Big Changes at BSA National Office
The Chief Scout Executive (CSE) is making his mark on the Movement with a complete overhaul of the National Office.
New BSA Organizational Changes 2008
and here’s the new Org. Chart:
I find this INCREDIBLY POSITIVE. It needs to be part of every council’s Board discussion. The mention of building the BSA brand is powerful. The trimming of Corporate structure is very powerful. Forgetting “business as usual” is very powerful. These are terms that ALL business leaders are confronting on a regular basis. It probably needs to be spread in the community leadership as well because it shows that our leaders are taking bold actions.
I was on the phone with a Scout leader in N.J. when this came in. I related two small anecdotes from the past week. I replaced my air conditioner unit here at my warehouse. The guy doing the install is an Eagle Scout out of Blissfield, MI. He was amazed at some of the patches around my office. The UPS delivery guy came in just now. He was a Boy Scout out of TN (did not earn Eagle but still fond memories. Was in the Marines. Was interested in getting back involved/helping out with Scouts…). An effective BSA marketing campaign could bring these folks back into the fold.
When Council President, I kicked off the strategic plan update in the council to try and get our structure right. We’re doing that locally. One strength that we’ll need to factor in going forward is our alumni and senior members. Scouting is a place where retirees can get reconnected and re-contribute to the youth of this country.
As I hear more or as others get more insight into these changes, please post.
P.S. In re-reading it – the CSE needs to state in this letter what are the core objectives of Scouting. We, you and I, need to re-state these so often that we’re sick of hearing them. Only then might there be a chance of having gotten them into fabric of the organization. I think also, rather than a “new era of growth” it needs to be “a new era of service to the youth of our country”. I think this is a truer statement of our purpose than growth. Growth will be the outcome of providing quality, funded program that serves youth and their families and thus our communities.
on July 16th, 2008 at 11:47 am
“Growth” could be a good thing to keep as a focus. Not to delve too far into “political” issues, but I sense there are a lot of folks in the leadership who would rather have the BSA be smaller and remain “ideologically pure” than have it get out of the “culture war” business and seek to appeal to people across a wider range of values.
I have in my collection a patch from the 1960s when “Scouting for All” was actually a BSA-supported theme rather than the name of an outside protest group.
on July 16th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Dave – good point. We, Boy Scouts, should be a pretty “big tent” group but I also recognize that we aren’t necessarily “the” group for every boy. I don’t know the development needs of every kind of boy.
I too remember the “Scouting for All” patches (and am sure I have some around some where). 🙂
Roy
on July 25th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
I take issue with the use of the word “brand”. If it is meant in the sense of a ranch brand of identity, fine. If it is a brand like for dog food, I don’t think we should use such terms for the movement.
on December 22nd, 2008 at 11:53 am
I am a volunteer who has worked on assignments with various professionals on the regional and national levels.I’ve been interested in the organization of the national office,which seems to be considered confidential information.As I understand the largest category of employees has been known as a “group’.These are composed of “divisions”,some of which are further sub-divided into “services”.
I’ve identified examples within each category,but haven’t seen a full listing or organization chart on the public BSA website.I know it’s been on Scoutnet,but I don’t have access to that.
I know the organization has been evolving.One example would be supply,which began as a service,was changed into a division,and then into a group.
I’d be very interested in seeing the balance of the new chart,showing smaller sub-divisions.