JLT or OJT

Most Councils have a JLT (Junior Leader Training) course once or twice a year.

Frankly I have found them to be of questionable value. Some scout-aged boys may respond well to this kind of training but more of them respond and retain more from OJT, or on the job training.

Scouts will listen politely to more formal instruction but respond better to hands-on experience. It is like learning to tie knots with charts and diagrams as opposed to having the end of a rope attached to a canoe in your hands and having to tie it off to a tree. OJT happens when it happens. When the youth leadership gather prior to and after troop meetings to prepare the program I listen to what is going on and ask questions. By asking the right questions I can give some direction without giving direction. In addition it is my duty to remind them of just why we are doing what we are doing. The first few weeks a boy assumes a leadership position he may have little or no idea of what he is supposed to do, but as each task and challenge comes along he figures it out. My oversight is minimal, and mostly by invitation only.

Scouts have to have the latitude to find solutions using the tools at hand to fulfill the promises of the program.

Given this latitude they will sometimes make mistakes, but rarely serious ones. OJT works. The scouts own their responsibility and their solutions, for good or ill. In my experience their capacity for leadership is huge when they are given the autonomy to accomplish things for themselves.