Programs ð Recruiting Adults

Did You Say You Need Help Recruiting Adults?

Almost as predictable as Old Faithful, there is a common cry from the schools, churches, and other community facilities where our Scouting units meet.  It is the cry of the faithful, dependable, and tireless unit leader who places his hands in the air and ever so dignified and says “Would anyone be able to help?”  Usually, the cry goes unnoted by the majority of parents of the Scouts within the unit.

There is no science or trick to getting parents to help.  The best way to enlist the help of the parents in your unit is not simply asking for help, but smartly asking for help. 

In Scouting, there are two types of help that we need.  First, every unit needs leadership; be it a Den Leader or an Assistant Scoutmaster, every unit will need to fill a leadership position.  Secondly, regardless of how many registered leaders your unit enjoys, there is a continuous list of ‘jobs’ that need to be done in order to make the Scouting program come to life; from judging the Pinewood Derby to organizing clean-up and from organizing the car pool to swinging by the Scout shop for advancements, there is always something that someone can ‘take care of’ to make a program plan successful and, although not requiring a registered leader, makes the unit leader’s job that much easier.

The best way to smartly ask for help for your unit is through the same method that captures and holds the interest of the boys—a realistic, properly planned program.  The first thing someone will want to know when you ask them for help is what exactly you want them to do and what role does it play in the overall scheme of things.  The second concern will be how much time it will take.  How can either question be properly answered if you do not know the specifics?  You can not plan a trip without a map that shows you how to get there.  The same holds true in Scouting when asking for help.

Furthermore, the best technique to smartly ask for help is not by standing in front of a room of parents and making a general announcement.  Ideally, if you know the answers to questions previously mentioned, then you should be able to identify an individual that ‘fits the mold’ and personally ask that person face to face.  Use a parent resource survey form to assist you with identifying what people can or are willing to do; not only should your new parents fill this out when registering their son, but every parent every year.  You may be surprised on what new resources a parent will acquire within a year’s time. 

Obviously, there will be times when you may face a crowd of parents with the intention to ask for help.  This usually happens during the fall as packs are reorganizing for the next year. The key to success in this situation is to smartly ask a parent to become a leader by explaining the position and all the resources (program helps, training, etc) available to make them a success to everyone and then, when no one jumps at the opportunity, ask, while gesturing to an mom or dad “Can you, sir, help the Scouting program come to life for you son and his friends?”  You then need to repeat the process through the den and read not only their vocal answers, but their body language as well—together, you will be able to identify someone that if smartly asked face to face probably would step up to help.

This may sound good as you read this, but sometimes your situation is beyond what was presented.  For instance, what if you pack was so large that you would never be able to keep the attention of the group or even catch one person face to face?  Again a realistic, properly planned program and smartly asking for help will deliver.

The leadership of a large pack with nearly 80 scouts at the time, found one such way of getting the job done.  They had a realistic, properly planned program, and knew that on school night recruiting as a big group or face to face would not work in the room of 150 to 200 people, they ‘herded’ all of the families into signing themselves up to help. 

As the families entered the school cafeteria, they had to walk through a series of strategically placed tables guiding them to the seating area.  At the first table was a greeter welcoming them to the meeting; the second manned table contained a sign-in sheet and a copy of the program calendar for the year.  As the families walked down the aisle by the final set of tables they found the entire program calendar listed on large poster board sheets that had the dates and all the ‘jobs’ listed for every activity for the program year; after each job, a blank line was placed.  Everything from setting-up the space derby and clean-up crews was listed. 

When parents came to this table, the pack leadership standing there simply stated that “Scouting was a family activity and in order for us to share the load, all moms and dads are asked to sign-up for a minimum of two jobs throughout the year.”  The fact that the parents had to pass by this table, the leaders stating that scouting is a family program and then smartly asking to fill-in two blanks on their giant-size realistic, properly planned program sheets resulted in literally every job - big or small - covered by someone for the year.

Regardless of what help you need as the new program year approaches, first, properly plan a realistic program and then smartly ask the parents and friends of your unit to each take on a job in order to bring scouting to life for the boys for which we do this for.  After all, we are all doing this for the boys and boy do they need Scouting.