I'm off to training

[Lisabob]

Tomorrow's the day. I'm off to do the troop committee challenge. I've been on the troop committee for close to a year now so I'm kind of glad to finally have the opportunity (I couldn't get to the ones in the fall and there weren't any offered around here in the winter).

 

Lisa'bob

[Eamonn]

I hope you have a good time.

I do have to admit to finding your post a little strange!!

When it comes to the troop committee challenge, we do it slightly different in our Council.

The Committee requests the training and we send someone in to do it with the entire committee.

As I posted in another thread, I'm coming out of "Retirement" to present the SM and ASM Specific Training on Saturday.

I was hoping to go sailing, but things didn't work out.

I think this is also the NE-Region Area 4 Quest Venturing weekend, which Potomac Council is hosting. Our Quarterdeck looked at it and thought that $40.00 was a little too rich for their blood.

I was invited, but a weekend away without any Scouts, when we have a very hectic program from now till fall, would have landed me in the bad books with Her Who Must Be Obeyed.

I know a Scout is brave -But not that brave!!

Eamonn.

[Lisabob]

Eamonn,

 

That really sounds like an ideal way to do the committee training and it would certainly help in building a sense of teamwork. But...that's just not the way "they" do it around here. And I think I'm the only one from this troop who will be in attendance for the committee training which is a bit unfortunate (SM/ASM is the same day and location and we've got several people attending that together, but they have separate sessions so I won't be interacting with them at all tomorrow).

 

I'm curious to know, does that mean committees in your area all go through the training together again whenever they get a handful of new members? How do the "seasoned" committee members feel about that? I can easily imagine grumbling on the part of those who have already been through it in the past. Do you wait for a critical mass to develop in terms of new members in need of training, rather than sending new individuals off to training whenever they join and can attend?

 

I can see pro's and con's to both ways I guess. Isn't it interesting to see how other areas approach these same basic functions??

 

Here's to staying on the good side of all of our "Others Who Must Be Obeyed!"

 

Lisa'bob

[Lisabob]

Well I went. I returned. It was not a good experience. It was the kind of training session that makes one want to leave, quite frankly, except that I had already made child care arrangements for the day, paid my $15, and driven an hour to get there. So I stuck it out, thinking all the while, "at least I'll never have to sit through this particular session again."

 

I'm upset about this, really. The poor guy who led the training started right out by telling us that he'd been given less than a week's notice to prepare, hadn't been active in scouting for quite some time, was new to the council, and didn't have the syllabus. Further, he'd been asked to come and "help," not "run" the session and didn't find out UNTIL HE ARRIVED THAT MORNING that he was actually running the show.

 

He did have a great deal of personal experience with scouts, as both a youth member and an adult leader.

 

He then spent the first 90 minutes covering material - at length - that is supposed to be covered in NLE (the organization of scouting, relationship between national, council, district, unit, the mission and aims of scouting, etc.). 2 of the 4 "trainees" had literally just finished sitting through NLE earlier in the morning, and the other two of us - both woodbadgers - have had NLE before too.

 

Thankfully after a short break we were able to steer the session more toward actual committee issues but even then it was not particularly useful because the big issues we wanted to talk about (what does "boy led" really mean in action? how do the committee and SM function together and what are the separate responsibilities of each? discussion of Boards of Review? etc.) were by and large NOT the issues he wanted to talk about. And the training ran WELL OVER the allotted time (was scheduled as a 3 hour training, lasted an extra 75 minutes beyond that!).

 

So while I can't really blame this poor guy who was in a difficult position of presenting a training for which he was unprepared, it was still a large waste of time and money and I'm irritated. This was a combined effort of TWO districts and had been on the calendar and widely promoted for over 6 months! As far as I'm concerned, the districts left this guy out to dry and did no favors to those of us who attended the training, either. Not to mention that for my $15 I don't think I got much of value.

 

Now I guess I could try to make waves and get involved to "fix" this. Heck, my "hour a week" knows no bounds, right? But getting onto our district training committee is just a little short of impossible and besides, I don't think I even want to work with people who are this incapable of organizing events. They'd get annoyed with me real quick because I'd insist on having things well planned in advance.

 

Argh.

 

(thanks for letting me vent)

 

Lisa'bob

 

And by the way: I've learned much more, and been stimulated to think about issues much more, on this forum! So Thanks to all for your participation here.

[EagleInKY]

Lisabob -

 

First, I have to tell you that trainingin our district sounds no better than yours. Almost two years ago I asked to set up training for a bunch of new ASMs and adults entering our troop. You know what happened? The district Boy Scout trainer dropped off a tub full of materials at my house and said "go for it". I conducted the training, which was no big deal. Two years later, I still have that tub of materials. Oh, I've used it, for training our troop's leaders. But there hasn't been a district training since.

 

As for the TCC, I believe it is much better offered to the committee as a whole. We conducted it here about a 15 months ago. We're getting ready to do it again in May. I'd like to make it an annual event, probably sometime in May (about a month or two after we get new parents). Yes, it's a little repetitive for more experienced committee members. But it's valuable for the entire group to meet together and understand how it all fits together.

 

I took the material and then encorporated some of our own troop stuff into it. This included things like how our district handles MBCs and the like, and how we handle fundraisers and the procedes.

 

I'm sorry your training didn't go well. Good luck.

[evmori]

My district does TCC on an as needed basis for each unit and the trainer(s) come to the unit.

 

Is it possible there are too many training courses? Could some of these courses be consolidated into a more encompassing training presentation? Maybe, we really don't need some of these courses? Could more be put on-line?

 

Hmmm ..... think~think~think

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[LongHaul]

Lisabob,

From what you've said it sounds like your District(s) didn't do the training course advertised and you and everyone else should ask for a refund. The Troop Committee Challenge is a syllabused course that is to say there is a National format and content just like NLE or Woodbadge. If your "trainer" didn't have the TCC packet and materials then you didnt get what you signed up for. Many of the questions you went to training to get answered are addressed in the TCC course. As Evmori says this training is often done for single units. I act as trainer for this particular module and prefer to have more than one unit present to get more than one view point but have gone to single units. Ask if your District Training team has the TCC packet, it's provided by National in an accordion type binder. If not I'd definitely ask for my money back just to make the point.

LongHaul

[Eagle76]

Unfortunately, Lisabob's experience isn't unique. I attended our Council's University of Scouting session two months ago. Among the classes I attended were "First Class, First Year", "How to Retain Older Scouts", and "The Patrol Method." The instructors spent most of the time going over the NLE basics: The mission, the aims, the methods, etc. All things that should be and are covered elsewhere, and very little on the intended subject of the course.

[Eagledad]

>>Among the classes I attended were "First Class, First Year", "How to Retain Older Scouts", and "The Patrol Method.">All things that should be and are covered elsewhere, and very little on the intended subject of the course.

[Lisabob]

Thanks for the ideas. Ed, I'm not sure the problem is too much training. In fact that is one of the things that steams me about this particular session. The last time it was offered was in October. The next time it will be offered is next October. So I've been waiting a LONG TIME to get this training and it wasn't what it was advertized to be.

 

I do think the online idea is a good one. But I think I like the sound of the way TCC is delivered elsewhere - to the actual committee. I will follow up on this and see if I can lay my hands on the syllabus. I'm not holding my breath though because the guy who is the district training coordinator is the same guy who actively discouraged me from signing up for woodbadge a couple of years back (21st C., not the previous course) due to my gender and my role (at the time) as a cub leader.

 

Lisa'bob