Pipeline Recruiting

[NIN]

I'm in the process of setting up a presentation about pipelining.

It occurred to me that while my unit has been doing it since early 2001, and I know anecdotally of other units trying it, I am not really sure how widespread it is.

Anybody's unit either doing currently, or previously has done, pipelining for either cadet or senior member recruiting?

[Ed Bos]

I'm unclear what you're describing with the term "pipelining." What is it and how useful have you found it?

[NIN]

I'm unclear what you're describing with the term "pipelining." What is it and how useful have you found it?

Pipeline recruiting is described in the Cadet Great Start program guide and we've discussed it here several times.

It's been tremendously useful for us.  My unit has pipelined since January 2001. It has been a boon to retention,  unit admin, personnel & logistics ops, and has a number of hidden benefits too.

[Walkman]

We're starting to set up a new pipeline system for the unit. As we're just starting, we don't have anything in writing yet.

PM sent.

[Eclipse]

I would love to do it, have never been in a situation with enough new cadets to be able to.

It takes some planning as you need to have some concerted recruiting in advance of your evolutions.

[Garibaldi]

We have plenty but are running into the problem of keeping the ones we DO have interested. A lot of them come due to word of mouth from their friends, but don't stay long. We are rebuilding our AE program as well as enhancing the GS program in place. And the recent O-flight day didn't hurt things.

[NIN]

I would love to do it, have never been in a situation with enough new cadets to be able to.

It takes some planning as you need to have some concerted recruiting in advance of your evolutions.

Ah ha! Another pipelining myth!

More fodder! !

[Eclipse]

How do you pipeline cadets you don't have?

You can't make new cadets sit on the bench for 3-6 months while you wait for the next evolution to start.

I could totally see this working about a large recruiting event where yo let them know upfront that
"next cycle is in September" but don't see how it would work with random cadet wandering is as most do.

[Garibaldi]

How do you pipeline cadets you don't have?

You can't make new cadets sit on the bench for 3-6 months while you wait for the next evolution to start.

I could totally see this working about a large recruiting event where yo let them know upfront that
"next cycle is in September" but don't see how it would work with random cadet wandering is as most do.

And therein lies the problem. We don't "cycle"...wait, this is about pipe lining. Back to your regularly scheduled thread after this commercial endorsement...

[NIN]

We have plenty but are running into the problem of keeping the ones we DO have interested. A lot of them come due to word of mouth from their friends, but don't stay long. We are rebuilding our AE program as well as enhancing the GS program in place. And the recent O-flight day didn't hurt things.

This issue is certainly a problem, but isn't specific to pipeline recruiting. I think you'll see that pipelining has some ancillary benefits that can assist, but if your program isn't keeping them already, you've got another issue to address that pipelining won't fix.

[dwb]

How do you pipeline cadets you don't have?

You can't make new cadets sit on the bench for 3-6 months while you wait for the next evolution to start.

I could totally see this working about a large recruiting event where yo let them know upfront that
"next cycle is in September" but don't see how it would work with random cadet wandering is as most do.

That's the point. They're not "new cadets". They're potential recruits until the next enrollment period. Random cadets wandering in don't join right away.

If you run a pipeline in March and September, and someone visits in April, you give them the nickel tour, you get their contact info, and you call them in September when the enrollment period is opening.

Cadets join as a cohort, get trained together, and (hopefully) pin on C/Amn together.

[NIN]

How do you pipeline cadets you don't have?

You can't make new cadets sit on the bench for 3-6 months while you wait for the next evolution to start.

I could totally see this working about a large recruiting event where yo let them know upfront that
"next cycle is in September" but don't see how it would work with random cadet wandering is as most do.

You are right, you can't make new cadets sit on the bench. Well, more specifically, you don't make them sit on your bench.

The trick is that they're not new cadets until they join, and they don't join until the the pipeline is open.

Random cadet prospective member wandering in = 'trickle-in' recruiting.
Concentrated recruiting effort, joining window &  training cycle for new members = 'pipelining'

Honestly Bob, this is the biggest paradigm shift between trickle-in and pipelining and the reason why too many units won't do it.

I have detailed this journey a couple times here on CAP-Talk.

http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=16989
http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=1960.0 (especially: http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=1960.msg32869#msg32869)
http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=7753
http://captalk.net/index.php?topic=1708.msg27395#msg27395 (this talks about 2000/2001 and our pipelining start)

[Майор Хаткевич]

I've been all for it. Hell, even seniors. Ststus quo is hard to break.

[NIN]

I've been all for it. Hell, even seniors. Ststus quo is hard to break.

Yeah.   This is a difficult thing for units, especially units that are struggling to maintain numbers and get new members, to embrace.

It seems *tremendously* counterintuitive to what you're trying to do.

The biggest issue is "Well, what happens if the kid who wanted to join in mid-April doesn't come back in the fall?"

Nobody *wants* to turn away members.

If you're doing pipelining, the "inbetween" inquiries are actually pretty low.

[Eclipse]

Honestly Bob, this is the biggest paradigm shift between trickle-in and pipelining and the reason why too many units won't do it.

Agreed, but how many units are in a position to be telling anyone "come back in six months"?
And how many from that pile come back?
And assuming they do come back, how many have a big enough group waiting to have justified holding them off?

There's some chicken and egg here, not to mention a non-trivial critical mass issue that has to be overcome.

Not to mention the matter of artificially holding back a kid who could be two-clicks higher, or more, in progression
had they simply joined when the notion struck them.  That delay in progression could come back and be a retention
issue later.

I like the idea, and think it should be the standard CAP model.  If the whole organization was on the same clock,
things would be in much better synch on an annual basis then they are now - you'd have a mass of cadets all needing
encampment at the same time, progressing through leadership positions, and the whole program would
take on an air of "planned".

[NIN]

Agreed, but how many units are in a position to be telling anyone "come back in six months"?
And how many from that pile come back?
And assuming they do come back, how many have a big enough group waiting to have justified holding them off?

There's some chicken and egg here, not to mention a non-trivial critical mass issue that has to be overcome.

Not to mention the matter of artificially holding back a kid who could be two-clicks higher, or more, in progression
had they simply joined when the notion struck them.  That delay in progression could come back and be a retention
issue later.

I like the idea, and think it should be the standard CAP model.  If the whole organization was on the same clock,
things would be in much better synch on an annual basis then they are now - you'd have a mass of cadets all needing
encampment at the same time, progressing through leadership positions, and the whole program would
take on an air of "planned".

We started pipelining with 12 or 15 cadets showing up regularly and maybe 5 seniors.

The unit has been doing this for 13 years now.

The membership retention numbers are pretty steady, and we've consistently maintained 65-75 cadets on the books (peaks around 80), and 60-65 standing in formation, since at least 2003 or 2004. Across 4 commanders.

You need to create critical mass.

Trickling people in does not create critical mass.

[NC Hokie]

We started pipelining with 12 or 15 cadets showing up regularly and maybe 5 seniors.

The unit has been doing this for 13 years now.

The membership retention numbers are pretty steady, and we've consistently maintained 65-75 cadets on the books (peaks around 80), and 60-65 standing in formation, since at least 2003 or 2004. Across 4 commanders.

You need to create critical mass.

Trickling people in does not create critical mass.

Your first sentence basically describes my unit, minus a few cadets.  I'm willing to try pipelining, and I'd appreciate some answers to the following questions:

1) What months do you recommend starting pipelines in?

2) What are some of the hidden and ancillary benefits to pipelining that you've hinted at in this thread?

3) How do you define critical mass, and how does pipelining help achieve it?

4) What pipelining myth are you referring to in your reply to Eclipse's first post?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

[Spaceman3750]

Not to mention the matter of artificially holding back a kid who could be two-clicks higher, or more, in progression
had they simply joined when the notion struck them.  That delay in progression could come back and be a retention
issue later.

My theory on that would be that the cadet who is willing to wait until the next pipeline wants to be in CAP and will therefore not be a retention issue. The cadet who joins because the notion struck them is relatively likely to go two clicks and then quit because some other notion struck them.

My home unit is a "trickle-in" unit. For whatever reason, folks (seniors and cadets alike) tend to trickle-out at a similar rate. We balooned a couple of years ago, then shrank a bit and have basically had the same mass for about a year, while having a somewhat steady inflow of cadets (one a month maybe?).

[Eclipse]

My theory on that would be that the cadet who is willing to wait until the next pipeline wants to be in CAP and will therefore not be a retention issue. The cadet who joins because the notion struck them is relatively likely to go two clicks and then quit because some other notion struck them.

Maybe - or the kid who could Spaatz never joins because he finds something else that grabs his attention, or maybe just the couch.

I realize that most schools do it, most sports teams do it, etc.

I just don't see how it works in the current state of CAP.

It's also not just the cadets, you really need a separate pipeline staff.

I think it's a worthwhile experiment if you can gin up the people.

[Walkman]

In MIWG the largest squadron didn't exist three years ago. The CC grew it from zero doing pipelining. We did a great breakout session on pipelining and his Great Start on Steroids program for wing conference.

I've seen lots of posts on CT with concerns about the program, but I've yet to see anyone post that they tried it and it never worked over the long-term. Everyone that does it and keeps it going seems to get results.

[NIN]

Your first sentence basically describes my unit, minus a few cadets.  I'm willing to try pipelining, and I'd appreciate some answers to the following questions:

1) What months do you recommend starting pipelines in?

Generally, we do our New Member Period (kicked off by a unit Open House) in mid-to-late September and mid-March-ish.  Gives us enough time to recruit in the school after things start up in the Fall, and enough time for cadets to pin on their Curry before the encampment deadline in the Spring.

2) What are some of the hidden and ancillary benefits to pipelining that you've hinted at in this thread?

There are a bunch.

- Concentrates "new member" activities. Your staff (personnel, logistics, administration, membership boards, commander) are doing "new member" stuff  just 1 or 2 nights every 5-6 months (with trickle in, every time a new member shows up, your personnel officer moves into "new member mode," your logistics officer has to go get uniforms and setup the new member order, you have to sit the membership board, etc. With pipelining, all of this happens on one night, sometimes you have some pickup issues, logistics in particular, a week or two later)

- Creates an interesting "cohort" .  You get this interesting dynamic of new cadets that identify with their basic training cycle as well as with the unit.  So down the road, cadets who were in basic training together have all progressed more or less thru the ranks together and they almost form a little bit of their own auxiliary support group.   If a cadet lags, his buddies advancing can help motivate him to "step it up" and they help with "We just did this, here, man, we can help."  If a cadet stops coming, his "cohort" group tend to be the folks who help bring him back into the fold. When these cadets become flight commanders or flight sergeants, they do so around the same time and there is an interesting dynamic there.  Yes, the cadet is part of his flight, but he also has "cohorts" over in the other flight, maybe they're element leaders, maybe it is the other flight sergeant.   This brings along an interesting "group within the group" dynamic. Its not a bad thing, its just different. (we honestly didn't notice this until one day we overheard some cadets talking about when they came into the program and one was like "Well, I was in the spring of 06 with you and Smith, remember?" and I thought "Whoa, of COURSE they remember who they went thru basic with..")

- Concentrates your training resources. Honestly, this is probably the biggest thing behind our move to pipelining. My old DCC wasn't doing a good job of managing the training and progression of our trickle-ins, and we spent a LOT more time than we should have chasing down people and figuring out what they'd been taught, teaching things again, etc. I finally put my foot down and said "This is crap. We don't have the staff depth to be dealing with 10 cadets who all haven't been here from the same first week.." and pipelining was born!

- Retention. The cohort effect, I think, helps with this. We didn't see that coming, either.  We were retaining 55% or more for a long time.

- Filters out the tire kickers.  This one probably pisses a lot of people off, but I'm here to tell you its the key to making your unit stronger.  NOT EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO WALKS IN YOUR SQUADRON'S DOOR IS A GOOD POTENTIAL MEMBER. There, I said it.  The cadets I've seen who were highly motivated to join and continued on in CAP, were long time cadets and did well?  Yeah, they're the ones who waited until the next basic training cycle and were STILL THERE when it was time to join.   The pipelining process filters out some folks.  I think it filters out the people who want that "immediate gratification."  If you're not willing to wait for it, how bad do you really want to do it?  Strangely, this seems to work.

(side note: after my first stint as squadron commander, it was probably fall 2005 and I was doing my gig for the new CO and running an inprocessing night for new members. We had a young lady and her mom show up without a member packet. Why? Cuz her first night was THAT NIGHT.  Didn't make it to the Open House or the 2 meetings after that.  That was always a "Hi, lets get your info and give you the nickle tour, see you in the Spring!" situation.  Mom & the young lady talked with the commander and the girl seemed very motivated to join (she was 16, so she was late in the game and didn't want to lose ground. I get that!), and the commander said to me "I'd be inclined to let her join. She says she can catch up on the missed material. What do you think?"  I said "Three meetings, Mark. Thats our policy.  This is her first night. I'd say 'Come back in the spring' but thats me."  Commander relented, and let her sign up that night.  I did her data entry, darn near shaking my head the entire time. This young lady didn't understand what she was undertaking. She really didn't.   Off went her membership with everybody else, we ordered up her supplies, you know, nametags and such. *poof* She was gone before the nametag orders even came back from National. I looked at the commander and said "I don't wanna say 'I told you so', Mark, but darn it, I told you so!! Thats why we have these rules and procedures!")

3) How do you define critical mass, and how does pipelining help achieve it?

Critical mass, in the nuclear sense, brings along a "self-sustaining reaction."   Remember the old David Lee Roth video for the song "Yankee Rose?" The guy in the convenience store "Hey, I always travel with two of 'em, that way, if there's any conversation, I don't have to be involved."   The unit has to run irrespective of the guy in charge, and critical mass, to me, means you have people doing things that they're supposed to be doing without prompting, and you have enough people that the same guy isn't "Senior Training/Personnel/Finance/Public Affairs/DDR/CDI/Safety" and doing none of them well. 

In the sense of pipelining & recruiting,  critical mass is two fold:
- Cadets beget cadets.  Using some round-number examples: If you have 15 cadets and everybody gets 5 people to come to the open house, you wind up with 75 people there. Great. You might get 7 recruits (if you're lucky). Not bad, take what you can get, right?  Now you have 20 cadets when the next Open House rolls around, and if they each get 5 people to come, thats 100 people. You might get 10 recruits!  Time for that next Open House, this time your 25 cadets (attrition, don't you know?) bring you 125 people and you get 11 new recruits.  You can see where this is going.   (all of this is a long-ball game, by the way. You will not go from 10 cadets to 75 overnight...)  Eventually, since "many hands make light work" you have 60 cadets and they all just have to get 3 people to come to the open house and you've got 180 in your drill hall...

- With more cadets comes more opportunities for leadership, advancement, activities, excitement, etc.  Think of the 10 cadet squadron: Cadet commander, flight commander, flight sergeant and two element leaders.  For 6 cadets in ranks?  Man, thats an exciting place to be (That was sarcasm. I've been there: its not)  You start to get around 25-30 cadets and it starts to be a serious critical mass situation. 

4) What pipelining myth are you referring to in your reply to Eclipse's first post?

"I don't have enough people to do pipelining."
"I don't have enough recruits to do pipelining"

a) if you're doing it, you're concentrating your resources. Small squadron, dedicate one cadet to shepherd the basic cadets thru. This cadet should be your MOST SQUARED AWAY TROOP.  Just one, for now.  That one guy is going to be  force multiplier in a little while.  If you don't have enough people to do pipelining, you [darn] sure don't have enough to waste time and effort with trickle-in recruiting.

b) You need 4 recruits to do pipelining. Hell, you don't even need 4. ONE recruit. And he's going to get some very detailed and personalized training (although, I submit to you that if you get ONE recruit from your efforts, we're doing something wrong  here and that is not a good use of your resources!).  The thing to remember is that with pipelining, you're not sitting new members on a bench for four months while they wait for a new basic training cycle to start. You're asking prospective members to come back and become new members in 4 months.   When you can devote the time, attention and care to them and give them the best new member introduction to CAP possible. 

Pipelining is about resource management, when you get right down to it.

[NIN]

[Maybe - or the kid who could Spaatz never joins because he finds something else that grabs his attention, or maybe just the couch.

I'm here to tell you that you're 100% wrong.

There are things to grab kid's attention these days left right and center.  "If we don't grab them, something else will."

Thats going to happen to a fair percentage of cadets no matter what.

And if this particular kid is so motivated to join CAP that waiting four months causes him to lose interest or not get his fat ass off the couch, well, I probably didn't want him anyway.

Seriously, it goes back to my thing about filtering out the tire-kickers.   You ultimately get a higher quality recruit out of it.  The people who want to commit will, the ones who are wishy-washy and aren't all that interested won't.

We need to get beyond this "We'll take any warm body, as long as he's still warm. Or a body. Or something." concept. If a unit is that desperate, maybe there is a reason why.  Maybe its really time for the "unit reboot by deactivation."  But nobody wants to say that, now, do we?



Two things about "making people wait":

1) We seldom had a lot of people who had to "wait."  Usually it was a couple three people. I just got an email yesterday from a parent who missed the Open House but their son or daughter wants to join.  Today.  We're 4 weeks into our training cycle. 

"If you'd like to come down and check out the unit, you're more than welcome to and see what we've got going on. Matter of fact, its often a much better window into what the unit does than our Open House event, because you get to see what we're actually doing on a week to week basis. Unfortunately, were far enough into the training cycle that we're not taking anymore new cadets for this round.  We'll put you on the list for the Fall Open House."  Thats the answer.

2) If you're doing your Open House correctly, you're collecting the maximum number of "people interested in CAP at this particular moment in this particular geographic area" into your recruiting net and into your pipeline at that time.  You only get a few "leakers."

I just don't see how it works in the current state of CAP.

I know you know the words.

It's also not just the cadets, you really need a separate pipeline staff

Really? 

Bob, I've been doing this now for 13 years like this.  Two cadets.  A flight commander and a flight sergeant.  Thats it.

Versus chasing trickle-in cadets, none of whom are all at the same level at the same time. 

From the senior side of the house my PDO *loved* that he wasn't doing Level I classes *constantly* too.  We recruit 3-4 seniors, he has the benefit of economies of scale.

I think it's a worthwhile experiment way to do things if you can gin up the people stop coming up with BS reasons not to

FTFY.

[Eclipse]

Bob, I've been doing this now for 13 years like this.  Two cadets.  A flight commander and a flight sergeant.  Thats it.

That's all a lot of units have, total.  With one senior who generally shows up.

I've already said this is a good idea and how CAP should probably be doing things as a whole, but the climate right now
is "warm bodies are better then no bodies".

I'll say this.  I'm currently entertaining some discussions about my next "CAP Adventure".  As I've said before, I think
CAP as a whole needs to do an "all-stop" and spend a year recruiting and normalizing (i.e. erasing empty shirts).
If I get the opportunity to wear the CC's pin again, or influence unit ops in a meaningful way, I'll give it a try.

This actually >is< a wheel that could use some reinvention.

Have you considered a white paper to NHQ on this?

[Майор Хаткевич]

+1 on WP.

I know great start encourages pipelining. Its still a drag to get people on board. NIN, any chance of picking your brain on this more in a phone call or similar?

[lordmonar]

Bob, I've been doing this now for 13 years like this.  Two cadets.  A flight commander and a flight sergeant.  Thats it.

That's all a lot of units have, total.  With one senior who generally shows up.

I've already said this is a good idea and how CAP should probably be doing things as a whole, but the climate right now
is "warm bodies are better then no bodies".

I'll say this.  I'm currently entertaining some discussions about my next "CAP Adventure".  As I've said before, I think
CAP as a whole needs to do an "all-stop" and spend a year recruiting and normalizing (i.e. erasing empty shirts).
If I get the opportunity to wear the CC's pin again, or influence unit ops in a meaningful way, I'll give it a try.

This actually >is< a wheel that could use some reinvention.

Have you considered a white paper to NHQ on this?

Eclipse........I don't understand your heart burn with what NIN is doing.

Sure.....not everyone can do it his way.......but no one is suggesting that you MUST do it his way (unless I missed something).

If it is stupid but works........it is not stupid.

[Eclipse]

I think I"m actually agreeing with him?  I think?

Yep, pretty sure.

[NIN]

I think I"m actually agreeing with him?  I think?

Yep, pretty sure.

Actually, I noticed that. 

I think there needs to be more than just a whitepaper, but yeah.

[NIN]

BTW, I'm still curious if anybody's unit _is_ pipelining.

It was my understanding there were a couple units in Texas doing it.

[Tim Day]

Our unit takes a modified pipeline approach in that we start a training pipeline every month. We consider every visitor under 18 a potential new cadet and welcome them to join our Great Start Flight, where they participate in classes. The pipeline consists of the Great Start syllabus fitted to a rolling 8 week cycle such that when a cadet joins, within approximately 8 weeks he or she will have experienced each of the modules.

This avoids the pitfalls of the trickle-in or the Cadet Basic Training models that are discussed in the Great Start pamphlet while providing much of the advantages of the pipeline method and avoiding the "you have to wait six months to join us" issue. However, it does require sufficient existing structure and senior member oversight to keep a pipeline going on a regular basis.

I haven't yet been part of a small (1 SM + 2 cadet as described earlier) squadron but would imagine the pipeline method is the only way to go in that scenario - including deferral of applications, open house, and mass start. The 2 cadets should prepare themselves to become Great Start cadre. The open house may need to borrow cadets from other squadrons to talk about all the great things a vibrant squadron does.

[isuhawkeye]

Feel free to dive into the archives of Captalk to research it, but the entire Iowa Wing pipelined senior members (Offiers) for a few yesrs.  You can argue about how that ended up, but at the time the pipelineing benefits were just as described. 

[LSThiker]

It is interesting some people's comments on this.  The concept of pipelining recruitment for both seniors and cadets has been around since the 1950s.  In fact, for my wing it was the most effective method during the 60s and 70s according to old articles.  Squadrons would get 10-20 new members from them and they would follow it usually with level 1 weekend training.  It is nothing new and it has its own advantages and disadvantages.

[NIN]

Our unit takes a modified pipeline approach in that we start a training pipeline every month. We consider every visitor under 18 a potential new cadet and welcome them to join our Great Start Flight, where they participate in classes. The pipeline consists of the Great Start syllabus fitted to a rolling 8 week cycle such that when a cadet joins, within approximately 8 weeks he or she will have experienced each of the modules.

This sounds great.  If you hear the grinding of gears, that's me trying to make a (mental) paradigm shift in figuring out how to start a new training pipeline each month.  But thats minor. This addresses the cyclical nature of "priming the pump" if you're only doing 2x a year with structured in-processing.

This avoids the pitfalls of the trickle-in or the Cadet Basic Training models that are discussed in the Great Start pamphlet while providing much of the advantages of the pipeline method and avoiding the "you have to wait six months to join us" issue. However, it does require sufficient existing structure and senior member oversight to keep a pipeline going on a regular basis.

I think there is a balance in there, because I'm not 100% sure I'd be cool with managing 6-10 repeating "great start" or BCT flights a year.   You lose a lot of the economies of scale that you pick up with only doing "new member" activities (membership paperwork, membership boards, uniform issue & insignia, etc) a couple times a year.  But I like the concept.

Also, a point here about how we're pipelining: In the 13 years we've been doing this, and the 11 since we went to a "drop dead inprocessing night" model, there have been *maybe* 13 or 15 who have shown up after the fact and wanted to join.  We're pretty big on the full-court press of " This is the recruiting night!" in our flyers and advertisements so we get folks *at* the Open House almost completely.  And then we have a pretty good follow up program where we maintain an interested party's info and contact them again.

If I had to put a ballpark number on it, I'd say that your average wait time between squadron contact and that point where they can join is in the vicinity of 60 days.

I haven't yet been part of a small (1 SM + 2 cadet as described earlier) squadron but would imagine the pipeline method is the only way to go in that scenario - including deferral of applications, open house, and mass start. The 2 cadets should prepare themselves to become Great Start cadre. The open house may need to borrow cadets from other squadrons to talk about all the great things a vibrant squadron does.

Agree.  the unit I took over in 1999 had 10-12 active cadets (more on the books, but not showing up) and like 3 active seniors.  The first year was a lot of training, re-training, running around and setting things up, "getting the right people on the bus and in the right seats" so to speak.  From November of 1999 to the end of 2000, I went thru two DCCs and our trickle-in recruiting was taking up more resources than it was creating.  We were in a "three steps forward, two or three back" kind of mode.

[lordmonar]

The only thing I have against pipe lining......is how it coordinates with our membership age....(i.e. it does not).

Instead of 12 years of age........we should change it to 11 and completed the 5th grade.

That way you can do your recruiting drives tied to school years......less making the cadets wait until they are actually 12 and your next pipe line comes along.

So....if you are on a 3 month schedule....you recruit in May and start your first pipeline in June.   2d run in Aug/Sep, 3d in Nov/Dec, $th Feb/Mar and start again.

If you are on a 4 month schedule May/June-Sep/Oct-Jan/Feb......rinse and repeat.

If you are a 6 month schedule  May/Jun-Nov/Dec.

Nice and easy.....poised to get your cadets trained enough to get them to encampment the first summer.  Nice cohort progression.  Allows you to recruit from schools....as a class.   Dovetails easily with getting into the schools during assemblies.

Also helps tie it into Middle School squadrons.....and we still have the "minimum age" to keep the home schoolers or kid geniuses from joining too early.

[NIN]

Whether they're 11 or 12 is kind of immaterial. Most of the prospective cadets we get are 12-13.

Our flyers even say so.

If you go 11 and completed the 5th grade, why not just leave it at 12 and attending 6th?  I don't know that I want a bunch of 11 year olds at encampment.  This speaks to a larger CP issue that is out of scope for the purposes of this discussion.

12 years old is our lower limit, and thus they're either 12 in the fall, or 12 in the spring.  Thats the way it is.  The age limit is the age limit.

Also, we tend to back our spring recruiting up into March because of the encampment deadlines for applications. We want them graduated with Curry in hand before the deadline. 

(no, we're not doing the full Great Start. Yet.  If I can get the cadets to understand that I don't need highly trained operators high-speed, low-drag cadets, just @#$% garden variety Cadet Airmen, I might be able to ratchet back the time wasting and stupid crap they keep layering on.  I keep reiterating: "Get 'em signed up, get 'em thru the pain of eServices, OPSEC, NDA, Intro to Safety and (now) Ground Handling, and get them in a uniform and in a plane eventually"  They need to be able to pass the Curry leadership test, wear a uniform, recite the cadet oath, attend character devleopment, pass the Curry PT test and drill exam, not do a @#$% Queen Anne Salute or find an ELT in the woods. [Do. Not. Get. Me. Started])

[NIN]

BTW, our open house was March 13th, and following our inprocessing night on March 27th, we managed 9 new cadets and one new senior.

Little light on the cadets this time around (best one we ever did was 22 or 23, as I recall). We got goofed up by the weather on the 13th (big storm the night before)

[Tim Day]

Our unit takes a modified pipeline approach in that we start a training pipeline every month. We consider every visitor under 18 a potential new cadet and welcome them to join our Great Start Flight, where they participate in classes. The pipeline consists of the Great Start syllabus fitted to a rolling 8 week cycle such that when a cadet joins, within approximately 8 weeks he or she will have experienced each of the modules.

This sounds great.  If you hear the grinding of gears, that's me trying to make a (mental) paradigm shift in figuring out how to start a new training pipeline each month.  But thats minor. This addresses the cyclical nature of "priming the pump" if you're only doing 2x a year with structured in-processing.

It's not hard with the number of cadets we have (as of today, 67 on the books with >40 actively attending). We have a Great Start Flight Commander, Great Start Flight Sergeant, and a couple of other cadet NCOs assigned as Great Start Cadre (instructors). We had a cadet project officer take the Great Start pamphlet and place the modules into a syllabus.

We turn over the entire leadership slate every 4 months (Cadet Commander on down).

We also have enough dedicated Senior Members in the cadet program that we can process new cadet applications or monitor tests on any given meeting night, and we hold the foundations CD class every month. Cadets who have graduated from Great Start participate in the normal squadron routine, where we rotate CD/PT, AE, Leadership, and Operations. 

By keeping to a weekly rotating schedule we seem to recruit many parents of cadets and others who are willing to be active cadet program team members.

[Eclipse]

By keeping to a weekly rotating schedule we seem to recruit many parents of cadets and others who are willing to be active cadet program team members.

Huge.   I keep emphasizing this locally muchly to crickets.

Families with adolescents these days are so busy it's somewhat mindboggling, and the very kids who will
make successful cadets are at the top of the "busy" food chain. 

Scouts, sports, other extracurricular, homework, occasionally goofing off. My wife and I live in the calendar to
keep everything straight.  And many times have to make "which one" decisions when things conflict.

If your unit does not have a robust, electronic (so you can subscribe to it), public calendar that
is some variation on the 13-week schedule, you're cooked.  Cadets need to know the expectations
weeks in advance, to do parents, especially if the have to prepare or do "homework", and when
the "which one" decisions have to be made, if there's no indication of what CAP is doing that night,
who do you think will win?

This is doubly true for new members who have no idea what to expect or what is "normal",
but >want< to see an active situation that will make good use of their time.

Ditto for parents, if they know they are needed.  "The night before" is not enough notice.

If you're walking into a unit meeting with no idea what you're going to do, you're doing it wrong.

[NIN]

It's not hard with the number of cadets we have (as of today, 67 on the books with >40 actively attending). We have a Great Start Flight Commander, Great Start Flight Sergeant, and a couple of other cadet NCOs assigned as Great Start Cadre (instructors). We had a cadet project officer take the Great Start pamphlet and place the modules into a syllabus.

Yeah, I'm going to recommend this to our Deputy for Cadets.

I'm tired of watching the cadets re-invent the wheel with a 8-12 week basic cycle, want to cram more junk in the schedule than C/Amn need, and then a week or two before the flight graduation go "Hey, sir, these cadets aren't ready. We need more time!"

(and internally, I'm going "Crikey, what the heck are you doing with your time?")

Time to get a little more directive in nature on this particular issue.

It is really the way we *should* be doing it, but due to a lot of history, we're *not*.

[Eclipse]

(and internally, I'm going "Crikey, what the heck are you doing with your time?")

"Drill" which is code for "I haven't prepared anything for this meeting, Sir."

Used to make me crazy.

[NIN]

If your unit does not have a robust, electronic (so you can subscribe to it), public calendar that
is some variation on the 13-week schedule, you're cooked.  Cadets need to know the expectations
weeks in advance, to do parents, especially if the have to prepare or do "homework", and when
the "which one" decisions have to be made, if there's no indication of what CAP is doing that night,
who do you think will win?

This is becoming more of an issue, and while I think we're doing a good job with the communication piece, I think we're kind of flat on our face (still) with the planning and execution part.

WIWAC (When I Was A Commander) the first time in the unit I got us on a quarterly planning process. Once a quarter, our senior meeting (which was really more of a staff meeting, since the cadet commander and one or two of his staff were usually there) was the "quarterly planning meeting". We did a detailed pin-down for the next quarter and  less detailed scheduling for the following 3. 

So as part of that, we maintained a rolling 12 month calendar (looking ahead 12 months from the quarterly planning meeting), too, with things in the latter two quarters somewhat "hazy" and broad based (ie. "we want to run a bivouac in Q2 2015 to build on the training in Q1 2015" or "how about an aerospace trip in October?"), and then the 2nd quarter was more "we need to start putting things in place for this, and potentially pin down a date" and the next quarter was "This training will occur on this night.."

To use Q2 as an example (April, May, June), this planning took place the first week in February, not the first week in March, at the senior staff meeting.

Now with tools like Google Calendar (and Google Drive/Apps/Site and such) there is really no excuse to not be planning ahead, layering your training schedules with higher HQ, etc.

[NIN]

(and internally, I'm going "Crikey, what the heck are you doing with your time?")

"Drill" which is code for "I haven't prepared anything for this meeting, Sir."

Used to make me crazy.

Out comes my knifehand.

We have a training event next Saturday for new NCOs (and for our Basic Flight), and this is a subject.  Plus, I've had this discussion with the cadet commander.  They're always spring-loaded in the "in the absence of better ideas, march in circles with zero training value!" position.  Its a hard habit to break, and one that I've seen in CAP units since I was a cadet in the 1980s.

[Walkman]

"Drill" which is code for "I haven't prepared anything for this meeting, Sir."

Out comes my knifehand.

I've recently had a few meeting where this has happened. I came up with a new twist on drill time that for the short term made it a little more fun and interesting. I had the cadets set up chairs randomly about the room and then they had to split into small teams and have one cadet lead the team through the "obstacle course" using drill commands. We also timed it once to make it a little competitive. My idea was that this developed a little more team work and quick thinking/reacting, plus a little bit of impromptu planning on the team leader. They have to look a head a little to see the next obstacle and decide what to movement to call.

Not something that you could do all the time, but it worked.

NIN, I'm stealing your planning process, BTW.

[Eclipse]

Even the most basic framework is lost on some units.

"Blues first meeting of the month"

"PT and testing the second"

"Promotions only on blues night"

Etc., etc.

It actually frees up head space to not reinvent the wheel in the car on the way to the meeting, and
shows we appreciate the members' time.  We have so few contact hours as it is, wasting any of it
is borderline negligence.

To get back to the OP.  Good schedules and time management are critical to pipe-lining.  You'll have
weeks where the new cadets are segregated from the main group, with any number of places where they
need to come back together, not to mention outside activities which they may or may not be qualified / prepared for,
and then there's the flight integration at the end of the evolution.

Meanwhile, the rest of the unit has to carry on, not to mention planning the next pipe.

This is why successful units have more then 3 seniors, folks.

[Walkman]

Good schedules and time management are critical to pipe-lining.

Plus - those are key indicators of a well functioning unit that has a good program, which leads to people wanting to join when the times comes. Units that don't have much going on and/or are very disorganized are going to have a hard time recruiting and keeping members period, pipeline method or not.

[Eclipse]

Good schedules and time management are critical to pipe-lining.

Plus - those are key indicators of a well functioning unit that has a good program, which leads to people wanting to join when the times comes. Units that don't have much going on and/or are very disorganized are going to have a hard time recruiting and keeping members period, pipeline method or not.

+1 x 10.  That goes for everything from CAP to the PTA.

[Brit_in_CAP]

By keeping to a weekly rotating schedule we seem to recruit many parents of cadets and others who are willing to be active cadet program team members.

Huge.   I keep emphasizing this locally muchly to crickets.

Families with adolescents these days are so busy it's somewhat mindboggling, and the very kids who will
make successful cadets are at the top of the "busy" food chain. 

Scouts, sports, other extracurricular, homework, occasionally goofing off. My wife and I live in the calendar to
keep everything straight.  And many times have to make "which one" decisions when things conflict.

If your unit does not have a robust, electronic (so you can subscribe to it), public calendar that
is some variation on the 13-week schedule, you're cooked.  Cadets need to know the expectations
weeks in advance, to do parents, especially if the have to prepare or do "homework", and when
the "which one" decisions have to be made, if there's no indication of what CAP is doing that night,
who do you think will win?

This is doubly true for new members who have no idea what to expect or what is "normal",
but >want< to see an active situation that will make good use of their time.

Ditto for parents, if they know they are needed.  "The night before" is not enough notice.

If you're walking into a unit meeting with no idea what you're going to do, you're doing it wrong.

:clap: :clap:

We no longer have adolescents in the home - we actually miss that - but everything you said is totally correct.

Engaging the parents is key, and we're struggling to get the shared calendar going - partly because we seem to have cadets who don't share things with parents...I remember this well as I used to have to 'shake down' my youngest to get the letters, notes etc out of his backpack!

I see more replies have arrived while I was struggling to type....I'll read those before I think about writing more!

[Eclipse]

The lack of these common-sense, baseline management principles is a circumstance of having commanders
who have never been managers or military leaders, and having no internal training required.

UCC?  50% of the time is spent whining about "Why I can't have a van".

This is the kind of thing the Command specialty was intended to fix - experienced mentors
helping new CC's.  I have a Senior, two months short of Master, the only conversation in
my wing is how to get the rating.  No one cares about utilizing the people.

[Brit_in_CAP]

Even the most basic framework is lost on some units.

"Blues first meeting of the month"

"PT and testing the second"

"Promotions only on blues night"

Etc., etc.

It actually frees up head space to not reinvent the wheel in the car on the way to the meeting, and
shows we appreciate the members' time.  We have so few contact hours as it is, wasting any of it
is borderline negligence.

To get back to the OP.  Good schedules and time management are critical to pipe-lining.  You'll have
weeks where the new cadets are segregated from the main group, with any number of places where they
need to come back together, not to mention outside activities which they may or may not be qualified / prepared for,
and then there's the flight integration at the end of the evolution.

Meanwhile, the rest of the unit has to carry on, not to mention planning the next pipe.

This is why successful units have more then 3 seniors, folks.

:clap: :clap:...again

To emphasize your last point: This is why successful units have more then 3 seniors who actually contribute to the program, folks.  My addition in bold italics within the quote.

I got really angry with a couple of so-called SM who showed up, nothing prepared, just shrugged their shoulders and took (for example) an ES or AE session by telling WIWAC stories.  We jettisoned them before we lost cadets from the program.

Years ago, my church hosted a meeting with the diocesan Director of Evangelism.  We were in the same situation - loosing members, couldn't keep families etc.  He pointed out that modern parents 'pay top dollar' for their children's activities, which includes CAP or the church children's program, and they expect FULL value for money or they'll go elsewhere.  That is even more true if you want their money AND their time.

[Brit_in_CAP]

The lack of these common-sense, baseline management principles is a circumstance of having commanders
who have never been managers or military leaders, and having no internal training required.

<<Clipped>>

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

[NIN]

A repeatable, predictable schedule also helps retention.

Think about a 14-16 year old cadet.

"I've been out for 6 weeks doing soccer, I'm not 100% sure whats going on at the unit. I need to reengage, but I don't want to show up and be in the wrong uniform..."

"Oh, its the first week of the month. Blues. Safety brief and Aerospace class! I knew that"

or

<checks squadron website & calendar>
"Oh yeah, blues. Aerospace and safety."

or even (*shockingly*)
<phone call>
"Sergeant, I'm going to be at the meeting this week, whats the uniform?"

[Private Investigator]

My "pipeline" recruiting question is as a Senior Member if I join on May 1, 2014 and I am interested in Mission Pilot, Unit Comm officer so what is the timetable, calendar, schedule for my Form 5 and likewise for Master rating in Comm. When is my SLS and CLC?

Now same question for a Cadet who joined on 5/1/2014, projecting Mitchell by 7/1/2016?   

[NIN]

My "pipeline" recruiting question is as a Senior Member if I join on May 1, 2014 and I am interested in Mission Pilot, Unit Comm officer so what is the timetable, calendar, schedule for my Form 5 and likewise for Master rating in Comm. When is my SLS and CLC?

I can't necessarily answer that, but it would be handy to have the ability to answer that when a member/prospective member asks.  Sort of an "expected lifecycle."

"By 1 July we should have foundations completed, you should have X & Y completed and reported in eServices by 1 Sept, and by 1 Nov your packet for 2Lt should be downrange for action.  Meanwhile, we get  your flight records built, get you scheduled in for a Form 5 before 30 July, you'll need to get these three things done as prereqs to that Form 5. ...."

Yeah, I mean, there is always the "ideal schedule" and then "the schedule that winds up happening."

Now same question for a Cadet who joined on 5/1/2014, projecting Mitchell by 7/1/2016? 

Thats pretty easy, "Assuming you can complete all requirements in the minimum time, you should be able to get your Mitchell by 1 JULY 16. However, there are any number of factors that could impact that, including your ability to take and pass tests, attend activities, pass the PFT, successfully acquit yourself before a promotion review board for C/SSgt and above, and attend summer encampment either this year or next year. We'd recommend this year."

[Private Investigator]

In MIWG the largest squadron didn't exist three years ago. The CC grew it from zero doing pipelining. We did a great breakout session on pipelining and his Great Start on Steroids program for wing conference.

I think I would define it as "targeted" recruiting. You are looking for a Finance officer, PAO, Supply Officer, etc, etc.   

[Panache]

If your unit does not have a robust, electronic (so you can subscribe to it), public calendar that is some variation on the 13-week schedule, you're cooked. 

Any suggestions on how you would get that done?  Facebook?  Something else?

I'm trying to get this implemented in my unit, and a little advice would be appreciated.

[NIN]

I'm trying to get this implemented in my unit, and a little advice would be appreciated.

Google Calendar.  Better yet: Google Apps for Non-Profits

[Panache]

Thanks, Nin.

[Eclipse]

I'm trying to get this implemented in my unit, and a little advice would be appreciated.

Google Calendar.  Better yet: Google Apps for Non-Profits

Free, easy, and already in use all over CAP.

[Private Investigator]

What about "shake 'n bake" recruiting. It worked well for the Army, 1967-1972.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Shake-Bake-Sergeant-Sergeants/dp/1453770275   

[Tim Day]

I'm trying to get this implemented in my unit, and a little advice would be appreciated.

Google Calendar.  Better yet: Google Apps for Non-Profits

Free, easy, and already in use all over CAP.

Free, but there is sometimes a few rounds that you have to go with Google due to the way our non-profit is structured. Dr. Dotherow at NHQ was extremely helpful to me as I obtained our squadron's Google Apps for non-profits account. Very responsive in providing the needed documentation, etc.

There are huge benefits over regular Google, especially for larger squadrons.

[Eclipse]

Yes - the biggest issue is the domain usually pops a flag since technically a .gov is not eligible for apps
for non-profit.

A follow-up explanation gets things back on track and you can move on.

Make sure you request enough licenses, including accounting for growth.

[RogueLeader]

One of the biggest problems that we were having was that I could not get cadets to test.  It got to the point that I said, and meant:

If you do not test at home, you WILL test here next week.

That did not really produce much in the way of results.  However, my new CDC has since started emailing everybody when someone passes a test.  Testing has shot up incredibly.

I also had a Yeager completion rate about 50%.  So I have gone and emailed all of my Seniors and mentioned all those that have completed the Yeager Award since I took command 13 months ago.  I also mention those that have not yet completed it yet.  That has also netted a few more completions.  I am currently at 69% completion with a couple more studying for it.

My staff and I are working on getting a pipelining system set up.  I'm not sure if we are ready for doing it only twice a year, but I am certain that I can not keep the trickle in method any longer.  It has been too much of a drain on me and my staff.

[RiverAux]

That is using some good psychology right there....people are more likely to do something if they get the idea that a lot of people are doing it.  Emphasizing those that got the Yeager is going to get better results than whining about how few people have it. 

[Eclipse]

I recently visited a unit where a cadet has not promoted for nearly 2-1/2 years, yet routinely assumes a
defacto "leadership" role in the unit despite not having any current duty assignment.

We can debate all day whether 6 months is appropriate to consider disciplinary action, but I think we
would all agree 2-1/2 years is excessive.

What kind of example is this setting for the rest of the cadets?

Hint: It's what I refer to as the "Leadership Corps Mentality" - in the BSA you have to get to a certain
level to become part of the "Leadership Corps", that allows you to hang with the adults, eat steak when
the Scouts are struggling to make hot dogs, and essentially walk around like "somebody" while not really
doing much of anything of value.  I must confess it was the approach I took, to my ultimate detriment.

Cadets need guidance and a more then occasional push.  What seems like a good idea today winds
up becoming a lifelong disappointment at wasted potential.

[a2capt]

I recently visited a unit where a cadet has not promoted for nearly 2-1/2 years, yet routinely assumes a defacto "leadership" role in the unit despite not having any current duty assignment.

[Garibaldi]

I recently visited a unit where a cadet has not promoted for nearly 2-1/2 years, yet routinely assumes a defacto "leadership" role in the unit despite not having any current duty assignment.

Ow. My brain.

[NIN]

Aaron makes a good point about testing. When we would have testing at the meeting, before online testing, we would announce those individuals who passed their test at commanders time. Before commanders time my DCC would have had a conversation with the cadets who did not pass.

We found that it was a more encouraging atmosphere for cadets to test when we publicly recognize that people did pass their test.

Since the advent of online testing, I am seeing less and less cadets who seem to no that they need to test, and more cadets who need to be reminded or pushed.

Perhaps I don't have the visibility into the testing system in my current duty assignment, but I do know that we monitored our cadet's progress and attempts with our testing log, and it was obvious when a cadet was struggling with a test. We could then get him or her some help.

[Walkman]

Perhaps I don't have the visibility into the testing system in my current duty assignment, but I do know that we monitored our cadet's progress and attempts with our testing log, and it was obvious when a cadet was struggling with a test. We could then get him or her some help.

I get an email from eServices everytime a cadert tests with the pass/fail and the score. I like having the score in there as I can see the scores improve. I asked my Great Start element leaders to make sure they work on studying and testing skills with our new cadets.

I hadn't thought of a testing log, but since I have the emails with the results, I could easily build one for myself and the CDC to use.

[Eclipse]

Heh - "Cadert"

[Walkman]

Heh - "Cadert"

Lol! I guess I forgot to turn my spell-check extenion back on. 

[NIN]

Yeah I think my deputy commander for cadets has visibility into the testing system, but I don't as the leadership officer.

I have not honestly delved that deeply into it. The testing officer and her have handled most of it.
However, when we were paper testing, having the testing log right there, when a cadet came to take a test, we would see how many times they attempted it previously and any follow up information that we needed. It was up to the testing officer to notify the deputy commander for cadets, the leadership officer or the aerospace officer when a cadet had taken a test more than twice and not passed. In that way, we could bring to bear the resources of the leadership and aerospace sections to get the cadet some additional tutoring.

Just a couple weeks ago, I had a cadet take his Wright Brothers. It was his third time, and because the use of the testing log has fallen by the wayside due to online testing, we did not catch the fact that he had taken this test that many times.  It turns out he was using the old books, but testing on the new tests. He had been an intermittent cadet and had recently gotten back active.  Someone at some point assumed that we had no more junior enlisted cadets on the old book, and had the test destroyed during annual or semi annual inventory. Oops! He literally came into us and said "I think I am studying from the wrong book."

[Eclipse]

I think if it's ever my problem again, "testing status" will be a topic of conversation at every meeting.

[NIN]

I think if it's ever my problem again, "testing status" will be a topic of conversation at every meeting.

I recently jimmied up a report in Access that rank-ordered my cadets by "days since last promotion."

Everybody between 180 and 270 days gets a quick touch-up verbally. Sort of on the nature of " hey, been awhile since you were last promoted. Any reason why you have not been moving forward?"

Anybody on the 270 days and up list gets a sit down with a written counseling. "Let's put together an action plan to get you promoted."

Generally, the verbal talk gets things moving. If not, we can say that we discuss things in the 180 to 270 window, and the written counseling is the start of the documentation for non progression.

Have we started terminating people for non progression? No. What, they need a wake up call sometime, and I need to be reminded that someone is paying attention and that progression is part of the program. Things don't end at cadet chief master sergeant.