training- how to get it, how to get people to go, etc

[Proud Eagle]

Bob White suggested training as resource number one on another thread about the books, manuals, materials, and resources that a troop needs.

 

I happen to agree that is probably the most important resource we could provide is training.

 

Unfortunately, it is also by far the hardest item to get access to. If that wasn't enough, it is also the hardest thing to get people to use even when they have access to it.

 

Now, in my district, training is pretty much non-existant, and it has been non-existant for quite some time. Also, the council only conducts a very limmited schedule of council wide trainings. It usually does one Woodbadge, one Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills, one JLT, and one Den Chief Training each year. It also has a Powder Horn about every other year now. Now, obviously the council doesn't need to conduct all the training at council level, but it would be great if they would let everyone know when a district is conducting training so those of us in poorly organised districts can at least have some opportunity.

 

So, question number one is-

How do we ensure we have sufficient access to training? What can we, as unit leaders, do to make certain all the leaders in our unit at least have an opportunity to be trained (which most have not)?

 

Second, even when training is available, it is quite difficult to get people to commit to going to it. Sometimes people are just too busy, others don't understand the need for training, and still others just aren't willing to put in more time even when they have it.

 

How do we convince people to go get training?

 

No one really seems to know what level of training they are expected to have. I know that all unit leaders are supposed to at least be Fast Start trained before taking on leadership responsibilities. While this may not always be possible, it is at least realistic to expect all leaders to be Fast Start and Youth Protection trained within their first month. Unfortunately, most leaders don't really know what level of training is required to carry out their duties, or what level of training the unit and charter organization expect them to achieve. Therefore, they assume since they are registered in the position they know enough to do it without the training.

 

How does a unit go about setting realistic and proper expectations for the training of its leaders? What level of training is needed for committee members? for parents? for SM and ASM? How quickly should leaders be expected to become trained?

 

I think we need some sort of schedule that tells parents that they should recieve Youth Protection training in X days, months, etc, and that committee members should recieve the same in Y time, and then additional training in Z time, and so on.

 

I wish I were a trained leader. I have never been a trained leader. It doesn't look like I will become one any time soon. I have been through Fast Start, Youth Protection, SM/ASM specific, and I will soon go through New Leader Essentials. Sadly, I don't have even the faintest idea when I may be able to go through IOLS (even though I can teach any of the Tenderfoot through First Class skills, I think it would still help to get that training).

 

The next training opportunity available is going to be at a OA Lodge hosted event. The lodge will, in a single day, offer more training than my district has in over a year. In fact, it will probably train more people than the entire rest of the council has this year combined. I will be going to get NLE training, and I will also be teaching a session on mentoring (we couldn't find anyone with much experience in that, and I mentioned that I once took a session on it offered by the state YMCA). With any luck I will also be able to take at least one other session.

 

How can I get others to go along to be trained as well? (Should committee members be going to NLE or other training before even taking Fast Start?)

 

I know I can't fix all of my troop's problems, or even all its problems with training, but I would certainly like to at least make a start on fixing a few of them.

[Bob White]

I will attempt to answer some of your questions.

 

"How do we ensure we have sufficient access to training?"

 

Go to the District committee meeting and pound your fist on the table and demand that basic training be made available and frequent.

 

"even when training is available, it is quite difficult to get people to commit to going to it.

 

Darn tootin it is! Here is the closest solution I have found as the District Training Chair with the most trained leaders in the council.

 

Do training often and be glad that if even on person shows up that is one more trained leader out there infuencing dozens if not hundrds of boys.

 

"How does a unit go about setting realistic and proper expectations for the training of its leaders?"

 

When a leader is selected you tell them you have three expectation, 1) they will get training for their position, 2)They will wear a complete and correct Uniform. 3)They will do their best to deliver the program and you will help them to do it.

 

"What level of training is needed for committee members?"

New Leader essentials and either Troop Commitee challenge if a troop member or Pack Committee Job Specific training if a pack committee member.

 

for parents?

None is required and unless they showed they needed it I wouldn't do any. They should be able to learn from your example what the program is all about.

 

"for SM and ASM?

New Leader Essentials

Scoutmaster/Asst.Scoutmaster Leader Specific training.

Introduction to Outdoor Skills

(Wood Badge would be GREAT)

 

"How quickly should leaders be expected to become trained?

Within 90-days of taking office.

 

"How can I get others to go along to be trained as well?"

 

The same way you eat an elephant...one bite at a time. Litle nudges, warm invitations, setting the eaxample of good scouting, speak well of the experience, keep people informed in advance of opportunities, Never quit trying.

 

Hope this helps,

Bob White

 

[Bob White]

I will attempt to answer some of your questions.

 

"How do we ensure we have sufficient access to training?"

 

Go to the District committee meeting and pound your fist on the table and demand that basic training be made available and frequent.

 

"even when training is available, it is quite difficult to get people to commit to going to it.

 

Darn tootin it is! Here is the closest solution I have found as the District Training Chair with the most trained leaders in the council.

 

Do training often and be glad that if even on person shows up that is one more trained leader out there infuencing dozens if not hundrds of boys.

 

"How does a unit go about setting realistic and proper expectations for the training of its leaders?"

 

When a leader is selected you tell them you have three expectation, 1) they will get training for their position, 2)They will wear a complete and correct Uniform. 3)They will do their best to deliver the program and you will help them to do it.

 

"What level of training is needed for committee members?"

New Leader essentials and either Troop Commitee challenge if a troop member or Pack Committee Job Specific training if a pack committee member.

 

for parents?

None is required and unless they showed they needed it I wouldn't do any. They should be able to learn from your example what the program is all about.

 

"for SM and ASM?

New Leader Essentials

Scoutmaster/Asst.Scoutmaster Leader Specific training.

Introduction to Outdoor Skills

(Wood Badge would be GREAT)

 

"How quickly should leaders be expected to become trained?

Within 90-days of taking office.

 

"How can I get others to go along to be trained as well?"

 

The same way you eat an elephant...one bite at a time. Litle nudges, warm invitations, setting the example of good scouting, speak well of the experience, keep people informed in advance of opportunities, Never quit trying.

 

Hope this helps,

Bob White

(This message has been edited by Bob White)

[OldGreyEagle]

well, in my council, its fairly easy to get people to training, you have the council commitee mandate that unless the lead youth contact leader, cubmaster, scoutmaster or Venture Crew advisor is trained, then the unit cannot recharter in 2005. In 2005 if the committee chairman is not trained, then the unit cannot recharter for 2006. They are curently working on percentages of asst scoutmasters and committee members who have to be trained for 2007. Not sure if it will be a number or a percentage.

 

Anyway, how do you get people to training? Mandate it or do not recharter the unit

[Bob White]

OGE

 

That was discussed at our council training committee meeting, as a matter of fact I brought it up. I thought it best to have the discussion and have the decision come from us rather than be handed to us by the SE. It was the unanimous decion of the volunteers the professional advisor and the Assistant SE that we not do it.

 

The overwhelmind sentiment was that leadership should be a positive experience that one chooses to do rather than one is forced to do. When you think aboutr it if we have a Sm training and only three SM show up we have influenced scouting to approximately 200 boys over the next few years. Thats not so bad.

 

BW

 

 

[OldGreyEagle]

Well, it wasnt the SE, it was the Council Committee that decided we would be one trained Council,

[Eamonn]

A couple of things.

Training is not a district responsibility, it is in fact a Council responsibility.

If your district is not offering training before you pound your fist on the desk or do any pounding the big question is why?

I think you might find that they just might not have the people volunteering to take on the extra responsibility. While it can be argued that anyone who is good at presenting could take on training. Maybe a good salesperson? Most members of the training team do normally have some "Real World" experience not only about Scouting but of the program that they are doing the training from.

In our Council Training comes under Program. The VP Program selects a Council Training Chairman. We do allow the Districts to select a District Training Chair, he or she then selects a District Cub Training Chair.District Boy Scout Training Chair and a District Venturing Training Chair. They in turn select a training team. Again this at the District level comes under Program and the District Program Chairman.

There are times when this works very well. Sad to say there are times when this stinks.

Having served as the Council Training Chairman,I have seen the wrong people be selected as the District Training chair and at times Districts fail to get people to fill the position. I did during my term try to change this, so that the Council Training Chair. would take responsibility for the selection of District Training Chairs. But it was a battle that I didn't win. You can't win them all.

I do agree with Bob that most trainings are worth holding if the turn out is going to be as low as one. However finding Training Team members that will keep on doing the job, keep giving up their time for that small a turn out is a very tough sell. All too often the people involved in training also hold some other position in Scouting and they see time spent away from their family or the unit they serve as being of more value than one participant turning up. Being human they do ask "Was it worth it?"

At this time in our District we do have a full complement of staff. We offer the NLE Six times a year Cub Scout Specific four times a year, Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster Specific three times a year Venturing Specific twice a year Introduction to Outdoor skills twice a year, Baloo Training twice a year and Webelos Scout Den Leader outdoor training twice a year. We have four districts in the council and people are encouraged to cross district lines. Some training is on a Saturday and some is on a weekday night. We also will if requested do special training's for units who might be starting up or have had a bunch of new leaders. We have done one on one training if the person has a reason why nothing else will work. Troop Committee training is by request at the time and place of the troops committee meeting. All this calls for a lot of manpower and planning. There are times when things don't go to plan. Only the other week I ended up doing a NLE training myself (I had a great time!!)

We do not seem to have a hard time getting new leaders to training. Cub Scouter's do come but are not returning as they should. Over the past few years there seems to be a renewed interest in Webelos Scout Den Leader outdoor training. No one seems to know why. Most of the people who take Baloo Training are not the people who should be taking it.

Boy Scouter's who take the specific training as a day training seem to enjoy it more than those who take the course over 3 nights. The people who take the Outdoor Intro. Have a blast. As a District and a Council we have really good records about training. They are kept in a computer that is not linked to Scoutnet. The girl who keeps them is like a bulldog when it comes to turning in training reports.

We do recognize all those who attend training at the round-table meeting and a card is sent to the unit COR. The Council offers free rank advancement to units that fulfill a list of things, one being top leader trained. We do push the Every Boy Deserves A Trained Leader, a lot.

I think that we are doing a good job, two years ago we were recognized as the top council in the country for having the highest percentage of trained leaders. I gave a big long interview for the magazine that serves the professionals (Pam got all the credit)

I have posted before that I'm not for mandatory training.

While Fun is a very important part of Scouting, most of the participants attending want to know that the presenter; Knows what he is talking about and is not going to waste their time.

I have tried when I was in training to bring new people on board and there have been times when this has turned around and bit me in the tail.

Chartering Organizations can ask that their leaders get trained within a given time.If we have a new unit starting in the district we do everything we can to get the leaders trained before they recruit any boys or youth members. This is normally a training that is just for them NLE and sometimes specific.

I have also used training to sort out units that are having problems. About 18 months ago a pack and a troop both chartered by a church were having all sorts of problems. The Pack and the Troop were saying that the church did nothing for them.Looking at the charter and talking to the preacher, I found out that no one in the unit other than the COR was a member of the church. The Scoutmaster had been there for a very long time and the Cubmaster was a pain. The preacher didn't really care if Scouts were there or not. The preacher called a meeting at my request and I went and presented the NLE. Everyone came away with a much better idea where they fitted in. Not long after they were all working together on a fund raising dinner at the church and the preacher was giving Scouting the hard sell at his services.

The Cubmaster is still a pain but the SM and the Preacher have become good friends. I'm not sure if it was my presentation or divine intervention

Eamonn.

[dan]

OGE

Could you please keep us informed on how the mandatory training is going. From what I have seen and read, it does not seem that a council would not recharter a unit, for just about any reason. Wouldn't this cause enrollment to drop. Have you heard any rumbling about any units refusing to complete the training?

 

[Twocubdad]

Our Council has mandatory training that is supposed to kick in Jan. 1. We'll see. I've yet to find anyone who thinks it's a good idea, so I'm not sure how it got through.

 

There is a one year grace period for new leaders to take the training. Since Cub leaders change positions every year (with the exception of the Wolf/Bear years) I don't know how that works. Cub leaders just keep changing positions and keep restarting the clock.

 

I don't think they've really thought it through largely because I'm convinced it's all a bluff. I'm sure the thought process was that there's no way to enforce the policy, but if training is called "mandatory" they'll get a few more people trained than they otherwise would.

 

[scoutldr]

This "mandatory training" thing has got to be a nation-wide thing. Too many Councils thought of it at the same time. Our Executive Board (encouraged by the SE, IMHO), mandated it, complete with the "no training, no renewal of membership registration" rule, and then quickly backed off when they realized it would be shooting themselves in the foot. Many unit leaders objected to the tactic on principle. Compounded by the fact that the training records are ridiculously hosed...SMs with 30 yr tenure show up as "untrained" on the computer. The Council training committee was not consulted first, and there was a minor rebellion. My personal feeling as a trainer was, as Eammon said, that I have family and unit responsibilities, too and I'm not going to do training every night of the week for 2-3 people at a time.

[Bob White]

"This "mandatory training" thing has got to be a nation-wide thing."

 

It's not. As part of a past thread on this Topic I e-mailed Joe Glasscock who is responsible for Boy Scout Training at the National Office. I shared his response with this forum, and this action is not recommended or supported by the national office.

 

No one is suggesting that training take place two or three times a week. But enough times to accomplish the goal of the training committee. The problem is in understanding that goal. As explained in the first pages of the Council Training Committee Guide, the goal of training is not to see how many leaders you can get to attend but to have quality training take place and to give leaders the opportunity to become trained within a short time of joining the program.

 

There are lots of ways to do that other than offering training several times a week.