How does your Council reach out to new Leaders

[OldGreyEagle 5]

oops

 

I didnt mean to imply that the professional scouters had any obligation to welcome new leaders, or that they didnt either for that manner.

 

my point was when terms like "Council" and "Disrict" are used I cant always follow if its the Professionals or Volunteers or both that are suspect.

 

I apologize for my obtuesness

[Bob White 20]

Fotoscout

 

Something you need to be aware of. national did not "place" your SE there. Your executive board hired him.

 

The Council determines who is promotable, but the selection and hiring is done locally by the Council Executive Committee. The SE was not thrust upon you, you invited him in.

 

Bob White

[Bob White 20]

My error. I meant to sat that National determines who is promotable, and the local council executive committee select and hire.

BW

[fotoscout 15]

Bob, I did not know that. In real life does the council have complete autonomy in hiring the SE, or does National and Regional put pressure on the council to hire someone who they have pre selected for the job?

 

 

 

[Gidget 10]

Ok - this brings up an incredible pet peeve of mine. I work on the district level. I'm on the district committee and a member of the Cub Scout RT staff. I also am a trainer for our district training committee.

 

I am so sick of complaints from people that don't hear anything from the district or council but don't bother to come to Roundtable, the main source of information from the district and council. I'm tired of ongoing discussings with committee chairs and cubmasters who don't push training, and tell their leaders that they don't need to bother to go to Roundtable, and then aren't able to figure out why their packs are weak, they lose boys and they can't get anyone to volunteer.

Our council sends out mailings to registered leaders. - A newsletter, and appropriate mailings for upcoming activities. If you're a Webelos leader you'll get mailings for Webelos camp. But all other mailings go to the CM and CC. They are expecting them to get the information out to the leaders. Does that always happen? No. A lot of CC's and CM's decide on their own what opportunities they'll let people know about. And, mind you, our newsletter goes to REGISTERED leaders. At cub training I find that maybe 1/3 of the people attending are registered.

Sometimes it literally feels like as a volunteer I battle other volunteers to try to get the program to work. It bites!

 

 

[Bob White 20]

In most cases the council is presented with 3 candidates. If the selection committee rejects all three, then three more are presented. Rarely does a council feel the need to interview more that three others. Keep in mind that the people applying have already been through a screening at the national level and are considered to be ready for the position they are applying for. As in any occupation there is no guarantee of a perfect employee, but more often than not SE's have earned the position.

 

Bob White(This message has been edited by Bob White)

[dsteele 20]

Bob white is not only correct, he is giving you knowledge significantly beyond what most volunteers know. My usual handicap is now becomming a disabiilty, so I can post no further this evening.

 

Thakns, Bob. Keep up the good work.

 

 

DS

[Twocubdad 665]

Back to the original question:

 

As everyone has pointed out, care and feeding of a new leader is primarily the responsibility of the unit. But what's wrong with building some redundancy into the system?

 

In addition to the list of things Bob suggested the unit can do, what would be wrong with adding the following:

 

-- a letter from the SE or Council president welcoming the new leader along with a copy of last month's newsletter.

 

-- a similar letter from the District commissioner inviting the leader to Roundtable and briefly describing the commissioners' purpose.

 

-- a letter from the district or council training chair with a list of training requirements and training award scordcard for the specific position and a schedule of upcoming training opportunites.

 

I'm not suggesting the SE sit down and personally write 400 letters. Obviously these are form letters and getting them mailed can be staffed-out. But not only are you welcoming the new leader, but you've put in their hands the few key pieces of info they need to have reinforced and/or given the first time if the unit failed to do so.

 

[Overtrained 10]

Let me clarify my previous post. The postcard I spoke of is attached to a new leader application at Join Scouting Night. The register at the office gives these to the program assistant who mails it out to the district training chairs. The new leader can also mail them directly to the scout office.

 

We also have the register gives the district copies of the adult application to the DE after they have been entered with the "Unique ID number" My district register then enters that in our district data base. That is how we're able to call all new leaders, not just the Cub Scouters who get the postcard.

 

I hope this didn't muddy the waters. If someone would like a copy of our ACCESS training database for districts, send me a private email and I'll forward it to you.