Patrol Leader’s Council

Email questions! I’ll answer email questions concerning patrols and planning in this week’s podcast. I think what most of us want is patrols with long storied histories, stable membership, and high functioning Scouts. It’s my suspicion these kinds of patrols only exist in the pages of handbook. I had a dog eared copy the 1940’s era Patrol Leader’s Handbook as a kid. It’s illustrated with line drawings and cartoons of a bunch of cheery fellows doing great things in an orderly fashion....

No matter how we hard tried our Scout Troop planning seemed to be losing the battle for for space on crowded family calendars. Participation in our program was all over the map, some events would be well attended, only a handful of Scouts would show up for others. Patrols were rarely at full strength and our youth leaders were batted back and forth between conflicting commitments. After years of frustration I decided to find some answers....

I’ve struggled to understand the role of a junior assistant Scoutmaster. It’s right there on the organizational chart, it has a (kind of fuzzy) job description, but (like many of you) I never found a way to apply this role to my complete satisfaction. When our older Scouts became junior assistant Scoutmasters they seemed to enter some kind of limbo and slowly fade away. My troop has never had a serious problem retaining older Scouts....

It’s all about asking the right question… When it comes to Scouts planning activities there are two major threads of observations I hear about: They don’t plan at all, they are incapable OR they plan the same things over and over. People contact me asking what new ideas for activities I may have because they are worried that Scouts will be bored, or that they will lose older Scouts because the program is the same all the time....

Many Scouters claim; “We have a youth-led Troop,” but what does that really mean? Official literature mentions this sort of thing often, but how is do we really define “youth-led”? We’d like to think what the Scouts do and how they do it defines “youth-led”, but it doesn’t. Young people lead themselves all the time, it comes quite naturally to them. What adults do is just as important to a youth-led troop as what adults don’t do....

Anyone who takes on a position of responsibility as a leader will feel pretty self-important at first. After all, you have been chosen, or you stepped in when no one else did. It’s a big ego boost to have a title, to have people follow your directions. That’s a pretty heady feeling isn’t it… all that power? Power scratches an itch, and some leaders never quite lose their addiction to power....

We tend to focus only on directive leadership roles when we are thinking about engaging our Scouts in leadership, but every Scout can (and ought to) be a leader. Here’s some thoughts you can use to encourage all of your Scouts to engage in leadership. **Leadership is much more than standing in front of the group giving directions.**There are four ways every Scout is a leader – First you lead yourself, second you follow cooperatively, third you help your fellow Scouts, and fourth you shape the directions and plans for your patrol and troop....

1. Promote Ownership If youth leadership is actually responsible for the running the program, (meetings, outings, the whole megillah), they must have sense of ownership. Without ownership they will not have a sense of responsibility. 2. Praise publicly, criticize privately Critique and advice are tempered by a sense of care and support and quietly offered. Praise is frequent, always overheard, and shared with others. 3. Supply direction and boundaries. Focus on what Scouting promises Scouts without making demands or issuing orders....

There’s a lot of discussion about who makes decisions about what activities Scouts put on their schedule. What do Scouts decide? Should adults be part of that process, or must we always allow Scouts to make these decisions? Some would argue that who makes these decisions is a good test of whether a troop is youth-led or not. ‘Youth led” is a key component of the patrol system, so the question we ought to be asking is if we are applying the patrol system....

Podcast Episode: Listen on Apple Podcasts This edition of the Scoutmaster Podcast features an idea about neckerchiefs and uniforms and answers an email question about the Patrol Leader’s Council Plans; should they repeat things they did last year?. All this and you messages in the mailbag. |

Podcast Episode (00:26:23): Listen on Apple Podcasts This edition of the Scoutmaster Podcast I share ten things that will help make your summer camp stay this year a success and answer an email question about the patrol leader’s council. All this and your messages in the mailbag! Visit our YouTube Channel! |

Adults keep an eye on things from a respectful distance and Scouts lead themselves. When we talk about boys planning, preparing and leading Scout outings some folks reply “Good grief, how can you leave the Scouts in charge when the troop is going on a strenuous hike to Jones Mountain and they have no experience? As Scoutmaster, isn’t it my responsibility to be closely involved in each Scout’s preparation for every activity?...

When we think about a patrol leader’s council we form a picture of Scouts sitting around a table talking and making plans but what’s really going on? The Senior patrol leader is in charge, the patrol leaders are assembled , the scribe is ready, the Scoutmaster is on hand to advise… what happens next? More importantly what’s happened before they all get to the table? Here’s how you can show your senior patrol leader the planning part of his job – four steps and fifteen minutes of advising:...

Podcast Episode (00:46:00): Listen on Apple Podcasts In this podcast we have our first Scoutmaster Panel Discussion of the new year; our guest is a new Scoutmaster with several questions for the panel on the troop’s program and the patrol leader’s council. | Past editions of the show are available at the PODCAST ARCHIVE

This is a self assessment tool to help gauge how well a troop applies the patrol method. It may be a good idea to have several adults and youth troop members complete the assessment and discuss the results. This is not very scientific but it will at least give you an idea of where you are. Here’s PDF version you can download. Chose only one option for each pair of statements...

What’s the best way to hold Troop leadership elections? It’s pretty simple. Here’s all of the references I found in the Scoutmaster’s handbook: Each troop sets its own requirements and schedule of elections, though senior patrol leaders are usually chosen at six- to 12-month intervals and can be reelected. Scoutmaster’s Handbook p. 13 The members of each patrol elect one of their own to serve as their patrol leader. The troop determines the requirements, if any, for patrol leaders, such as rank and age....

John Thurman was a prolific writer and Camp Chief of Gilwell Park from 1943 to 1969. I have taken some of his thoughts on the patrol leaders council (called the Court of Honor in the UK at the time) and updated them with modern terminology suited to Scouting in the U.S.A. I plan on sharing it with my senior patrol leader this week; The Patrol Leader’s CouncilThe moment you took over your patrol you became not just one leader, but two....

Podcast Episode (00:30:40): Listen on Apple Podcasts IN THIS PODCAST Working with the patrol leader’s council | KEEP IN TOUCHContact Clarke GreenCall and leave a voice mail comment or question at (484) 734-0002 Subscribe to the podcast on iTunesListen on your mobile device with Stitcher Smart RadioFollow us on FACEBOOK – TWITTERSubscribe to blog posts & the Scoutmaster Newsletter Join the exclusive ScoutmasterCG circle on Google Plus

If the Patrol Leader’s Council (PLC) is supposed to be responsible for planning meetings and outings for their Troop how does this happen in practice? There is no universal model, agenda or method but there are some broad underlying principles: Give them the tools A little bit of training, a lot of questions and a lot of freedom to develop their own process. Let them do it Don’t hover, don’t badger, don’t manipulate....

Scoutmaster Podcast 10 This podcast features my patrol system overview based on Baden-Powell’s Aids to Scoutmastership In This Podcast Patrol system [2:02] Clean camp [10:34] Choosing a Troop [14:33] “Difficult” Scouts [18:44] Podcast Notes Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS