a Council Vice-President of Operations. He is a very nice chap,before taking on operations he was the Council Camping Chair and before that the High Adventure Chair. He is a very busy fellow in the real world he owns a very successful business, which keeps him really busy.

I have never really worked out what he is supposed to do!! I have yet to read the job description for the position.

I look at what he does as being the person that the District Key3 turns to for help and advise. We as a district key3 oversee the operations of the District. Membership, Finance,Program and Commissioner Service. The Council has a long term plan, which needs to be explained to us. The Council has a budget and we as a District have to raise our share of the money to help make ends meet. The Council has membership needs that we have to help meet.

We used to have about 4 meetings a year to look at how things were going and where we were going. Sad to say we have only met once this year, there is a meeting on the calender for later this month, but I hear it has been canceled.

While we (Me) do tend to look at Quality District as being the "Big Goal" that we go for. This might not be what the Council needs. We might be happy trying to end the year with plus one in membership, but one of the other Districts might have suffered some kind of set back and if the Council is going to make Quality Council we might have to look at setting a bigger goal.

I really don't like or want to fight with the Scout Executive about our District Finance Goals. It tends to become a him and I fight. I think that I know what is going on in the District and can set goals that are realistic. I think that he only sees the need for the money. I would much sooner take the him and I out of it and attend a meeting where I can explain why we have come up with the amounts that we have, explain what help we need from the professional Staff or the Board.Maybe one of the other Districts could look at doing a little more so that the money is still going to be there.

I see the Council Vice President of Operations as being the "COR" that links the Districts to the Council. His main job would be ensuring that there are open lines of communication between the Districts and the Council. There are times when the Council fails in its duty to support the Districts and we District Guys get very upset. For example our Council Membership Committee has not met in 13 months. We now have the professionals running around doing all sorts of stuff, their expectation is that we will support them 100%. But they are now telling us what they want and what they want done. I have a problem with this, as some of what they are trying to do is just plain wrong and I do not want anything to do with it!! Also if these guys are doing all this without any input from us, what ever happened to the idea of this being a partnership? I do not agree that they should say "Jump" and we ask "How High?".

Measuring success is difficult. Everything would come down to the plan:

1/Where do we want to go from here?

2/What things will we do when we get there?

3/When will these things occur?

4/ What will each person do?

While the meetings are important, the real work is the stuff that happens between the meetings. Making sure that each person is completing the tasks that they undertook is very important.

Knowing and sharing where do we want to go from here? So that people buy into and feel that they have ownership of the plan is a very big job and does fall down to the leader.

In our Council the Council Vice President of Operations also takes responsibility for presenting the District Training Workshop.

One big thing that I forgot to add to the list is : How will we know when we have got there?

The goals will come from what your vision and mission are.

The top three skills I see that you will need to employ are:

1/ Communication.

2/ Intelligent Planning.

3/ Making people accountable for completing assigned tasks. (Leadership.)

Good Luck in your new position, under your leadership the Council could reach new heights and do more to serve the youth in your area.

Eamonn.