troop committee challenge question

[Lisabob]

Some of you may remember that earlier in the spring I went to a training session for troop committee members, and it was just awful. No curriculum, the trainer found out 10 minutes prior to the start of the course that he would be the trainer, etc.. Afterward, I spoke with our DE about the situation and he certainly seemed to agree.

 

Since then he has asked me if I would "help" with future committee training sessions (which may well mean that I end up running the training). I am an educator in my day job so I know I can do the teaching. I've been a troop committee member for 2 years now and I've tried to do my own background reading/learning so I know I have at least some experience to draw on. What I don't have is the curriculum, or any idea how it is set up. Nor have I succeeded yet, despite efforts, to get it from my DE. I don't know if it is available elsewhere, or if you have to get it from a DE?

 

Unfortunately nobody else in the region is offering this training prior to when I would be teaching it, either.

 

Here's where I really need your input, from those of you who have either been to, or delivered, the troop committee challenge training. Can this be done effectively at a district-wide training day? I have heard that it is set up to be delivered to an entire troop committee, but that's not the setting we have available to us. Rather, we'll probably have a handful of committee members from all around the district.

 

Lisa'bob

[Cheerful Eagle]

Lisabob

 

I feel your pain. When I stepped up to do CS leader training, it took serious tree shaking to get a copy of the sylabus, not to mention a difinitive overview of how the course would deviate (now I know it's not supposed to, but we're dealing with human nature here...), not to mention getting a CURRENT copy of the syllabus...

 

But here's my 2c:

 

1. bug the district training chair, or neighboring district training chairs, or hey WHERE ARE ALL THE DISTRICT TRAINING CHAIRS THAT SHOULD BE READING THIS FORUM REGULARLY. *oops, sorry the cap lock slipped... ahem.*

 

2. write your own. After Woodbadge and Philmont, my entire approach to leader training changed from "talking heads" to "hands-on/everyone knows something". It made a phenominal difference. You've been a troop committe member (tcm), so you know what a newbie needs to know. It sounds like what your training lacked was not only planning, but also any consideration as to how to: instill or nurture scout spirit, encourage the new tcm's to dream, give them vision for how they will impact hundreds of lives.

 

INMH the above is what makes training worth going to -- the rest I can get from reading the BSA lit -- even if it is a great insomnia cure.

[John-in-KC]

Lisa,

 

I took this in 2002, when the entire NLE curriculum package rolled out. In a perfect world, yes, it should be done with a complete committee.

 

As we both have seen, the world isn't perfect.

 

I took TCC in a mix/match group environment. Doesn't work perfectly, but works.

 

On a personal note, pace yourself. That Wood Badge function that set our "Help" switches to permanent YES can overload you. Have fun with program support, but do manage your burdens. I have a friend who did not ... we almost lost her from Scouting forever due to burnout (scouting folks, NOT this life ).

 

Isn't feedback a gift ???

 

John

A Good Old Owl Too...(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

[Fuzzy Bear]

In the past, I have taught Troop and Pack committee training using the Committee Guidebook with varying degrees of success. I added my own notes and resources based on personal experiences. Two years ago, I was given the TCC curriculum prior to our district wide training and had five participants, four from different units. I copied most of the notebook and made handouts. The group was excited about the program, so I wrote down their email addresses for follow-up. I sent out a few bulletins but didn't get any responses. To the District Committee's amazement, I volunteered to teach any unit committee in our district the TCC. I never heard from anyone. I am kind of amazed. FB

[drmicrowave72]

Try this ask your DE for Troop committee Training Syllabus #33643

[SueM]

Your local trading post should have the kit for the TCC, which includes a puzzle game that I think is very helpful in teaching what each position should do. You can also get copies of the Troop Committee Guidelines to use with the course...it's nice to give a copy out to the particants too.

 

It is incredibly hard to get across to committee members just how much it helps not only the Scoutmaster but the troop as a whole when these committee roles are filled with TRAINED members who know what their job is and how to do it properly! To many of them figure "Oh well..it's -just- a committee and all i need to do is go to the meetings!!"

 

We ran one just yesterday to give possible Wood Badge participants a chance to get trained for their position..had committments from at least 6 people..only 2 showed up!!! It's very sad.....

 

BTW..unlike other training subjects, BSA has -nothing- out on CD-ROM or DVD for the TCC...Our trainer has made a Power Point slide presentation but he hasn't saved it to DVD yet. I am hoping that perhaps in the future that we can get the Troop Committee Guidebook scanned into a PDF file so at least when it's time to make handouts, it's not a trip to Office Max or something!!

 

Sue M.

[MaScout]

1) You SHOULD be able to order your own set of training material out of the catalog. However, since the District undoubtedly has this, it is an expense you shouldn't have to bear.

 

2) Ask your DE and/or your District Training Chair for a copy. Ask again. Tell them you will wait for them to find it. Sit down & wait.

 

3) If all else fails, pm me with your snail mail address & I'll mail you a copy of mine. I may have the tapes here, too. If I do, I'll include a copy of them, as well. (If you mention this offer during #2 above & indicate it is a pity you have to get this material from a scouter half-way across the country, you may get results.)

 

Ma Scout

[acco40]

As a SM, I took the troop committee challenge training because it is important that I, as a Scoutmaster, know the responsibilities of the committee and how it should operate.

 

First, the TCC should be done at the troop level, not at some district wide training session. I would recommend against the set-up your district has suggested.

[Lisabob]

You guys are great. MaScout, I will try that tactic and see what comes of it! If I don't get a decent answer by late August I will take you up on your offer too.

 

Acco, you and I are not that far from each other so let me ask you this: does your council actually do TCC at the troop level? If so, would you be willing to PM me with your district name? I'd really like to observe a session to see how it is *supposed* to be done. Maybe if I were to contact your district trainer they'd agree to let me come along for the ride one time.

 

Lisa'bob

[Lynda J]

One thing I found out when a DE is wanting you to teach and they can't seem to find you the material you need. Simply say to them. "I will be more than happy to each this training as soon as you get me the material to teach it with. But without that material I won't consider setting up any trainings."

Has always worked for me.

[Eamonn]

Lisa'bob

I was our Council Training Chairman when the Committee Challenge Training came out.

Back when you posted that you had gone to District wide Training for this I thought it was very odd.

That just isn't the way the training is designed to be delivered.

We are a small Council with less than 100 Troops split into four Districts.

I ordered 8 kits (Not hard I just went to the Council Service Center and asked for them to be ordered. When they came in I said for them to be charged to each District - We recovered the money by selling the committee members Trained Patches!!)

We hold an annual Training for the District Training Team and cover the challenge.

The Council offers free rank advancement patches, we added taking the challenge to the requirements for free rank advancement.

Each district has two kits, one that the District Training Chair has signed out and one that the District Boy Scout Training Chairman has signed out.

Committees are urged to plan to take the training and the District guys are urged to push it.

We found newer units wanted to jump on it, while the old "We always do it this way" units were a little slow.

Offering it as a District Training will lead to some of the Training "Junkies" (The guys who seem to take each and every training and the brag about it!!) becoming elitist and if everyone isn't on the same page what good is the training?

Sure we still have a few units that have not taken the training. I don't think they ever will!! They tend to view any one from the outside as some sort of spy??

I had one group come to my home for it, we opened a bottle of wine ate some good cheese and had a great time. (No uniforms or Scouts in sight.)

When we treat adults like adults and have fun Scouting is a lot more enjoyable!!

Trying to deliver this in the way that it wasn't supposed to be delivered is to my mind a waste of everyones time.

Why not do it right?

 

Eamonn.

[Lisabob]

Eamonn, thank you. I thoroughly agree. Besides which, attendance for committee training at our district training days is often pretty light. However, I'm not on the training team (I guess I'm "just helping" with this one) and the info has already been published for all district leaders to see, so this particular session is going forward the way it is scheduled and the question is, what sort of training can I realistically deliver in this setting?

 

What I think I would like to do once I get my hands on that syllabus is to have a chat w/ our DE and training team about changing the format going forward. So that's where I think I will be using your comments to help push for this update. And as FB mentioned, I think I will also let anybody who does show up to this district training day know that the TCC can/should be delivered to their entire committee - and then encourage them to contact the DE to request it.

 

There's both an opportunity and a pitfall here because we just redistricted not too long ago and the clique who have controlled training in our district for far too long (and not terribly successfully, I might add, from the perspective of getting fresh people involved or doing a good presentation) has been broken up as a result. So now may be the time to say, let's make this change and do it right here after, and maybe it will actually happen.

 

Lisa'bob

[John-in-KC]

Lisa,

 

Feedback is a gift ...

 

How do you plan to deal with the Troop who WON'T TAKE THE TRAINING? You're going to get people who care, who want to do their part. Their committees may not support them.

 

I'd love to see every Committee take the challenge. This, however, is our real world: Not all will.

 

Not a question you need to answer in forum ... but I toss it to you as serious food for thought. My opinion is we have to find ways to serve the leaders who care enough, but opinions are... well, let's not go there