What Is the Most IMPORTANT Adult Position to Fill?

[SeattlePioneer 144]

So what is the most important troop or pack adult position to fill --- and why?

 

 

 

[NJCubScouter 1389]

Do you mean, what is the most important to fill with a "good person"? (Or high-quality person, or a person who is going to do the job well, or however you wish to phrase it.) If you literally just meant "filling", that wouldn't be much of a question because (for a troop) you have to have an SM, CC, 2 committee members and a COR just to keep your charter. (The last I knew, for a pack you have to have the corresponding positions PLUS DL's for every grade/age group where you have boys registered.) So all those positions would be "most important" because without them, you literally don't have a unit.

 

Interpreting the question to mean "filled well" and not just "filled", I would go with what is probably the traditional answer and say SM. (For Cubs it is probably the CM, but you can still have den leaders providing a good program to their boys even if the pack as a whole is a little weak.) Obviously the SM needs support from the committee, and some assistants are always nice, but if the SM is not really doing the job it becomes very difficult to have a good troop. I've seen a situation where an SM had to miss a number of meetings and was unable to really focus due to personal issues, and as much as others try to pick up the slack, it is really awkward and difficult to do so, and the result is that the boys really don't get the kind of program they are supposed to get.

[Papadaddy 121]

Parent.

[Oak Tree 15]

I'm with NJCubScouter. The Cubmaster/Scoutmaster is the person that sets so much of the tone, and it's the position where it's hardest to recover from a bad choice.

 

In a pack, a den leader is a big deal. But it's hard for any one den leader to overcome problems at the pack level. Someone has to be organized, and that's normally the Cubmaster.

 

In a troop, there are lots of ASMs, and they can do a fantastic job at filling in various aspects of the leadership positions. If a Scoutmaster is mostly absent, some key ASMs can fill in the role. But if a Scoutmaster takes a direction that makes parents angry, or disillusions the kids, or just lets the organization fall apart, it's hard for anyone else to fix that.

 

In our troop, I think that one of the most important ASM roles to fill would be for the ASM who works with the new Scouts. A good first experience in Scouts can make all the difference at keeping the Scouts involved.

 

After that, I'd say the committee chair, the treasurer, and the equipment coordinator are all important to us.

[Second Class 49]

Oak Tree has a good run down.

What you must have, IMHO, is a SM and CC/COR that share the same vision for what the unit should be. Failing that, you will always struggle.

 

[SR540Beaver 116]

If you follow the plan for how to charter a unit, first you have to have a charter partner, so you have to have an IH who recruits a COR who recruits a CC who recruits the CM or SM. If it is an established unit, the most important adult position to fill is the position that is vacant.

 

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/Media/Relationships/TheNew-UnitProcess.aspx(This message has been edited by sr540beaver)

[SeattlePioneer 144]

My own answer to this question is that the Committee Chair for a pack or troop is the really key person.

 

A good committee chair will be managing the whole program for success, including finding suitable leaders to by CM or SM, and protecting those leaders from being overwhelmed with things to do that should be done by others.

 

Too often I see Committee Chairs that are weak. That burdens the program and usually dumps a lot of stuff on the CM or SM they shouldn't be expected to do.

[SR540Beaver 116]

SP,

 

You are correct. Many units get it backwards and see the SM or CM as the guy in charge. He is......of program. But by the book, he answers to the Committee Chair who is actually over the whole shooting match at the unit level. The SM or CM is just the most visible guy.

[SeattlePioneer 144]

Thank you SR540Beaver,

 

As a Unit Commissioner, I have a pack with a very weak Pack Committee Chair. That has overburdened the Cubmaster and made it tough to find a replacement.

 

I also have a pack where the Pack Committee Chair is highly experienced and has done a terrific job. Not surprisingly, the pack has grown a lot and enjoys great success. Finding a new Cubmaster for this pack isn't too tough, because the job isn't overwhelming and the program keeps chugging along.

 

 

[acco40 95]

Not to be argumentative, but I've seen many folks state But by the book, he answers to the Committee Chair who is actually over the whole shooting match at the unit level.

 

Maybe it's the Scoutmaster in me but I've never interpreted any BSA book to state such. The troop committee does it's "thing" on behalf of the chartered organization. The chartered organization approves all adult leaders. The troop committee's primary responsibility is to support the Scoutmaster in delivering a quality troop program. The committee is supposed to make sure quality adult leaders are recruited and trained. Of course the committee chair is the committee organizer. I see nothing that state a Scoutmaster "reports" to the committee chair. Of course the CC does not report to the Scoutmaster either. Also, neither has the authority to remove the other from the unit.

 

Now, which is the most important adult position? I think if the unit has problematic adults, the CC. If the unit has more problematic youth, the SM.

 

 

[SeattlePioneer 144]

Hello acco,

 

 

The way it worked for me is that I presented and sold my ideas for program to the Troop Committee and we negotiated an agreement as to what the program would be.

 

They then supported the program they agreed to and I aimed to carry it out. The point person I worked with most often was the Committee Chair.

 

Personally, I never had an occasion to decide who worked for who. We cooperated well enough that that was never an issue.

 

The same applied when I was recently Cubmaster for two years. One of my tasks in rebuilding a pack that had been down to a single boy was training a new Committee Chair, who has done a good job after some time in grade to learn on the job.

[acco40 95]

I agree, if a unit is struggling with "who's the boss" the unit is doomed. I don't disagree with you providing, as acourtesy to the committee, your ideas for program. That helps grease the wheel for getting their support. However, I do feel that it was a courtesy, not mandatory. It is not the committee's responsibility to approve or disapprove the program that the youth, in conjunction with your guidance, develop. The only extent of their approval/disapproval is to make sure you are carrying out the policies and regulations of the BSA.

 

I had a great relationship with our CC. I used to tease him and state that during the annual planning meeting, the youth leaders decided that we would be going to summer camp at Camp Pupukea in February and it was the committee's responsibility to support that decision and make that happen. It just so happens, by coincidence, that this Michigan resident found the idea of spending time in Oahu during the winter a sound decision.

[Chairman1 10]

Keep the politics out of the unit. We are in it for the Scouts. Support the SM or CM or DL

[mdlscouting 10]

In Cub Scouts, there are only two real roles for adult volunteers. Den Leaders, everyone else, who are there primarily to assist Den Leaders.

 

I'm a CM myself, and administratively I probably do more than any one of the Den leaders. But, 3/4 of the scouting the boys see is from their individual Den Leader. To the cub scouts, their Den Leader Is the most important adult in the pack, and has a lot more to do with providing a quality program to that boy than I do.

 

My biggest role as CM is to make sure the Den Leaders are ready, equipped, and have what they need to deliver a quality scouting program to the kids in their den.

 

[5yearscouter 52]

Well the saying is, those who do the hiring can do the firing.

The CC and the COR approve everyone else's applications. Usually the CC is finding the person to fill a position and the COR is rubber stamping it, cause most COR's are mostly absent from their position except the signature. In some units, with stronger COR's they MAY be the ones finding people to fill positions, but most will delegate it to the CC, and the CC can further delegate it to a committee of parents or leaders to choose new leaders--like CM or SM.

 

so technically the SM/CM is the unit leader of program side, CC is leader of committee side, but the CC has more power cause they CAN replace the SM/CM with approval of the COR.

 

Now as to the actual op,

if you want to have a good healthy unit, you need a good CM/SM and CC. But it's possible for a boy to get a LOT out of scouting if they have an excellent Den leader or patrol leader. In cub scouts I've been excellent den leaders run program effectively when there was barely anything at the pack level, planning events, getting awards, doing fundraisers where there really wasn't a pack. In boy scouts it would be mighty difficult for a patrol leader to do that, so the SM becomes even more important, and yes, I've seen SM's that do the same thing, get awards, plan events(with the boy's help) and the committee doesn't really do anything.