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I have a calendar running in my head, geared to the school year calendar. Decades of programming for young people will do that to you.
Last night I was watching our Scouts, talking to our Scoutmaster and I heard myself say, “oh, and by the way. Is the senior patrol leader ready to present the annual calendar to the troop committee at their meeting the first week in August? Has the patrol leaders council planned the August Court of Honor for all of the awards the guys earned this summer? Has the patrol leaders council
planned how and when they are going to have elections for senior patrol leader and patrol leader ? Do the guys have a patrol leaders council meeting set up to plan the August program and campout?…”
Anyway, after this torrent of questions had escaped from my mouth I turned and looked at our Scoutmaster and he was just staring at me. Oops! I just did it again; I was doing the Scoutmaster’s job and I shouldn’t – just like he is not supposed to do the senior patrol leader’s job.
Sometimes I just can’t help it, it just spills out.
So, just asking, how is your troop annual plan coming along? Did your patrol leaders council have an Annual Planning Conference in May or June? Have they scheduled a time to present their plan to the Troop Committee?
Have you planned your summer court of honor? In the middle of August we have a potluck dinner at 6:00pm and court of honor at 7:00pm. Lots of fun. Families are all invited, especially if they bring lots of food J The Scouts receive their merit badges from camp and since we go to camp in June they may have had time to finish merit badge partials and perhaps even a rank or two. Is the Advancement Chair ready with advancement reports and awards?
Has your Outdoor Chairman started working on setting up reservations for the fall program?
Is someone planning on going to Roundtable and sign up for Popcorn Kernel, School Night, Scouting for Food and Recharter?
Is anyone transitioning on your Troop Committee? We encourage folks to sign up for two years and then we get some new folks to take over, usually in August.
Are the August and September campouts scheduled so that parents can put them in their calendars and begin making plans for fall activities?
Does your troop have elections in August for senior patrol leader and patrol leader? We encourage the guys to get that done in early August so that everyone knows who is going to lead the troop through the fall program season. Elections in February are more about who is going to be senior patrol leader for summer camp!
Have you signed up for summer camp for next summer? Figured out what fund raisers you are going to have besides popcorn sales? Is everyone trained or getting trained before recharter? Does anyone know the answer to who is trained? Does someone have the district and council training calendar for fall 2012 to give to troop leaders and committee members?
Is all of the accounting from the past year and summer camp totaled up and ready to be rolled over into the new year? Does your troop use troop ledger or another accounting program that needs to be rolled over each budget year? Is your treasurer getting a tentative budget ready for the new year? Has everyone finished paying for summer camp and other activities? Get those delinquent payments in as quickly as possible before all the other stuff (recharter, fund raising, etc.) kicks off.
Have you scheduled Junior Leader Training for the new leaders the Scouts will be electing in a few weeks? Do you have a training staff and a quartermaster for the training? Have you reserved a location?
Do you have a high adventure group (Venture Patrol, etc) that needs to kick off planning their activity for next summer (SeaBase, Philmont, backpacking, canoeing, trip to Canada, trip toSwitzerland, 50 miler, etc)? Has someone stepped up to lead that venture (not the Scoutmaster !)?
Do you need to order troop T-shirts, troop composite number patches, neckerchiefs, hats, etc. for new Scouts that show up? We tend to pick up two or three new Scouts every fall that are not related to Cubs and crossover. Be ready to welcome those guys and make it a big deal when they come on-board.
This whole list popped out of my head in about 15 minutes as I was sitting here typing. It’s all stuck in there and I can’t get it out.
Something’s about to happen. If you are ready it’s going to be a good thing. As families start to get back to school and a regular fall schedule, excitement begins to build up through the holidays. Folks are home from vacation and ready to head into a new year. Take advantage of the energy. Be prepared.
Larry – The planning outing you describe is what I had envisioned: Some removal from their everyday encumbrances and distractions and freedom from the chores of a regular camping trip. A true retreat. Being treated to a meal or two by the adults also communicates that the PLC’s planning work is the important focus for the weekend.
I REALLY like the idea of excluding adults from these planning meetings. We just cannot resist interfering, however well we mean it, present company included.
RNCJr, RE: Offsite
I really like the offsite campout thing if you can get a cabin or something. I once visited a Troop having their annual planning over a weekend at a cabin. They had bunk beds, a kitchen and meeting area. The Scouts cooked some meals but did not have to spend a bunch of time on tents and getting wet in the rain, etc. The adults made lunch on Saturday while the Scouts were working. They had a great weekend.
“we had a dad there who was impatient to get it done and the Scouts were noticeably feeling the pressure.” No adults in the room when the Scouts are working on their plan. Where ever you meet, you need to sequester the Scouts by themselves. Give them a pep talk at the beginning and give them some planning materials if they need it (calendars, annual planning sheet, etc), but then the adults leave. The SPL can come out and ask questions if he wants to, but it’s only Scouts while the planning is going on.
The SPL should get used to having meetings, particularly Annual Planning, and PLCs, with no adults in the room. Adults can be near by and always ready to answer questions but not directly in the meeting. It’s good to try to plan a venue where there are separate rooms or locations for the Scouts and for the adults. Here at my house the Scouts are inside the dining room in the A/C and we adults stay out on the porch and chat and drink root beer 🙂
Thanks, Larry. The first part of the meeting went well but when it came to putting dates on the calendar in the second meeting, we had a dad there who was impatient to get it done and the Scouts were noticeably feeling the pressure. I’m determined to take the meeting off-site next year, perhaps as a weekend camping ‘retreat’ for the PLC. Combine a little planning and some outdoor activity.
Sounds like a good plan RNCJr.
“Secondly, it takes some pressure off of them to just fill in the blanks so the meeting can end and they can go home.” I don’t generally think that this is a problem. It’s mostly how things work. Spreading the work out in two meetings is fine but doing it in one meeting is also good.
Some things allow for extended casual planning. Other times it’s more expedient to just get things done and move on. Each unit needs to decide for itself what fits best into their method of operation.
I sort of like having JLT and Annual Planning away from the normal meeting place and making those events a little bit special for the more senior Scouts. For Annual Planning I used to do it at my house around my big table and my wife would cater lunch. That would not work as well if you decide to divide it up into two meetings (I might could get wife to cater two lunches but maybe not 🙂 )
Have fun.
This year, we are splitting our AP meeting into two parts – the first tonight and the second next Monday. Tonight, the PLC will focus on troop goals and what types of outings we want to undertake this year. Next week, they will nail down destinations and dates. In the interim week, the Patrol Leaders will consult their patrolmates on the general ideas and ask them to submit ideas for destinations that match with outings ideas. The PLC should return next week with lots of ideas about where they can go to do the things they want to do.
The idea behind splitting the meeting into two parts is removing a few barriers to producing a good, quality Annual Plan. First, it lets their creative minds run loose a little. Instead of focusing on details and constraints (why we can’t do this or that), it encourages them to throw out any idea, no matter how wild. There will be plenty of time next week to deal with the why-nots. Secondly, it takes some pressure off of them to just fill in the blanks so the meeting can end and they can go home. Time pressure only stifles creativity necessary for good brainstorming. Lastly, it allows them to do some quality research on destinations and get good feedback from their patrolmates instead of just putting down the first thing that comes to the mind of someone on the PLC. The more minds thinking about something, the better.
Anyone else’s troop take this approach? Would love to get feedback on the advisability of this method.
A good post, Larry! Doing all those things at the beginning of the year provides lots much more guarantee that they’ll get done. There’s really no reason not to set the date for the next troop election–we know they’re every 6 months. There’s no reason not to set the date for the next ILST and choose a summer camp–we know we’re going to do those things.
Take advantage of the energy–I like that.