For Youth Leaders

My first leadership position was Troop Quartermaster. Cleaning our Troop trailer and organizing all our gear was no easy task; things were a real mess and it took hours! It paid off, though; it was amazing how much easier we could find what we needed. Meal preparation time was practically cut in half!  I was […]

A Patrol was off on a camping trip, and everything was going smoothly until the Patrol Leader twisted his ankle. Thankfully it wasn’t anything serious, but it made it difficult to walk. The Patrol Leader couldn’t go on the hike they had planned, or do much of anything else for the last day of the […]

In the last series of articles ( What is a Patrol? ) we saw that a good patrol is an active, inspired, team of leaders. How can your patrol become a team of leaders? If a game like ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ or ‘World of Warcraft’ had only one character it would be a pretty dull […]

One of my favorite parts of the Lord of the Rings trilogy is the last half of the first movie after the Fellowship is formed. This is the part where the whole team is traveling together on the first stage of the quest. I love this part because it shows all the characters working together in […]

I was Patrol leader when my Patrol competed with dozens of others at our District Camporee. One competition was building a fire with flint and steel under a string tied horizontally about two feet off the ground, the object was to be the first to burn through the string. My Patrol had been practicing our […]

When the evil Sauron was terrorizing the fictional world of Middle-Earth only the Fellowship of the Ring could stop him. When a comic-book demigod threatened to invade the earth with an evil army, only the Avengers could save the planet! None of them would’ve been able to accomplish these things alone! The Fellowship of the Ring […]

In the first part of this two-part series, we learned the Patrol Briefing is a cool tool for communicating with your Patrol as a group. A good patrol leader also takes the time to talk with Scouts individually. Talking to a group is a monologue, talking to an individual is a dialogue. Before we go […]

You have a vision for your Patrol; you know what you want it to be. But how do you get started? Communication is 90% of being a good Patrol Leader! But where do you start? When I was a Patrol Leader, I found one of the best tools to have in my ‘Communication Toolbox’ was […]

Once I learned the Scouting Program should be active I changed my strategy as a Patrol Leader. Instead of bottling up the energy of Scout chaos until it exploded, I decided I was going to beat the Scouts to it and lead the chaos. Here’s the key thing I learned: if I started the chaos I […]

I know from experience that bored Scouts cause chaos. About a month into my term as Patrol Leader I still hadn’t figured out how to run a meeting with my Patrol. Some other Patrol Leaders in my Troop would give up, let chaos reign, and the whole meeting would go by without  accomplishing anything productive. […]

I was a new Patrol Leader at the very first Scout meeting I ever had with my Patrol….  I was nervous and excited. How would the Patrol react to my leadership? How could I make this work? The Senior Patrol Leader gave orders for the Patrols to split up and work on rank advancement. About five […]

On one of the first camping trips I went to, my Troop had the unpleasant duty of cleaning the latrine. No one wanted to do it! I certainly didn’t want to, but on an impulse I volunteered to help. Have you ever seen a movie where one guy volunteers for a hard job and everybody […]

When I was elected as a Patrol Leader, I wanted to be the best possible leader for my Patrol! I decided that I was going to try to learn how to be a good communicator, planner, and organizer. Problem is I didn’t have any leadership skills. I was the kind of guy that preferred to stand […]

A few years ago I was the “new guy”; all I knew about Boy Scouts was what I had seen in movies and had never held any kind of leadership position in my life. Fast-forward to now: I’ve been a Patrol Leader and a Senior Patrol Leader. As Senior Patrol Leader I led my Troop planning […]

Action-Packed Meetings! In part 1, I said your Patrol should have a life of its own! In Part 2, I explained how you were the only one that can make this happen. One of the most important things you can do is have your own Patrol Meetings! When I was a Patrol Leader, I was […]