Four Key Signs of Unit Health
When I first started serving as a Commissioner, I was told that there were four key signs that I should look at if I wanted to know whether a unit was healthy. These became the things that I monitored most closely as I looked at units.
The first sign is the unit committee. Healthy committees result in healthy units. Look to see how often the committee meets. Find out how active the committee members are. Find out how much they know about what the unit is doing. Visit at least two committee meetings a year.
The second sign is the uniformed leadership. Find out how many of them are trained and what their future training plans are. Find out how many positions are “two deep” or more. Talk to them about their leadership succession plans. What is their system for getting new adults into leadership positions. Find out if the Committee Chair or Key leaders are expecting to step down soon and what system or plan the unit uses to select new leaders.
The third sign is recruiting. Good units recruit year round. Many also have two special efforts, a spring and fall recruiting sweep. Look for evidence that a new group is added each year so the unit never becomes one with the “mouse passing through the snake”. Missing year groups, or too many people in one year group, both lead to great difficulty in managing youth leadership opportunities and often result in failed units.
Finally, look at advancement. The advancement program is a key Scouting method. If a unit has good program, advancement should be nearly automatic for most of the youth. The things that they need to do for advancement are part of the program. Looked at from the perspective of “Management by Results”, youth who are earning advancement are participating in the activities that the program sees as necessary for them to develop the character, fitness and citizenship which are the primary purposes of the program. If youth are not advancing, there is a good chance that the program is weak and the unit is not providing the growth that is the core reason for the program. (These same ideas can be applied to adult training).
If these four key areas; Committee, Leadership, Recruiting, Advancement, are all in good shape, so is the unit. If one is faltering, the others will soon follow. Stay on top of these, and your units will stay healthy and deliver the promise for their youth.