In the last post, we discussed an important step to take before you embark on the annual rechartering process for your unit. It’s essential, for many reasons, to ensure that everyone that you think is a member of your unit is actually registered with the BSA. The best way to do this is to ask your unit commissioner or district executive to compare your own roster against what they have on file for you, and submit any missing applications before you sign in to begin the rechartering process online. Once you make that initial login, your roster is frozen, and any changes have to be submitted with the charter package. Continue reading “More tips on rechartering”
Get ready to recharter
Each year, each and every part of the Boy Scouts of America must renew its charter, giving it authority to operate for another year. This applies to packs, troops, crews, districts, OA lodges, and even councils. The annual renewal process allows for an opportunity to review a unit’s performance over the previous year, review its membership and leadership, and re-commit to the ideals of Scouting so that we may serve the youth who have come to us seeking fun and adventure. Continue reading “Get ready to recharter”
Engagement
Many observations from management training can be adapted in several ways so we can use them within Scouting. Perhaps this is why Wood Badge is so successful on both fronts: it’s an excellent training program for Scouters but it also helps us in our work and home lives.
Recently, Dan Rockwell wrote in his blog Leadership Freak about a new book by Bob Hancox and Russell Hunter, Coaching for Engagement, and pointed out ways that managers can become coaches and move from managing the process to managing the people Continue reading “Engagement”
The captain of the ship
Making my way through fellow Scouters’ blogs, I’ve recently come across some interesting observations about Committee Chairs and their role in a unit.
In some units (Troops and Packs), the Committee Chair is a figurehead position — a name filled in on the roster so that the charter will go through. Leader meetings are conducted by the Scoutmaster or Cubmaster. In other units, the Committee Chair exists only to call the monthly committee meetings and not much else.
But in reality, the Committee Chair’s job is, in many ways, the most important one in a unit. Continue reading “The captain of the ship”
Are you paying your volunteers well?
In the world of work, we hopefully have a job we enjoy and are prosperous at. The primary reward is a paycheck. But when people volunteer, they do so for many reasons – they believe in the organization and its mission, they want to help provide an experience for their kids and others (like Scouting) or do some good for the community.
So how do we “pay” our volunteers?