PD-L1 to Get a Facelift
We are taking a fresh look at how we train and develop our executive leadership, particularly our district executives, in Professional Development Level 1. We convened a task force composed of BSA management, volunteers, and experts from organizations such as AT&T, ExxonMobil, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and Gallup to identify the most effective tools for training our future leaders. They are evaluating questions such as:
- What competencies for executive leadership are needed for nonprofits to be emphasized in initial executive trainings?
- What specific things would your experience suggest that our executives need to learn, and what methodology would you use to best ensure they learn and apply what they have learned?
- What skills should be trained within the first three years of an entry-level executive’s employment?
If you have any questions about the task force’s work, please contact Ray Morrell.
Biggest need is sales experience/training. How to do sales calls, disapline on sales calles. (Sandler Method)
Sales calls include, new unit calls, recruiting a volunteer,
Next is time management
“intentional leadership”
I agree with Rob. Our new executive still need sales training, maybe we need to follow through in our council after they return to put the training into practice.
Thanks Rob,
Sales Ability and Managing Work are 2 of the top twelve competencies indentifired for a District Executive. Great feedback!
Ray
I’d put more emphasis on the 90 day action plan focusing on what things realistic & effective steps he/she can take to start off on the right foot and get the ball rolling for success.
Have a video where a new young DE watches a training video on how a district committee runs(in a perfect world), gets himself/herself pumped up to go to the meeting only to find the meeting near empty and the committee not accomplishing much. Then at a break in the video ask ask the PD-L1 brainstorm on things that the DE can do, and have the video show some options. You can do this with other functions such as commissioner service, fundraising etc. Use something like this as the beginning of having the participants develop their 90 day action plans to improve their district.
This is a good technique that we will consider as we put many of these subjects online!
Thanks Matt,
Ray
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
We hire these folks to be managers and leaders, but they receive none of that and most do not have the experience being fresh out of college.
I think it would be helpful if we could provide a new district executive a mentor outside of their own Council. Perhaps a 2nd or 3rd year professional that has been identified as a future manager. We could develop a program where the mentors are selected by the Area Director and are given specific goals for the program. I was fortunate to have a mentor outside my Council and I know it gave me a significant advantage early in my career. Additionally it would also help groom the mentor for management and give them an added benefit of exposure outside their own Council.
Thanks Shaun,
Mentoring is in the National Strategic Plan and will be incorporated in PDL 1 in the future.
Thanks for the input,
Ray
I believe the most important piece of retention is the point of entry itself. We hiring the right people in the first place makes all the difference. There are a number of cliches about that – you can’t win the Kentucky Derby with a donky, you can’t send a duck to eagle school etc.
I’m not saying that our PD-L1 course shouldn’t get a face lift, we always need to evolve and grow as an organization, but we need to make sure that we hire tough in the first place.
Great point Scott,
Next month we are Piloting with 30 councils a behavior based Interviewing Process to help Hiring Managers interview to the key competencies it takes to be a successful DE, DD etc..We will compare the JTE results of those hired to this process with a similar control group to see if the new process helps us to hire tough!
Thanks for your input,
Ray
Like a new car, how we break them in determines their long term performance and our satisfaction in renting their time in exchange for their performance.
My first staff leader, Brad Harris, was right there with me for several new experiences, including watching me close the sale on an elementary school Principal. PDL-1 can only teach so much, the rest has to be on the job and experiential with a staff leader who has a high readiness level. IMHO…YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary)
Good point Mike,
This is how we want Training and a DE’s development to integrat. Great input.
Thanks,
Ray
As para-professionals play a larger role in rural areas, BSA ought to consider how to do a PD-L1 equivalent training for them. Para-professionals have all the same expectations for performance with no equivalant training.
Will consider this but because the duties of a para professional vary from Council to council the training needs to be specific to that council’s needs.
Ray
A break-out session where the new professionals are seperated into groups with other professionals that serve in the same type of service areas. Urban area serving professionals and rural area serving exec’s often times do not have the same problems…
I work for the Boy Scouts now and have been a volunteer for many years. I am not at a level to attend PDL-1 but am interested to know what is taught in regards to program? It’s very hard to sell a program that you don’t understand. If we hire someone who has never been in Scouting, we can’t expect them to know about the program levels. How can a DE answer questions of volunteers without these fundamentals? In my 12 years as a volunteer I’ve seen DE’s who have never even been camping before and couldn’t tell me about the program differences from Tiger to WEBELOS. It’s a lot easier to sell Scouting to new charter partners if you understand it!
Having been out of pdl-1 for about 5 months, I have seen a few casualties from my pdl class, one of which in my own council, I would submit that in both those cases, working for a non-profit, Scouting in particular, was probably not the best fit.
PDL-1 Does a great job of showing utopia, and it preaches a volunteer driven movement. BSA for the most parts has the greatest volunteers in the world. I know their are volunteers in my own district who Scout as much, if not more then I do. But then again, my district is 3/4′s of a major county, and we still have a long way to go.
I can’t imagine, what it must feel like being at ground zero working multiple county service areas and working to create utopia in everyone of them. There were professionals in my class that had 5 counties that they personally served in rural no where trying to make it work.
Those instances take consistency, ie a great professional who is willing to stick it out and get the district where it needs to be. The main points of the job are universal, money, manpower, membership, it takes someone who understands that and can drive through it 3-4 nights a week, 2-3 wkends a month. It’s not a 9-5.
Lastly, I thought the scoutnet “Scavenger Hunt” was kinda lame. I mean, we all use it everyday, and it has many useful advantages for us, but handing as an instructional sheet of how to pull up different parts and then having us break up into groups to find different things was kind of a waste of time.
Thanks for your input!
Ray
I have been through both NEI and PDL. First NEI was longer but had evenings and weekends off. PDL had no time off but was pushing from breakfast to bedtime. I would recommend running PDL longer that the time it is now. In order for our executives to be successful we have to be trained and trained properly. If it takes longer initioally then our profession needs to spend the money. How much are we spending by losing and then sending more new professionals to training. The basics are the same. Our motto in our district is “Back to basics”! We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. We just need to know how to roll it!
Don’t stop with PD-L1. Consider a facelift for ALL levels. those of us currently serving as Scout Executives went through PD-L1 many many years ago. Changing PD-L1 is certainly necessary, but it will be 20 years before those new ideas are implement by them in Scout Executive positions.
Very difficult for current Scout Executives to make the necessary changes, as we are doing what we were taught 20 years ago. If we are going to make a meaningful change, lets make it at ALL levels.
It’s important for a new DE to learn all the basics of the job but most of that is learned in the field. I think more should be instructed on topics of management & leadership. If someone is right out of college with no management or leadership experience there’s no formal avenue to teach that to them in their first few years. Those first few years are crucial in learning how to manage and lead volunteers. I have a district team of over 60 active volunteers and I constantly work with my leadership in managing that team and moving people around to determine the best fit for them and us. Learning about sales, recruiting volunteers, and membership & financial growth are all very important but if we don’t give our new DE’s the skills to manage all the workings of a district then we make more work for ourselves when we have a disorganized group of people.
Thank you for revisiting the topics presented to our new professionals.
Thanks Brian!
We will be emphasizing the competencies it takes to be a successful DE!
Ray
You should work some camping into the PDL-1 program. Several days at a Scout Camp would give folks a feel for WHAT WE ACTUALLY SELL. Not to mention WHY WE SELL IT. You could still do a lot of the classwork, but do it in an outdoor setting. You could have them review the Boy Scout Handbook. There is nothing more pathetic looking to a volunteer than a professional who doesn’t know anything about a pocket knife.
An interesting collection of comments. A significant portion of what is taught at PD-L1 could eaily be produced in online training that a new executive could begin viewing on day one. If there were a weekly training module each week for six months, then PD-L1, followed by an additional six months, then PD-L2.
By the time that they get to the actual courses, it the practical course, rather than theory. Executives would then have had more time to process the material and will have had the opportunity to formulate relevant questions for the guest presenters based on time to test the presentation in their own context and to discuss it with their immediate supervisor.
That’s the preliminary plan. Thanks for the affirmation.
Ray
The keys to success for the new District Executive Trainee is to learn in detail effective district operations which boils down to a few hot items; how to operate an effective district, recruiting the best volunteers or more effective volunteers, be sales oriented (do you know how to network in the community? or does your personality allow you to exploit the BSA model?) and lastly explain the use of social media to your benefit as a support system and not the main vehicle for operation. People to people contact is still the sales oriented persons best method.
I would agree with you and incorporate the elements that help new incoming professionals understand cultural and generational diversity in helping to build relationships for strong nominating/steering as well as district committees.
Have you ever considered having a support staff member, of long standing years of service, sit in on PDL1? They might be able to add to the importance of all the management and paperwork drudge that is involved in being a DE. Here at NCAC we see DE’s come and go like a revolving door. Most who leave had no idea how much paper management they were in for. Budgets, insurance, specialized training, recharter, let along getting up close and personal with ScoutNet so they can generate their own reports.
Just a thought.
I’m not a District Executive, but after watching this organization for twenty plus years as both a volunteer and support staff I would say that what is needed is upper management that can think outside the box. If the above comments are any indication, I would say that we are only re-hashing old ideas. In my experience, we don’t let our professionals do what they are good at, but make them “do it all”. If we were to hire the best person to do fund-raising, or the best person to do membership, maybe we would get better results. Throw out the concept of District Executive. Hire a staff for development and one for membership and one for event management. Let your employees work and excel at what they are good at.
I was a professional for 35 years, and all along the way I was fortunate to have mentors at every level (some were volunteers). My first mentor was my Field Director, Wayne Jeffus, who spent time with me, sharing his experience and expertise. Without his support and that of my Scout Executive, Bob Nichols, I would not have survived serving a 5,000 square mile rural district Unfortunately, too many new professionals go back to their council and do not have the continueing training and support from the local staff (often because of reduced staff). Don’t just look at PD-L1, but what happens after that back home.
First of all, Im a new DE. Perhaps my perspective will change but I am also a well educated and seasoned professional choosing to join the staff because I believe in the program. I’m also very familiar with scouting having served as a unit commissioner and fully trained as a cubmaster and scoutmaster (in an effort to be a better commissioner). Although Ive been experiencing the “drinking from the fire-hose” as a new DE for 3 months, so far I’m juggling the many duties and responsibilities successfully. I can most certainly benefit from nearly any training and mentorship available, but all DEs are not created equally when we walk in the door. A one-size-fits-all approach is neccessary to a degree, but to be honest Im a little more concerned about the time away from the District I serve while at PD-L1 when I can be meeting with units, schools and community members preparing for fall membership and the next FOS season. I will pick up nuggets, but I will most likely also endure a review of information I already grasp. I would love it if there were some kind of assessment and a accelerated version of PD-L1 available to folks to don’t need the very very basics.
By the time most new hires attend PD-L1, they’ve had nearly three months of actual field experience. While I agree that teaching fundamentals is crtically important, they must presented in a less elementary manner. These professionals must be educated on developing their techniques for sales, recruiting, fundraising, etc.
Continue with the introductory videos. Many organizations start out with videos in conjunction with hands-on experience and mentoring prior to major training sessions. As a values-based movement, focus on the core values and the need for relationship-building are key. Overcoming peer/supervisor scruitiny of professional development training would be a great topic as well because I often hear the “theory vs. practical” talk and feel if applied, the training is practical. And it’s been awhile, but generational diversity being applied in PD-L1 makes sense as well as cultural diversity workshops. Finally, cold call and sales call training.
Hi Ray
I believe that bringing in quality, competent and committed professionals is critical to the future of the BSA. Reading the brief article on the PD-L1 facelift I was left with some questions and some observations.
What is/are the problem(s) or shortfalls of the present training? What skills or knowledge is lacking or failing to be imparted. Is the turnover rate unacceptable? If so, why?
Observations, too many councils place too much work on district or field people. Large districts, multiple functional assignments, summer camp assignments can result in too many nights and weekends which don’t allow for proper rest or family time.
Low pay as related to the demands of the job. Being exempt employees we do not get comp time, overtime, and if we fail to use our vacation time within the year we lose that.
Too many deadlines create stress and we talk about multi-tasking but sometimes it gets out of control as we have too much on our plate.
Solutions: Managers need to be good fund raisers to insure that there is adequate staff to spread the workload. Managers need to train field people about time management and keeping a healthy balance in their schedule and lives. Managers need to help field staff recruit, train and manage enough volunteers to provide the support needed and free up executive time.
Make sure that there is proper compensation for staff. Years where raises are not given or where raises are less than the cost of living increase result in a lowering of the standard of living for most field people as they need their whole paycheck to live and have little extra.
Be concerned about the spouse and extended family. I’ve seen too many execs do a great job only to leave after getting married or having kids. This job can be very ‘family’ unfriendly at times and that can lead to resentment, marital problems and the loss of good execs.
I think some of the above issues need to be in PD-L but others are management issues and we need more training and emphasis there too.
Lots of very good thought.
I would very much agree that salesmanship is crucial. Our Council is currently doing the “Let’s do Lunch” training, and it is great. Widh It was around when I started. I think this is a tool that can be used to really teach how to go about building long term relationships with key community leadership. That teamed with sales traingin in a new DE and we will see significant accomplishments
Thanks
RAS
All,
Thanks for your very Thoughtful input. Our project team will be using your thoughts, survey information from participants, Managers and Scout executives and industry guidance as we redesign this executive training for the future!
Ray
I feel we need to also put more emphasis on the wreath of service. the reason why professional scouting was created; we don’t need robots who can only think numbers we need people serving people that can interact with scouters who have been in the movement for a while and show them true service. The DE has gotten a bad rap because the only mindset was from a selling stand point.