Post Realignment Musings: Or the Tectonic Plates of Culture Change

An interesting thought: for an organization that’s constituency is always in a state of transformation, how “risk averse” some of the Girl Scouts’ volunteer constituency has been. Courageous girls wake up one day and their clothes don’t fit, their hair looks odd and now they have braces. Days later they feel funny, maybe a little bloated and, well, you know. Yet they still have to go out and face the world, go to school, take those changes in stride, and keep moving forward. We should all take a page from that book.

At our recent annual meeting, held at an historic hotel in Oklahoma City, we hosted almost 200 Girl Scout delegates from all over our 39 counties in central and western Oklahoma. For those of you not in Girl Scouts, we take the democratic process very seriously. Delegates are elected in Service Units across the Council’s territory to represent their area at the annual meeting.

Annual meetings are an opportunity for an organization to share with its stakeholders the financial health of the organization, to make any changes to the by-laws or other corporate documents of the organization, to give a report on how well the organization is fulfilling its mission, to honor retiring board members and other stakeholders who have helped the organization fulfill its mission, to elect the new board and to share a vision going forward into the new year. In the not for profit world, organizations are usually required by their by-laws to conduct this annual business meeting.

In the past, for many Girl Scout Councils, the annual meeting was an opportunity for volunteers who are troop leaders to come together to share stories, to elect the new board and to have an annual awards event. The “business” of the annual meeting may have taken a back seat to operational issues.

To reach more girls with the leadership message of Girl Scouts, we have to address the business of Girl Scouting. Some of our evaluations of the annual meeting; reflected this change: “This was the best meeting I have attended so far. I am pleased to see us in a “power” spot in the city.” As many as 3 delegates to one scored this annual meeting better than any they had ever attended. So we are changing this 100 year old organization into a more dynamic, vibrant, successful and nimble one, moving at the speed and the courage of girls.

Yet, it strikes me as odd that some of the volunteers who have been troop leaders for years seem particularly risk averse. They get upset when talking about changes and making shifts. They often say, “but it’s all about the girls.” I wonder, what girls are they talking about?

Some of the comments left on evaluations of our annual meeting were of this vein. In speaking about a long time supporter and donor to the Girl Scouts who received a well-deserved award, some of the comments were similar to this one submitted: “What service unit are they from? What troop number, how many girls are in their troop? What a joke! Thank God us regular folks love the Girls – because to us Girl Scouts is about them! The Girls!”

This comment referred to our discussion on the importance of reaching more girls with Girl Scouts: “Why are girls referred to as market shares? They are GIRLS!” Others were like this comment about the year-end financial report that lists where all of our money was spent: “I would like to see what areas the money is being spent – not necessarily a budget.”

All the girls I know are continually changing and re-inventing themselves. The speed of their transformational shifts astound me as a mother, friend, aunt, neighbor and acquaintance. I try not to be too shocked when I see a girl sporting a new way of being than she was a mere few weeks earlier. I support her changes; I revel in her marvelous ability to land on her feet, to adapt, to be nimble.

If only some of the folks who say, “It’s all about the girls” were really in touch with the girls and their ever-transforming needs, they might see the great changes being made in Girl Scouts today a whole lot differently!