Making it Easy to Grow

(my posts relocated from Wiggio... relocated follow ups & comments welcome.)

Attached is a presentation of some thoughts that I've had around making growth easier. It's still a draft and parts could do with more explanation. Read the slide notes and I think that you'll get the idea.

As scouter_rod pointed out in Wiggio:

(this) parallels the great research done by Rob Gallaher. In the sales business this is called a "closed loop lead tracking system". The research to find out where the disconnects are has largely been done. The "closed loop" has not.

The inspiration for closing the loop came directly from Rob G's work. The next step in logic was small given that I regularly work with "closed loop problem tracking" systems. An obvious next step is to find (build?) a tool but it's the human component of the system that will make or break it. The software has to match the needs of the people around it.

Comments please...

Nice work with the ppt. Additionally, I like this format for tracking discussions much easier and simpler broken out this way .

One of the things that became apparent in learning about the some of the membership concerns, was that it became obvious that there are many people working all out. This concerns me because as I mentioned in my presentations there are 5 people doing the work of 100 and we need to find every advantage we can to make sure we don't miss out on growth opportunities.

I am a firm believer that for any growth we hope to attain to sustain ourselves, it will first come from filling up existing groups and then expanding slowly, as we ensure that we are doing what we can to deliver the best possible youth programs.

In order to fill up the groups we have to have a conversation with our section leaders and explore their comfort level for taking on more youth. The volunteer survey I did in early January asked the question "how many more youth can you take into your section: 1- 4 (43%), 5 - 9 (27%), 10 or more (24.9%). Because of the overwhelming response in paranthesis sp.? I wanted to test these figures out when I travelled the country with Chief Commissioner Kent. In every city the volunteers raised their hands when I asked the question, so in terms of next steps, I believe we just need to ask whether it is the Area or Group Commissioner, Council Field Executive or the Council Executive Director who asks the question about growth.

Should a group not be willing to take on additional youth I think it would be useful to understand why, in some cases it may be because the Section Scouter is not comfortable adding more youth, as some have said because they feel they need more training, well we offer training so I believe we just need to be in a supportive space one way or another.

There are many challenges facing growth in the organization but I see these as opportunities and firmly believe the organization has the right pieces in place to keep the movement growing.

Rob

Thanks Rob. And thanks for all the great research. I know that it's opened my eyes to some possibilities.

As you've found out, we have lots of sections with enough leaders and space to accept a small number of youth. I've always thought in terms of "blanket" recruiting drives and, if these sections blanket recruit, they can get more interest than they can handle... or that's the fear.

Instead, if we talk about "just one more youth taken in to fill an empty spot", that's a different approach. I agree that we do need figure out who asks the question about growth and there are other steps worth discussing (and doing) as well, but one thing that all of us who are active in sections with space can do now is to ask "just one more" youth to join.

YIS
andrew

I really like the presentation. It is clear and provides some thought provoking areas to improve on. I would also add a section on retention. It's all good that you can capture the youth, but if you can't retain them in the program, it's not terribly useful.

I may be over simplifying here, but I think it boils down to 2 fundamentals:

* value - this is the classic cost vs. benefit question. Costs in term of money, time, etc. And benefits in terms of what am I getting out of participating. I do not think there is a magic formula for this. Each section and community has to find the right combination to attrack and retain it's members vs. what other activites are out there that are competing for the same members.
* simplicity - the harder we make things the greater the barriers we throw. How can we make it easier to find a spot for a youth or a leader? How can we make it easier for leaders to have their prior experience and knowledge recognized? How can we make communication and administration easier for the parents/guardians of our youths? And so on.

What do you think?

David