SWAT teams

[oldisnewagain1]

I heard some Districts/Councils are using SWAT (Scouts Want Adults Trained) in their areas. I mentioned it to our DE and he had never hear of this. Has anyone have any experience setting one up?

[bbender]

While we don't have a fancy name like SWAT team (and I fear we might scare some people if we used that term -- we already have to make it clear in School Talks that the uniform doesn't mean that we're police or immigration!), here's what we're doing in terms of training tailored to local units:

 

Internally, we're calling it a "live and local" phase of Cub Leader Training, by asking units when they reorganize if they can all gather their interested parents and potential leaders, and we'll do a streamlined training/intro there, to give them what they need. The idea follows the "all Scouting is local" theme by taking training to the Unit, at their Pack meeting location (often also where the Dens meet), with their own unique dynamics/roles, seeing the opportunities/challenges there, and conducting training for them there and for them tied to where they are and what they're doing.

 

This fits in with the concept of how trainers compete with, or coordinate with, the on line training resource. We want live training to be vital, on point, address the particular circumstances of a unit, because online training is always gonna be more generic. Because all Scouting is Local, and every Pack is different and needs different things, they need that insight.

 

We've done a few of these so far, and have another coming up Saturday at a Pack/Den Meeting location.

-- Most have been structured as "parent picnics", and we have an allocated group to lead the kids who come in games and such, and cook hotdogs and serve picnic fare for all.

-- The "training intro" is a methods based orientation to the program derived from the official syllabus, in this order:

1. Ideals of Scouting (opening ceremony, brief intro, Bobcat overview and game)

2. How a Den Works (including intro to the Guide)

3. fun Activities to do (including some really easy ones that are "show up and have fun")

-- here we interject YPT, so that whoever shows up is "leader eligible" if/when they fill out the application

4. then a Uniform intro (tailored to the Pack)

5. an Advancement overview (and how it really is stuff ya wanna be teaching yer kids)

6. brief commentary on "home and neighborhood" because that's where most of it happens, leading to

7. Family Involvement, because isn't that awesome stuff and if we all pitch in we can make it happen.

-- here we interject detail on the resources available, including key local stuff.

-- if it hasn't come up yet (and it usually does pretty early) we get into how one pays for it, budgets, plans.

 

Then break for hot dogs or whatever. That's about 90 minutes or so, depending on the crowd and questions and how slowly they arrived.

-- we invite those who are going to be leaders to stay and get full live training. or they can take it on line at home in their jammies. or next week.

-- and when we do the full training, we do "total leader training" so that Cubmasters, Den Leaders and Committee trained people know what everyone does, and so they can also be effective Pack Trainers who can then pass on the word to others (with the on line version of the CSLPST syllabus, it's a lot easier for a leader to sit at a computer with a handful of folks to answer the inevitable questions that arise in on line training).

 

On the "all Scouting is Local" concept, we approach local issues in different ways and different emphasis. For example:

 

-- By doing the intro training "locally", we find out what resources and positions they have, who is in attendance, what the gaps are, and emphasize how to make their customized program work without overloading them with "you need to do this" messages (except on key required stuff, like YPT).

-- So if, for example, they have a great BALOO trained leader who is already organizing the outdoor camping stuff, we don't need to get into that too much, because it will happen.

-- But if we have a Pack with a bunch of moms who've never been to camp before, we're going to spend a fair bit of time explaining how to take advantage of "prepackaged" Council run camp opportunities (including "day events") that will be easy for them, let them be successful and have fun, "hook" them and their kids and then get them on the path to bigger things.

 

-- Or, a start up Pack with, say, 10 "interested" signups is gonna need a lot of emphasis on how to run a fun Den Meeting, so we want them to focus on that.

-- But in that small Pack, they are not going to need to know too much at all about how a traditional Pack Meeting runs . . . not yet . . . not 'til they're bigger.

-- Because the traditional Pack meeting of "every Den performs" etc., is sort of, uh, less lively when you have just a den or two.

-- For them, we emphasize a "Pack Meeting" concept as ways for the Den to have a "fun family day or night".

 

Ideally (and we haven't made full progress on this yet, other than me signing up as a Unit Commissioner), a goal is to break down the "silos" that have trainers and commissioners doing their thing in different spheres, so that we have a corps of "trainer/commissioners" or "commissioner/trainers" who can do this service on an ad hoc basis with each unit.

 

-- In the past, too often Commissioners would offer a bit of advice . . . but most training commentary was along the lines of "you should go to training".

-- So Commissioners, having recharter as "job one", would sort of do their recharter thing, and maybe offer reports about how the unit was doing that went . . . somewhere.

 

-- Now, since training (at least YPT) is required to be an Adult Leader and recharter, the training and commissioner tasks are chained together, so . . . why not work together?

-- And, since YPT without some positive "here's how the program works" intro isn't a great intro to the BSA, and fails to help new leaders "get it done", I want to see these new leaders have a better chance of success by giving them this "live and local" training that will help them be a success.

 

Now, backing it up one more step (and we didn't get this well integrated, in part because we're slow to deploy commissioners), I would have liked to see a Training Team member and/or assigned Unit Commissioner (a "commissioner/trainer") at School Night for Scouting events, meeting the parents, saying "OK, when is a good time for you? . . . let's pick a date next week and get 'er done" . . . and everyone leaves with a date certain when we're coming back to knock out the training.

-- It hasn't happened exactly that way, but the parents have been told "here's the upcoming parent picnics".

 

One Trainer's thoughts on "live and local" or SWAT training . . .

 

Bert Bender

Pack and District Trainer

South Fulton District, Atlanta Area Council

All Training is local . . . (well, some) . . . ?