Love to hear the CD / Staff perspective

[scoutmom111]

I know I have been venting all over the forum about frustrations with my WB course. I love hearing all the feed back. And I really love to hear the CD perspective. I know it is the other side of the fence, but we are all moving to the same place. Good leaders, good units, better programs! I'm just curious, from the CD/Staff perspective, what is the hardest part of WB. Everything has pluses and minuses. Maybe someday I will be a staffer. I might complain, but I've always put my time and money where my mouth is... I wouldn't staff under the current CD (God knows she wouldn't let me anyway **giggle**) but someday... maybe... So I've heard a ton of pluses and I can see many of them... but what are the minuses (except it being only one hour a week **smile**)

[drmicrowave72]

As a troop guide for the new and old WB the ticket is a contact with one self. To help scouting and person growth. The Troop guide is there to help you make that next step to push one self. I sorry about your CD The ones I have been with very good people. and for going around the CD I have been shown to know and useing your resources.

YIS

[Eamonn]

What is the hardest part of WB?

For me it was "Butterflies"

A lot of people give up an extraordinary amount of time to present a course.

While the syllabus for each course should be identical and each and every CD makes a pledge to present the syllabus as it is written. Each course is different. Each CD has something that he or she feels strongly about.

Kind of like a production of Hamlet??

The ground work starts long before the course is even announced.

Each CD is supposed to attend a Course Directors Conference. This isn't a budget item and anything that the Region does is never cheap and for some reason is always a seven hour each way drive!! Then the Staff is selected. They start working long before the participants start signing up.

You need at least 32 participants in order to present the course. Courses have been canceled for not having enough participants. The deadline is 30 days before the start of the course. The idea that all the staff will have done all that work and spent all that time only for a course to be canceled, means that the CD is watching each and every deposit come in. I know I went for an adult beverage with my mentor when we reached that magic number.

The week of the course I was a nervous wreck. So much to do and time is flying by.

The night before the start of the course we normally all go out for dinner and return to do the Beading Ceremony. All new Staffers receive their third bead and the CD his or her fourth. A very close and dear friend presented me with my beads and I was very emotional.

Then the course starts.

Just like any good Scoutmaster all of a sudden you find that you really don't have that much to do. In fact I found myself looking for things to do, but the Staff were busy doing what they were supposed to be doing, so I went and went over my presentation.

I looked at the course SPL and I thought to myself, "Boy is he great!!"

Then being the egotistical chap that I am I thought "You know what Ea? You did a great job of developing that Staff!!" And the butterflies disappeared!!

Eamonn.

[emb021]

First off, scoutmom11- a CD can be CD only ONCE. So you need not worry about your present CD being involved with a future course. Most councils have already decided the next 2-3 CDs. And each WB course MUST have a percentage of newbies on staff (25% or 30%, I think). So its usually pretty easy for good, new people to get on staff. Find out who the next couple of CDs will be. If there is one of them you really like, that's the one you'll want to be on staff with.

 

Eamonn makes some good points. I was picked in October to be on staff for a course starting in Feb. Every month we had a half day meeting to review the syllabus and practice our sessions. EVERYONE was involved in at least one training session. All TG had to do their 2-3 with their patrol.

 

The month before the course began, we did a shake down weekend. Then we all had to be at camp the day before the course both weekends. Us newbie staffers got our third bead the night before the course began.

 

Yes, its a lot of work and very exhausting. But if you have a good staff and everyone works together, it can be a great experience. If you get an experience to be on staff, do so. I've only done it once. I had to turn down a second opportunity due to person issues.

 

pluses & minues?

 

Minus- exhausting, lot of time spent, maybe monetary cost, may had issue/problems to deal with (we had a couple of problem participants on my course)

 

Pluses- get to meet a lot of great people, both participants & staff, a lot of great people get to met you, you learn more from stuff.

 

[dancinfox]

The perspective of the Course Director!

I had to come up with a list of 60 or 65 possible staff which I presented to my Council Executive. He then cut the number down to 55 and presented it to the Region for approval. I then began contacting possible staff. After a few turndowns (not having the time, etc.) I filled my staff roster and started recruiting participants. I had decided to fill the minimum of 30 before December 31, which I did and then started recruiting the other 18. After the 3 staff developments, and many months preparing for the course and letting my wife know how much I was spending on the course. (I am still alive) I and my staff were well prepared for the course. The first weekend 8-25 thru 8-27 went great. I made a few changes, such as not using our new conference center, as it was to small to hold 70 plus people and changing the schedule because of the weather, all the participants had fun. One thing I did was during the day three troop meeting, one of the troop guides came up to me and told me that the participants were having a hard time grasping the ticket concept. I took about 10 minutes and did a ticket off the cuff on my scouting position (Council Commissioner). After that they all seemed to grasp the concept, one vision, five goals.

Good luck to you,

David Harrison

Course Director

C-12-06

[scoutmom111]

Okay dancinfox, you are now my newest hero. I knew there were CD's out there that got it... I wasn't just out of touch with BS training. I'm so glad I met some good ones here! Wow, they are confused... lets explain... give an example... keep the frustration low.... I don't know... I think you must be a limbo champ to flex that much! **giggle**

 

I think I should just invite you all to my bead ceremony. I learned more here than I did from the CD. (Don't get me wrong the info was all great from all the presenters. Just not her example) I really don't want to invite her to my beading, but my husband said I need to be politically correct. You don't want to be the squeeky wheel that makes you the last one okay'd to leave from a camporee.

 

 

Oh, this was funny... some of the people just changed their vision with each goal so it would match. They submitted the tickets separately and no one looked for continuity there.

 

[scoutmom111]

Do they usually have a course evaluation? Does it go to national? I've heard conflicting info on this. We didn't have an evaluation so far. May be it comes in the mail?

[Eagledad]

This is an interesting subject. I was just having a conversation with a good friend of mine who I think was the best CD our council has ever had. I mentioned a couple future course directors that I would have thought needed some time yet before they took on that responsibility and I asked him why they were selected at this time.

 

Now don't get me wrong, when I think of the best CD, Eamonn comes to mind first and I compare all CDs to him. The folks I speak of are like Eamonn and will lead a good course, they just have a lot going on now in areas of scouting that I think should have the full attention toward the boys.

 

My friend told me the restrictions National has for CDs dramatically limits the pool from which to select these folks. That is when he asked me to consider working toward jumping in that pool. That is when I changed subjects to something non-scouting.

 

As to the question, I guess WB does take some personal time, but I didn't find it all that much more time consuming compared to the old WB course that took twice the amount of time from the staff, or taking time to attend a summer camp. Yes, you do make friends, but more than that to me, you make a difference for hundreds, if not thousands of youth out there needing leaders. One troop guide gets to make a difference to six or seven adult leaders who get to work with six or seven adults in their units who get to work with dozens of boys. Can you imagine how just one word during one lesson can have some kind of impact on so many boys? Very powerful.

 

Barry

 

[emb021]

"Do they usually have a course evaluation? Does it go to national? I've heard conflicting info on this. We didn't have an evaluation so far. May be it comes in the mail?"

 

On the course I staffed, we did evaluations on the last day. I know that many of us on staff reviewed them. I have no idea if they go to National. I guess if the info deals with the syllabus they might.

 

 

[Eamonn]

Thanks for the more than kind words.

I'm now a deep reddish color.

I haven't seen or read the changes that have been made to the course.

I'm really thankful to the course, it did more for me than I was able to give or get over to the participants.

As a CD I spent more hours than I can count reading and going over the syllabus. While we pledge to present the syllabus, I spent a lot of time asking what does it mean and what does it mean to me?

I spent more time reading just about everything Ken Blanchard ever wrote.

While I wish I was maybe a little more religious I found a lot in the book he wrote "Leadership By The Book". Not so much from the religious stand point but that book really drove home to me the idea of Servant Leadership which I tried to really impress on our staff and tried to get across to the course participants.

While maybe I'm wrong? I think that some Staffers are so overjoyed that they have been invited to serve that they sometimes seem to forget it is all about serving the needs of the participants while delivering the course.

While the old Boy Scout course was a good course, it did need to be changed. Sadly over the years the stuff that many people had added(dare I use the word tweaked?) had become as important as the course. The SM had been elevated to such a high and mighty rank that it was silly. Yes I was there for Scoutmasters chairs and having to change uniform in oder to wear what he was wearing. The old Cub Scout Trainer course, did a wonderful job of allowing time to really look at what Cub Scouting is all about but it was about training Trainer's how to train and maybe it was just too good.

The Staff had been working on their presentation for about a year and what they presented was out of this world. While back here on earth we know that we fit Cub Scout Training's in as and when we can and as sure as heck after spending hours making the best power point presentation we arrive at the church hall only to find that there is no electrical outlets!!

The old Cub course was offered by the Region and the Staff never really got to know each other as most came from different Councils.

A friend of mine is to be a CD next year. He has informed me that he wants the staff to be in the red wool jackets and wearing campaign hats.

That of course is up to him.

I don't agree with it for a lot of reasons, but most of all I didn't see it as being important when I was CD.

If Her Who Must Be Obeyed is feeling a little better, I hope to attend Sea Badge Training this fall.

I have to admit that so far I have not been impressed, I have received lots of E-mails about what uniforms are required and asking what size jacket I want, but not a word about the course.

I'm happy to wear whatever is required, I'm OK with adding yet another jacket that I don't need to the uniform collection. I don't mind the five hour each way drive or the $200.00 course fee.

I will be upset if the course turns out to be about how great the staff is.

I know that a lot of Scouter's who took the old courses really came away with a lot. The Boy Scout course should have really impressed on every participant how important the Patrol Method is. But to my way of thinking it gave a really bad example of the role of the SM.

If and I know it will never happen I had my way I'd like to move the Tickets to the very end of the course, maybe having the Ticket Counselor approve them.

I know a lot of participants claim that working their Ticket was the thing that they got the most out of. But it seems to me that the Ticket over-shadows a lot of course time.

I find the Win All You Can /Game Of Life, to be very upsetting, I think maybe because it tends to show us not as I'd like us to be.

At times I think we over-rate the course.

It is a very good course.

As a rule everyone has a good time, but that shouldn't be a surprise, we are bringing together a group of people who share the same interest and values.

While I know that my Wood Badge days are over, I would like one day to be invited to present the Leaving A Legacy presentation.

A lot of the people I invited to be on staff and who did staff the course are now busy staffing courses. I feel much the same way as I do about the Scouts I've had the honor to serve. I look at them with great pride a smile hoping that I served them well.

Maybe this will be part of my "Leave this jolly old world a little better"?

Eamonn