For Adults - Running on Empty
| Category: | For Adults |
|---|---|
| Notes: | For adult leaders and committee members, especially in a busy season or when a few volunteers are carrying most of the load. Good at a committee meeting, roundtable, or end-of-year planning session. Part of a series for adult audiences - see the other minutes in this category. |
Every troop and pack has them. The handful of adults who seem to do everything. They plan the campouts, run the meetings, handle the money, answer the emails at midnight, and somehow also drive the trailer.
Some of you are those people. And I want to talk to you for a minute.
That kind of dedication is a gift. But it has a cost. Volunteers burn out. They get tired, then frustrated, then one day they quietly step away, and suddenly nobody knows where the tents are or how to register for summer camp. Burnout doesn't just hurt the volunteer. It hurts the unit.
So here are a few things worth saying out loud.
It's okay to say no. You don't have to take every job just because nobody else raised their hand.
Ask for help, specifically. "We need more volunteers" gets silence. "Could you drive on the October campout?" usually gets a yes. Most parents are willing. They're just waiting to be asked for something they can actually do.
Write it down and pass it on. Every job you do alone is a job nobody else knows how to do. Train your replacement before you need one.
And take care of yourself. Our Scouts learn from what we do more than from what we say. If they see us running ourselves into the ground, that's what they'll learn leadership looks like.
The best thing you can do for this unit isn't to do everything. It's to make sure this unit can keep going without you doing everything.