Adult Leadership to Help Troop Advance

[Pack18Alex]

So I am now helping the Troop's turnaround after completing the Pack's turnaround for our CO. One thing to date has been a SM VERY dedicated to "boy run/led EVERYTHING" including things for which they simply aren't capable yet... relatively young troop, nobody over 14, etc. The adults are really stepping back and letting the boys make every decision, but since they aren't guided, they aren't even sure what the universe of choices are. Two of the Scouts are in the Star/Life/Eagle circuit, the rest of the troop is all Scout/Tenderfoot realm with no ability to advance. Recruiting has been dead for a while, it's really a discouraging mess and the boys are really of low morale on their troop going anywhere.

 

I am now working with the Troop Committee to try to get the boys some successes under their belt, and wanted to know from here what you'd recommend. Things we are doing as the Troop Committee:

 

Instead of dumping the annual planning on the PLC (which results in a mediocre plan, no budget, and parents paying out of pocket throughout the year as events are sparsely attended), we're going to meet with the PLC to get their goals for the year (based on this year), give them a preliminary annual plan for them to tweak, then work with the tweaked plan to create a budget. Then the PLC will be planning the events 3 months out. Right now the PLC meets for 3 hours/month to plan the next month of meetings, so outings/campouts never get planned, we're hoping that giving them an outline based on the various school calendars and guiding the PLC to pick locations/plans for campouts they'll get more done. Sure you can learn from failure, but they seem to be learning not to try, we want to give them some easy wins so their confidence will grow and we can get them to take more responsibility.

 

Recruiting: unifying the Pack/Troop a bit more and getting the Webelos involved should help with the currently dead Webelos to Scout transition. The Boy Scouts that have recently interacted with the W1/W2 Dens seem ecstatic now.

 

Guidelines: we want to set some Troop level guidelines so that First Class Scouts can do lots of Merit Badges at Camp, but lower ranked Scouts are focused on achieving First Class. We have some 3rd year Scouts/Tenderfoots with 15 merit badges and 20 partials. We're also planning to do multiple summer camps this summer in hopes of getting all the existing Scouts to Second/First Class. Is this appropriate, or is this a SM/PLC decision?

 

Budgeting/Goal Setting: Our Girl Scout Leader is going to adopt the Cookie Training material for the older girls (the same age as the Troop) and address the PLC in the goal setting department. They don't fundraise because it all seems hopeless. We're going to teach them to set the goals for what they want to get for the Patrol/Troop, and teach them how to set their targets, divide up the work, and make it happen.

 

I believe that the troop can be turned around. I'm guessing that the term for this turnaround part would really be, Adult Led, Boy Run, where the Boys would run their programming, decide on the details, etc., but the adults would be setting up some structure for them to make decisions within. Are these areas I've identified a bad thing to move from Boys to Troop Committee? Are there other areas we should focus on?

[scoutergipper]

This is a bit confusing to me (as most of life is). Why aren't any of your Scouts leading? How in the world can it take 3 hours to plan 3 one-hour Troop meetings (I just returned from a one hour PLC where five Patrol campouts were evaluated and four Troop meetings, and five Service Projects were planned and there wasn't a kid in the room over 14)? I sure wouldn't dump a 12-month planning requirement on a group that takes as long to plan a Troop meeting as it takes to execute a Troop meeting.

 

How can any Scout have "no ability to advance?" I could understand no "desire" to advance as they all go at their own speed. Trying to force advancement is not going to work - you're just going to burn the kids out and suck all the fun out of Scouting.

 

There is such a thing as too much "hands off" which is why we're supposed to "Train 'em." It sounds like your Adult Leadership has not taken the time to train your Youth Leaders. Have the SPL and the Patrol Leaders been given Handbooks for their jobs, and has any Adult talked with them about what's in the Handbook after they've read it so they understand their jobs? Are the Adults mentoring the Leaders, helping them reflect on the decisions they've made to see how they can make things better? Does every Scout understand why they're in a Boy Scout Troop?

[Pack18Alex]

scoutergipper, sorry for the confusion, but I think you have the gist of it. The boys aren't learning, and there aren't really senior scouts to teach them. Also, when there is a demoralized group that doesn't feel they can ever master anything, it feeds on itself.

 

The Scoutmaster also seems to be slow at getting around to evaluating them. So the scouts complain (to their parents) that he's too tough and makes them do everything all at once and if they mess up a little, start over weeks later. So the parents blame the SM's standards. Now, I've NEVER found it beneficial to lower standards, but if the boys aren't learning the material, then there is a training problem.

 

He's also the third SM in 6 years (but was ASM to the prior two). The first never got his training, the second really liked the Merit Badge process and the freedom of the program, but found the rank advancement tedious. When the new SM came in, there wasn't a first class Scout in the bunch. We had Scouts/Tenderfoots with titles like SPL, so that part has gotten better.

 

The adults aren't mentoring the leaders well, mostly getting frustrated with them. It's a bad scene.

 

I don't think that there is much understanding going on. I think it's a bunch of good kids (with 1-2 with bad attitudes) that just don't think that they'll ever be good enough. I know in the Cub Program, the boys were upset at coming back from every Camporee type event without recognition. So we picked an easy category to really focus like hell on and took an award at one of them, and the entire attitude changed.

 

I'm really looking to get the boys some opportunities for easy wins in hopes that it'll build some momentum for them. We're talking about multiple summer camp options, but really making certain that the new Scouts sign up for the basics stuff and making sure we have summer meetings where they can be evaluated and rank up.

 

I think if we can get the Scouts that have languished 3 years @ Scout to hit Tenderfoot/Second Class by end of 2014, we'll be moving in the right direction. SM just complains that none of them look at their Scout Manual between meetings, but even if they don't look at it, they ought to accidentally rank advance at some point, right?

[Stosh]

Pack18Alex,

 

I am one who fully understands where you are coming from. It is exactly what I have with my troop right now. About the only difference is my boys are all new and a couple might now be 12 years old.

 

Adult-led, boy-run, is not teaching the boys anything other than how to follow. We are not here to teach the boys to follow, but to lead and it's not an easy task and most adults will opt out for the easy option of just doing it for them. Parents do this, schools do this, churches do this, sports teams do this, it's is how we have been taught to run youth organizations. No one seldom takes the time to teach the youth how to lead themselves, an adult life expectation that will some how miraculously be accomplished on their 18th birthday. As we can tell by the number of today's thirty-something youth still living in their parent's basement hooked on video games, that this isn't working out very well.

 

As one of two adults working with these boys, the rules of the game are simple. 1) Failure is an option 2) All activities must fall within the guidelines of the BSA. 3) Patrol-method is used. Everything else is fair game.

 

While I don't directly involve myself in the planning and execution of patrol activities, I do offer suggestions when the boys request them and if they are heading for a major cliff, I'll toss in an extra here and there. But if they wish to continue to go over the cliff, I just make preparations for picking up the pieces.

 

We have only the one patrol and the ASM and I view ourselves entirely as support personnel in the troop. If they have a question, we will answer it. If they want training on something, We will provide it. If they need help with something, we will lend a hand. The only thing we will not do is anything they can do for themselves.

 

Some of the boys have made the SCOUT rank and earned a couple of MB's from summer camp. We have been at this for 7-8 months now and not much progress in rank achievement. They were horsing around at last night's meeting quite a bit because they were playing with their knot ropes and Granny Jones (one of the boys that really had difficulty doing his square knot) was jumping all over his patrol mates because he had mastered the square knot and had moved on to the other ones and this buddies hadn't. There was a lot of laughter as Granny Jones introduced himself to Granny Olson each time Mr. Olson screwed up his knots. They were learning and they were having a lot of fun doing so. I just sat in the room and enjoyed their banter. Nothing got signed off for advancement because they didn't bring their books.

 

7 months into the program and only 3 Scouts, but they're having a ton of fun. Advancement will come as time goes on, but they are planning their activities, they are organizing their patrol structure, they are going out doing their service project, activities and going camping. They are in uniform and they are having fun. Did I mention they are having fun? Oh, and the 6 of them sold $6,000+ worth of popcorn this year. The CO his having a fall fundraiser and the boys will be doing table busing for their dinner. This is a service project and the boys decided they will not accept anything for doing a Good Turn and that means each boy will need to bring $10 to pay for their meal that night.

 

A month of C.O.P.E could not produce the teamwork and camaraderie these boys have achieved to this point. While they are not advancing and accomplishing what an adult would consider progress, they are still accomplishing a solid groundwork for others to follow. Their bonding as a group is quite remarkable in that this week we met on Monday as we have since we started, but starting next week we will be meeting on Tuesdays because one of the boys had a major change in his life schedule and Mondays no longer worked for him. No one else had a problem with just moving to Tuesday, and so, they decided next week it's Tuesday from now on. I'm thinking that would never had happened if it was an adult led program. Adult led usually works out well for the adults. Boy led usually works out well for the boys. If one's adults are getting frustrated because they boys aren't meeting their expectations, too bad! Grow up and get over it. This is not the adults' program, it's the boys'. Let them have it and let them set the expectations.

 

If one is going to run a boy-led program, one has to be aware that things are not going to be focused on normal expectations of an adult-led program. The boys are getting organized, they are fed at every outing, they work together well at the patrol competitions (2 3rd place ribbons at their first ever camporee), very successful fundraising, planning out service projects, getting ready for incoming Webelos this winter, and all activities are surprisingly well attended. And where as an adult should I be leading them? I'm just following along trying to keep up.

 

Stosh

 

 

 

[LeCastor]

Alex, when I took over the role of Scoutmaster for my current Troop it was undoubtedly adult-run/adult-led. And you could absolutely argue that some of those tendencies are still there with a few adults. However, I have fought tooth-and-nail to give the Scouts the authority and have attempted to empower them to make their own decisions. As I mentioned in my thread about the younger patrol not wanting to go camping, the newest patrol is having fun (like Stosh's) planning trips to hockey games and planning elaborate video game lock-ins at the church. I personally want to jam hot pokers through my eyeballs when I hear that but, hey, it's what they want to do. My point is that it might not look like what we as adults would want them to do but it's not our Troop.

 

Stosh recommended the book Along the Mohawk Trail by P.K. Fitzhugh (see the thread on "A Scouter's Reading List") and it was like a breath of fresh air reading about Scouts in the outdoors doing Scouty things. Yeah, it's from 1912 but it's a fun read! I'm only half-way through but the Scouts hardly mention their Scoutmaster(s); it's usually the Patrol Leader who they look up to. And I firmly believe that my job as Scoutmaster is to empower my Patrol Leaders to lead their patrols. Example: last night a young Scout wanted me to sign of a requirement for First Class and I told him he should as his PL; they were both surprised because they weren't used to the idea of a "boy" doing a "man's job".

 

I think what your Troop needs is Adult guidance and mentoring, as you've mentioned. Perhaps forming a Green Bar Patrol and taking the PLs on a leadership campout would be in order:

 

http://inquiry.net/patrol/green_bar/index.htm

 

Read William Hillcourt's books and you'll get a sense of what the PLs should be doing. But if we adults always do it for them, even if that means giving them "a few easy wins", I'm afraid they'll get used to it and never get out of that rut.

[qwazse]

...I think if we can get the Scouts that have languished 3 years @ Scout to hit Tenderfoot/Second Class by end of 2014' date=' we'll be moving in the right direction. SM just complains that none of them look at their Scout Manual between meetings, but even if they don't look at it, they ought to accidentally rank advance at some point, right?[/quote']

 

The short answer is no. Advancement by osmosis is not advancement. There is absolutely nothing wrong with scouts who won't even read the handbook not getting Tenderfoot until they are 16.

 

UNLESS: you think these boys have mastered the skills for the appropriate rank and haven't been recognized for it. Or, you think these boys have read the book, but nobody has offered to help them hone their skills.

 

Question: have the boys (at least the PLC, but everyone should be invited) had an Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops weekend?

[King Ding Dong]

Something I have not seen mentioned on this site are the three Troop Program Features volumes that are available as free PDFS and I suppose printed at the scout shop. We have not used them but a quick overview looks like they could be valuable to a troop looking for an outline on how to plan a program. They seem to provide the overall structure you are looking for without the adults telling them what to do. They can pick their theme and then run with it. Now if the adults turn around and say "No, we can't do xyz". You have a problem. My troop wants to do COPE and it is dirt cheap in my council (and ALL BS ages, thank you) but the troop has to provide at least 2 trained instructors. I have been the only one willing to take the weekend long training to get certified and it only costs $20 plus food. One other adult took rock climbing certification with me last year so we can do that again. These parents are just scared of it I think. I can't climb more than two feet up that rock but I can learn to set up a site and tie up all the harnesses and run a safe program. All I really do is belay, the boys do all the encouragement.

[LeCastor]

Good point, KDD! I bought volumes 1, 2, and 3 of the Troop Program Features and put them into a giant binder. It give you several months worth of meetings pre-planned but, to a certain extent, these are still not boy-planned meetings. It's a great way to give the PLs guidance, though! (BTW, I lent that giant binder to a PL two years ago and he never gave it back; now he's off to college four hours away.)

[qwazse]

Sorry for taking your post piecemeal, but there are a lot of ideas that stick out on their own.

 

... Guidelines: we want to set some Troop level guidelines so that First Class Scouts can do lots of Merit Badges at Camp' date=' but lower ranked Scouts are focused on achieving First Class. We have some 3rd year Scouts/Tenderfoots with 15 merit badges and 20 partials. We're also planning to do multiple summer camps this summer in hopes of getting all the existing Scouts to Second/First Class. Is this appropriate, or is this a SM/PLC decision? ...[/quote']

 

I think a general rule of thumb should be to encourage scouts to finish their partials after camp. In our troop, getting the names of MBCs to call is the biggest problem. Our boys are averse to looking that stuff up. So, an occasional "bring your blue cards" meeting helps challenge the boys to commit is helpful. Even so, don't expect group pressure to get more than one or two partials done per boy.

 

IMHO, the committee has no business setting guidelines. But they should be in the business of supporting scouts. Maybe they could help the district clean up the MBC phone list. Possibly find local MBC's and give a "short list" to the boys.

 

I'm not saying that committee members shouldn't be encouraging boys to advance. But how they do it is important.

One thing I try to train my adults to do in casual conversation with a boy:

• ask , "So, what's the plan?"
  
• I try to train the boys to reply "I am working on __ rank. And the next thing I'm gonna do towards it is ___."
  

Obviously, the first time 'round the boy will be clueless, and you'll have to explain that you're asking for a fairly simple answer. Let him know you're expecting him to reply quickly the next time. Think of these as boards of review on the fly. I personally don't care if the boy's strategy is slow as molasses. But if he gets it into his head that he should have a strategy and that he's always "in the game," we're starting to scout in the purest sense of the word.

 

Eventually, you might get the scout who says, "You know, those shooting sports partials are really starting to bug me. Is there anyone in the troop who can help me practice and get better aim?" Then, you start solving advancement problems WITH the boy instead of FOR the boy.

 

Anyway, I think your committee will find it more rewarding to simply interact with the boys in this fashion rather than setting guidelines behind closed doors.

[Pack18Alex]

Thanks for all the great feedback, keep it coming.

 

I know that for the Pack Turnaround we used JTE as our standard for "How to Run a Committee" and we decided to do the same thing for the Troop. So some things come from there -- the Annual Plan/Budget -- (according to JTE the PLC should have input into the Plan then be responsible for all the decisions within that framework), which I think would help all involved. Established troops have the prior year's to start from, our Troop doesn't really have any records and it's all been ad hoc. After the first year, with a basic framework, I'd expect the PLC/TC joint meeting on the annual plan to be PLC led with the TC bringing school schedules, religious and secular calendars, etc. As an Adult, I've had to learn how to take big tasks and break them into smaller steps, then execute the smaller steps. For training that process, the first thing you learn is to follow the smaller steps, then how to break the larger parts up, it's a process.

 

"IMHO, the committee has no business setting guidelines."

 

Interesting, is that really fair? I mean, The CO is offering the program, the CC and Committee are tasked with organizing that program on within the guidelines of the CO (which we do have a bunch of). After years of drifting, we have a LARGE Webelos 2 Den in the Pack, making this year the make or break year for the Troop.

 

We just did a joint Pack/Troop Campout. Of the 10 Boy Scouts on the roster, 2 attended the entire campout, 1 attended part of the campout. The ones there the entire time had a MAJOR attitude shift from being part of a successful campout (10 Cub Scouts, 4 Siblings, plus the 2 Boy Scouts), where real meals existing, the Boy Scouts fed a late night snack to all the adults, worked with the Webelos on Scout Skills, etc. It was a HUGE change of pace and they are excited.

 

But the Boy Scouts are clearly upset at their lack of achievement (personal rank AND troop level). To me that reflects a lack of training/mentorship into how to succeed.

 

[Pack18Alex]

Adult-led, boy-run, is not teaching the boys anything other than how to follow. We are not here to teach the boys to follow, but to lead and it's not an easy task and most adults will opt out for the easy option of just doing it for them. Parents do this, schools do this, churches do this, sports teams do this, it's is how we have been taught to run youth organizations. No one seldom takes the time to teach the youth how to lead themselves, an adult life expectation that will some how miraculously be accomplished on their 18th birthday. As we can tell by the number of today's thirty-something youth still living in their parent's basement hooked on video games, that this isn't working out very well.

 

Stosh,

 

I agree with your observations, but I don't agree with the first sentence.

 

When a Webelos 2 crosses over to a Troop, we don't expect them to lead, we expect them to follow an older Scout assigned as their PL while they learn the basics. We expect them to master the basics of Scout Craft over 12-36 months and reach First Class, then with that training under their belt, learn to lead by teaching those basics to new Scouts that come up. As they master teaching new Scouts, we expect them to move up towards PL, then maybe ASPL/SPL or other senior roles.

 

So, once a troop is underway, the older Scouts teach the middle scouts leadership, while the middle scouts teach the new scouts scout craft (and therefore mastering leadership).

 

So here is the breakdown... Pack leadership collapsed 3 years ago, all the Webelos disappeared. There hasn't been a Webelos crossover in 3 years. The Troop has 10 boys on the roster, 8 are really active, and on any given campout, they have 4 show up (this past weekend was 2). They got one new Scout transferred in last year, but otherwise haven't gotten new scouts in a few years.

 

So the initial failure was on the Pack Leadership. We almost shut the troop down 14 months ago for lack of adult leaders. The Pack's Adult Leaders weren't getting the program, and the Troop couldn't deal with them so neglected the Pack. The Pack didn't kick the program up so Webelos got bored and dropped out. All bad scene.

 

The question is how to get from where we are to well oiled machine bringing in new Scouts annually. For extra fun, the current Web2 Den is a double-sized Den compared to the next 4. With a Successful Crossover, we'll have two fully functional patrols with a pipeline of Cub Scouts coming up. With a botched Crossover, we may not be able to ever actually recover the Troop because outside myself, our core Pack Leadership are in the Webelos 2 Den.

 

So I 100% agree that the Boys taking ownership for as much as possible is critical. But right now, they are staring at a blank sheet of paper and getting overwhelmed. I want to give them a paint by number this month so they gain confidence, then a picture to copy in a few months, so they are able to on their own be painting in a year.

 

There may be a better way to mentor/train the adult leaders, but the SM seems to just be frustrated, and the ASM seems to just want to lower standards.

[CalicoPenn]

It's now November (or will be in a few days) - why wait another 8 to 9 months to concentrate of T-SC-FC? These advancements should be coming naturally as part of your regular Troop programs - there is nothing wrong with setting aside skills time at troop meetings and at troop campouts.

 

You say you have a bunch of Scouts with lots of merit badges and partials from camp but no rank advancement to go with - I don't see that as a failure of summer camp or as a call for some stupid policy - I see it as something the lads know intrinsically - without being prompted - that the whole "Trail to First Class" stuff being done at summer camps is a real waste of time and opportunity at camp - summer camp offers better opportunities for some of the merit badges than outside of camp while T-SC-FC can be done at any time. You're going to have Webelos crossing over in just a few short months - the folks that are going to be getting them through T-SC-FC are sitting in front of you stuck at Scout and Tenderfoot - waiting for an adult leader to mentor them properly and help them reach their goals. From what you're describing, the recent batch of SMs just didn't know how to best run the program so they've taken stuff they've heard and ran with it without really understanding what it means. If the lads haven't been advancing for any reason other than their own lack of interest, I lay that firmly at the feet of the SM - it's his job to help shepard the program so that there are plenty of opportunities for advancement - it can all be done under the Boy-led model (it is NOT boy-run - boy-run is Lord of the Flies - nothing gets done and it is not Adult-run either - it is Boy-led with Adult-mentoring and Adult-support). Suggesting that the Troop have a policy that Scouts concentrate on the Trail to First Class the first time at Summer Camp is really just another way for the adult leaders to shunt their responsibilities off to someone else. My suggestion - DON'T DO IT - it leads to a weak program and it demoralizes first year Scouts who look with excitement at the possibility of earning some cool merit badges at camp that he won't have much of an opportunity to do the rest of the year who are then told that they can't do it because they have to earn ranks that can AND SHOULD be earned as a regular part of the Troop program at their own pace.

 

I would also suggest that you do not do multiple summer camps - summer camp is a great time to achieve unit cohesiveness and you can't do that if a third of your unit camps one week, a third camps a different week and another third camps a completely different week. Choose one week (and this is a PLC decision - with guidance from the SM/ASM's and/or other adults that will be making the trip to ensure no conflicts).

 

Fundraising - I have to say it though it's the elephant in the Boy-led model that so many troops are trying to push the boundaries of - the Committee's job is to support the Boys and their program - part of that support is to help prepare the budget and fundraising activities that support the budget. The PLC, as part of their planning process, can get the ball rolling - the Committee will finalize the budget - there is no POR on the Boy side called Treasurer, after all. Part of that support is to come up with fundraising projects - the easiest is to start with popcorn sales - but you can do garage sales, wreath sales, candle sales, tree sales, etc - the planning will mostly fall to the adults until they get established (most of those pancake breakfasts, tree sales, pumpkin sales, etc. were started years and years ago by Troop committees - they may be "run" by the boys now, but the foundation was laid a long time ago). Yes, absolutely ask the boys if they'd be interested in doing certain fundraisers, but don't expect them to be able to pull them together themselves.

 

 

My suggestion before you get started on any improvements for the Troop is to get a copy of the SM's handbook, Committee Guidebook, SPL's handbook and PL's handbook - even old copies will do - and read them all first - use these to start and your compass will be pointed in the right direction.

[qwazse]

...

"IMHO, the committee has no business setting guidelines."

 

Interesting, is that really fair? I mean, The CO is offering the program, the CC and Committee are tasked with organizing that program on within the guidelines of the CO (which we do have a bunch of). After years of drifting, we have a LARGE Webelos 2 Den in the Pack, making this year the make or break year for the Troop.

 

We just did a joint Pack/Troop Campout. Of the 10 Boy Scouts on the roster, 2 attended the entire campout, 1 attended part of the campout. The ones there the entire time had a MAJOR attitude shift from being part of a successful campout (10 Cub Scouts, 4 Siblings, plus the 2 Boy Scouts), where real meals existing, the Boy Scouts fed a late night snack to all the adults, worked with the Webelos on Scout Skills, etc. It was a HUGE change of pace and they are excited.

 

But the Boy Scouts are clearly upset at their lack of achievement (personal rank AND troop level). To me that reflects a lack of training/mentorship into how to succeed.

I was specifically referring to how a scout chooses to advance (or not).

 

It is important to do right by the CO, but most COs are really not bothered about the details of advancement. My CO wants our kids to grow up good and say grace at meals. I think your CO's requirements, although many, fall along similar lines. That may demand you set guidelines for program planning or even discipline, but not for advancement.

 

Guidlines No! Training/mentoring: Yes!

And, I provided an example of how a committee can be part of that process without taking ownership of the program from the boys.

Your joint campout is another fine example. Without mandating it, those 3 boys got a vision of how important it was to be a 1st class scout (the concept, not the patch). The MC's task, then, is to recognize those boys in a way that other boys see how much you appreciated their hard work. Maybe ask the SPL for a minute during meeting announcements to give those fellas thank-you cards signed by the cubs.

That's why I asked about the ILST course. It's not the "end all" solution for boy leadership. In fact, I have to sneak itin to my troop's activities since they hate the sound "class." But it gives the boys a handful of things they can improve upon, and gives them an idea of when and how to ask for help from whom.

 

Other ways to mentor:

• a committee member might have access to a boardroom with touch-screen monitors and video conference capability. The boys might want to use that to talk to scouts from another part of the country or world.
  
• Someone else might be a party/event planner. The boys might go to them to see how their business works. Then the SM might ask the boys if anything they saw might help them plan the next troop event.
  
• The boys can visit a town meeting. Or maybe a toastmasters club.
  
• Your sales coach is an awesome resource. Teaching boys that they can learn something from other organizations is a great idea. We have a dad who coaches our boys in selling advertizing space on the place-mats for our spaghetti dinner.
  

My point is that you don't want your committee get into the rut of writing policies that may work for a year, but bog a troop down for decades thereafter. Rather, you want them to get into the routine of being on the lookout for how to help each boy advance his God-given talents. Generally, if he does that, rank advancement will follow.

[Pack18Alex]

Thanks.

 

Dropping the idea of a Committee Policy of: 1st Class for Merit Badges, S/T/2 having to do Scout Skills.

 

There is a small summer camp an hour away. The plan is to send the NSP there with a few carefully selected Scouts as PL/APL. That Summer Camp will be a T/2/1 Camp for the NSP to get them up to speed. This way, they'll transition from Webelos->Boy Scouts in two parts, 1: we teach you and test you now, to we teach you and test you next week, 2: you start to make decisions about your scouting advancement (a new transition 4 weeks later).

 

Basically this Spring, Webelos work on finishing up AOL and learning the TF requirements. So they cross into Troop and hopefully hit TF before Summer Camp. Then the nearby Summer Camp they go and learn skills for 2nd Class. We think that that's less scary for Cub Moms whose boys are crossing over that they'll be an hour away instead of 5.

 

We found a Summer Camp 5 hours away that has a week where it offers Resident Camp for Cubs and Webelos. They agreed to give us a joint campsite for our religious restrictions. In that scenario, we're further away from home, but the new Scout Parents should be less freaked because the Pack leadership they know is all there.

 

The leadership team wants to keep the summer camp they usually go to on the calendar. I suggested dropping it this year to focus on the other two, but that was a bridge too far. Looking at the week AFTER the Pack/Troop Summer Camp, any Boy Scouts that want to do another week will trek to that camp an hour away. Troop spends the Sabbath (Saturday) with someone hosting them in the area, nice hot showers, real home meals, before doing the second camp week. They've done two weeks before, it's worked well.

 

This way, also, the New Scouts that had a blast in week 1 that can convince their parents to let them stay can no doubt pay for more camp and go.

 

The legacy scouts that don't advance can do what they want. Hopefully the new Scouts hit the ground running and this time next year we have a functional troop with two patrols.

 

In terms of waiting until next summer for existing scouts... we're not, but if in 3 years they couldn't figure out how to advance, I'm not going to hold my breath on the next 8 or 9 months, but I'll hope for them to.

[MattR]

Good for you, Alex. There's a lot to read here but the missing ingredient seems to be adults that understand how this works. Without that there seems to be no trust between the scouts and the adults. Everyone seems frustrated and nobody knows what to do. The scouts are flailing or not showing up. The adults are setting very high standards but are not showing the scouts how to get there.

 

Your idea of getting them some success is great. How about coming up with a plan for the next 3 months and running it like an annual planning session? Here's one approach. Find a good chunk of a day, probably Sunday, get some good food the scouts like, and, given that you live in Florida, an outdoor place. Start with a silly, fun activity to break the ice and spread a few more out throughout the process. Then spend at least a half hour to ask them why they are in scouts and what they want out of it. They will likely talk about friends, skills, advancement, and hopefully talk about service, the outdoors and adventure. If they forget any of these then ask them. It's not that you care too much it's that they should think about it. Then spend some time asking them about how things are going now. Review the last 3 months. Don't judge their answers but help them dig deeper and also identify assumptions they are making. Maybe they really do want to advance but since their SM is a hard nose, they don't enjoy it. At this point it's time to start coming up with a plan for the next 3 months. The Troop Program Features mentioned by KDD might be a good place to start. And by that I mean suggest to them a framework they can add stuff to. That narrows down the decisions they need to make considerably. When scouts are learning to make decisions limiting their choices can be a good way to help them out. In its simplest form all they have to do is pick 3 months that are already planned out. If they are mature enough they could come up with 3 themes and 3 campouts (assuming they want to do 3 campouts) that reflect some of the things they said they want out of scouts. From there talk them through the process off figuring out what each meeting should cover. At the very least, have them pick the game they play each meeting. One of those volumes has a ton of game ideas in them. Now they should have a calendar. Make sure it reflects what the scouts want out of scouts. You're getting their buy in. You're also developing trust that they know you're letting them make the calls and you're helping them out. The next thing to do is ask them how they are going to make this happen. They'll come up with something. Maybe the younger scouts will take charge of the games and the older scouts will take charge of advancement activities. Who knows. But it would be wise for everyone to have a part of this. The next part is presenting this to the committee. If the scouts do this forewarn the adults to not stomp on the scouts when they present something. If you do it then sell it as something the scouts did and the adults need to support them. Then comes the tough part. The scouts need to be constantly reminded to do their part. They should not be asked questions that can be answered in one word. "Fine" is always a dangerous answer. After every event sit them down and review how it went. I'm finding this is hugely important. The scouts know when things go wrong but they don't know how to talk about it. That requires a facilitator to review the good, bad, and future changes.

 

Eventually a lot of this can be done by the scouts but for now, since they've never seen it done, you'll have to guide them. After the calendar has been executed I'd suggest making a very big deal at a COH about how the scouts did this. Most likely the scouts will know they did a good job and they will come together.

 

You may ask what this has to do with getting scouts to first class or completing merit badges. It doesn't. It has to do with the scouts deciding, within the context of the aims and methods of scouting, what they want to do. This is just a start.