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| Home > Online Library > Scouting Guides & Information > Leadership in Scouting > Developing Scout Leadership |
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Scouting Leadership (Serious Side of Scouting) Developing Scout Leadership This is a discussion brought up in an archived Scouting Discussion Thread. All views expressed do not necessarily represent the troop's position and stand. Date: Sun, 25 Sep 1994 19:37:48 -0500 "Russell L. Ray" <rray@POCI.AMIS.COM> writes: >I feel that it was the right thing to do. I'm not sure
about the method. You have a good start, Ray. These are things that I've done to keep it that way:
All of the other time, you need to find that room and stay there. Go there and talk with your Assistants. Drink plenty of coffee or tea or hot chocolate. Talk about family and friends with the other Scouters. When the issue of "I wonder how they're doing in there" comes up, merely explain to those there that you've placed confidence in the youth of your Troop and if something serious happens, someone will be around to tell you about it. Fight off the urge to go out every time someone makes something falls and you hear a "crash". Most of the times, its NOT because something valuable has broken...its because the Scouts are trying to see what will cause you to come out and "take control" from your youth leaders. You need to also let the Senior Patrol Leader and his assistant know that "Unless you guys are burning down the meeting place, you don't need my permission to carry out the program. If you want me there, you need to tell me. If you want me to do the program, let me know in advance like you would anyone else." When they ask "what are you doing in there?", tell them the truth: "I'm doing what Scoutmasters are supposed to do: sit, observe from a distance, making sure that you guys don't burn down the building or kill each other, and drink (insert favorite non-alcoholic beverage here)." It WON'T be easy. Believe me. But it will force your Scouts to respect the new authority you've placed in your youth leaders and it will allow you to do some things that you've seen other Scoutmasters do (like more in-depth Scoutmaster conferences or skill teachings) because you are no longer "the man in charge". You will also see your Troop increase in membership because you are living what the Scouting ideals say should be going on...a lot of action, led by youth, and not perfect. That's what kids love...they get perfection from school, church and their parents. They WANT TO BE CHALLENGED...give them that chance to do so. Now that you've decided to do things "the Scouting way", don't waffle and go back to "running it your way". Let it happen...let it succeed or fail on THEIR efforts. Train them and coach them and advise them and set the positive example in your dress and your conduct. But DON'T LEAD them...that's the job of the youth THEY'VE elected to lead them. Let us all know how it's working.... Settummanque!@HEY Dr. Steve!! Another convert to BP's Patrol Method!!!
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 1994 00:30:00 -0600 Richard Ickler <ICKLERR@DELPHI.COM> writes: >Tonight I had one of those Scout meetings that I would
really like to forget. Au Contrair, Richard...you had A GREAT NIGHT....I'm sorry that you feel bad about the experience, but read on.... >I have really been making an effort to overcome my
instincts and allow the But Richard, *that's part of what Scouting leadership is all about...letting them discover what happens when they *do* make those decisions!! Two months from now, you will be beaming with pride as those "leaders" will either quietly leave, bravely tell you and the Troop that they can't "hack the job", or blow up at a Scout or you (or your Assistant, which is a clear indicator that "something's bothering him"). Or those Scouts will SURPRISE YOU with their "sudden" personal growth. I had one of your Scouts in one of my Troops, so I know. This guy attended only four meetings every three months, usually two weeks before a campout and a week afterwards. After he became Scribe, however, he became a regular fixture and eventually became Senior Patrol Leader. And he NEVER missed a meeting since his election. As far as the kid that isn't registered, is there a reason why you allowed him to be elected? Just curious, you're the Scoutmaster, but part of my Troop's election policies was that they had to be paid up as far as registration is concerned. Something about "leading by example", or something silly like that... >I'm now going to have to figure out how to deal with
showing Don't try to "create situations", Richard....let them come up on their own. If you attempt to "create situations for failure", sometimes (and I have personal background on this!), they will succeed because them Scouts KNOW that you've "created a wall for them to break through". Let the natural process of Troop operation dictate what goes on during the meetings and during the activities.... THEN, do what I call a "rest and review" after each critical event or activity and ask both members AND leaders to examine what went wrong and what they can do to make it better. >After that fiasco comes the "coup de grace".
Since I took over as Have you every asked him if he wants to become a Scoutmaster really bad, why hasn't he started a new Troop? Since he's making comments to you, it's only natural that you should "place the idea in his head". I betcha he's never even thought about it seriously, and one of those "Hey Terry, I KNOW you can be a GREAT Scoutmaster. Have you ever thought about starting a new Troop here in town...you know, give me some REAL competition?" Yes, you will have to "deal with the plans" (if any) made at the Planning meeting. However, you DO have input, as the Scoutmaster. I hope that you have provided your Assistant with dates and information about the times you would NOT be available and ask them to consider those dates when planning the Troop's program. Also, when you and the Senior Patrol Leader goes before the Troop Committee to gain approval of the program (that's part of the process), you can again voice your concerns about programs that were "conceived in a vacuum" (or conceived in a car/truck/van on the way to or back from the Planning meeting) before the Troop's Committee. Also, it is IMPORTANT that you allow this person freedom in developing the youth of your Troop. How else is he or she supposed to learn if YOU did everything? Yes, Richard, you did the right and best thing here. It don't FEEL that way, because you, as I and every other Scoutmaster here, has our "favorites" and those that we want (and know) that can do a good job. But Scouting is not about "favorites", it's about developing skills in ALL Scouts that want to develop themselves. It's your job to set the example, to develop BOTH youth_and_adult, and to create an environment where they can try things out and sometimes fail (and fail miserably). We don't like it when youth fail in things. I don't know of a parent one that REALLY likes it when their son or daughter is not selected for something or another. But we in Scouting have learning that once the decision is made, we try our hardest to support those that were selected/elected to lead. >I really was close to quitting tonight but I think I still
have a few more Don't quit. All that tells those Scouts there is "If I don't like something, I can quit it and go do something else." Stay in there, Richard....you had a GREAT NIGHT....now, make personal plans to use the next few months as valuable TRAINING experiences with your Troop and their new leaders. They will either lead, follow, or get out of the way. Same goes for your Assistant, too. Get a mug of coffee, sit down, and listen to some great music. You're doing your job, and you've done it well! Don't stop now! Settummanque! Settummanque, the blackeagle... (MAJ) Mike L.
Walton ( Newsgroups: rec.scouting In article <3vok8m$344@solaria.cc.gatech.edu>, Richard W. Clement (rickey@cc.gatech.edu) writes: >Star, Life, and Eagle all have requirements for
"active" leadership. My >... Richard - You were wondering about how to get junior Leaders to lead so that they can earn their Star, Life, and Eagle. Well, here are a few thoughts on the subject, that can fit a BSA unit's needs as well as the needs of a Group in any Scout or Guide Association in the world. In my travels and membership in various Scout Associations I find that the key to having Scouts who actively provide leadership to the Troop is to run the Troop using the Patrol System more or less as described by B-P. In other words, the Scouts run the Troop with a minimum of involvemnt from the adults at the "hands-on" level. In order to get there, though, there are a few things that have to happen, and these take time to get up and healthy. First of all, you have to wean the Scouts from the idea that this leadership thing is what you HAVE to do in order to earn the Star, Life, and Eagle. Over time, you need to get every Scout, from the newest to the most expereinced to buy into the idea that Patrol and Troop leadership is a more important goal in and of itself than the rank badges. One way to help get this going is to provide "perks" that are available only to the Junior Leadership Team (Let's call it the JLT for the purposes of this post, eh?) (whatever it may be called in your country), such as special camps and activity opportunities. No work in a leadership position? No active JLT work? No JLT "specials"... Have the adult Leaders defer to the junior Leaders when life safety is not an issue. (And, don't you know it's REAL difficult for an adult to freely give that type of responsibility to a young teen-ager?!?) NO MORE PUPPET JUNIOR LEADERS! They CAN run the Troop - so long as you make certain they are trained to do so. That's where you come in as the Adult Leadership Team (the ALT, which, coincidently is the word for "old" in a language or two that come quickly to mind...) This is becoming more difficult, since so many leadership training courses are becoming more and more abbreviated. As a result, a lot more of the responsibility falls directly on the shoulders of the unit's ALT than was the case in years gone by. Leadership training for the JLT needs to be hands-on, and cannot be accomplished in a single weekend, much less a single day. It has to begin from a Scout's first day with you, and the learning process never ends. As time goes by, you get better and better at providing the training, but in the beginning, you may find yourself hard-pressed to keep ahead of the kids! A significant part of this is going to have to be getting every adult who works with your Troop as fuly trained as possible. Once they come back from the training, make certain they actually apply what they have learned. I suppose this means that you really need to be the ASM responsible for Leader training, as well as being the ASM assigned to working with the older Scouts... Get the eligible Scouts enrolled in every junior Leader training opportunity that comes your way - all of them. When they return, meet with them to find out what they learned, and plan together to figure out how best to put all of that training into practice. Along with this, you might want to become involved at the District level as a member of the District Training Team, with specific responsibilities for training junior Leaders. Make certain your JLT are actively involved at all stages of your programme planning and activity leadership. Help them to set up a real programme of adventure and challenge that will stretch their leadership skills - and yours to a point where everyone involved can't help but grow. Set your JLT members up to succeed. Everyone as areas of leadership better suited to him or her than other areas. Exploit this to the maximum. Some of your Scouts will make excellent PLs, other will not. On the other hand, a Scout who is not a very good PL can easily turn out to be the single best person to turn over the logistics planning for weekend trips and high adventure activities. Another might be better at managing the Troop on a backpacking trip - he or she should be assigned duties commensurate with making the on-trail portion of the trip run smoothly. These "specialty Leaders" can take a good part of the heavier responsibility load from the PLs, leaving them better able to manage their Patrols during the activity. (The BSA Troop I am with now has three Eagles who would not have lasted long enough with the Troop to earn the badge if it weren't for our helping them find "specialty Leader" positions - this is an idea that WORKS!) You have a small Troop? Well... If you use this kind of system, it will grow quite rapidly, especially if you toss in some Troop "super-activities". I talked a couple of BSA Troops into attending the Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Jamboree some time back - and they recently returned from having an absolutely magnificent time - and ideas for a series of even more ambitious activities that we will see what we can do to help them put together. Put these things into active practice, and you won't have to worry about pushing the Scouts into active leadership roles, nor will you have to worry about whether or not you should refuse advancement for reasons of poor leadership. You see, there's a whole lot more you can do with Scouting than just camping locally once a month and going to your Council's summer camp... Our newer Scouts are still going to the Council camp in the summer, since we recommend that new Scouts have at least one summer there before they go galavanting about the world. Still, there were two new Scouts who went to the Council camp - and then went on to the Jamboree with us... These activities don't have to be overly expensive - 632 went to Newfoundland at $365 per person, which amounted to ten monthly payments of $35 plus an added $15 payment. One idea for these sorts of things might be to set up a personal account for each Scout within the Unit's account. We have several Scouts who put money for activities together this way. Some of the parents put up matching funds for their Scouts - the Scout puts in a dollar, and the parents put in another. The kids can earn shares of a fund raiser that they actively work on, as well as putting in allowance money, earned income, and the stuff that falls out of birthday and holiday cards from the grandparents and other relatives. Lots of options, a time investment in terms of teaching the Scouts how to lead, and a bunch of fun to be had by all once things get up to speed. Norman 12/08/95
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