Developing Youth Leadership

My new senior patrol leader and I were talking at a bridge crossing ceremony. He is about two or three meetings into his term a the leader of his troop of 45 Scouts. Like all of his predecessors he’s been caught in the headlights of the unexpected. He seemed to be totally stunned by the opening of his first troop meeting, something he has been through many times, and stood paralyzed for a few long seconds until a fellow Scout quietly suggested that he may want to lead the pledge of allegiance....

Scoutmaster Podcast 8 The third talk about moving from an adult lead to boy led troop In This Podcast Ten Ways Adults Frustrate Youth Leadership [2:38] 4th of July Bonfire [9:40] 3rd and final installment of Adult to Youth Leadership [16:35] Podcast Notes Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Scoutmaster Podcast 7 The second talk about moving from an adult lead to boy led troop. In This Podcast Troop Manuals, Contracts and the like [2:39] Retreat with George [9:19] Moving from Adult to Youth Leadership 2 [13:22] A Scout is Helpful [20:50] Podcast Notes Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Scoutmaster Podcast 6 Moving from Adult to Youth Leadership In This Podcast What is a Scoutmaster? [2:22] Humor – Moccasin Telegraph [9:35] Moving from Adult to Youth Leadership [13:29] Scoutmaster’s Minute – A Scout is Cheerful [20:18] Podcast Notes The Inquiry NetAsk Andy Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

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....

Mistakes are always made. Although our aspirations and expectations are high we rarely bring a project to completion without a misstep or difficulty. With the responsibility for planning and presenting Scouting is in the hands of the youth leadership the way we react to mistakes is important. If, in the midst of a football game, the ball is fumbled everyone on the team tries to recover the ball. Nobody stands by and tries to find fault with the player who fumbled, or waits for him to pick the ball up – everybody jumps....

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....

Unpredictable sometimes difficult Scout behavior is part of adolescence so it is a part of Scouting. Scouting responds with a program who’s intrinsic design is a response to this and the other vagaries of being a Scout-aged boy. Boys naturally form groups within groups and institute traditions and practices like initiations, pecking orders and all other forms of regimentation. They are more likely to create their own version of ‘The Lord of the Flies’ than the ‘Hardy Boys’....

One would rarely call my Troop a well oiled machine or a model of efficiency. That’s the principle reason I love it so. A dear friend who was a very successful artist worked out of a studio that was best described as a hot mess. Not just typically messy – we are talking breathtaking disorder. Even so he produced art of penetrating simplicity and beauty. There’s a point during any Troop meeting or outing when I look around and see the same breathtaking disorder....

A predictable frustration for Scoutmasters is the Scout who takes on a youth leadership position and doesn’t meet expectations. We may respond using employee-employer or soldier-officer thinking and tactics because these are familiar models. Scouts are not employees, Scoutmasters are not employers. Scouts are not Enlisted Men, Scoutmasters are not Officers. Scouts don’t sign contracts, they volunteer. I have attempted to write job descriptions and contracts for leadership positions in an attempt to lawyer my Scouts towards responsibility....

Green Bar Bill Hillcourt’s oft repeated encouragement to “Train em’ trust em’ and let them lead” remains the simple formula for building and maintaining confidence in youth leadership. Hillcourt’s formula has three active components Train Training youth leaders need not be a protracted formal training event. Real-time, authentic and immediate on the job training (OJT) has proven to be an effective approach. OJT works best where there is an existing model of good youth leadership Absent this model it must be created by showing Scouts good youth leadership in action....

Sometimes the goals of youth leaders and adult leaders diverge to the point that we may be duplicating efforts or working at odds with one another. In the interest of aligning forces these goals should be examined periodically. Maintaining the integrity of youth leadership means they have the opportunity to plan and act independent of adult micromanagement and coercion. This exercise will help define the roles of adult and youth leaders while balancing the oversight and involvement of adults....