fotoscout

It serves as a constant reminder of the great things that can be done by volunteers when they work together.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?? Is it support or is it mockery?(This message has been edited by fotoscout)

Marty, I got the hat!! My Scout Shop now has them in stock. It is a blue mesh baseball cap, the front panel is yellow (gold), centered in the front panel is the generic CS logo, a blue diamond with a yellow embroidered wolf in it. Inside the hat is a bar code that appears to be stock number for this item. The bar code number is 03123959. This might be too late for your class, but I thought you might like to know that it really does exisit. (This message has been edited by fotoscout)

I have a Magellan 330M. Great little unit after youve spent too many hours learning how to use it. This model is a few years old now and Im not even sure if they still sell it. I would not recommend this model to you. I would suggest that you make sure that the model you select interfaces with a map program AND that your unit has the ability to display the map. Some of the cheaper units do not have this ability!!!

Seems to me that there will be many witnesses in the den. This boy will be a Tiger, and Tigers require a Parent-Partner. The mom will serve as the boys protector and determine how well the boy is functioning in the program. All you need to do is sit down with the mom and remind her that the group program (den meetings) are for all the boys and can only be tailored just so much to accommodate her son. How the boy accomplishes his individual achievements is a different story. Remember he only needs to do his best! Mom will have a good sense of what his best is. Having this boy start as a Tiger is very much in your best interest because other parents will be at the den meetings. Use it to your advantage!

Hi guys! Here is (are?) my 2 cents. The hypothetical situations threw this thread off base. Each time I went back to see what was happening, the situation changed. YOU CANNOT TALK ABOUT LEADERSHIP STYLES OR APPROACHES, IF YOU CONTINUE TO CHANGE THE SAMPLE TASK!! So, pick a task and stay with it. For example, one of the earlier tasks was to set up the tents before 5:00, the SPL needed to have the PL do the job. What style(s) should the SPL use get this done? It started out just fine, we had arrived at camp and the troop was setting up, then we needed to deal with the PL who was not getting his patrol setup. FROM THIS SITUATION YOU CAN MOVE FORWARD AND DICUSS VARIOUS LEADERSHIP STYLES. HOWEVER, you went back and introduced the weekly troop meeting, preplanning activities, and other events that proceeded the moment in time when the SPL realized that he had to take some action. You changed the situation and created a free-for-all. You are trying to hit a moving target, and for instructional purposes this just doesnt work. Just my 2 cents.

People who think that there is something wrong with being on time!!

The first step is Tiger Cubs and he needs to be entering 1st Grade or be 7 years old. Tigers require that the boy have a Parent Partner signed up with him. Since youve already found the forum, I suspect that youll make a fine Den Leader for you sons Tiger Cub Den. My suggestion would be that you sign up with your Pack one year before you son is eligible. Do your training, go to Roundtable, and maybe attend a Tiger Cub meeting and a Pack meeting. This way youll be up to speed when its your Sons turn to have fun.

When the SM says to the SPL,Please start the meeting, the SM has now empowered the SPL to do just that. There is without question, some level of trust implied here. This troop may have a very simple opening, or it may have a VERY elaborate opening, either way the SM trusts that the SPL is prepared, and will conduct the opening as it is intended. There is also something else going on in these two threads. As the threads grow so have the Buzz Words. One of the things that my WB class did very well was to keep the buzz words at a minimum. Most people, me included, cant keep all those buzz words straight. Not to mention that the buzz words often come from different camps or approaches to leadership and don't quite fit together. The average guy will have enough trouble differentiating between Supportive vs. Coaching, let alone Cooperative vs. Proscriptive, Proactive vs. Reactive, Empowerment vs. Delegation. The key is to recognize that each of us is prone to being dominated by the use of only one style of leadership. Recognizing this, and with an awareness that there are alternative leadership style, your ability to successfully lead is enhanced. But remember that there are people out there who can use the directing style as they tell you that youve been fired from your job, and have you saying; thank you is there anything else I can do? Some people are just naturals with a particular style; we dont want those people to change just because some guy who wrote a book, tells them that they are using the wrong leadership style in a particular situation.

Hi Bob, Kris answered as well as I could have. The questions are asked as a means of initialing a dialog. The dialog should move ahead with the purpose of allowing the PL to realize that it is in his best interest to get his patrol setup. Nowhere in the questions did I (the SPL) address the scouts, I only addressed the PL, and I as the SPL did not offer to do the job. The questions were as Kris implied, designed to either lead into a coaching or supporting style.

Some of this is getting lost in oversimplification and nuance. Okay, everybody, go and be good Scouts! This is not Not directing, it is simply not anything. Its a comment out of the blue with no intended purpose relative to the task at hand, and the task at hand happens to be getting the tents up before 5:00. I dont see that the SPL wrestled the leadership role away from the PL. The SPL addressed the PL, not the Scouts directly. The SPL offered a concise reason for the request, and the SPL made the request in a polite tone almost as a reminder. It did not sound bossy to me. However, they call this situational management for a reason. We dont really know much about the situation. Why hasnt John got his patrol tent(s) setup yet?? John, all the other patrols have their tents up, is there a reason why yours arent? John, the troop will begin meal prep at 5:00, will your patrol be eating dinner tonight? John, did you forget that our troop begins meal prep at 5:00 and that we require all our tents to be setup before that time? John, you need to have your patrol get setup, can I help? John, those scouts of yours are awful skinny, I hope well be able to see them in the morning after a night without supper.

Hi folks, Bob, I have to admit to not having read Mr. Blanchards book, but I am sure that you are accurately reporting what he wrote. As can be seen by the above posts, many people view the directing style differently. Personally I find the line about widgets to be very much in the directing style, its a little understated, but its an instruction given to a group of workers that clearly understand the task. It reflects the foremens personality and to some extent it defines the relationship that the foreman has with his workers. Here is the situation that it might occur in Its Monday morning, the crew arrives at the plant for there ritualistic Monday morning crew meeting. The foreman fills them in on this weeks production goals, tells them that their contribution to the medical benefits program will triple next week, asks if anyone has any questions, and then, switching rolls, he says, Ok everybody get to work, now! no question here, this is directing. However, the foremans personality is such that he uses different words with a different tone, he says, Now lets go make some widgets, same style, different personality, and different tonal quality to his voice. You can almost see the crew huddle up and make some sort of cheer, but its definitely not coaching.

Hi folks, I applaud you guys for trying to communicate something that is so complex, that even the best American business leaders have not been able to get these concepts across since the post war reconstruction of Japan, and even then it was not the Americans who were listening. Back when they tried to teach these concepts as a thing called TQM, almost 20 years ago, the key word was empowerment. Congratulations to Eamonn!! Whether you direct, support, coach, or, delegate, you need to let the person know that you have faith in their ability to do the job, and trust that they will get it done. This is the hard part for all leaders, and rightfully so. The leader is, ultimately, the one responsible for getting the task done. Key to making this work is for the leader to have an almost intimate understanding of his subordinates strengths and weaknesses, as well as a good understanding of the subordinates skill set. Lets be clear here, you cannot get up in front a group of scouts and arbitrarily say to yourself, Im going to delegate to this one and coach to that one, and, maybe Ill direct that one over there. The reason we see mature (not by age) work groups work well together is because the leader has had time to learn what works best on each member of the team. We often see the same in scouting. A Leader using a Directing style does not ask others for input, does not consider alternatives, and offers little or no positive reinforcement. Bob, I believe that weve discussed this before, your view of this style seems to be a little too gung ho. Many people use this style all time with great success. For good or bad, its simply in the personality of the leader. Within this style nothing precludes one from offering support, soliciting comment, or providing positive (or negative) feedback. This may not be the best way to develop your personnel, but it works very well. One last thing that should be pointed out. Each of these styles needs to, and can, overlap with the others at some point in the life of a project.

Hello Everybody, Our CS camp program has finished for this year and I wanted to let everyone know how we settled the tip issue. Our camp runs a staff party at the end of each season. At the party they give out door prizes. We ended up providing a fist full of Blockbuster gift cards as door prizes. Everyone went home with something, and the adult camp staff was very thankful. Thanks for the help.

Therm-a-rest advertises some of their new pads as non skid. Has anyone tried them?

One has to wonder about some of the current BSA policies with respect to the move to Texas, would things have been different if the national office had remained in the northeast?

Eamonn, This site has some, not much, information about Totems. http://www.leaderlore.com/totems.html My suggestion is to stress the SIMPLE part!!! For those of us who are artistically challenged, totems can be agonizing.

Another comment about DEET and plastic. I was in my small boat last summer on a very buggy lake in Maine. In addition to my bottle of DEET, I brought along my handheld GPS. Overspray from the insect repellent landed on the GPS screen. The screen became very etched and was effectively unusable. After spending many hours with some toothpaste and soft rag I can again use the GPS. So BEWARE, some of these insect repellents will damage your equipment. Im not sure if its the DEET or the carrier (other liquids) but something in these concoctions is pretty nasty.

I had to go back and read this thread twice, and then I didnt believe it, so I read it again. Bob, I dont believe that youd allow a fat old man to chase you from this forum. You would not allow one of your scouts to be intimidated like this and Im surprised that youd allow it to happen to yourself. Would you allow a heated debate about religion to cause you to change religion? I suspect not. Than why would you allow a heated debate about scouting to cause you to drop out from this forum. Bob, this forum is clearly another outlet for you to indulge you passion for scouting. That passion is evident in virtually all of your postings. Dont allow a fat old man to take that away from you.

Hi Rob, Its nice to see a neighbor here! One other note about ticks...they JUMP. You need to be careful about much more than just your ankles. If you hike thru any tall grass or if you prefer the edges of the trail, the ticks will jump up at you and attach to your clothing or arms or even your neck. This is why its so important to do a full body tick check after a day on the trail.

Hi Barry, I'm glad your friend gave it a shot. I've been using this stuff for years, it really works, and, it's cheap and easy to pack. Foto

Marty pretty much summed it up, PLEASE take his advice! The Intrepid Air and Space Museum has a very active Scout Program 212-245-0072. Try to talk to the Scouting Program director and tell him that you are from out of town; maybe theyll be able to do something special for you. And Im glad that nobody forgot about Yankee Stadium!!! NYC can be a great place, there is so much to do, and so many things to see. I hope you have a great time.

All I can say is that you guys are not helping me find an excuse to wear my campaign hat!

Twocub, At our day camp, the campers are assigned into dens. Each den has a Den Chief and that Den Chief stays with the den for the week. I have not seen many (any) parents. Adult supervision is provided by the paid staff (adult) including counselors. So the tip would be directed to the Den Chief. The question that was asked to me evolved around the Den Chiefs not the adults. And as you suggested, it was intended to be a small simple thank you. It just seems decent, but I do understand the general objections posted here, after all it is CS camp, not a priviate camp. Mr. Fat Old Guy, or FOG if I may be so bold? (I know how you prefer the French custom of requesting the honor of informality), The boy that Mr. Boyce encountered spent a relativity few minutes doing a good turn. These boys are putting in 10 hour days for 5 days, and in some cases for 6 weeks. To view that commitment in terms of a Good Turn would be exceptional and certainly beyond the call of duty for a 13-15 year old boy.

Ed, Aquaduct isnt very far from here! If I ever figure out how to read a racing form Ill drop a buck in your name. OGE If theres a horse by the name of Mrs. Robinson Ill drop a few more bucks in my own name. Thanks for your help everybody, I think I have enough ammo to go back to the interested parties and make the argument.