Troop Level Training for Boy Leaders

[Hedgehog]

Our youth training program is awful.  It is the BSA troop leadership training program and really is a waste of time.  We do it on a Saturday in a classroom setting and I don't see any of the skills being either useful or used.  That being said, we've got two 8th graders going to NYLT this summer with a couple other scouts thinking about it.

 

I'd love to develop a weekend (Friday through Sunday) training program within the troop.  Some of the ideas (off the top of my head) that I'd like to focus on are:

 

1.  Servant Leadership (or Leading by Doing) vs. Command Leadership

2.  How Leaders Build Consensus

3.  Planning for Success vs. Failing to Plan

4.  Making Decisions

5.  Situational Awareness

6.  The Advanatages and Pitfalls of Adaptability

7.  The Importance of Relationships

8.  Finding Everyone's Role / Encouraging Strengths / Addressing Weaknesses

 

My questions are

 

1.  How does your Troop do leadership training?

2.  Do you have any materials you can share?

3.  Do you have any references, books, websites that I can draw from?

 

[Sentinel947]

My Troop runs ILST. Which might be the program you are using. 

We have done it on an outing for only Scouts with a POR. We do it once a year. In addition to the ILST course (which takes at most 3-4 hours) we have the SPL's and Instructors create a theme of the weekend and run activities based on that. Last year was cooking. This year I believe will be first aid, with all the fun fake blood and such. 

If you do create your own course, I'd be really interested in seeing it. We thought about developing our own. We started doing ILST in 2013. It had been 4-5 years since the Troop had done a leadership training course besides sending 3 scouts a year to NYLT. There was too much going on personally for me to develop a course from scratch. Coulda been something we asked the boys for input on, looking back on it.. 

Sentinel947

[Krampus]

My cousin did a cool thing. He was took the old JLT and built their TLT on that model. I borrowed it. Far superior to what BSA offers today.

[qwazse]

... awful.  ...  waste of time.  ... a classroom setting ...

Pardon the severe clipping, but you see where I'm going with this?

 

Modify every lesson in ISLT into a wide game. Simple example: the Telephone game should be played with each member spread out at least 50 feet (preferably vertical as well as horizontal) from the next.

 

The best "home grown" training I ever did was on a crew backpacking trip. Nearly all of the youth had shown some leadership skills in the past few months, so the "pump was primed". So, I put key words from the Venturing Leader's manual on index cards, folded them and sealed them and gave one to each hiker. These were "break passes". We would only stop and rest so long as one hiker would pull out his/her card and give an impromptu speech or lead a discussion on the subject. As soon as that person stopped talking we had to up and move.

Edited March 7, 2016 by qwazse

[Eagle94-A1]

Ok this was with adults, but I used elements of BA22 training to supplement the IOLS training, and make it fun.

 

One thing we did extra with ILST, which is VERY dry, is added a lot of initiative games to it to kick it up a notch.

[fred johnson]

Our troop until just a few years ago kept using the VHS based ILST training materials from BSA.  It was very 1970s production and the scouts thought it was funny.  But it worked.  

 

The agenda was based very closely to this.  In fact, after scanning this, it is very very close. 

 

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/training/pdf/ILST%20FINALS%202011%20-%20Item%20Number%20511-016.pdf

 

I still remember each person grabbing their bag lunch.  The guy with the bag of cookies or chips were excited.  The guy with the bag of lunch meat only, not so much.  

 

If I had to do it again, I'd start with the referenced doc.

[Stosh]

Hmmm, I don't do JLT, TLT, or ISLT.  I use a loosely defined patrol training program based on the GBB training program.  Everything is done on the patrol level only and issues are addressed only when the PL runs into difficulty.  

 

PL has a job to do - take care of the boys (leadership) and run the patrol (management).

 

APL has a job to do - be the PL's right hand man, the go-to guy to make things happen, Make sure the PL is successful, if the PL looks good, the APL does too.  It's a team relationship.

 

QM has a job to do - make sure any and all equipment needs are handled so "all the boys are taken care of".

 

Scribe has a job to do - make sure all finances, reporting, advancements, are dealt with with the appropriate people outside the patrol.  This is critical because it is important that "all the boys are taken care of."

 

Grubmaster has a job to do - he does all the planning, prep, cooking and serving of meals for the patrol.  He works closely with the QM to make sure the equipment he needs is available and "all the boys are taken care of for meals."

 

The Chaplain's Aid has a job to do - provides the necessary spiritual aspect of the patrol, so that "all the boys are taken care of"

 

Name a job and as long as it starts with something to do and ends with "so that all the boys are taken care of" there is no need for training.  The boys figure it out or the patrol replaces them with someone who will do the job and take care of them.

 

With such an approach the boys tend to take care of each other and get the work done.  Other than that we don't do any other leadership training.

 

Only once did the boys ask for a leadership training program and the SPL and I were in the process of teaching the boys the GBB training material when I as SM was asked to leave because I was expecting too much leadership from the boys.....   It was rather unfortunate because the boys were having a blast.

[Krampus]

Didn't GBB write the JLT and design the crest?

[fred johnson]

Hmmm, I don't do JLT, TLT, or ISLT.  I use a loosely defined patrol training program based on the GBB training program.  Everything is done on the patrol level only and issues are addressed only when the PL runs into difficulty.  

 

I can respect your approach.  I am sure it works fine.  

 

I like the TLT done by the BSA ILST as documented in -->  http://www.scouting....ber 511-016.pdf

• SPL runs the training.  SM spends time coaching and mentoring the SPL on how to successfully run it.
• Training is a good mix of
  • 15% class time 
  • 10% intro video
  • 50% team building games
  • 25% reflections

One I remember is the SPL coaches the youngest, smallest, etc scout on how to lead and how a game works.   Then, everyone except that scout is blindfolded and given a rope. All ropes connect to a rubber ring.  When done right, the scouts pick up a pale and move it to another spot.  The ropes have to stretch the ring to fit on the can.  The ropes have to be the right tightness.  It's fun to watch.  Also teaches more experienced scouts to listen to the quieter scouts and the quieter scouts have to learn to speak up.  Lots of good lessons.  

 

I like it because it's good team building as much as leadership training.

Edited March 7, 2016 by fred johnson

[Eagle94-A1]

Didn't GBB write the JLT and design the crest?

 

No, he created the Brownsea 22 ( BA22) syllabus and crest.

 

JLTC has elements from BA22. Some folks made their own patches using the BA22 crest for JLTC, but it had it's own design.

 

Eagle94-A1

COCKY CURLEY! BA22

Staff JLTC

[Eagledad]

No, he created the Brownsea 22 ( BA22) syllabus and crest.

 

JLTC has elements from BA22. Some folks made their own patches using the BA22 crest for JLTC, but it had it's own design.

 

Eagle94-A1

COCKY CURLEY! BA22

Staff JLTC

Back in the day when Brownsea was the course, many of scouters referred to it as JLT. So yes, some folks might think of it as JLT.

 

Brownsea was a really good course.

 

Barry

[Krampus]

I like the TLT done by the BSA ILST as documented in -->  http://www.scouting....ber 511-016.pdf

 

Sorry, but this training is heavy on the "what" but does nothing to explain the "how". Like most BSA training it weak, unfocused and does nothing to operationalize "how" things are accomplished. It doesn't work for adults and it most certainly does not work for boys.

 

We ran this training for a full year (four times) using the council-trained ILST trainer. The guy helped build the course. The feedback after EVERY course was that, while the boys learned what they should be doing, the course did not tell them how to do it. It was like handing someone who had never seen fishing before (and didn't know what fishing was), a rod and reel and telling them to use it properly.

 

At least the old JLT had both the what AND how. Ever since using that, our boys understand what is expected of them. This ILST falls far short of the mark.

[Stosh]

 

I can respect your approach.  I am sure it works fine.  

 

It's not for the novice, one need a lot of patience. 

I like it because it's good team building as much as leadership training.

 

Let me take that one step further @@fred johnson  If everyone in the patrol (group, troop, whatever) is doing their job (management of task) or helping someone else do their job (Best leaders are the best followers, i.e. "What can I do to help?")  and taking care of others, that not team work without the ropes and rubber bands? 

 

I teach my boys that when all are leaders and followers in the group at various times, that is what teamwork means.  It's looking out for others around you.... full circle back around to TF #9..

 

It's not linear from newbie to leader, it is a constant circle of always coming back to helping other people at all times until everyone in the group figures out what that means.

[Eagledad]

Some of the responses remind me why we moved away from the BSA training course. I'm not complaining about the course because it helped get us started when we were kind of clueless about junior leadership training. But we found that scouts only needed the course once. After that, it was extremely boring. And we found that once our troop was maturing and had developed set routines, the course didn't really meet the needs of the scouts. 

 

So we developed two courses. One course was for scouts that had no leadership experience. It was an overnight course that gave the scouts basic skills of leading they may have not observed in their patrols. The other course was presented after each election. It is basically a couple hours of guiding scouts of  their new responsibilities. 

 

As for the leadership and management skills the scouts uses, we found that the scouts had at least the raw basics already from observing their predecessors. If the scouts were struggling in specific areas, the SPL would set up quick courses for that specific to the need. A scout theoretically never has to repeat a training course until they are instructing or directing it.

 

Barry

Edited March 7, 2016 by Eagledad

[fred johnson]

 

 

Let me take that one step further @@fred johnson  If everyone in the patrol (group, troop, whatever) is doing their job (management of task) or helping someone else do their job (Best leaders are the best followers, i.e. "What can I do to help?")  and taking care of others, that not team work without the ropes and rubber bands? 

 

I teach my boys that when all are leaders and followers in the group at various times, that is what teamwork means.  It's looking out for others around you.... full circle back around to TF #9..

 

It's not linear from newbie to leader, it is a constant circle of always coming back to helping other people at all times until everyone in the group figures out what that means.

 

I understand your comments.  And it makes sense.  It's something we should be continually doing as an on-going, on-the-job training program.

 

But, it's not a syllabus training course.  Not you might want to argue against the need for such a course.  Fine.   I just like having a special event / special training opportunity to make the current leaders think about their leading styles and methods.