Decision making in a Scout Troop is in the hands of the youth leadership; admittedly not the ‘rightest’, ‘smartest’, or ‘most qualified’ decision makers at times. Every decision in the world is made by the person who has the power to make that decision—not the “right” person, or the “smartest” person, or the “most qualified” person, and in most cases not you. If you influence this decision maker, you will make a positive difference....
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
Scoutmaster Podcast 2 Make the Most of Being a Scouter In This Podcast 5 Things to Make the Most of Your Opportunity as a Scout Leader [1:10] Humor – Father Fred [7:34] 2nd in the series Instructional Methods for Scouts [10:04] Scoutmaster Minute; Cliff Young [15:17] Podcast Notes Download Instructional Methods for Scouts.pdf (65.6K) Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Third in a series of thoughts about looking ahead: Who are our key unit leaders for the next five years? Typical Scout units change key leaders every three to five years. Anyone in a leadership position, especially key positions, should have their eye on suitable replacements. Responsible outgoing leaders should see that there is a clear plan in place for those who will take on their positions. Several months prior to the change the new leader and the outgoing leader should be working together....
Second in a series of thoughts about looking ahead. What’s your recruiting goal, the minimum annual number of new members (youth and adult) to maintain your unit? Our Troop has hovered around thirty to thirty five Scouts for many years now. We maintain an active contingent of five or six uniformed adult leaders (ones that we usually see at a Troop meeting) and four or five core committee members. We need to recruit about five to ten new Scouts every year to maintain the Troop over time....
Scouting programs falter and sometimes fold because they don’t answer these questions: What is the minimum annual number of new members (youth and adult) to maintain our unit? Who are our key unit leaders for the next five years? How will we reach and or maintain financial stability? Do we meet key indicators of effectively presenting our program? The tenure of most adult leaders in Scouting lasts as long as their children’s participation....
Here’s five ways to Succeed as a Scouter Trust the Program Rely on 100 years of proven results Embrace changes when they are announced – stay current No short-cuts When you make things easier for adults you usually diminish the experience for Scouts Conduct activities that are age appropriate Understand how the Scouting program responds to the age group you are working with. Foster a sense of growing personal responsibility and initiative....
If we are to focus on the success of our Scouts what evidence do we have that they have achieved success? There are a few simple questions in the introduction to the Scout Handbook that serve as excellent benchmarks for success; Are you ready to become an expert hiker and camper, to explore the natural world, and to meet challenges with good judgment and skill? Are you eager to make the most of yourself and succeed in the best ways possible?...
Scouting shares that paradoxical combination of simplicity and complexity found in a round of golf or a game of baseball. The goal is simple, the means direct, yet the process is complex. Scoutmastership, like properly swinging a golf club or baseball bat, takes a few minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. Skilled Scoutmasters concentrate on one thing – the success of their Scouts. Individual Scouts will have individual standards of success so Scoutmasters have twenty or thirty different (though likely very similar) standards to work towards....
If we respond to problems by instituting troop rules or policies we become enforcers. Few rules don’t have legitimate exceptions, so we also become judges. When rules are broken there must be a penalty, so we end up having to dole out punishment. As the matrix of rules and policies grow most of our time is spent enforcing, judging, and punishing. A system of enforcement, judgement, and punishment obscures the aspirations embodied in the Scout Oath and Law, and our aim of building character by examining those aspirations....
Here is a tribute to a great Scoutmaster from one of his former Scouts. April 1953, a brand-new Boy Scout, I walked for the first time into a troop meeting. I’d been a Cub Scout, earned my Webelos Badge (Arrow of Light, it’s called today), and had just turned 11 years old. I was taller than most boys my age, and more shy than most. Painfully shy, a characteristic that wouldn’t leave me for several more years....
The more rules you have in the classroom, the more time you’ll spend enforcing them. Cookie Ohlson, teacher, Prospect Park Middle School, Pennsylvania Scouters can be tempted to make troop rules, the kind of rules that end with Scouts looking for and exploiting flaws in the rule making like so many lawyers. It’s not too long before the tipping point is reached and we spend more time policing rules than pursuing our true mission....
Scouting has long been a positive, constructive influence in the lives of young people. This vast potential for good lies in simple Scouting methods that have been applied effectively across widely different cultures and systems of belief. These methods need little adaptation, modification or complication – they only require application to create opportunities for Scouts to exercise the concepts of the Scout Oath and Law. Scouting requires surprisingly few rules, regulations and limitations....
The Scoutmaster conference is the principle contact with between Scout and Scoutmaster: Why does the Scoutmaster engage in this one-on-one review? The relationship between a Scout and his Scoutmaster is important for the troop’s health and for the Scout’s success. The Scoutmaster must watch the troop’s dynamics to see who is showing leadership, who is holding back, who is shy, who is working with the younger boys, who is skilled in outdoor activities, etc....
You may be familiar with the 1953 movie Mister Scoutmaster starring Clifton Webb, you may even know that the movie is loosely based on the book Be Prepared by author Rice E. Cochran; but it’s not likely you know Keith Monroe. Keith wrote Be Prepared under the pen name Rice E. Cochran, and was also a frequent contributor to Scouting magazine and *Boys’ Life.*Monroe was the Scoutmaster of Troop 2 Santa Monica, California for 42 years....
An experienced Scouter has worked with ten, perhaps twenty groups of Scouts ought to be a Scouting expert. A Scouting expert can spot difficulties and errors before they are made. Ask them how to build a fire or where to wear your veteran unit patch and they have an answer. But there’s one skill that often surpasses all the others a Scouting expert possesses; knowing how to keep your mouth shut....
Patience and fortitude conquer all things. – Ralph Waldo Emerson Scouters must be patient. Scouting can be frustrating, even irritating, but an adult who shouts at Scouts portrays a weakness of character. Yelling is almost always an irrational, impulsive reaction. Verbal explosions are no less inappropriate than physical ones, and can do as much harm. Bringing a bad temper under control means recognizing what triggers a loss a temper and disarming them by something as simple as taking a few deep breaths or counting to ten....
Do you wrangle over what constitutes Scout Spirit, actively serving in a position of responsibility and active participation? The answer is not in numbers of camp outs, number of hours or contracts; not snap judgments or fits of temper; the answer is the guy in the glass. Scouting is more a mirror for individual assessment and development than a measuring stick. “The feller whose verdict counts most in your life is the guy staring back from the glass....
Andy (at Ask Andy) offers this excellent analysis of one of Scouting’s biggest problems- If you’re a regular reader, you already know about the tyrants and tin gods, renegades and recalcitrants, bullies and belligerents, dictators, martinets, and “world’s oldest Patrol Leaders” masquerading as Scoutmasters. Thank goodness that, for every one of them, there are a thousand or more dedicated Scouting leaders who get it right! But how did this happen? How did we get so far away from True North?...
What we do as Scouters is more like gardening than management. Cultivating Scouting brings better results than managing Scouting. Cultivating means preparing the soil, planting the seed, and allowing the plants to grow. As they grow we keep the weeds away, and see that there’s adequate water and sunshine. Think about tomato plants, if you don’t stake then out they’ll fall over and sprawl around on the ground. If we respond to and focus the way they grow we help create productive plants....