The Main Thing

April 6, 2013Robert T. Sadock, MD

Area 2 – M&M

The Main Thing• The Main Thing is the Main Thing

Serve More Youth

• Membership• Increasing Over Prior Year

Insanity – Doing the Same Thing and Expecting a Different Result

Current Status

Membership Statistics• NER – 18 Straight Years of Traditional

Membership Decline• National – 13 Straight Years of Traditional

Membership Decline• At Same Loss Rate BSA Will Have No Members

in 40 Years

New Paradigm• Diagnose the Problem• Get the Correct Specialist• Treat the Problem• Follow Up

– Make Sure the Treatment Worked– If Not, Change Treatments

One Year Study and Analysis

National Task Force• Charged with Making This Happen• Current Structure is Part of the Challenge• Current Separate Silos of Responsibility Need

to be Broken Down• Requires Senior Management Buy-In

• Is the Problem in New or Retained Members?

• Is the Problem in Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts or Venturing?

• Membership = New Members + Retained Members

• Each of These Groups Require a Different Strategy

Structure The Problem

What is Important? National Traditional Membership

Area Cub Scout Boy Scout Venturers Total

Class Retained New Retained New Retained New Total

% 35.4% 22.7% 27.2% 6.2% 5.0% 3.5% 100%

Rank 1 3 2 4 5 6

Variation

• Tremendous Variation Across Councils• New Members • Retained Members

Variation - NER Cub Scouts Boy Scouts Venturers

Retained New Retained New Retained New

High 69.1% 43.8% 95.1% 26.0% 75.2% 49.7%

Low 56.4% 26.2% 75.1% 6.1% 27.6% 21.2%

Range 12.7% 17.6% 20.0% 19.8% 47.6% 28.5%

2011 NER - Traditional

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New Members

Diagnosis at Council Level• Each Council Has a Different Set of Problems• Connecticut Yankee Council, Milford, CT• Scout Executive• The Wow Factor

CYC – Retention Total Cub Scout Boy Scout

CYC 71.3% 65.1% 82.6%

NER 71.1% 63.7% 88.7%

Additional Members 302

CYC Revised 73.4% 65.1% 88.7%

Conclusion

• Breakdown New vs. Retained by Catagory• Large Variations Within Each Category• Many Routes to Greater Membership• Each Council Needs Their Own Analysis

of the Problem• National Solution vs. Local Solution

Get the Correct Specialist

• Need to Clearly Define Who is Responsible

Shared Responsibility is No Responsibility

Areas of Responsibility• Cub Scout Recruitment• Cub Scout Retention• Cub Scout Crossover• Boy Scout Recruitment• Boy Scout Retention• Venturer Recruitment• Explorer Recruitment

Different Participants• Professional

– Scout Executive– District Executive

• Volunteer– Membership Impact– Program Impact– Council Operations– Commissioners

Assign Responsibility• Job Description for Each Position• Match the Best Group to the Position

Treat the Problem• Business

– Fire / Hire– Best Promoted– Ask the Best– Use Business Data

• Strategies– Best Practices– Correlations

Best Councils

• By Having a Single Equation, Can Compare Different Councils

• Each Category Requires Different Skill Sets and Solutions

• Can Rank Councils For Each Category• Can Find Out Why a Council is Best in its

Category

New Cub ScoutsCouncil % Yrs>40%

640 Greater New York 48.5% 3

802 Transatlantic 44.1% 5

376 Iroquois Trail 43.8% 1

341 Jersey Shore 42.9% 1

757 Potomac 41.5% 6

225 Annawon 41.4% 1

New Cub Scout Units• To Launch a New Cub Scout Pack….(640)

• 12 Month Program Planned in Advance• Trained Leaders• 18 Month Financial Plans• Required to be in Uniform (Scouts & Adults)

School Recruitment Plan

Membership Committee Took Control of Sign Up Nights

• Badge of Honor Flyers to Every School with Dates in Advance (509)

• Extensive Use of Flyers, Yard Signs (512,538,500,341) & Silicone Wrist Bands Promoting BeAScout.org (512)

• School Night Chairs For Each District –(376,341) Presentations by Trained District Volunteers

Retained Cub ScoutsCouncil % Yrs>60%

509 Bucktail 82.7% 1

244 Knox Trail 69.1% 6

388 Westchester-Putnam 69.1% 6

525 Cradle of Liberty 69.0% 3

404 Suffolk County 69.0% 6

374 Hudson Valley 68.1% 6

Keeping Units Healthy• Council Field Staff Reporting “At Risk” Units

Consistently at Council Staff Meetings • Targeted Units

– “Red Units” – 90 Day Action Plan

• Council Staff Networking & Mentoring (500)

Unit Committee Training

“Knowledgeable and Trained Leaders is Key to Strong, Successful Units Which Translates Directly into Higher Density and Better Retention Rates” (525)

Retained Cub Scouts

Quality Unit Executive• Assigned to Work with New or In Jeopardy

Cub Scout Units• Paid Staff Position• Councils Applied and Received Support for

Position• Positions to be Sustained by Membership

Growth via Popcorn, Camping, Events (502, 525)

Retained Cub Scouts

Retained Boy ScoutsCouncil % Yrs>90%

224 Cape Cod and Islands 104.3% 1

69 Housatonic 99.7% 2

538 Chief Cornplanter 99.4% 1

500 Moraine Trails 95.1% 1

227 Boston Minuteman 94.9% 1

404 Suffolk County 94.5% 4

Training• 100% Trained Leaders is the Expectation (By

Example Not Decree) (69)

• Roundtable Attendance > 75% of Units– Consistently Solid RT Programs– Gives Reason to Attend (69,504)

Retained Boy Scouts

JTE vs. CS Retained

• Correlated - CS Advancement p<.000000004

• Correlated - District Committee p<.004Service Hours RateCommissioner RatioVisitation RateContact Leaders Trained

JTE vs. BS Retained• Correlated –CS Advancement p<1E-12• Correlated –Contact Leaders Trained p<.00004• Correlated - BS Advancements p<.005• Correlated - Commissioner Ratio p<.02• Correlated – BS Camping p<.02

Service Hour Rate Council Leadership TrainVisitation RateDistrict Committee

Other Retained Correlations• Cost per Scout

– Rural & Suburban – No Correlation– Urban – Less Cost per Scout the Higher the

Retention (p<.02)• Volunteers per Scout

– Rural & Suburban – Highly Correlated (p<.00005)– Urban – No Correlation

Trend• Strongest Correlations Occur at the Unit Level• Weakest at the Council Level

– CS Advancement - p<.000000004– Contact Leaders Trained - p<.00004– District Committee - p<.004– District Executives

NER BS Retained – Leaders Trained

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Best Practices Website

• Best Practices From Around the Country• Ratings Tell Us What Others Think• A Place to Share Ideas• A Place to Post What Works

Follow Up• Track Changes Over Time• Are We Getting Better or Worse• What Approaches Worked or Did Not Work• Monitor the Specialist For Efficacy• Promote/Train/Replace the SpecialistInsanity – Doing the Same Thing and Expecting a

Different Result

CategoryHigh

PerformanceLow

Performance

High Improvement Promote Teach

Low Improvement Maintain Re-Org

Northeast Area 2 Ranking2012 Cub Scout RetentionCouncil# Council Headquarters Performance Improvement

66 East Hartford, CT 2 3

67 Greenwich, CT 1 7

69 Derby, CT 4 10

72 Milford, CT 8 6

234 Westfield, MA 10 9

374 Newburgh, NY 9 2

386 Massapequa, NY 5 1

388 Hawthorne, NY 3 11

404 Medford, NY 7 5

405 Kingston, NY 6 8

640 New York, NY 11 4

Best Practices Portal

NER Marketing Committee

Purpose• To take advantage of “crowd resourcing” that

the Web allows, • To let ALL Scouters share good ideas

– Volunteers & Professionals– Unit, District, Council, Regional, and National level

How do I get to it?• Go to https://myscouting.scouting.org/• Log in• Left hand side choices, under “Council Tools”• Choose “Best Practices Portal”

Two 5-Star Membership Ideas

From the Best Practices Portal

Using A Cub Scout Rocket Launch As A Pack Recruiting Night Draw

Originator: seattlepioneer 01 Jul 2011 Chief Seattle Council,

Young boys often don't have much of an understanding of Cub Scouts. However, when I take a model rocket and launcher into a school, and ask boys if they would like to make model rockets and see if their rocket will go the HIGHEST and the FARTHEST --- they can relate to that!

Using A Cub Scout Rocket Launch As A Pack Recruiting Night Draw

In exchange for contact information, families receive a Cub Scout Rocket Pilot License and the makings for a stomp bottle rocket. It usually takes families ~10 minutes to make a rocket

After parents observe the launch a few times and satisfy themselves that it's well supervised, they are invited to sign up for Cub Scouts. That's usually pretty easy---- we don't have to TALK about how Cub Scouts is a fun family activity

Using A Cub Scout Rocket Launch As A Pack Recruiting Night Draw

RESULT ACHIEVED: Greater turnout for pack recruiting nights! More families signing

up for Cub Scouts!

COMMENTSThis sounds like a fantastic idea! Thank you for posting this, Will!

Ben McInnis, Cubmaster, Pack 39, Summit, RI

Report to the City Originator: tina.brendle 12 Nov 2011

Bay Area Council,

Report to City is a modified version of Report to State with all ages; Cubs Scouts, Boy Scouts, Venture Crews and Teams delivering a brief report, to presiding dignitaries, on their contributions to the community in the past year.

Report to the City Scouts were nominated as MC, Color Guard and Pledge of

Allegiance, Scout Oath and Dignitary Escort

There were afternoon sessions for rank advancement, belt loops and merit badges. City depts. such as Park and Rec, Fire, Police, EMS, hosted 17 activities: Citizen in the Community, Fire Safety, & First Aid Merit Badges; and Swimming, Recycle, and Fishing Belt Loops to name some.

To close the day, Scouts partnered with the VFW Post to conduct a flag retirement ceremony.

Report to the City RESULT ACHIEVED:This event exposed Scouts to government, public speaking and the

importance of contributing to the local community.

COMMENTS:A fantastic idea. Community leaders learn about Scouting

accomplishments & the Scouts get to self promote & learn communication. A great growth exercise for future leaders.

I enjoyed this idea for its combination of civic duty for the Scouts with positive PR among community members

New BPP offshoot – “Scout Link”• Wikipedia like option: A different page where

we invite all users to build a Best Practice on topics of our choosing. Needs small amount of computer programming to launch.