The Scouter & the Scout

Sometimes the aha can come to both Scouts and Scouters.

Scouter 573 asks: What can I do to help an uncertain senior patrol leader who thinks he got chosen for something other than his leadership abilities? Most of my senior patrol leader’s (twenty five or so and counting) have had at least a minor crisis of self confidence.

The advice of their elders to young men is very apt to be as unreal as a list of the hundred best books.

Forest E.

This is the fifth of twelve installments in a story that follows a new Scoutmaster, Chuck Grant, attempting to use the patrol method in a troop that has forgotten how.

Like most three-year-olds my granddaughter is a expert learner – she soaks up everything around her like a sponge.

I’ve struggled to understand the role of a junior assistant Scoutmaster.

How do I know what frustrates a youth leader? I have been guilty of each of these ten things at one time or another.

Carrying backpacks for the first time, Scouts leave the familiar comforts of home and strike out on the trail.

How do we maintain discipline, require accountability and promote responsibility without resorting to shame or allowing our anger to take over.

“I cannot teach anybody anything.

You probably can’t appreciate what your Scouting legacy will be a few years from now.

Imagine you are 13 and have just been elected patrol leader.

Compel - Force or oblige someone to do something.

We do all we can to help new Scouts transitioning from Webelos – let’s not forget that Webelos den leaders stepping into new roles will need some help too.

Now that you are an observer rather than a participant, a listener rather than a talker, a coach rather than a player your observations will reveal strengths and weaknesses in the way things are done and those that are doing them.

The picture that forms in my mind when I look at most attempts at leadership training is watching someone try to get a prize out of one of those claw machines.

Beyond the common positive physical effects gained from walking it may be that walking and talking heighten the effectiveness of counseling.

A well-formed question is more valuable than a lecture.

An experienced Scoutmaster knows a lot.

Here is a great tribute to a fine Scoutmaster from one of his former Scouts from b.

Every decision in the world is made by the person who has the power to make that decision—not the “right” person, or the “smartest” person, or the “most qualified” person, and in most cases not you .

My new senior patrol leader and I were talking at a bridge crossing ceremony.

The most “clever” Scoutmaster I ever heard of would routinely bring his patrol leaders in to a room with a number of chairs strewn about in random fashion and tell them to observe the area for several minutes.

My career as a amateur and, very occasionally, professional actor has demonstrated that people raise their performance level astronomically when they have a real audience.

Green Bar Bill Hillcourt’s oft repeated encouragement to “Train em’ trust em’ and let them lead” remains the simple formula for building and maintaining confidence in youth leadership.

A great article from Scouting Magazine, worth posting in its entirety; Scouting Magazine – January-February 2009 Let Your Scouts Lead By Mark Ray Want to achieve a youth-led unit? Find the balancing point between helping them succeed and letting them flounder.

Put a few Scoutmasters in a room and eventually the talk will turn to retaining older boys.

“Merit Badge Counselor”, taken literally, describes someone who counsels a bit of cloth called a merit badge.

If your perspective of developing leadership is limited to what you believe needs to happen rather than observing what is actually happening you’ll miss opportunities, Let’s imagine we’re sitting around a table with the patrol leader’s council before a troop meeting.

I taught my step-son to drive from the passenger seat of a beat-up, old, standard transmission Honda Civic.

Scouts need a lot of latitude to operate independently and make decisions on their own.

Is Scouting really competing with sports, clubs and similar activities? Aren’t our goals somewhat similar to those of organized sports, preforming arts, debate, and the many other extra-curricular activities available to our Scouts? I’ve adopted the attitude that we cooperate with these other activities in offering our youth every advantage in learning something about the world and developing important skills.

Our central work, our focus, as Scout leaders is to create opportunities for Scouting: to create chances, approaches and advantages : OPPORTUNITY: A combination of circumstances favorable for the purpose; a good chance or occasion to advance oneself.

Do you wrangle over what constitutes Scout Spirit, actively serving in a position of responsibility and active participation? The answer is not in numbers of camp outs, number of hours or contracts; not snap judgments or fits of temper; the answer is the guy in the glass .

During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.

… People can be pushed, but the minute you stop, they stop.

Two of the effects physicists describe apply to our work in Scouting: The Observer Effect Changes that the act of observation makes on the phenomenon being observed.

As a camp director one summer, years ago, several Scouters complained that our dining hall steward was getting out of hand.

Boys can hardly wait to go on hikes, sleep in tents, and cook meals in the open.

When Pat approaches the teacher and says “John hit me!” the teacher talks to John and sends Pat to play with Bill.

Scoutmaster G.

I was a Webelos Den Leader for eighteen (!) boys.

Fifty years ago, members of Boy Scout Troop 10 marched 30 miles to Marshfield.

So if worksheets and forms are a lesser ‘form’ of Scouting what are the alternatives? Short answer: conversations, dialogues, counseling, mentoring, listening and a selective memory.

Much is said by older generation about the inadequacies of the younger generation.

Relatively new technologies have allowed scientists to examine the development of the brain as never before.

Aids to Scoutmastership Baden-Powell writes: The Scoutmaster guides the boy in the spirit of an older brother….

Earl Miller, a neuroscientist at MIT says, “ Success has a much greater influence on the brain than failure .

During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.

This Scoutmaster’s minute is based on one of Aesop’s Fables.

Understanding how Scouts listen should help us figure out how we best communicate with them.

If a Scouter concentrates on what Scouts aren’t doing it tends to blind them to what they are doing.

If I could change one thing about Scouting I’d do away with the term ‘adult leader’.

Webelos, or any boy for that matter, who join a Troop may leave within the first year for any number of reasons.

This is not a missive from an ivory tower.

Years ago there was some question as to whether one of my Scouts who was a candidate for Eagle had satisfied the ‘active’ requirement.

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.

During a visit from a Webelos Den at our last Troop meeting one of my Scouts was available to speak with the parents of the visiting boys.

Clarke, I would like to hear your thoughts regarding association with adults as a Scouting method, and how Baden Powell’s own statements are applied in the context of the Patrol method.

This email about one Webelos crossover to a troop needs little introduction or explanation, but one part bears repeating; Clarke – I recently stumbled across your podcast and blog.

…the business of the Scouter — and a very interesting one it is — is to draw out each boy and find out what is in him, and then to catch hold of the good and develop it to the exclusion of the bad.

There’s no way to compel Scouts to respect you (or anything else for that matter).

William “Green Bar Bill” Hillcourt is the man who wrote the book on Scouting, literally.

In a post titled The Patrol Leader’s Council and Planning I laid out the basis of structure, content, planning and preparation.

35 years ago, Kathy Hall was a single mother of three in search of a male role model for her then 7 year-old son.

Seth Godin recently posted this concise analysis: There are only three reasons to really chew someone out for something they did, only three reasons to have an emotional tantrum, to use cutting language and generally make them feel lousy: You want them to never do it again.

Scoutmasters wring their hands over losing older Scouts and many troops do have a problem keeping them around.

In the past I have been guilty of griping about Scouts who ‘don’t know their skills’ and troops that were ‘Eagle Factories’.

The current question at Scouting Magazine’s Front Line Stuff Getting Cub Scouts to be Serious I am a den chief, and my father is a den leader.

Dr.

If you Respect me, I will hear you.

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

What are the most promising approaches for youth leader development? In the first installment in this series we discussed some key concepts about the relationship between Scouts and leadership positions and the way they develop as leaders.

In the first installment in this series I asserted that youth leaders develop when they are doing, not watching.

Scout youth leader training is important, we do a lot of training.

Burak Kanber is an engineer with a blog.

The senior patrol leader is in charge of troop meetings from beginning to end.

Willy Volk succinctly describes how he applies his experience in the Peace Corps to his work.

Enoch is an active 17-year-old Scout and blogger at Scouting Rediscovered I asked Enoch to write about his experiences with adult volunteers in Scouting: When I first joined my Troop, I really didn’t know what to expect; I was never a Cub or Webelos, and my family had not really been involved in Scouting.

My dad would touch me almost like he was trying to feel my very spirit.

I advocate using guided discovery (asking questions) to help youth leadership find their way.

A Scouter’s Golden Opportunity I took a piece of plastic clay And idly fashioned it one day.

When I served as a camp director I got some complaints about our dining hall steward’s attitude towards Scouts setting or clearing the tables.

There’s nothing wrong with having a plan But missions are better.

You may be pulling in different directions if they don’t.

Walter Underwood 1 Comment EDITORS NOTE – Here’s a something that should be in our minds every time we interact with our Scouts.

Author David Dobbs’ article in the October 2011 edition of National Geographic Teenage Brains is a must read for Scout leaders.

Professor Kingsfield, the student’s nemesis, has a reputation for a brilliant, dispassionate relentlessness.

Our perception of learning shapes the way we instruct and lead.

Leadership is not all about ticking things off the ‘to do’ list – or even having the list in the first place.

Knowledge is of two kinds.

David Axson, author of the The Management Mythbuster , asserts that successful leaders ask great questions.

Thomas Armstrong, Ph.

Mentoring often goes on unnoticed in Scouting because it is so integral to the process.

Advancement in Ranks, earning Merit badges, and making Eagle recognize that Scouts have passed through a number of challenges and experiences.

We’ve understood what a Scout led Troop promises and are ready to get underway – so what next? Start Listening Wht you do as an adult in Scouting is about to change drastically.

A predictable frustration for Scoutmasters is the Scout who takes on a leadership position and doesn’t meet expectations.

As a Scoutmaster I had to abandon my initial ideal vision of Scouting for a much broader and successful one.

ASM Ken has a fairly new BLOG A Scout’s Campfire : I’m an Eagle Scout, 1975.

Here’s a couple of recent things I have heard within the Troop that I found encouraging indications we are on the right track.

Ken was the long-time Scoutmaster of a troop 12 here in town who retired when I took over as Scoutmaster for our troop 24 in The Scouts in Ken’s troop joined ours, and Ken stayed registered as an assistant Scoutmaster with our troop for many years.

Adolescence is serious work.

As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.

At the heart of Scouting lies the intention of giving young men the opportunity to develop into contributing, capable and empathetic adults.

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

Imagine you are watching your favorite sporting event as the game begins and the players take the field.