Scout Leader Skills

Sometimes it seems we are doing all the right things but the results we are hoping for never materialize. When Scout leaders grow frustrated with their work it’s usually because they are making one or more of the following mistakes: 1. Scout Leaders Become Over Involved You’ve heard the term ‘helicopter’ applied to parents, teachers and Scout leaders who are over-involved in children’s lives. Scout leaders can over-plan, seek to control too many of the variables and reduce the Scouting experience to something more like a carefully guided tour rather than an open-ended adventure....

I asked Jay to write about his experiences in Scouting because I think it’s important to get to know and understand each other, that young men like Jay, a gay Scout, are not new to Scouting, they have always been there – Clarke To all my fellow Scouters – We are all engaged in a conversation about whether or not to keep a policy in place at the national level that keeps gay people from active service in Scouting, as either adults or Scouts....

Frank Maynard has written brilliantly about the idea of ‘helicoptering’ Scouters: Are you a helicopter Scouter? Do you think it’s so important to have a well-run productive troop that you’ll get in the middle of the boys’ business to do it? Do you think you have to “keep the boys on task” in order to get everything accomplished at the troop meetings? To take over planning at PLC meetings to “make sure it gets done right”?...

We’ve made leadership about changing the world, but there is no ‘world’ there’s six billion people’s understanding of it. If you change one person’s understanding of it, their understanding of what they are capable of, of how much people care about them of how powerful an agent for change they can be you have changed the world. It’s a simple idea, but I don’t think it’s a small idea.”...

It is natural to want to be like the people we look up to. We want to recreate the success they have enjoyed in our own lives. So we try to imitate them. It seems like the shortest distance between two points. Of course, we are trying to copy a result. What we often fail to see is the work it took to get them to the place where they could do what they do....

From an article by columnist David Brooks , read the full article at The Heart Grows Smarter In 1938, a group of researchers began an intensive study of 268 students at Harvard University. The plan was to track them through their entire lives, measuring, testing and interviewing them every few years to see how lives develop. … as this study — the Grant Study — progressed, the power of relationships became clear....

Authoritative leadership should not be confused with authoritarian leadership; in this context they are polar opposites. Authoritative leaders have high expectations, respond actively, listen more than they talk, and readily reason with those they lead. In Scouting our expectations are clear and well-defined but it’s a mistake to apply that clarity and definition in an authoritarian or obedience-oriented manner. While we encourage obedience we don’t want Scouts to be unquestioning drones, we want Scouts asking questions so we can help them find answers....

I was never a Scout as a boy but I had a copy of the patrol Leaders handbook illustrated with line drawings of perfect campsites and campfires, of Scouts in perfectly neat uniforms lining up eagerly to listen to their patrol leader, cheering heartily, rallying around the patrol flag waving their hats. I was quickly disappointed when youthful attempts to organize our neighborhood gang didn’t resemble those idealized pictures. The idea that the perfect is the enemy of the good, the assumption that a perfect solution exists and that any solution short of perfection is unacceptable, reduces complex situations to two black and white illusions....

Scouting with your son, being the parent of a Scout and a Scouter at the same time, can be one of the most enriching and memorable times you’ll spend together. Naturally there will be some difficult times but we can avoid letting them derail the experiences for ourselves and our sons if we prepare for them. Characteristics that make a good parent and a good Scouter are similar but we are not going to impose the same expectations or authority we have for our own children on our Scouts....

Have you ever been described as “generous to a fault’? Volunteering is a wonderful, generous way to spend our time but we all have a breaking point. If we don’t have volunteer boundaries there’s a pretty good chance we are headed for a crisis. Call it burn-out fatigue, or what-have-you – it’s the point where it all piles up and makes us doubt whether we can keep going. I can’t tell you exactly what boundaries you need to set up, I can share some basic thoughts that will help you find them....

No volunteer is expected to be an expert with an encyclopedic knowledge of Scouting. All we really need to is the will to learn and the good sense to accept and apply what we learn: We ought to take advantage of as many training opportunities as possible. Familiarize ourselves with informational resources. Have the humility to correct ourselves if we find we are off course. Be open to new methods and ideas....

Here’s fifteen thoughts for Scout leaders that I hope you find helpful. 1. Trust the Program. 100 years of proven results – Follow it! Seek to understand and embrace changes. 2. Conduct Activities that are Age Appropriate. Respond to the specific needs of each developmental stage: don’t push Scouts into activities for older, or hold them back in activities for younger Scouts 3. Be prepared to work with different family standards and expectations....

Why do we volunteer? How many volunteers are involved in Scouting and what do we do? A 2011 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report notes that 64.3 million people volunteered last year 29.9% of women and 25% of men in the U.S. volunteered. 35 – to 54-year-olds were the most likely to volunteer. Persons in their early twenties were the least likely to volunteer The volunteer rate of parents with children under age 18 (33....

Here’s an easy way to introduce visiting parents or new adult volunteers to the concept of youth leadership – a Scout leader business card that explains things simply, politely yet directly. THANK YOU FOR LENDING A HANDOur Scouts are on the field playing a game. Head Coach = ScoutmasterTeam Captains = Youth LeadershipTeam Members = Scouts Head coach manages communication with team captains. No coaches or spectators allowed on the field of play....

Scoutmaster survival can hinge on these three P’s – proportion, perspective and preparation, every Scoutmaster should know: ProportionYou can only do so much, you have limitations and you have a breaking point. Having a sober estimate of these things about ourselves is important. Your Scouts can only do so much, they have limitations and they have a breaking point. Focus on building their enthusiasm and vision for the possibilities in front of them....

Two of the effects physicists describe apply to our work in Scouting: The Observer Effect Changes that the act of observation makes on the phenomenon being observed. A tire pressure gauge releases air from the tire thus changing the pressure we are testing. The Proximity Effect When two atoms come into proximity, the highest energy, or valence, orbitals of the atoms change substantially and the electrons on the two atoms reorganize....

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years. Attributed to Mark Twain* I have watched many fathers wince as their sons publicly shunned them and sons wince as their fathers publicly acknowledged them. The ‘Twain Effect’ is immediately recognizable to those parents who have been through it....

As the contents of the ineligible volunteer files released recently come to light Scouting volunteers and the families that they serve will be justifiably upset and unsettled. They will ask questions. They will want to know that their children are safe. The files record reports of incidents of abuse and served as a database of people deemed ineligible for volunteer positions. They plainly and horrifically reveal that a number of cases were handled internally and some officials at the time seemed more interested in protecting the reputations of abusers and of the organization than the children they served....

Frank Maynard is a blogging troop committee chairman, he recently published this excellent article outlining how to work with Scout parents; Parents who aren’t as involved in Scouting as you are sometimes don’t understand the program as well, and can see a unit working normally as being dysfunctional. Friction can also develop among parents, or even between boys, and the people “in charge” are looked to for a solution. “Why isn’t my Jimmy getting to Second Class any faster?...

Use this image as your Facebook Cover: here’s how On my honor, I will do my best To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight Be Prepared Do a good turn daily How do Scouts advance? By doing the things that Scouts do. Scouts go, camping, hiking, exploring, discovering… they build fires, **cook,**and eat… they plan, develop, and present… they instruct, lead, and create… they sing, speak and yell… they run, play and **shout…**they learn, develop, and grow...