Scoutmaster Podcast 29

And now for you, Scoutmaster.

So two Eskimos are sitting in a kayak. And they've paddled out away from the shore and they're out seal hunting and it gets very, very cold. And so they have a little firewood with them and they decide they're going to build a fire right there in the kayak and warm up. And it turns out it's not a very good idea because the kayak burns and they sink. Which goes to show, you can't have your kayak and heat it too. Listen, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'll try to do better next time. It's podcast number 29. Hey! Hey! Welcome back to the Scoutmaster Podcast. This is Clark Green. Today, we're going to keep on with talking about troop meetings and Scoutmastership in seven minutes or less. And then our third and final installment about the future of your unit. And somewhere in here, I'm going to throw in a Scoutmasters minute and good email that I received. That's a lot to do. Let's get started, shall we? Scoutmastership in seven minutes or less. Dear friend of mine was an artist. And he was a very well-known and successful artist. And if you went to visit his studio, his studio was just a shambles. I mean, it was a terrible, terrible mess. Not just disorderly. Not just, you know, a little bit of dust here and there. I mean, books strewn everywhere. Paints everywhere. You know, lights not working. I had no idea how he managed to create what he did working in that studio until I watched him do it. But he would come up with art of penetrating simplicity and beauty in the middle of this kind of junkyard of a studio. And there's a point during, like, a weekly troop meeting or an outing or some kind of Scout function where I look around and everything that's going on kind of looks like that studio. I mean, it's just breathtaking disorder. From my perspective, my youth leaders are kind of slacking off. And adults are overstepping their bounds and interfering. And the Scouts are kind of, meh, blandly disinterested in whatever's going on. And it looks like it's a few seconds from falling apart or just spinning completely out of control. And I want to put my head in my hands and walk away and never come back. So if you've been around long enough as a Scoutmaster or a Scout leader of any kind, you know the feeling. It doesn't seem how ever carefully you prepare, however you put things together. Your plans end up going awry and things just look horrible. But in those moments, try and go back to my artist friend's studio. And I imagine him laboring over a painting. I mean, there's water everywhere. It's pooling on a tabletop where he's working. It's on the paper. There are huge globs of color. There's brushes flying and splashing. And it looks absolutely chaotic. But he taught me that what seemed like a mess was actually the process of creation. He showed me there were forces at work that no one could control and nobody really wanted to control. I mean, art came out of working within this kind of creative maelstrom. And in understanding and cooperating with the forces in play, not in controlling it. And I think that's the same way that it goes for Scouting. Now we're talking about this in the context of troop meetings. There are plenty of forums out there to talk to you about what goes into a troop meeting and who does honor patrols and service patrols and things like that. But you need to have the broad underlying concepts of what should be happening. That's more important to me than giving you forms and, you know, giving you an ABC on how to present a troop meeting. The Scoutmaster's job is to set things in motion, to encourage, to exhort, inspire, and then let those things go to work. What I see as messy and disorganized is experienced by my Scouts is just perfectly orderly and enriching. It's just a trick of perspective and age and experience. Now, I know that, you know, if you take some lumber and some glue and shellac and you throw it in a cement mixer, you're not going to produce a Chippendale chair. Well, I guess theoretically you could, but we're not going to waste our time trying, right? I'm not recommending we promote disorder or we look at it cavalierly, but rather that we recognize what looks like a real mess, what looks like real chaos, analyze it a little bit. And within that, you might see that kind of school of character, that school of experience happening, that kind of, as I said, that vital maelstrom of creation. There's times we have to step in and there's times that we really shouldn't because our Scouts need the same experiences that we have had in making mistakes and in coming up short or in creating successes and in doing wonderful things for themselves. They need that same kind of experience and it's not up to us to go in and to fiddle with the knobs all the time and try and make things just perfect. So that's one aspect of a troop meeting that I think, you know, it would be helpful for you to look at in a different light. What you see as chaos, what you see as disorder, what you see as bland and uninteresting, your Scouts are getting an awful lot out of it. It's something that they've planned and they've put on and that is the real value in it. That's the real value in it. We're going to expand on the theme a little bit in the next podcast, talking about troop meetings and the broad underlying concepts that control what goes on in a troop meeting. We're going to expand on the next podcast. That's right. It's time for a Scoutmaster's Minute.

Somebody once asked Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, what he meant by the motto, be prepared. They said, well, be prepared for what? And he said, yeah, any old thing, just about anything. Now, we usually think of being prepared as, you know, we need to have the knowledge and the skill and the gear to meet any challenge that we do as Scouts and in the broader context of what we do in life. But just think about in the context of Scouting, about being prepared. And we may think that we only hurt ourselves by not developing the skills or obtaining the knowledge or having the right gear in Scouts if we're camping or doing something like that. If a Scout is too lazy or a Scout leader is too lazy or inattentive to be prepared, he becomes a burden. He asks everybody else to make up for his selfishness and for others to bear his responsibility. That's why we want to be prepared. If the meeting time rolls around and the patrol leader is unprepared, he's being irresponsible and he's being disrespectful of his patrol and his patrol members. When night falls and a Scout has no flashlight because, you know, he couldn't find it at home and he didn't want to bother, he's placing the responsibility for himself on his fellow Scouts. Scouting develops individuals by inspiring personal responsibility and interdependence. No one will refuse to help a fellow Scout when it's needed. And we depend on the support of others when we make mistakes, but we should not become dependent on others to compensate for our lack of preparation. Being prepared isn't simply about our comfort. It's not about our personal comfort and safety. It is respect for the comfort and safety of those who are injured. Have you ever wandered lonely through the woods? And everything that feels just as it should You're part of a life there You're part of something good If you've ever wandered lonely through the woods Well, we're back talking about the future of your unit And this is the third in a series And we're going to ask our, and try to answer our second question Which is, who are your key unit leaders for the next five years? Well, typically, Scout units change key leaders Maybe three to five years Maybe five to six years You know, there's not a hard and fast rule there But that's about what it seems Anyone in a leadership position Especially the key positions A Scoutmaster, Cubmaster, Venture Crew, Advisor Should have their eye on a suitable replacement Responsible, outgoing leaders Should see that there's a clear plan in place For those who will take on their positions I would say This is more of a difficulty Often in Cub Packs than it is anywhere else Because Cub Packs A boy begins Tigers in the first grade And he'll be there through The end of his fifth grade year So we're talking about, you know, at a maximum About five years And most of the people who are going to be involved in Cub Packs Are doing an awful lot of work Whether you're a Cubmaster Or a den leader It's a lot of work And so They're not going to stay much past That five or six years Sometimes families with a couple of sons You'll get people who will hang around a little bit longer But this big leadership change Seems to happen At least in my experience A lot more in Cub Packs than it does in Scout Troops So here's what I want to suggest If you know that there's a leadership change coming If you know that Well, I'm going to stay on as Scoutmaster I'm going to stay on as Cubmaster For the next two years or three years Or something like that And I think it's a good idea When you take the position To make a commitment for X number of years Then several months prior Or a year prior to the change The next Cubmaster The next Scoutmaster The next Venture Crew Advisor And the outgoing leader Should be working together And they should be training new leaders Before they're actually in the position And they need to observe the outgoing leader Actually doing the job And that's the best training there is Now, I want everybody to avail themselves Of all the training That is possibly available You know, all the online training All the courses that you can get It's well worth it But actually observing a competent leader Doing the job Is probably the best training that you're going to get Once it's time to hand things over I would say a simple ceremonious announcement To the Scouts and their families Is in order Preferably, you know, at a Court of Honor Or a Blue and Gold banquet And it's important in reassuring everyone That the unit will continue to be healthy And that things will go well After the handover The outgoing leader should remain involved enough To advise the new leader When advice is requested And address any concerns that may arise I don't think it's fair to say Well, you know Six months before you decide Not to be a Cub Master Or Scout Master Or Venture Crew Advisor To say, well, you know Guys, you have six months Find somebody And to leave it at that And then totally disappear I know there's people That are at the end of their tether They're ready to move on And sometimes they do it A little less graciously But in, you know Looking at broad concepts And looking at best case scenarios We want to see A smooth leader transition That leaves a well-trained leader Who knows his way around The particular unit In place When that leader with some year's tenure Is ready to move on Not every transition is amicable Or planned Sometimes people suddenly quit Or they have to be removed From the position For one reason or another And they can be less than gracious And they can cause a lot of needless drama They may leave a key position open With no obvious replacement in sight And Scout units can die a pretty quick death In those circumstances So, you know Even having an emergency plan Of who's going to take over If the current leadership Isn't available to do things Is pretty important We can just avoid a lot of that unpleasantness By making sure that we plan And manage key leadership transitions well Looking ahead a few years By recruiting, training, and supporting Potential key leaders Is an important part Of a stable program Much of the time These key leaders will be coming from The pool of parents Whose boys are involved in the program But you can also look a little beyond that My troop committee chairman Is on his fifth or sixth year In that position He is a neighbor of mine He has two very young boys Who are not of scout age yet But he was an Eagle Scout And when he heard that we were involved in scouts He expressed an interest in helping out And he went on to become our committee chair So he doesn't have any children involved Which is not a bad thing sometimes It's not necessarily concentrating Only on the pool of parents that are available There may be other resources within the community That can help you out So the next time we're together We're going to answer question number three Which is how does a unit reach And maintain financial stability That's another good one to be thinking about When we're talking about the future of your unit And some long range thinking About your service to scouting Write me a letter Send it by mail Email that is folks And here's an answer to one of your emails

I like to get emails And you can get me by email At ClarkGreen C-L-A-R-K-E-G-R-E-E-N At gmail.com And this one doesn't really need an answer It comes from Timothy Westron And this is what he wrote I really enjoyed your most recent podcast Especially the piece about Gutzon Borglum and Mount Rushmore If you recall We talked a little bit about Gutzon Borglum And how long it took to do Mount Rushmore And how he stuck with it Thought it was kind of inspiring I found it interesting And I was pondering my track to eagle as a boy Timothy goes on to say I read about a boy who got his eagle at 13 At first hearing he had earned it that quickly Shocked me and gave me cause for concern That isn't a lot of time To get a great deal out of scouting's experience And what's more I was worried that achieving so lofty an aim So quickly would diminish The value of scouting for the boy But I'm glad I continued reading The boy went on to earn more merit badges Several eagle palms And continues to serve as an assistant scoutmaster In his troop While being involved in college athletics I was amazed at this boy's story I've known a number of people Who seemed destined to get to the so-called mountaintop And claim their rank of eagle Yet I saw so many who seemed so much better and stronger Than I was at the time Lose interest Age out or just plain drop out And I never could quite understand why In the end I guess that's fine If you're enjoying the program And getting to go on outings The rank advancement may just be icing on the cake But my track to eagle never seemed assured And it was achieved only bit by bit I earned eagle two months Before I would have aged out The journey was long And there were plenty of bumps in the road For me it was an endurance race And in the end It wasn't a sprint at all Looking back At the four scouts Who joined at the same time as I I was the only one To attain the high honor of eagle You wouldn't have guessed it Seeing me as a new scout Other guys seemed much more likely To make that long track Yet somewhere You know Near the end They ran out of gas So when you mention sculpting Like that at Mount Rushmore It made me think about How my journey to eagle Didn't happen overnight But bit by bit With many long hauls In the middle Thank you for that story It meant a lot to me And that's Timothy Western From Hinton, West Virginia Thank you, Timothy It's always good to hear from people And I think folks Will find that That reflection inspiring That's why I wanted To put it on here Remember you can email me Clarkgreen C-L-A-R-K-E-G-R-E-E-N At gmail.com Well thanks for joining us again Here at the Scoutmaster Podcast You can read the Scoutmaster blog At scoutmaster.typepad.com And you can follow us At the Scoutmaster blog On Facebook And ScoutmasterCG On Twitter You can subscribe to the Scoutmaster Podcast On iTunes And when you do Please feel free to leave a comment Or a review Or a rating That's always appreciated Kind of Helps us figure out What we're doing right And what we're doing wrong Once again I'll remind you You can email me Clarkgreen With your comments And questions At Clarkgreen At gmail.com At C-L-A-R-K-E G-R-E-E-N At gmail.com Well we don't want to leave Before we read the disclaimer And here it is The Scoutmaster blog And the Scoutmaster Podcast Are not No, no, no They are not Official publications Of the Boy Scouts of America And Can you guess They're not endorsed Or sponsored By the Boy Scouts of America Nope It's just me Talking into a microphone And trying to lend a hand To Scout leaders And perhaps Had a bit of fun Along the way I get a kick out of it And we don't want to leave you Without Hearing from Our founder Sir Robert Baden-Powell Sir Robert Have you anything To tell the folks today? Good luck to you And good camping Why thank you so Robert Until next time MR.Q anything co precis cę Ten mut based on enjoying 赌 把 peuvent theoretically отвеч Personally supports With jedoch Sz Thank you. Thank you.