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A year ago, the theme for the Fall 2021 The Commissioner was our new commissioner culture theme Be the Heart. Built Relationships. Change Lives. Boy, does that theme apply also to this Fall 2022 “The Commissioner” theme of “Taking Care of Commissioners”. And, I think, we could all agree our commissioner staffs need this same consideration applied to them too. Let me share what I mean…

• “Be the Heart” – While they obviously need to stay focus on unit health, sustainability, and membership growth, our Council and District Commissioners must not neglect their own Scouting and Exploring commissioners’ unit service heath and enthusiasm. They should be on the lookout for signs of burn-out (i.e., lack of enthusiasm, energy or motivation, sense of fatigue, just not getting things done, etc.) amongst our commissioners. And if identified, they should:
  • Meet as soon as possible with the commissioner to determine how they are doing and what may be causing their burn-out
  • If they have too many Scouting or Exploring responsibilities on their plate, discuss with the commissioner what their real passions are in Scouting, and where they want to focus their time. Help them to decide which responsibilities might be passed to other volunteers and work with appropriate committee or person to reassign those responsibilities
  • Encourage the commissioner to set a goal just for themselves, such as completing a College of Commissioner Science degree or working toward a particular award. Achieving a goal keeps the energy level up and balances the time that is spent helping others
  • Consider a change of assignments within commissioner corps, such as type of units serviced (see discussion under “Change Lives”) or role within the commissioner corps
  • And, at times, ask the commissioner if they need to take a sabbatical from either the commissioner corps or from Scouting or Exploring Programs, in general, to re-charge their internal batteries and remember why they joined in the first place. If this happens, always be ready to welcome them back when they are ready to return

• “Build Relationships” – Although there are not many Council Exploring service team members, they also provide unit service to our Exploring posts and clubs as “Exploring commissioners.” The practical difference between an Exploring commissioner and BSA commissioner is the adult application, where the Scouting America application retains the Declaration of Religious Principle requirement while the Exploring application does not. Other than that difference, both…
  • Require the same background investigation,
  • Take the same Youth Protection Training,
  • Complete similar unit service training within the Scouting America Learn Center,
  • Use same commissioner tools, reporting and techniques , and
  • Provide the same unit service to their units

As I urged in the Fall 2021 The Commissioner, our Council and District Commissioners need to embrace these Exploring commissioners as full-fledged members of their commissioner corps and welcome them to Council or District commissioner staff meetings and other area events such as roundtable and Colleges of Commissioner Sciences.

• “Change Lives” – Providing unit service to Exploring units may give a traditional BSA unit commissioner facing burn-out the challenge of doing something new by providing unit service to a program that affords our older youth and young adults the opportunity to “try before they commit” various future careers. Since our Exploring adult leaders (i.e., post advisors or club sponsors) are already very knowledgeable in their chosen career fields, our new Exploring commissioners don’t have to train Exploring adult leaders, but instead they may simply need to help them translate their career knowledge from an adult to a youth level that is fun, hands-on, and interactive for their youth.

As you can see, ensuring our culture statement goes beyond the units we serve to include our own commissioners, both BSA and Exploring. Just as we check on the Unit health, so must we for our own commissioners.