Should we ask Scouts to sign “leadership contracts”? A couple of decades ago I tried Scout contracts, it was a mistake. I guess at the time that I would teach my Scouts a thing or two and demand that that sign a Scout contract before they took on a role of responsibility. Of course they signed it and then they did not behave any differently, they missed meetings and trips just like before....
If the Scouts are leading themselves who is leading the Scout leaders? This week I’ll field a couple of email questions that ask the question “who leads the Scout leaders?” Scouting is a team sport, while we all work to build consensus it’s not a democracy. It is, as BP said, “a jolly game” that depends on families, scouts and Scouters working together in a collaborative process. When people understand their roles in the process, their positions on the team that plays this “jolly game”, things get energized....
You’ve used an iterative process before … … whether you know it or not. Iteration means trying something out in a slightly or wholly different way if it does not succeed when first tried. I have some email questions to answer this week and one got me thinking about iteration. Scouting is an iterative process, we repeat the same class of experiences in an effort to gain knowledge and that knowledge foments growth, it goes very deep, but the practice is very simple....
Another visit with our favorite through hikers … … from a third of the way through their quest to complete the 2000 mile Appalachian Trail. Wade “Nutshoe” Bastain, Bucky “No Name, Buckminster” Kellorg, and their fellow Eagle Scout and hiking companion “Bear” join us from southern Virginia to relate their latest adventures along the Appalachian trail. In This Podcast [0:17] Scout Zombies [1:45] Mailbag, Intro [10:35] Bucky, Wade, and Bear report on their trail adventure....
We encourage active Scouts a number of ways … … but at the heart of the matter there’s only two things that make a difference, and I’ll discuss those two key points in this week’s podcast. The same things that make active Scouts can help us increase activity at roundtables and other functions like courts of honor. We may be looking for answers in all the wrong places, or think low attendance or interest is caused by things beyond our control, I think it’s simpler than that....
Personal schedules are just one of the things that affect a Scout patrol … … and we can’t do things as if it were 10 years ago, much less 100. One of our challenges as Scouters (and human beings) is adapting to change while maintaining our goals and principles. It’s not impossible, but it can be hard work. In this podcast I’ll discuss transition and change in a few different contexts focused on maintaining Scout patrols, the patrol system, and youth leadership....
Scout advancement questions are often easy to answer … … if you simply take things at face value. It’s actually all pretty easy to understand. Problems arise when Scouters don’t challenge their own assumptions after they have read the requirements or directions and policies in the Guide to Advancement. This week I’ll answer three Scout advancement questions you’ve emailed me. As always, I’ll encourage everyone to get a copy of the Guide to Advancement, read it and work to understand what it has to say....
There are two ways of recruiting Scouts that actually work … … and I’ve have tried just about everything, special meetings, special trips, flyers, etc. None of those things has ever netted us one single new Scout. Over the years I have found two simple, relatively easy and effective methods for recruiting Scouts – listen in to find out what I think works. In this email answers podcast I’ll also answer an email about STEM and Scouting, as well as one about Council and District involvement from a Scoutmaster’s perspective....
Telling has limited usefulness in developing youth leadership … … asking is what really gets things moving along. This week I’ll explain how to ask questions in exchange for offering advice or telling Scouts how to do things. This is a powerful tool to get them doing the kind of thinking that fosters leadership development. If you are looking for problems you’ll see problems, if you are looking for development you’ll see development, if you are just looking you’ll see both....
Anothervisit with two Eagle Scouts on the Appalachian Trail … We visit, once again, with Bucky Kellorg and Wade Bastian as they make their way north along the Appalachian Trail. We’ll see how things are going , talk about gear, and see if they have trail names yet. The picture above, Wade on the left and Bucky on the right, is from 12 years ago with the troop at summer camp....
Service Rank Requirements are one thing… .. but helping other people at all times is a key concept we hope to build into our Scouts lives. To make that happen we have to look beyond the requirements. Scouts discovering what service means, and the service they perform, are both vitally important building blocks in the Scouting journey. We ought to have perennial unit service opportunities on the calendar but can we go too far?...
This should be fun! This week there’s no deep dive into policies, no procedural advice or philosophizing, just a conversation with two of my old Eagle Scouts who headed out for a hike last week. Bucky Kellorg and Wade Bastian join me from their “zero day” about fifty miles into a 2000 mile quest to reach the end of the Appalachian trail on Mt. Katahdin in Maine. Hear an unvarnished account of their first backpacking trip and how it relates to their present challenge....
We ended up drawing a kind of dividing line … … between adult and Scout responsibilities, and it has a lot to do with Scouts and money. In this podcast, in answer to a listener’s question, I’ll discuss how we decided who would be responsible for Scouts and money. I do think there’s some return in having Scouts be responsible for administrative paperwork (permission slips, collecting money, etc.) but listen in and see if you think differently than I do about the issue....
I am often asked … “How do I get my troop’s adult volunteers to use the patrol method?” I’ll answer that question with a one sentence Scouter job description. Over the past decade of writing the blog at Scoutmastercg.com I’ve been looking for a one sentence definition of Scouting. Something we can tell ourselves that focuses us on what’s important about our work as Scouters. I think I may have found it, listen in and see if you agree....
I have had plenty of Scouts seize the opportunity to be cold, wet, and miserable… … but that usually only happens once or twice, then they learn not to be cold and miserable. When it’s raining they have the opportunity to take your word for it and be prepared, or to learn by experience. I do tell parents that I want every Scout to have rain gear and polypro every time we go out – regardless of the season, and I explain that it’s about the Scouts safety and comfort as well as the good of their patrol, because it’s a bummer if you can’t do something because one guy isn’t prepared....
How well do Parents understand Scouting? Should we expect them to? Most of us didn’t understand it either for our first two or three laps around the track. There’s an understanding that comes with having things explained, and an understanding that comes from experience – two entirely different things. This week I’ll discuss how authentic Scouting provides opportunities that most children cannot find anywhere else, and how this makes it both valuable and confusing at the same time....
It is our responsibility to assure there’s a shared expectation… … and our Scouts understand them. Scout aged children are not going to interpret gentle reminders, they’d prefer to have to have things clearly spelled out. They are literalists, they don’t take hints. You can be direct without being unpleasant. There has to be continual engagement and evaluation. Positions of responsibility in Scouting, to me at least, is about working together to get things done, not about title, privilege or command structures....
A Scoutmaster is not… … the boss of a company and youth leadership are not employees we discipline or hire and fire. A Scoutmaster is not a commanding officer and Scouts are not soldiers who can be disciplined for “conduct unbecoming” a Scout, so let’s get that foolish idea out of our heads as well. In this podcast I’ll share what a Scoutmaster is, and the special role they have in young people’s lives....
There’s always more questions about merit badges… … then I have useful answers because the vast majority of problems with merit badges are structural rather than procedural. But I hate missing an opportunity for a good, old fashioned rant. Listen in while I climb on my soapbox and opine about what I think the problem is, and how it could (but likely won’t) be fixed. I’ll also answer an email about another troubled troop....
If things aren’t moving along the problem may be obvious… .. like our understanding of the relationship between the program, advancement, and positions of responsibility. The Scouting program is there, ready to go, but it can’t go on it’s own can it? It’s all words in books, it does not have muscles or lungs, or a heart, or a brain, it’s just sitting there. In this podcast I’ll answer a couple of emails focused on positions of responsibility that got me thinking about carts and horses, I hope it helps!...