since this first annual meeting of the new Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles represents a culmination of one part of the transformation, it seems appropriate to take just a minute to look back at how we got here. We wanted to make sure that 100 years from now there would be a Girl Scout Movement to hand over to our great-great-granddaughters. A few years ago, it became clear that there was some danger of that not happening.

The biggest danger signal was the drop in girl membership.
It was slow and gradual—but it wasn’t turning around.
If left untended, eventually it was going to turn into a death spiral.

So the question was, how do we change Girl Scouting so it will thrive in the 21st century AND stay true to its roots? Finding the answer to that question came out of a series of meetings held all over the country. We developed a list of shortcomings and ambitions in each of five essential areas:

The programs we deliver to girls
The way we organize and govern ourselves
The way we present ourselves to others
The way we raise money
The way we manage our relationships with volunteers.

From that list, we developed the elements of the Core Business Strategy: program, governance, brand, fund development, and volunteerism

We couldn’t do everything at once, so the CEO and the national board shortened the list to three first-rank priorities: program, governance, and brand. In the program area, we needed:

Nationwide consistency
Measureable outcomes In today’s world you can’t do serious fundraising without them.
And it still had to be enjoyable for the girls.

Girls don’t do scouting because it’s good for them. They do it because it’s fun. The solution was the new journeys books.
Have been extremely well received by girls.
We’re still working at getting all the necessary support to volunteers.
It’s working. The better we all know it, the better we’ll make it work.
…
The core business strategy calls for two things in this area:
Transform the Girl Scouts image with a compelling, contemporary brand that inspires girls of every age and families of every culture to join.
Be the premier voice for girls and an expert on their growth and development.

Here’s one thing that looked very interesting to me

We’ll be delivering new brand materials to the councils in January of next year

What does that mean? Is that a new logo? A different set of books? Just the Journeys books? I don’t know.

Our board chair, Janet Braun, introduced the board of directors to the meeting and said a number of things, but the one that really caught my attention was this.

We have launched our strategic planning process through our Strategic Planning Committee, and engaged the entire Board in a piece of this process at our Board Retreat in February. Our strategic planning committee is finalizing a vision statement for our Council and identifying the critical factors that we need to accomplish our ultimate goal. We will be collecting information about the Strategic Learning Process that GSUSA would like all councils to employ and evaluate the extent to which it may enhance our current process.

Strategic Learning Process? What’s that? I had to look around until I found an old page that discussed it with the one person who was probably most influential in making it happen: Willie Pietersen.

Recently, our council was selected by Girl Scouts of the USA to participate in a Strategic Learning Pilot. What is Strategic Learning? Strategic Learning is a learning-based process for creating and implementing breakthrough strategies. Unlike traditional strategy, which aims at producing one-time change, Strategic Learning drives continuous adaptation. Strategic Learning process was developed by Willie Pietersen, Professor of the Practice of Management at Columbia Business School and is used in a variety of for-profit and not-for-profit contexts and was used successfully as the underlying process in the National Girl Scout Core Business Strategy in 2004.

I recently posed some questions to Willie Pietersen to help us as we transition to Strategic Learning. Here are my questions and his responses:

Q. Across the entire Movement, Girl Scouts has been experiencing tremendous change. In a meeting recently, I was asked a question that I believe represented what a number of others were thinking: “When will these changes be over?” What insights can you offer to help transform the way we think about change?
A. We need to think about change as a journey, not a destination. To survive, organizations must continuously adapt to evolving circumstances. Sometimes these organizational changes are major, sometimes more incremental. Girl Scouts is going through transformational phase at the moment, and it is very challenging for all concerned — particularly those involved in Council reorganizations. But this is an essential “adjustment” to help Girl Scouts become more focused, effective and nimble in the future. Once these big changes are consolidated, Girl Scouts will assume a more “normal” mode. The key will be to keep adapting through small steps as you go forward, and try and prevent these big spasms from happening too frequently. Keep your spirits up by always remembering the “reason why” for the current big change.

So, there is no end to the change. It will be a constant process. Adjustments to an existing program are something I’m perfectly happy with. I need someone to help me understand how never ending change is beneficial. I guess I just don’t get how that’s supposed to work.

Talk about your major transformation. Girl Scouts used to be one of those organizations who represented tradition and history that helped generations of girls learn new skills. The new image is a continually evolving leadership program for girls. This is very different. It is also taking an extraordinarily long time to get these answers out of the GSUSA. It feels like they want to change the organization and are just casting about to figure out which approach will anger the volunteers and girls least. Maybe that’s just me being paranoid.

By the way, my daughter has decided to continue in Girl Scouts as well as Venturing because she wants to earn her Gold Award and the Venturing Crew doesn’t have enough program for her satisfaction. I get to see first-hand all these exciting changes to GSUSA.

The Girl Scout Hornets’ Nest Council officials announced at a luncheon Thursday that the 47-year-old council will merge with four sister councils in central and western North Carolina to become the Girl Scouts Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont council.

The Oct.1 merger was ordered by the national Girl Scouts organization in 2005 as a way to economize councils and make them more uniform, said Katherine Lambert, Hornets’ Nest executive vice president.

The Charlotte council, serving about 15,000 girls, will merge with smaller councils in Gastonia and Hickory, Lambert said.

Nice to see those Carolinas getting along.

Transitional Requirements
Requirements for bridging from Girl Scout Seniors to Girl Scout Ambassadors are due out soon from GSUSA. In the meantime, feel free to use these for your bridging plans.
Complete all 8 activities:
Discover
1. Investigate the meaning of the word Ambassador. What does an Ambassador do?
2. What traits must a good Ambassador have? Which of these traits do you have? Which traits would you like to develop further in the next two years as a Girl Scout Ambassador?
3. Why do you think the name Girl Scout Ambassador was chosen for this level? What role should Girl Scout Ambassadors play in our organization? How is the role of Girl Scout Ambassador different than that of Girl Scout Cadettes or Girl Scout Seniors? How do you think acting in the role of an ambassador will build your leadership skills?
Connect
4. Find out how you can connect with other Girl Scout Ambassadors in your Service Area and Council. Check out the websites www.girlscouts.org or www.gsnwgl.org or the camp booklet to identify opportunities that are available for Girl Scout Ambassadors in the upcoming year.
5. Contact a representative from your Service Area. Find out who in your area might need more information about Girl Scout Ambassadors. Younger girls? Adult volunteers? Meet with one of the groups identified to let them know what Girl Scout Ambassadors can offer.
Take Action
6. Make a list of the things you would like to accomplish as a Girl Scout Ambassador. List any projects, activities or trips you’d like to participate in, or any awards you’d like to earn. Develop a tentative timeline to allow you to accomplish these goals in your two years as a Girl Scout Ambassador.
7. Investigate the new Journey for Girl Scout Ambassadors – Your Voice, Your World; The Power of Advocacy.
8. Design your own bridging ceremony.

This was one of the issues we discussed with our CEO in Los Angeles. There are so many changes happening at the same time and no one is quite sure what is going on because the GSUSA isn’t rolling things out in a way for people to keep track of it. Her answer, “Keep the best and ignore the rest”. Sounds good to me.

Update: My lady with the inside knowledge says the new requirements are up!

If you’re a Senior Girl Scout, you may soon bridge to Girl Scout Ambassador, the highest level in Girl Scouting. Think you’re ready to move up? Then you can earn a Bridge to Girl Scout Ambassador Award by: Exploring…as you look forward…Reflecting…as you look back…Investigating…as you look around. Complete Steps One and Two to earn the award, then celebrate with a bridging ceremony.

Investigate at least one item in each of these three categories. Or, do them all if you want! Dive in alone or with a group, but be sure to express something specific about you.

Explore answers by yourself, with Girl Scouts, adults, family, or friends.

1. What’s the meaning of the word ambassador?
2. What traits must a good ambassador have? Which of these traits do you have?
3. How do you see yourself living up to the distinction of being a Girl Scout Ambassador?

Reflect on your own or reminisce with Girl Scouts, adults, family, or friends.

1. As a Girl Scout Senior, what were your accomplishments? What challenges did you overcome?
2. How did you team with others—girls, adults, women in the community, country, or overseas–to make the world a better place?
3. Leadership is different for everyone. What’s your definition of leadership? How would you describe your leadership style?

Investigate with Girl Scout Ambassadors, adult volunteers, council staff, family, or friends.

1. What activities or experiences do Girl Scout Ambassadors get to enjoy? Identify and engage others who could help communicate your findings.
2. What topics appeal to you in the leadership journeys or other resources for Girl Scout Ambassadors? Then describe the steps to turn your interest into an Action Plan.
3. Got something to say? Find out where Girl Scout Ambassadors can express their opinions. Then advocate for something you feel strongly about.

Now it’s time to get creative and inspire others with what you have learned.

Choose a form of expression from the list below…or come up with your own. As with the questions above, explore individually or with a group but be sure to express something about you.

Make your pursuit as big or as small as you like, based on the form of expression you choose. Decide who you want to inspire: your Girl Scout friends or younger girls? Potential Girl Scouts or volunteers? Kids at your school? Your teachers? Pick a group, share, and shine!

1. Design a scrapbook
2. Write and perform a song
3. Create a digital or print photo collage
4. Perform a skit
5. Make a video
6. Design a web site (or web page or blog)
7. Write a letter
8. Draw, paint, sculpt, or photograph
9. Host a Girl Scout or community meeting, especially one that includes younger Girl Scouts

1. Start a Take Action project
2. Design or style clothing
3. Write a story, essay, article, or poem
4. Give a PowerPoint presentation
5. Think like an engineer–design something three-dimensional
6. Hold a workshop
7. Work on a résumé
8. Write and present a funny commercial
9. Your idea _____________________

Stay safe. Follow all guidelines, especially those related to being online. Go to http://www.girlscouts.org/internet_safety_pledge.asp for the Internet Safety Pledge.

Celebrate by designing your own bridging ceremony to Girl Scout Ambassadors. For more about Girl Scout Bridging ceremonies, visit http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_central/ceremonies/bridging.asp.

All right! Thanks!

By Phillip Ramati – pramati@macon.com
A couple of weekends ago, a group of Boy Scouts fired off a series of bottle rockets at Al Sihah Shrine Park. It was a pretty good way to have fun and use a low-tech method to demonstrate the principles of physics.

…
Margaret Skene, CEO of the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia, said the national organization has been looking at ways to adapt in the 21st century.

“We’ve surveyed the girls, and one of the things we’re doing now is text messaging,” Skene said. “They love that. We use Twitter, we have blogs, we have two Web sites. One is for girls talking to girls about online issues and the second one is for parents. … Kids move faster than the (organization) does. Now we are getting the girls engaged, and I think it’s very contagious. … The values haven’t changed, but how we deliver it is very different.”
…
“Successful organizations have to change with the times,” she said.

The Boy Scouts are taking a slightly different tact in their approach to technology, said Garrett Williams, scout executive for the Central Georgia Council. While the Boy Scouts use the Internet, they don’t do a lot of online social networking. Rather, they encourage their members to explore science, technology and computers through merit badges.

Williams said he thinks the low-tech, traditional activities of the Boy Scouts is what appeals to today’s youth.
…
With the changes both organizations have instituted over the years, membership has stayed at consistent levels, both Skene and Williams said. Williams said there are about 5,000 Boy Scouts in Middle Georgia, covering 24 counties. There are about 16,000 Girl Scouts in the Heart of Georgia region, Skene said, which covers most of the state except for the Atlanta-area region.

Despite the efforts of the organizations to modernize, the traditional aspects of scouting, especially those based around outdoors activities such as camping, fishing and hiking, still seem to have the broadest appeal among scouts in Middle Georgia.

Deandre Coates, 16, a junior at Dodge County High School, said he got into scouting because his younger brother was involved. For Coates, getting away from the modern conveniences and technology was the biggest appeal of scouting, he said.

“It’s a fun atmosphere with all the things we get to do, like camping,” he said. “We go outside and study nature. It gives me the chance to get away and do something different.”

Amanda Brown, a 14-year-old from Lizella, said she enjoys the public service and social activities that scouting offers.

“I like to meet the other girls,” she said. “We learn a lot of leadership skills. At Girl Scout camp, we do painting and spend a lot of time with horses.”
…
Skene said the Girl Scouts have constantly evolved over time to meet with the ever-changing demands of society.

“Part of our transformation is to make the Girl Scouts more flexible,” she said. “When I was growing up, my mom was the troop leader and we met weekly at our church. But moms are now working, and we now have girls with special interests — camps, cheerleading, science, travelling. We’re gearing more to the individual. If a girl only wants to go to (Girl Scout) camp, that’s fine. They’ll continue to love scouting and be with their friends.

“It’s really a different world. Their lives are so busy. When customers change, delivery has to change.”

This is what I expressed to our local CEO. Why would any national organization roll out a fundamental change without testing it first? As far as I know the changes the Girl Scouts want to implement haven’t been tested to prove that they are more effective at recruiting and retaining girls. Forget my argument that changing the organization makes it something besides the GSUSA. Just figure out the fundamental question: does it work? I’ve yet to see that Soccer and Scouting retains more Hispanic families than the traditional program. Sure kids sign up for the games, but how long do they stay in? Does it work any differently than simply starting a soccer league? If not, why are we doing it and why does it need to have the BSA name on it?

I started off the Q&A by asking what the area of responsibility is for the board of directors and paid staff. I don’t know how decisions are made. Unfortunately, the answer I received didn’t really clarify anything for me. Basically it was: the paid staff receives the concepts of what the paid staff needs to accomplish and then the paid staff implements a plan to achieve those goals. That gave me the impression that all of the recent changes to the GSUSA program were put in place by the paid staff with vague direction from the board. I don’t normally feel like a dunce, but I spoke directly to the top two spots in the council and I still don’t know what each of them really does.

One of the VP’s of the council misspoke at some point and cited the national convention as the authorization for all of the recent program changes and was corrected by a couple of people in the room who were national delegates at both conventions.

At the end of the meeting Ms. Luttgens expressed surprise that there was such dissatisfaction with the recent changes. She said she’d been to all of the legacy councils and ours was the only one to say anything negative about any of the recent changes. This surprised me because there has been widespread dissatisfaction in our area.

At least we were allowed to have our views listened to. I came away with a greater respect for these two women since they actively listened to our views so we at least know they are being heard. With the feedback from the top ladies I knew that they were not hearing these views previously.

I’ve used up my miniscule amount of private time to write this much of the post so anything else will have to wait for another time.

Twelve-year-old Genevieve Morris of Chapel Hill found her Girl Scout troop boring. She complained that the girls spent too much time indoors doing crafts instead of going outside and enjoying nature.

Then Genevieve’s mother, Kate Carroll, heard about Girls Council, a new nature-focused group in Chapel Hill for 10- to 17-year-old girls. She signed her daughter up for the group, which started meeting weekly last month.
…
But Girls Council is different because it’s more-hands on and more nature-focused, Haggerty said. Haggerty and her co-leader Rebecca Sornson said their goals are to create a safe environment for girls, teach them about nature and help them build confidence.

The other thing that outdoor groups can teach is leadership as the older kids teach the younger ones what they know and organize their own activities. This is consistent with the new GSUSA push toward leadership. The national organization needs to keep this in mind as they try to get their new agenda moving. There have been acknowledgements of the existence of outdoor activities as part of the Girl Scout program, but not the support that has historically been given. Hopefully, the new Board of Directors elected at the last national convention will exert more influence on the direction of the Girl Scouts and try to keep utilize the outdoors as a method for leadership training.

I went back to the national site to refresh my memory of some of the statistics I had cited in my previous blog post and discovered that the study has been changed. The wording, new bright pictures, and somewhere more than a dozen pages fell out of the report. Because I was analyzing it, I had saved a copy as the GSUSA had allowed and still does allow from their site. So, you can see the original (or at least back in August version) here. The current version is here.

It just seem a little sneaky to change the study like that although the older version was more dreary and the new one has cute clip art. The study was done, by the way, about a year and a half ago even though all the recent stories make it sound like it was just released.

It’s understandable the Girl Scouts need to do something in order to stop the decrease in their numbers. As previously stated, hiring experienced and qualified outside executives was a good move. Those who run the organization likely are not experts on improving the image of something that for nearly its existence hasn’t needed a face lift. Reaching out and asking for help could very well have been the decision that put a halt to the deteriorating numbers.

But with where the executives went, and the Girl Scouts allowed them to go, it likely won’t help. Or at least not in the way the Girl Scouts want.

Mary Connell, CEO of Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey, was quoted as saying “We have a saying – we’re operating at the speed of girls …These are 21st Century girls …They, at the very least, want to be near a cell phone tower.”

By decreasing the number of councils, and thus limiting the number of camps and land being used, this attitude by the 21st century girl is not being changed. As much as money is an issue for the Scouts and selling camps helps them in that department, they seem to think the attitude by potential members is one that needs to be accommodated to. But decreasing the number of camps and land being used will not change this attitude, which could potentially kill the Scouts just as much as a lack of money will.

I don’t know what Scott’s interest in Girl Scouts is, but if a male college student is starting to remark on the realignment changes you know the word is really getting out there. Time magazine may have pushed the issue to a tipping point on the public’s awareness of the changes.

Representing every county in Connecticut, the board consists of life-long Girl Scouts, prominent community leaders, nonprofit and corporate executives, two university presidents and many board veterans. The 27 members who comprise the new board will draw from their extensive experience in Girl Scouting, banking, finance, communications, government, education, technology, marketing and strategic planning to lead the state’s largest girl-focused organization.

Members also have deep Girl Scout connections. More than half of its members have served on one or more Girl Scout council boards. Most of its female members were Girl Scouts as children, and served on the Girl Scouts of Connecticut’s interim board or nominating/development committee.
…
Continuing the Girl Scouts’ commitment to diversity, the board includes members from the African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American and Indian-American communities.

Meh. I know this is important to some people, but I was told as a kid that race doesn’t matter so I pretty much stopped paying attention to it and it kind of shocked me how incredibly excited people were when our new President was elected. I mean, I understand the significance, but I just don’t think that way very much. I use the King approach: content of his character, rather than the color of his skin. One of my pet peeves with the Girl Scouts is they are so interested in what color everybody is. Nearly all the forms about registration and events ask what color and from which region somebody’s ancestors were. I wonder if the white South African kid in my Boy Scout troop gets to put African American on his BSA registration form?

The Connecticut Girl Scout page doesn’t even have the board announcement yet, which I found amusing. They do have this link to their reflections on the recent convention, though. I liked it, but it seems like most of the accounts about this subject make the convention sound more like a party than a business meeting. That’s fine. After all, the Boy Scout Jamboree is basically just one big party, with a little merit badge work if you want it. It just seems like the GSUSA can’t make up their mind if they want to party or work at the convention so they mix liberal doses of business and pleasure. It’s a good thing, just a little frustrating when you try to get details. Fortunately, we had Mary Ann Chick Whiteside keeping the info flowing so we got the details we needed.

Good luck to the new Connecticut Board of Directors. E Pluribus Unum.

Girl Scout green will light up the sky from 26 glass pylons leading to the airport’s entrance, known as the famed LAX Gateway, in celebration of this historic day for area Girl Scouts.

GSGLA is grateful to the Los Angeles City Council and the Los Angeles World Airports for granting approval of this symbolic gesture.

Our council is being reorganized according to regions of which there are four (not necessarily what you would have expected: central, north, east, and southwest). The new site for Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles, which doesn’t seem to rank very high in Google yet, is www.girlscoutsla.org. One of the effects not mentioned anywhere I can find yet is the dissolution of existing service units. This is going to be strange since each service unit is 100% volunteer driven with occasional feedback from a council professional. So, the managers of these units have developed their own styles, meeting days, and traditions. My wife has already been working with other managers to see who will be the manager of the newly formed service units? How will they get their loyal volunteers to follow them to another day or time or place for their preparation? These are those sticky details that have to be worked out by the volunteers.

The council is dead. Long live the council!