Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 06:21:11 -0500
Sender: SCOUTS-L - Youth Groups Discussion List
From: John Pannell <PANNELLJ@DELPHI.COM>
Subject: Re: Don't Succomb to Scouter Burnout
re: "But nobody else will do it"
I, too, found out how untrue this is.
When I left NC last month several immportant things then became "leaderless". We had to cancel at least two events because there was no one else to do them.
Well... after a DE played dumb about having been told of my moving (another issue... don't get me going... *g*), the District Committee and some "concerned" Scouters got together and salvaged one of them. (Our district Merit Badge College)
The other remained cancelled. But since it was a fundraiser for the OA lodge run for 17 years by my chapter and the lodge had about $50,000 in the bank (!) -- again, don't get me started... *g* -- I don't consider it to be a high priority. It was an event that "tradition" and not need dictated it being done.
In both cases, I failed miserably to have an able assistant -- "no one" was interested -- but once "no one" was doing it help was immediately available.
I also went through this as a Scout. My dad was SM for one of the troops I belonged to. He commuted about 2.5 hours each way to a job in NYC but could get little to no help because all the other parents either "had to commute to work" or were "too tired from their commute"! Well, dad became ill and could no longer be SM. The troop folded because of it. Amazingly (sarcasm intended) those who couldn't help restarted the troop within the year!
(We were very bitter over the whole situation and never became involved with them again. This ended up being one of the reasons my mom forbade my younger brothers to be in Scouts!)
The moral of all this is: If people care about what you are doing, they *will* help, and perhaps if no one cares, then maybe it does not need to be done (like a fundraiser for a wealthy lodge!).
YiS, John Pannell
Unit Commissioner, Three Fires Council, IL
I used to be a buffalo... (SR-92, working ticket)
...but I will always be an Eagle (1981)
pannellj@delphi.com
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 07:13:07 -0600
From: Jon Eidson <eidson@UNIX4.IS.TCU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Don't Succomb to Scouter Burnout
Wow ...
Your posting is timely for me. Thanks! I am starting my 12th year as scoutmaster and have been thinking about quitting. Unfortunately my troop is fairly weak in membership and adult leadership, but I do have a great group of Webelos on the way and in 2 years a great cub master to (hopefully) step in. I just got to hang in there.
Keep up the great postings.
Sincerely, Jon Eidson
Jon Eidson (J.Eidson@tcu.edu) Information Services
Senior Systems Programmer Texas Christian University
(817) 921-7695 ext 6835 Fort Worth, Texas 76129
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 04:19:26 -0500
From: "Michael F. Bowman"
<mfbowman@CAPACCESS.ORG>
Subject: Don't Succomb to Scouter Burnout
You as a Scouter are an invaluable asset to your Council, District, and/or Unit, depending on where and how you serve youth. Without people like you many Scouts would never have the enriching experiences that they get in Scouting. But you are only human and have limits. If you exceed your limits, there is the danger that you may become unable or limited in your ability to helps these Scouts. As a result it is important every once in awhile to take a little time just for yourself and assess how you are doing and whether you should be making changes to retain all the wonderful qualities that you have, which make you such an asset to these young people. This posting is intended to help you avoid "Scouter Burnout."
"Scouter Burnout" is not a precise term, but a reference point for continued discussion. We've just recently had a number of postings on over-doing it and our ability to do "x" number of jobs. What follows is a questionnaire just for you, one that you won't share with anyone else. Take a look at the instructions and give it a try. Although it has points for you to fill in, there are no magic formulas, no wrong answers. Its purpose is to help you see areas where you might want to make adjustments.
________________________________________________________________________
Instructions: Please read the following questions and in the space provided at the left, rate your truthful, personal experiences of how you feel the majority of the time when you are performing your duties as a Scouter. Rate yourself with a score of 1, 5, or 10 with 10 being the most frequent. See the example below:
1 Seldom or never a difficulty to me. (green)
5 Sometimes a difficulty to me. (yellow)
10 Frequently a difficulty to me. (red)
___ My time is controlled by factors beyond my control.
___ Interruptions.
___ Chronic Overload - more to do than time is available.
___ Occasional Overload
___ Chronic Underload - too little to do in time available.
___ Occasional Underload
___ Alternating periods of overload and underload.
___ Disorganization of my time.
___ Procrastination on Scout Projects
___ Separating home, work, and Scouts.
___ Transition from home, to work, to Scouts.
___ Finding time for regular exercise.
___ Finding time for regular periods of relaxation.
___ Finding time for Friendships.
___ Finding time for family.
___ Finding time for vacations.
___ Easily bored with Scouts.
___ Saying "yes" when I later wish I had said
"no."
___ Feeling overwhelmed by large tasks over an extended period of
time.
___ Avoiding important tasks by frittering away time on less
important ones.
___ Feel compelled to assume responsibilities in groups.
___ Unable to delegate because of distrust of quality of other's
performance.
___ Unable to delegate because there is no one to delegate to.
___ My perfectionism creates delays.
___ I tend to leave tasks unfinished.
___ I have difficulty living with unfinished tasks.
___ Too many projects going on at one time.
___ Get into time binds by trying to please others too often.
___ I tend to hurry even when its not necessary.
___ Lose concentration while thinking about other things I have
to do.
___ Not enough alone time.
___ Feeling compelled to be punctual.
___ Pressure related to deadlines.
______ TOTAL
______________________________________________________________________
Now that you have completed this and started looking at the number of fives and tens you wrote, don't panic. Everyone of us is going to have a few here and there. I found a few areas here that surprised me too. Guess I'm not all in the green (ones) yet.
I don't have any magic answers as to what constitutes a safe score. What I can tell you is that the more of these that you rated 10 the more likely you are under stress and a candidate for burnout. The tens should be regarded as alarms (red). And if you have a large number of fives you should be looking at them as caution signals (yellow). Take a look at the ones you rated as a 10 and ask yourself what can be changed to make it a five or a one. Try to reduce as many as you can. In six months or a year do this evaluation again. If your score is the same or increasing, then you should be concerned. Its time to talk with your Commissioner, your Committee and your Assistants and to share some of the load, reduce the number of things you do, seek quality in what you do, and reorient. And if it is apparent that a large number are high and the number growing, you may want to consider talking with your physician about attending a stress management course to pick up information you can use to change for the better.
For those that you serve, if for no other reason, take care of yourself. You are important to those Scouts! :-)
Speaking only for myself in the Scouting Spirit, Michael F.
Bowman
DDC-Training, GW Dist. Nat Capital Area Council
mfbowman@CAPACCESS.ORG
Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 06:49:39 -0800
From: John Caputo <jcaputo@HQ.TCFARM.COM>
Subject: Re: Don't Succomb to Scouter Burnout
On Monday Nov.27 Michael F. Bowman wrote:
>You as a Scouter are an invaluable asset to your Council, District,
I totally agree with his statements. I have seen many people in this program who attempt to run a Cub Pack, Scout Troop or another unit all by himself, as well as hold other positions in the District. I have also seen most of these people leave the program after a couple of years because of Scouter Burnout. I would not tell anybody what to do but I will suggest that if you are trying to run a unit by yourself (or maybe just a couple of adults) you need to get some help. If you are holding several positions in the Scouting program and are feeling the pressures of them, then maybe it is time to look at possibly giving one or two of them up. I know that this is a hard statement when " Nobody else out there will do it". I have been there, done that and made that same statement but I also found out that when I decided that I had to back off some that other people did step up and take over those positions. With your "help" those new people will do the job quite nicely and if you look, while still holding that position, down the road to when you will be dropping it, yes maybe set a time limit on how long you will be one position, then you can get an assistant and train him/her while you are still there.
There is one other person who, in my opinion, has to be considered when the topic of Scouter Burnout comes up, your spouse. You may not have reached the point of burnout yet but you are spending four nights a week doing scouting along with a couple of weekends a month. What does your wife/husband think? Talk your scouting over with them and make sure that they are not reaching the point of "Scouter Burnout" for you.
John Caputo Eagle Valley OA Chapter Advisor
"and a Good Old Beaver too" Cascade Pacific Council
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 16:33:20 -0700
From: Ted Burton <tedbrtn@CYBERHIGHWAY.NET>
Subject: Re: Don't Succomb to Scouter Burnout
>re: "But nobody else will do it"
>
>I, too, found out how untrue this is.
When I took my present job, my ability to continue as Scoutmaster was badly impacted. I now had evening meetings two or three nights of every week with the City, one of which conflicted head-on with the regular Troop meeting. We changed Troop nights and lost a couple of boys. Sixty hours a week with the City left me pretty bummed. It wasn't working.
Well I quit as Scoutmaster because I was not being one. My assistants floundered, membership slipped. But one Woodbadge course later yet another adult who was hanging back when I was SM is now the SM and the boys are doing well.
You have to do these things, and either the Committee, the Charter partner, a father, the Creator, or whomever, will in fact come to the rescue. As D. Eagle rep I can always find time to squeeze a Scout in to review his project. As a Troop Committee member and Charter Rep for the Post I concentrate on finding youth-relevant adults to do I what I used to do, and on defending boy-leadership. As Chapter Advisor I am struggling to stay afloat; it may also have to be yielded up to another, but that is touchier, as I am the only active OA adult for 100 miles around.
Ted
who is netAddressed for, personal use, as:
tedbrtn@cyberhighway.net
and for business use as: ciatty@cyberhighway.net
Last edited: February 22, 2004
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