ASM Troop Guides - lessons learned

[jjlash]

Im going through some notes from a previous WB course and came across my lessons learned document.  I always intended to post this info for others to learn from my experiences, so - here you go...

 

Set expectations to read and understand the whole syllabus. Doing so provides context to each session and helps understand how all of the sessions 
fit together to deliver the overall message.
	Had one TG who only read portions of the syllabus that specifically said they were a TG presentation.  

	i.e.  problem solving round robin section says to understand the points of the problem solving session (just prior).  This TG only studied 
	his assigned problem solving station – he had not read the rest of the round robin section/material and had not read the problem solving 
	presentation that setup the round robin

Set expectations about preparation – had one who was constantly behind, by staff dev 3 she still had not given a presentation.  CD and I discussed, 
based on registration numbers we were going to drop a patrol so the TG was told her services were no longer needed.

Problem Solving round robin
•	Rotation order based on physical arrangement within camp grounds
•	Desire patrols to end with station that their TG facilitates so that they can go straight into the managing conflict presentation
•	To end with their TG, patrols will start at the station immediately following their TG’s station in the rotation
•	Patrols can be assigned starting stations in advance so that a map of the station locations (including which patrol starts at which 
station) can be printed in advance
•	Allowing TGs to choose their preferred station means that the list of patrol starting stations cannot be finalized until TGs have 
been assigned to a patrol.

Be prepared – truly prepared – to be backup for your team.  Give the TG presentations just as much time and effort as any others you have.  
If you still have slides/notes from when you were a TG, dust them off; update them for syllabus changes; practice them.  

Double check technology – we used a set of shared folders on a google drive for distributing things.  I found out 3 days before the course 
began that the TGs did not have access to the folder where the updated schedule was being put.  They had printed copies that were distributed 
at staff dev meetings but they did not have immediate access to the latest version.  AND – they didn’t realize that they should have had access 
but didn’t.

Remember – making sure the TGs are prepared to put on the course is only part of your job.  The other part is to develop them as leaders; to 
help them gain a better overall understanding of the WB material; to help them grow so that they can take on bigger leadership roles in all 
aspects of their life.  Some specific things I did toward this end:
•	have TG meetings before or after each staff dev meeting
•	have some “sharing time” at each TG meeting, let people get to know each other
•	encourage them to go to each other, not just to the ASM TG, for answers
•	remind them that their job is not just to deliver the material, but also to build/guide the patrol team and to develop the patrol members 
as leaders

More TG meeting time – 30 minutes or so before/after the staff dev meetings was not enough time to review and practice everything.  Would like 
to have been more prepared prior to Day 0 (the walk-through day before course starts)

Make time to see at least one presentation practice session for each TG.  Looking back, I realize that there were a couple of TGs who I didnt 
ever see present.  This was partly because a couple were consistently not prepared and thus I spent my staff dev time working with them while 
admin staff listened to the other TGs.  During day one TG had a last-minute work conflict and missed the first weekend so I was giving presentations 
and did not have opportunity to circulate and watch the other TGs.

During staff dev, send TGs a ticket from past course and ask them to review it.  Have a group discussion about the content of the ticket and what 
feedback they might give the writer.  Lets you get a sense of what they are looking at, lets you coach them and should ease some of their anxiety 
about ticket reviews.