The Center for Management and Organization Effectiveness talks
with Dennis St. Jean, Assistant Director Professional
Development Division, Boy Scouts of America, Irving, Texas.
CMOE: Having recently attended one of your leadership
conferences I walked away with a totally different view of Boy
Scouts of America. Can you tell us about your organization?
Dennis: Our intent is to have the volunteers in the community,
and the youth, receive the recognition. As a result most people
think of us as a volunteer organization and don’t know that we
have 3,500 full time commissioned professional staff working in
326 local Boy Scout Councils. Our Staff Leaders work with our
first level professional, Unit Serving Executives.
CMOE: What is the role of a Unit Serving Executive?
Dennis: They are the workhorses of our organization, responsible
for fund raising, recruiting volunteers, recruiting new members,
and starting new scouting units. They work directly with the
volunteers and their efforts determine our success in meeting
our Mission and Goals.
CMOE: So the Staff Leaders manage the Unit Servicing
Executives?
Dennis: They do more than manage, they lead and develop. Even
though we are a not-for-profit organization, we operate like a
business. Since our staff salaries are the biggest line item in
our budget, we must maximize the contribution of our people. We
believe that maximization is more acute for the Scouts. Every
dollar spent has to be raised. It is absolutely imperative that
the Staff Leader sharpens the skills of those reporting to them
and constantly develops them to become even better.
CMOE: What role does leadership coaching skills play in
achieving this goal?
Dennis: Our Operational Management System (OMS), like many other
performance management systems, has four phases: Clearly
communicating expectations, Providing feedback on barriers and
needed development, Coaching to improve, and Rewards based upon
performance.
CMOE: Are your Staff Leaders good coaches?
Dennis: They are good people and we assumed that leadership
coaching behaviors were natural. Our feedback from some of our
highly rated people who left, and current valued employees, told
us that both the quality and quantity of coaching was lacking.
They were not receiving enough coaching, feedback/direction, and
the coaching was either not effective or focused only on
barriers, not on developmental plans. Even when discussing
barriers there was not enough emphasis on “why” and “how to
improve.”
CMOE: Then the Professional Development Division got
involved?
Dennis: Only because our Chief Executive Officer after a number
of focus group sessions with new Unit Serving Executives,
recognized that our organization hadn’t provided the tools or
process to be a good coach. Our projected growth and increased
competition for attracting and retaining top caliber people
further spotlighted this. Then we were asked to get involved.
CMOE: What has been your experience with the CMOE’s Leadership
Coaching Workshop and Coaching Model?
Dennis: We know this gives them the tools to implement the
Coaching function of our OMS and be more effective in their day
to day interaction with the professional staff.
CMOE: Can you give us some examples of the Coaching Model
working?
Dennis: Two come to mind. A Field Director attended the workshop
two weeks prior to the quarterly reviews. He called back to
relate how well they had gone and that they exceeded his
expectations for a positive performance feedback and development
session. The second was a Staff Leader who used the model in a
corrective discussion. She called me to report that with this
tool, the results were more positive than she had ever expected
and that the employee was making some real progress. There are
many more examples but these two are the most recent.
CMOE: Any other thoughts you would like to share?
Dennis: As a not-for-profit organization we are excited about
helping our leaders become even better coaches. This will help
them maximize the contribution of our employees and volunteers
and better enable us to achieve our Mission.
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