The results are in, and it’s been another banner year in the BSA’s Journey to Excellence. More than 90 percent of our 286 councils earned bronze, silver, or gold recognition in 2012, with 64 percent of councils improving their total points or remaining gold-level performers. Evaluating council performers by recognition level, we had 134 councils earn gold, 96 earn silver, and 39 earn bronze. Only 17 of 286 councils failed to qualify for JTE recognition. (An Excel spreadsheet of council performance by region is available online.)
In conducting our year-end analysis of JTE, it’s clear who the real winners are: the volunteers and youth being served by continuously improving Scouting programs. Thanks to your support, Journey to Excellence is engaging volunteers and staff in action-oriented discussions focused on how together, we make the Scouting program better tomorrow than it is today. Our culture is embracing the JTE balanced scorecard as the corporate standard to measure Scouting achievement at the unit, district, and council levels. With this corporate commitment, we are now focusing time and resources on key performance indicators that drive success at the local council level—and ultimately attract and retain more youth in Scouting.
Congratulations to all Journey to Excellence achievers in 2012. The Mission Delivery Team stands ready to support all councils in their 2013 Journey to Excellence. Resources including copies of the 2013 JTE scorecards in English and Spanish plus tools to help you achieve in each of the 18 criteria can be found at www.scouting.org/jte.
And coming later this year: the launch of the 2013 Journey to Excellence District Dashboard. We’re excited about how this latest advance will support district executives and district committees to better serve local Scouting.