Administrative Commissioners

District Commissioner

This leader is approved and appointed by the council executive board, with the concurrence of the Scout executive, on the recommendation of the district nominating committee. Working with the district executive, he or she recruits, trains, guides, and evaluates the required commissioner personnel of the district. Specific responsibilities include:

1. Identify and recruit enough of the right people as commissioners so that all Scouting units in the district receive regular, helpful service.
2. Provide opportunities for immediate commissioner orientation, frequent basic training, and monthly learning experiences for all commissioners.
3. Supervise and motivate unit commissioners to visit each unit regularly, identify unit needs, and make plans to meet unit needs.
4. Administer the annual commissioner service plan, which gives specific purposes for commissioner contact with units at designated times of the year.
5. Oversee the unit charter renewal plan so that each unit reregisters on time and with optimum membership.
6. Guide roundtable commissioners to ensure that monthly roundtables are well-attended, and provide practical and exciting unit program ideas.
7. Plan and preside at monthly meetings of the district commissioner staff.
8. Work with the district chairman and district executive to stimulate and coordinate the work of the
9. Help meet district goals.
10. Represent the district as a member of the council commissioner cabinet.
11. Support local and national Scouting policy, procedures, and practices.
12. Attend district committee meetings to report on conditions of units and to secure specialized help for units.

The district commissioner must be a proven leader capable of enlisting other effective persons to serve.

The district commissioner, or DC, is the chief morale officer of the district: upbeat, personable, determined, and a role model for Scouting ideals. He or she is passionate about the benefits of Scouting and is a champion of the unit to make Scouting happen in the lives of young people.

The DC understands and communicates the best skills available in unit service: how to counsel and inspire unit people, how to enrich unit program, and how to help units solve problems before problems sink the unit.

Above all, the DC is the builder of a complete team of commissioners for the district. If this individual fails to do that, all the counseling and unit service skills in the world will be lost. Like a professional football coach who does not have the ability to select and recruit a team, all the knowledge of great plays and team strategies is lost.

District commissioners measure their success by the progress of other commissioners on their staff, as they in turn make good Scouting happen in their assigned units. They are "can-do" people who are interested in results rather than in procedure.

Assistant District Commissioners Assistant district commissioners, or ADCs, can make or break a district's ability to see that every unit receives competent commissioner service. Even the best district commissioner in the council cannot personally train and guide all unit commissioners in the district (in a 60-unit district that is at least 20 people). So, ADCs are assigned certain units in the district, and they supervise the unit commissioners who serve those units.

A good staff has one ADC for every 15 units. That is one ADC for every five unit commissioners needed. That provides one unit commissioner for every three units.

Good ADCs have good people skills and they:

• Help recruit the right people
• Provide clear instructions and specific ideas for their staff
• Listen to what people say and feel
• Never play favorites
• Coach unit commissioners through real unit problem-solving situations
• Treat all Scouters with courtesy and dignity
• Praise each commissioner often for specific achievements
• Do not try to take over for their staff but always are ready to support or help them to be successful

ADCs work closely with the district commissioner and district executive. This team must have a vision of effective Scouting, and they must communicate that vision—through unit commissioners—to every unit leader in the district.

When a unit commissioner resigns, or cannot adequately fulfill the responsibilities of the job, the assistant district commissioner temporarily assumes the vacant position. However, immediate action must be taken to provide a replacement. Administrative commissioners are not unit commissioners. Their job is to find unit commissioners.

Assistant district commissioners measure people's progress, not in the number of meetings those people attend but in the way they handle their responsibilities.

The ADC's job is accomplished largely on a personalized basis. Although there are meetings for all commissioners in the district, service to individual units is best planned as an ADC meets with one to five unit commissioners.