Are your parents interested in Scouting?........ Do you belong to the Y M. C. A.?........ Do you belong to any other Boys' Organizations?........ What are you most interested in?.. foot in Scouting?.... KAPETSARI-ÇÃO. A. Do you play any musical instrument? bugle ?.............................................. Can you sing in public?.... read.... that you ever saw?..... fylder jeader who would be interested in Boy Scout Work?...... What appeals to you Can you play a file, drum or What is the best book you ever What is the best moving picture Do you know any Who in your CHAPTER IV. EFFECTING A WORKING ORGANIZATION A New Man The executive who enters the work of an already organized council 1) Will do well to move very slowly in the matter of changes unless conditions have been very bad indeed. 2) Will be very, very cautious about criticizing his predecessor. Avoid doing so entirely if possible. 3) Will carefully study his community and its nature, counselling much with his cabinet and with them studying what should be done. 4) Changes in personnel will probably be made—but should come slowly in most cases, naturally and as painlessly as possible. The Scout movement will have to live with the people of this community long after the executive shall have gone so that care should be exercised lest bad feeling be created. 5) Unsound moral conditions however, should be faced promptly and with decision, not with noise but with decision. Initial Steps For him as well as for the executive entering a new field, hitherto unorganized, the initial steps have been outlined in Chapter II, page 24. 1) Scrutinize-his field to ascertain conditions. 2) Advise with those who know the community. 3) Organize to accomplish definite objectives. 6) Supervise and help secure results. 7) Realize-on the definite objectives started. 8) Recognize the part others have played therein. General Principles To look and advise before leaping is the sanest policy. 1) Therefore a survey of conditions and 2) a thorough counselling with leading men must precede the effecting of the working organization. 3) Tasks should be definitized-a man for every job and a job for every man. How can a man be expected to do his job if he is hazy as to just what his job is. The first thing in organization is to decide "What things are going to be done." These things must then be divided up into sizable jobs, worthy, attractive, possible. 4) Carefully select each man for a definite task. Here the counsel of leading citizens and boy-workers will be of great value. The character, the abilities, the interests, the hobbies of the man and his dependability are known to his fellows in the community. 5) An organization is a living machine and is not effective until the man becomes active. He must first be "sold" the idea and value of boy service; the job must then be squarely and frankly put up to him by someone he respects. (Preferably not the executive.) The man must then have cooperation and help in taking hold of his duties. 6) The time element of a task should never be camouflaged. A man should never be told: "It won't take much of your time", because any service other than a dummy directorship does take time. The man in honesty has a right to the most accurate picture of his job than can be given him. 7) The time element in meetings is of equal importance. It is not honorable to hold a man 2 hours at a "30 minute meeting." Run your meeting on such a planned schedule that things are ever on schedule time and dismissed before men begin to consult their watches and "have to go.' The secret of such speed is probably to be found in following definitely Parliamentary procedure not lifelessly-but to the extent of handling one subject at a time and making some disposition of it. A motion brings loose conversation to a head and saves time. Much time is lost in such committee meetings by presenting a half a dozen things talking much about them and disposing in business-like fashion of none of them. If the scout business has reputation for dispatch in its meetings the biggest men in the community can afford to be there, otherwise not. 8) Keep the organization active in worth-while, forwardlooking, onward-moving service tasks. The imagination of the community must be challenged—not cheaply by loud show, but by the quiet reality of service rendered. Activity in doing things for the boys is the secret An organization (especially a volunteer group) is much like a bicycle-stable when going; it totters when it stops. 9) The human elements of friendship, consideration, encouragement, appreciation and recognition are vital organization elements, because they create morale. The spirit of an organization, the plane upon which it lives, limits its life and service just as truly as it does in the case of an individual. It is essential therefore for the executive himself to live those fine qualities which evoke such spirit in others. He thus can build the spiritual tone of his organization and until this is done his organization is neither effected nor effective. 10) The principle of definite time objectives is most healthful. What are we going to accomplish? Certain very definite ends and results as a minimum achievement task. When will this be completed? Sometime? No-it will be completed two years or 12 months or 6 months or 60 days from date! The theory which makes a definite amount of money and a definite closing date valuable in a financial campaign-applies with equal force in accomplishing any other task. 11) Bring these Councilmen, into some direct touch with the boys and their activities. It will tremendously enhance their enthusiasm and hold their interest, such contacts with strong, clean men will do the boys good as well. 12) Frequent, terse, reports give men information on which interest may be sustained. Organization of the Local Council Both logically and in point of time the organization of the local council and its committees precedes the organization of the Scout Executive's staff. Indeed the Executive is selected by the Executive Committee of the Local Council. There have, however, been cases where an Executive was brought in to help a few leaders organize their interest in and responsibility for boyhood into a working unit and then one of the early acts of the organization was to elect the executive formally. These cases are the exception however. The nature of scouting, as a national movement for local use by local men for the benefit of local boysis such that certain minimal standards are necessary as indicated in Chapter VII. Probably among these essential uniformities is the general nature of the local council organization, as the foundation unit on which by Federal Charter is builded the national movement to build character and citizenship. The following statement was used to introduce the "Standard Constitution for Local Councils, Boy Scouts of America 1920.” "This Constitution has been drafted to set forth what is considered by the officers of the National Council, Boy Scouts of America, to be the best form of meeting the needs of first-class councils. With some slight modifications it may be adapted to the needs of second-class councils. It is presented as containing the minimum requirements which will be expected of first class councils. A reasonable time will be |