Biggest thing I have noticed is that a blanket invitation to a big group of parents saying you need help doesn't work.  No one knows what the job titles mean or how much work is involved.   It is too easy for the parents to sit back in the chair and not respond at all.

What seems to work the best for me is to target a particular person (or two at the most) and sit down outside of a meeting to discuss the job.  They then understand what they would be undertaking and what resources are available to help them.  That last part is key.  Show them that they aren't reinventing the wheel.  This year was the first time we had the Den and Pack Resource Guide to hand out the the new leaders, but there are 4-5 years worth of files, schedules, go-see-it ideas, and handouts that we give to each new Tiger Den Leader.  Knowing there is help available if they need it goes a long way toward getting agreement.

Talk to them outside of a meeting, so they aren't trying to keep track of little Billy and can really listen to what you are asking them to do.  If you take time to talk to them individually, they know you think the job is important and that you think they would do a good job.  That's always good for their ego!

Also, I second the idea of starting small.  Ask if they would help flip burgers at the Tiger picnic.  Ask if they would help on the advance party for the camping trip.  I haven't had anyone say no to a one day commitment yet.  Once they do the small task, you recognize them  in a Pack meeting for helping, then up the ante with the next request.  If you are recruiting for a bigger task, invite them to "co-chair" the postion with someone else.  Then set up another meeting with the two of them together.

Recruiting help takes a while this way, but it works.  The Den Leader and Committee positions are a bigger commitment, but if the smaller tasks are off loaded on other parents the job is a lot easier.

Best advice I was given when I took over as Cubmaster is: "Don't do ANY job you can get someone else to do."  It may be easier to do it yourself the one time, but in the long run you missed out on a chance to get someone new involved.  I love the MJOKAC acronym!

I love this "juggling" idea to demonstrate how the jobs have to be shared, and definately will add that to my "Pack Leadership Team Training" live training presentation – where I supplement the official training with information about "Pack Helper" roles (things that might be done by Committee folk, but not necessarily).  It actually would be a good visual for on line training too.

In that live training, I use a PowerPoint slide that I call the "Vortex Image of 'Do It All' Doom" (using the stock "radial" diagram in PPT) and I add like 30 arms to it so that it looks like a bicycle wheel, with so many spokes (representing the cubs and families) and the poor Cubmaster or Chair in the center.  You do not want to be in that Vortex of Do it All Doom.   The slide notes that " Being the one who does everything is not fun" and "Don't try to do it all".

The next slide says "Get Help" and "Share the Jobs" and shows a similar diagram, but with those "Pack Helper" support jobs pushed out as Satellites (like Membership, Applications, Recharter; Advancement, Badge Buys, Ceremonies, Records; Communications, Newsletter, Website; Meeting Programs; Special Events, Banquet, Derby; Activities, Camping, Hikes; Service Projects, FOS).

And we actually do say that we will not have a den without its own Den Leader (more often the issue arises when initial signups go beyond 10 at a level, but we only have one DL volunteer).   One of our FAQs addresses this: "if there are not enough Den Leaders and Assistants, it might be necessary to “turn away” Scouts, based on an inverse volunteering scale (the less a Parent has volunteered to help, the less likely the Scout will have a space in a Den – for example, if 14 third graders want to be in Scouts, but only 1 Den Leader steps up, that Den Leader can set a limit, maybe 10, and the 4 Scouts whose parents have the least volunteer commitment will not be able to participate, because we cannot ask the willing Den Leader to have a Den that is too large to function)."  Yeah, harsh, but not as harsh as what happens when the DL with 14 quits, and then you have 0 participating.  We've never actually turned anyone away, but have used that as a tool to generate the necessary additional Den Leader, supported by our "Every Parent Leads" policy found at http://atlanta631.mypack.us/aboutus, which requires Parental attendance in a meaningful leadership role at two Den Meetings, plus taking on some Pack role (can be event support).  Normally what happens is several folks will volunteer to "help", and then once they see that there are 4 or 5 "helpers" one of them takes the plunge.

Your mileage may vary, and, yeah, we don't really get 100% participation on the "Every Parent Leads" rule, but it is a talking point for the Chair as he or she recruits and a tool for Den Leaders as they reach into the parent pool for help.