Tradition is a form of complacency and innovation is a form of restlessness.
Complacency resists change:
“We’ve always done it that way”
“Nobody would like that change”
“We don’t get any complaints (well, one or two from people with sour grapes.)”
“People will get confused if we change that.”
Innovation begins with inquiry:
“Why are we doing things that way?”
“Is what we are doing actually achieving our goals?”
“Is the cost of staying the same greater than the cost of change?”
“Are we being true to the principles at the heart of our work?”
Innovation may lead to changes but novelty (altering something slightly without addressing the core issue) isn’t innovation. Change for the sake of change is not innovation.
I believe we need to be restless about Scouting. Is what we are doing right now serving the interests of our Scouts? Is it advancing the aims at the heart of the movement? Do our traditions, procedures and practices accomplish our aims or obfuscate them?
Jesus related the parable of the sower*, not the parable of the seeds. There wasn’t anything wrong with the seeds but the sower didn’t sow them all were they had the best chance to grow.
Restless vigilance is a responsibility of leadership; always questioning and ready to change so our Scouts getthe most from the experience.
*Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” – Matthew 13:3-9