2023 Adult Experience Survey Findings
In May 2023 the first ever Adult Experience Survey was conducted. With approximately 1160 responses received from across our national adult membership the feedback has provided some great insights about the experiences of our Adults in Scouting. Thank you to all who contributed.
You will see from the infographic there was good diversity in responses, with nearly 60% coming from Youth Program Adult Leaders providing grassroots insights.
There are many areas we can be very proud of, especially the perceived value the Scouting Program offers for young people, the resilience it builds (including in our adults) and that people stay out of a sense of purpose (73%) and a desire to give back to Scouting that which they learned as a youth member (46%).
Equally, there are many things we need to improve in. Some key areas identified were that the Individual Adult Volunteer Plan (IAVP) process has not been implemented well, that Leadership in Scouting is not enabling the best from our adults, and our processes and systems (including training) are falling short of meeting needs. Also, there were a number of frustrations about the development of Scouts | Terrain.
In terms of people staying – approximately 30% of adults do not see themselves being in Scouting three years from now.
With over 500 responses providing more detail as to why they feel this way. All of this anonymously received data and comments have been shared with Branches to review and incorporate into their forward planning.
A statistic for focus is the Net Promoter Score which flags the propensity for an Adult Member to recommend Scouting to family and friends. At a -4 result, this highlights a lot more needs to be done for our adults to feel confident to sell the story of Scouting. It also suggests that despite our volunteer leadership roles being immensely rewarding, it can also be so demanding that it is hard for many to recommend it to others.
All of the data has been shared with the National Operations Committee and National Executive Committee and will now be used to help inform the next Strategic Plan as well as other operational plans for the next few years. We are sharing these results in this e-news article out of transparency and because the future of our adult experience is something that we all have a role in shaping.