Developing Youth Leadership

Marathon runners sometime experience a sudden loss of energy that they call ‘hitting the wall’, they pass through an invisible barrier and get-up-and-go gets up and leaves. Youth leaders are especially susceptible to hitting the wall, and most do at some point. Communication breaks down, nothing seems to work, what seems simple becomes hopelessly complex, frustration and feelings of inadequacy follow. We can’t avoid the wall, we are all going to hit it, and we’ve seen it happen to others....

Podcast Episode (00:28:49): Download MP3 Listen to Scoutmaster Podcast 227 | Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers Is there a difference between leadership in the outdoors and in other settings? The answer to this question and answers to email questions in this podcast along with your messages in the mailbag. Get The SCOUTMASTERCG APP Podcast Archive Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

The way I see it there are two ways to react to the consequences of mistakes we’ve made: Deny, blame others, cover up, and hope nobody finds out. Own up and take responsibility for the consequences. Which is the right way? If you are reading this, there’s a pretty good chance you are a Scout, and I know that you know the right answer. When I first joined my Scout Troop, I was impressed by a Patrol Leader who had a cool, laid-back personality…...

Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers What does “youth led” really mean? This week I spend some time answering two email questions that touch on youth leadership, one focuses on responsive leadership (what to do if Scouts aren’t holding up their end of the bargain) and one abut shifting a troop from adult to youth leadership. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Podcast Episode (00:26:11): Download MP3 Listen to Scoutmaster Podcast 223 | Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers Listen to a simple, yet significant story of how Scouting works (or how it ought to work). I’ll also answer an email about backpacking, the the whole idea of backpacking is that it’s fun (challenging, yes, but fun). Go out for a mile or two, make it easy, let the Scouts decide they love it and want to go further (they almost certainly will!...

Podcast Episode (00:28:17): Download MP3 Listen to Scoutmaster Podcast 221 | Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers In this podcast we discuss ‘real’ responsibility, answer email questions about getting folks to lend a hand with a Cub Pack and see if we can help out a new Scoutmaster. All this and your messages in the mailbag! Get The SCOUTMASTERCG APP Podcast Archive Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Podcast Episode (00:29:46): Download MP3 Listen to Scoutmaster Podcast 218 | Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers In this podcast I answer email questions about medical issues and we return to the eternal question of “forming” youth leadership (“forming” – listen to find out how funny that is!) Lend a hand to answering the favorite camping and hiking spots, your one sentence Scouting definition, and help Greg with his Wood Badge Ticket....

Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers We all want Scouts to reflect, and to use the product of reflection to grow and develop as useful people. Scouts are action oriented, their capacity for reflection is developing, and you have to align your expectations to their level of development. If you think about it at that age you and I learned more by a repetition of silly mistakes than by power of logic, or accepting what we were told....

Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers In this podcast we talk about meeting the negative attitudes and behaviors we see in Scouts with the positives of Scouting and field a question about youth leader training events. This and your messages in the mailbag. Get the song I mention in podcast 212 here All Time Favorite Boy Scout Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Is there really a difference between outdoor leadership and leadership in other situations? To my mind just about everything we do in Scouting hinges on how you answer that question. We are familiar with business or management-style leadership in our professional and business lives. Outdoor (or Scouting) leadership is different and understanding this difference is key to being an effective Scouter. Why do corporations invest time and resources in things like ropes courses and leadership retreats?...

If I could change one thing about Scouting I’d do away with the term ‘adult leader’. Leaders are directive, they tell people what to do and how to do it. Advisors and mentors , on the other hand, are motivational – they help people develop skills and find the inspiration in their work. The greatest responsibility of an adult working with a Scout Troop or Venture Crew is engaging youth members in leading themselves using the patrol system....

Patrol leader training is not an event; it is an ongoing process of coaching and mentoring. Good coaching comes from a solid, simple, shared understanding of the fundamentals. To my mind a trained patrol leader knows these fundamentals. Here’s how I train patrol leaders in fifteen minutes. I usually conduct this training just before or after a patrol leader’s council meeting. Note that this is based on asking the Scouts questions and teaching them specific answers for them....

A ripping good yarn from John Thurman’s Patrol Leader’s Handbook was aimed at helping the Scouts of 1950 catch the spirit of their work as patrol leaders. I offer it here to spark your imagination, and to answer the question ‘why do we have Scoutmasters?’; In the early days of Scouting boys from all over the country, and later from all over the world, bought the book Scouting for Boys and formed themselves into Patrols....

Feeling alone? Frustrated with your youth leadership? Does it seem as though every effort to get them motivated falls short? Wish for ‘the good old days’ when ‘Scouting really meant something’ and boys were able to think for themselves? See if you don’t share some of the frustrations expressed by this Scoutmaster: We are continually being told that our Scouts want to run things, for themselves. Is this really so?...

2012 Red Lantern Recipient Jan Steve’s, shares her inspiring story of ‘the challenge of a lifetime’ in the Edmonds News. The fastest musher in the history of Alaska’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race ran the 1000-plus mile course from Anchorage to Nome in just under nine days. The longest time to finish the race is 32 days. Each year the last musher to finish the Iditarod earns the Iditarod’s symbol of perseverance, the Red Lantern Award....

Patrols are much more than a convenient way to divide a large group of Scouts into smaller, more manageable groups. Patrols are the single unique feature of Scouting and the indispensable method for achieving the aims of Scouting. Most of us became Scouters as Cub Leaders. During the Cub Scout years the program depends on a lot of adult involvement and leadership in response to the age of the Cubs. We often mistakenly carry these habits and ideas into Scout troops....

Here’s a question I recently received asking how to fix Scout patrol problems: I’m a Scoutmaster with less than a year under my belt and I’m faced with a ‘good problem’ ; we’re growing. We currently have 4 patrols and we anticipate that we will get about 7 Scouts from the Pack in February; they would be the 5th patrol. Currently, we have one ‘first year’ patrol, two second year patrols, and one patrol made up of the remaining older boys....

Information educates the mind, experience develops skill. Too much information can be paralyzing. We live in the information age. Our Scouts get plenty of information, much more than they can do anything with. What they really need is experience. Scouting is an educational movement, but it’s not educational in the traditional sense. Scouting is a journey through experiences that develop skill. Sometimes we get a little mixed up, we think our Scouts need a lot of information to develop skills....

Perhaps “Troop Program Death Spiral” is a gratuitously dramatic title but it describes something that does happen. Got your attention, though, didn’t I? How and why do troops get off track and lose Scouts? There’s a predictable sequence of events that spiral down into a crash. Scouts are never the problem, it’s the way we work with them that causes problems. When we sign on to volunteer and one of three things happen –...

How well are we applying the patrol system? I often ask myself this question and I am constantly looking for ways to improve the experience for our Scouts. I’ve set up a patrol system survey to see how the patrol system is used in other troops, ( there aren’t any ‘right’ answers). The Survey is closed – look for an analysis and report later this week.