This recent post from Seth Godin encourages us to think about the way we approach our work as Scout leaders: We train kids to deal with teachers in a certain way: Find out what they want, and do that, just barely, because there are other things to work on. Figure out how to say back exactly what they want to hear, with the least amount of effort, and you are a ‘good student....
Tom Gillard is a Scoutmaster in Tullahoma Tennessee. We struck up a correspondence after he was part of a session about the patrol method I presented over the internet for a group of Scouters attending a Merit Badge University. Over the past couple of months Tom has written to tell me about his experiences applying the patrol method in his Troop. Tom is no newcomer to Scouting but he wanted to work towards strengthening his youth leadership....
Badges and awards are results; but Scouters understand the importance of recognizing effort. In his book Shine: Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People Psychiatrist Ned Hallowell concludes that acknowledgment of effort provides vital encouragement, motivation and inspires greater confidence, but also promotes moral behavior; “When a person feels recognized and connected to the larger group, she knows viscerally, not just intellectually, that she has made a contribution others value....
Over time, processes that seek to decrease entropy and create order are valued, but improving them gets more difficult as well. If you’re seeking to make the organized more organized, it’s a tough row to hoe. Far easier and more productive to create productive chaos, to interrupt, re-create, produce, invent and redefine. Seth Godin Most of our work as Scoutmasters is like hiking a trail; start here and end up there....
This post on Doug Stowe’s The Wisdom of the Hands blog discusses the hand-brain connection: “The way to the brain, goes through the hand” This isn’t a new thought, but it is particularly relevant to Scouting. (If you take the time to look at Doug’s writings you’ll soon discover that this isn’t just a saying; it has a scientific basis.) Are we at our best when we are telling, showing or doing?...
Sometimes we get so involved and so closely identified with Scouting that we bruise easily. Perhaps the sharpest criticism is when our Scouts seem disinterested or uninvolved. Boys are Scouts because they like the idea of Scouting yet battle with some of the things that Scouts do. In a period of life when they are intent on forming an individual identity they sometimes despise those things that make them a part of a group....
I have contribution syndrome, maybe you do too, it’s not all that uncommon. David Axson, author of the The Management Mythbuster, says successful leaders ask great questions. The problem is I talk way too much; I natter away and watch the interest and engagement in my Scout’s faces turn into despair. Contribution Syndrome: No matter what the situation, it is the compulsion to contribute; to show how smart you are at every possible opportunity....
Listener Allan Green (no relation) asks three questions when youth don’t lead: Youth leaders elected, but reluctant to lead. I have had 2 successive SPL’s who would not prepare, would not work, canceled most TLC meetings, and who did not treat their fellow scouts very well. The last one was rarely seen at summer camp this past summer, preferring to hang with friends in other camp sites or at the lake....
In the Birch Bark Roll (Link to PDF version) first published in 1902 Earnest Thompson-Seton describes camp leadership. (Many of his ideas were adapted by Baden-Powell in his Scouting for Boys.) When two or three young people camp out, they can live as a sort of family, especially if a grown-up be with them, but when a dozen or more go, it is necessary to organize. There are four possible forms of government:...
Decision making in a Scout Troop is in the hands of the youth leadership; admittedly not the ‘rightest’, ‘smartest’, or ‘most qualified’ decision makers at times. Every decision in the world is made by the person who has the power to make that decision—not the “right” person, or the “smartest” person, or the “most qualified” person, and in most cases not you. If you influence this decision maker, you will make a positive difference....
Scoutmaster Podcast 9 Three key Scouting resources every Scouter ought to have and read. In This Podcast Second chances [2:54] Wobegon Scouts [11:10] Three important resources [14:24] A Scout is Brave [21:35] Podcast Notes Scoutmaster Jerry’s Scoutmaster’s Minute blog and podcastSo let it be written… Advancement Policies and ProceduresUniform and Insignia GuideGuide to Safe Scouting Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Leadership is the keynote to success– but leadership is difficult to define, and leaders are difficult to find. I have frequently stated that “any ass can be a commander, and a trained man may often make an instructor; but a leader is more like the poet– born, not manufactured. Baden-Powell from B.P.’s Outlook B.P. speaks of three different sorts of people the commander, the instructor and the leader. An echo of the leaders described in this well known saying;...
Read this at Seth Godin’s blog Compliance is simple to measure, simple to test for and simple to teach. Punish non-compliance, reward obedience and repeat. Initiative is very difficult to teach to 28 students in a quiet classroom. It’s difficult to brag about in a school board meeting. And it’s a huge pain in the neck to do reliably. Schools like teaching compliance. They’re pretty good at it. To top it off, until recently the customers of a school or training program (the companies that hire workers) were buying compliance by the bushel....
These ten Scouting moments (in no particular order) are the best times I’ve spent as a Scoutmaster: One early spring night we all got up at three in the morning and hiked our sleeping bags and pads down to a field at camp and watched a meteor shower. Stars shown through crystalline skies as if they were close enough to touch. One hour later we had counted over 100 ‘shooting stars’ and, thinking that enough for anyone, escape the numbing cold and returned to our cabin....
Adolescence is an often difficult, unstable time and adolescents tend towards actions and attitudes that we find upsetting. Recent research points out that much of the chaos of adolescence is owing to a period physical brain development we are only now beginning to understand. One can draw the reasonable conclusion that people in their adolescence are not willfully refusing to act on more mature and reasoned thinking but that they are actually physically incapable of doing so at times....
A recent email asks about Choosing a troop My son and I visited seven Troops, two of them twice for a total of nine visits. We finally found what we feel is the best Unit in the county. This Unit has very strong leadership – two of the dozens of registered adults have over 45 years of experience at this Unit Additionally, they have a large wooded property with a Scout Hut, a campground, a shooting range, a very nice fire ring theater, trailers full of**equipment, a fleet of canoes, and free use of a privately-owned reservation with amenities....
Scoutmaster G.B. from Austin, Texas sent me the following: Our troop has a Patrol Leader’s Council (PLC) every first Monday. Last Monday the older boys were really acting up. I asked the senior patrol leader (SPL) to get the meeting under control but neither he nor the assistant senior patrol leader responded to my request. The patrol leaders were on their best behavior but the older Scouts were not. The last thing I wanted to do is take over the meeting, unfortunately I felt I had to....
Third in a series of thoughts about looking ahead: Who are our key unit leaders for the next five years? Typical Scout units change key leaders every three to five years. Anyone in a leadership position, especially key positions, should have their eye on suitable replacements. Responsible outgoing leaders should see that there is a clear plan in place for those who will take on their positions. Several months prior to the change the new leader and the outgoing leader should be working together....
Second in a series of thoughts about looking ahead. What’s your recruiting goal, the minimum annual number of new members (youth and adult) to maintain your unit? Our Troop has hovered around thirty to thirty five Scouts for many years now. We maintain an active contingent of five or six uniformed adult leaders (ones that we usually see at a Troop meeting) and four or five core committee members. We need to recruit about five to ten new Scouts every year to maintain the Troop over time....
Scouting programs falter and sometimes fold because they don’t answer these questions: What is the minimum annual number of new members (youth and adult) to maintain our unit? Who are our key unit leaders for the next five years? How will we reach and or maintain financial stability? Do we meet key indicators of effectively presenting our program? The tenure of most adult leaders in Scouting lasts as long as their children’s participation....