Compel Force or oblige someone to do something. Delegate To give or commit (duties, powers, etc) to another as agent or representative. Empowered Give someone the authority or power to do something. The authority of youth leadership is not based in compelling young people to do something. The authority in youth leadership is not delegated (One […]
Leadership Principles
Podcast 227 – Outdoor Leadership
Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers Is there a difference between leadership in the outdoors and in other settings? The answer to this question and answers to email questions in this podcast along with your messages in the mailbag. Listen to Scoutmaster Podcast 227 Get The SCOUTMASTERCG APP Podcast Archive Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple […]
Scouting and Outdoor Leadership
Is there really a difference between outdoor leadership and leadership in other situations? To my mind just about everything we do in Scouting hinges on how you answer that question. We are familiar with business or management-style leadership in our professional and business lives. Outdoor (or Scouting) leadership is different and understanding this difference is key to being an […]
Scoutmaster Podcast 205 0- Evaluating “Leadership”
Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers Scoutmaster Podcast 205 Announcing the new Scoutmastercg.com site, new features roll out this week! What standards do we apply for evaluating leadership? Should we create a set of standards that define when a Scout has achieved the fulfillment of their ‘leadership’ requirements? How else can we encourage our Scouts to be […]
Finding the Advisor’s Voice
If I could change one thing about Scouting I’d do away with the term ‘adult leader’. Leaders are directive, they tell people what to do and how to do it. Advisors and mentors , on the other hand, are motivational – they help people develop skills and find the inspiration in their work. The greatest […]
Ask for Authority – Take Responsibility
Frustration in organizations begins with someone saying “If I only had the authority to I’d … (fill in the blank)”. When someone says this one of two things are happening ; they are either expressing a strong propensity for leadership, innovation and initiative, or just cloaking a complaint in language that doesn’t make them responsible […]
The Bridge Builder
The Bridge Builder An old man, going a lone highway, Came, at the evening, cold and gray, To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide, Through which was flowing a sullen tide. The old man crossed in the twilight dim; The sullen stream had no fear for him; But he turned, when safe on the […]
How to Inspire Initiative in Scout Youth Leaders
How do we inspire initiative in Scout Youth Leaders? The idea of connecting initiative to authority starts with this post by Dan Rockwell, Ineffective leaders seize and hoard authority; successful leaders give it. Those who cling to authority lose it. Those who give authority gain authority. Authority is permission to act without permission. Control freaks never inspire […]
Three Leadership Motives
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate. …When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!’ – Lao Tzu How do we lead? Lao Tzu describes […]
23 Leadership Questions
These leadership questions were part of our annual leadership challenge event this past weekend. Scouts were asked to evaluate their leadership skills at the beginning and the end of the weekend by rating themselves on how well the understood and applied these concepts. These evaluations were done for the Scouts themselves, we did not collect them or read them; they did […]
Helicopter Scouters at Bobwhite Blather
Frank Maynard has written brilliantly about the idea of ‘helicoptering’ Scouters: Are you a helicopter Scouter? Do you think it’s so important to have a well-run productive troop that you’ll get in the middle of the boys’ business to do it? Do you think you have to “keep the boys on task” in order to […]
Leadership talk by Drew Dudley
We’ve made leadership about changing the world, but there is no ‘world’ there’s six billion people’s understanding of it. If you change one person’s understanding of it, their understanding of what they are capable of, of how much people care about them of how powerful an agent for change they can be you have changed the world. It’s a simple […]
Authoritative Leadership in Scouting
Authoritative leadership should not be confused with authoritarian leadership; in this context they are polar opposites. Authoritative leaders have high expectations, respond actively, listen more than they talk, and readily reason with those they lead. In Scouting our expectations are clear and well-defined but it’s a mistake to apply that clarity and definition in an authoritarian or obedience-oriented manner. While we encourage obedience we […]
Fifteen Thoughts for Scout Leaders
Here’s fifteen thoughts for Scout leaders that I hope you find helpful. 1. Trust the Program. 100 years of proven results – Follow it! Seek to understand and embrace changes. 2. Conduct Activities that are Age Appropriate. Respond to the specific needs of each developmental stage: don’t push Scouts into activities for older, or hold them back in activities for younger Scouts […]
Peace Corps Lessons
Willy Volk succinctly describes how he applies his experience in the Peace Corps to his work. I have known several Scouts (all Eagles) who went on to serve in the Peace Corps and gained a great deal from it. Volk outlines five excellent lessons to apply to any leadership challenge – ones I think are particularly accessible to youth leaders: I joined […]
Solitude and Leadership
Essayist and Critic William Deresiewicz delivered a lecture to the plebe class at the United States Military Academy at West Point in October 2009 concerning Solitude and Leadership. What follows is my condensed version of his key ideas: … Solitude is one of the most important necessities of true leadership. … (Generally when we) talk about training leaders (we […]
Leadership Lessons From the Shackleton Expedition
Earnest Shackleton set out to cross the Antarctic on foot in 1914. When his ship Endurance became trapped and subsequently destroyed Shackleton and his crew spent the next two years rescuing themselves. Shackleton’s leadership has been closely studied in recent years as an example of adaptation to tremendously difficult circumstances. We’re unlikely to experience anything near the physical […]
The Five to One Rule
EDITORS NOTE – Here’s a something that should be in our minds every time we interact with our Scouts. I am often focused on problems and missing opportunities to support them positively. We all have a memory of a time when we were criticized. Do you remember a time when you were praised? I bet the negative comments stick […]
3 Rules of Scouting Leadership
The three rules of Scouting leadership are simple: delegate delegate delegate I’m a Scoutmaster so I concentrate on the work I am supposed to be doing. I don’t do these jobs: Outdoor Coordinator – he takes care of ALL camping trip logistics, phone calls, online reservations to support the annual plan that the Scouts prepared. […]
How Do We Sound When We Speak to Scouts?
Cartoonist Charles Schultz brilliantly depicted adult speech in his animated ‘Peanuts’ cartoons as unintelligible honking. As a child I certainly understood what Schultz was aiming at. As an adult I recall the different ways that adults talked to me when I was young and how I heard them: Yelling, Hollering, Shouting Sometimes (and only sometimes) it’s an adult’s […]
Models of Learning and Leadership
Our perception of learning shapes the way we instruct and lead. Here are four common models of learning and leadership: Learning Model – EMPTY VESSEL – BLANK STATE Students are empty vessels that are filled by learning new things. Additive learning assumes uniform voids are filled by uniform chunks of learning. Leading Method – PASSIVE STUDENT – ACTIVE […]
AMC Guide to Outdoor Leadership
Outdoor leadership is different. Good administrative skills go just so far when leading a group in an extended outdoor experience. What works at a Troop meeting or in the boardroom does not always translate well on a week-long backpacking or canoeing trip. Scouting offers great administrative training and valuable supplemental training in outdoor skills and safety. What we […]
Productive Chaos
Over time, processes that seek to decrease entropy and create order are valued, but improving them gets more difficult as well. If you’re seeking to make the organized more organized, it’s a tough row to hoe. Far easier and more productive to create productive chaos, to interrupt, re-create, produce, invent and redefine. Seth Godin Most […]
Seton’s Camp Leadership
In the Birch Bark Roll (Link to PDF version) first published in 1902 Earnest Thompson-Seton describes camp leadership. (Many of his ideas were adapted by Baden-Powell in his Scouting for Boys.) When two or three young people camp out, they can live as a sort of family, especially if a grown-up be with them, but when a dozen or more […]
