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William Garrett

William Garrett
Member since : Oct-26-2008 (Verified)
1 Ideas, 2 Comments, 138 Votes

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Ideas Posted

I believe a lot of our issues could be solved if we teach volunteers how to identify, recruit and train other volunteers. Part of the process should include recognition/incentives (I know that we have a recruiter patch already-but the following idea goes a little further). In our council, we are thinking about an experimental knot to provide recognition for volunteers that distinguish themselves in recruiting and to have a little fun in the process. Here's the idea:

The Scout Executive’s Recruiter’s Knot

The Scout Executive’s Recruiter’s Knot is awarded to Scouters that distinguish themselves in the area of recruiting and training new adult volunteers at the unit, district, and council level. The award consists of a figure of eight knot on a red background. The knot and border will be white, silver, or gold depending on the number of volunteers recruited.

Qualifications
A registered Scouter may earn the Scout Executive’s Recruiter’s Knot by identifying, recruiting, and training three or more adult volunteers over a 12 month period. New recruits must have been approved by the appropriate individual(s) prior to being recruited, must accept an assignment to a committee and agree to serve at least 12 consecutive months, and must complete training for their position.

Unit Level Volunteers All unit level volunteers must be approved by the unit committee and chartering organization.

District Level Volunteers Approved by the district nominating committee and district chairman or district commissioner.

Council Level Volunteers Approved by the committee chair and vice-president for committee members. In the case of board members, individuals must be approved by the council nominating committee and council key 3 and must be elected by the current board.

Award Levels

White Figure of Eight For recruiting, training, and engaging three volunteers in a 12 month period.

Silver Figure of Eight For recruiting, training, and engaging five volunteers in a 12 month period.

Gold Figure of Eight For recruiting, training, and engaging seven volunteers in a 12 month period.

Each knot award will also include a framed certificate.

The Scout Executive will review and approve all applications and personally present the award at an appropriate occasion.
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Comments Posted

William Garrett 3 months ago
"First who and then what" is the phrase that Jim Collins uses to describe how great organizations/leaders work. Our organization needs to take time to indentify the "right" volunteers then work with them to define how to accomplish great things. Getting our staff to focus on becoming great leaders (not necessiarly great doers) is vital.

For example, some of the critical achievements I've seen in the past only reflected a desired outcome.....raise X dollars or have X in membership with little or no mention of engaging volunteers. By our nature, we sometimes take the path of least resistance and "do it ourselves". Performance objectives for field staff and goals for executive board/district committee members in recruiting, training, and engaging volunteers is key if we want to change our culture.

In our council, we are in the process of changing the way we conduct fall roundups. First and foremost, we are educating volunteers on things like market share, unit gaps, and pack-troop relationships. I have found that they have not seen this data before (or it wasn't prioritized) and engaging them in dialogue is the first step. We also define membership to include volunteer membership as well.

We are asking for their help too. This year, we are asking that all Cub roundups be attended by at least 3 district volunteers to help and to learn the process. As district volunteers they need to help provide SERVICE to our units. It's amazing what volunteers will do if only asked. Our plan is for 2009 to be a training year that will yeild solid teams for 2010.

Longer term, we are looking to engage our charter partners in our units. For too long, we have all but ignored their involvement. A small minority are engaged and we know this is a long term process. However, if successful, the program will thrive. Our theory: Engaged Charter Partners=Effective Leadership=Quality Program=Satisfied Customers=Higher Retention/Membership.
William Garrett 4 months ago
Good idea. I like the idea of adding a requirement to existing knots/leader awards. We may still go ahead and test in its proposed format and see what it yields.

In addition, we will be training individuals to recruit others using "Selecting Quality Leaders", etc.

Thanks for the input.