Grow scouting

[MattR]

I want to talk about how to set up a bunch of scout units for success. But everything you used to use to solve this problem can't be used because, well, it's gone. Call it a thought experiment or call it reality, but here are the ground rules. Membership is down, all of your volunteers are new to scouting and don't have a lot of outdoor experience. You've got to get a small district up and running but there is no DE. You can have some media with information in it that would be useful to the new volunteers and scouts - sections of the handbook, field book, whatever you'd like. There can be one person with experience to help guide them, but they can only help a few hours a week. You can count on some camps that you can use and any money you need will have to be raised by the scouts, i.e., no more donations. If you're lucky you can find a list of old codgers that can help teach some skills now and then but they aren't going to do any heavy lifting, or camping in cold weather. You can't count on finding volunteers from local businesses or any other experts that will volunteer lots of time. The only volunteers you're going to get are parents of kids that want to be scouts. There will be no training, no camporees, no organized summer camp (but there will be some camps)

Now, there is one premise you can build on. Scouts and adults can put up with a lot of bad news as long as they are having fun and moving forward (improving, growing, reaching their goals). If you get them started and going they will become self motivated and within a couple of years will be the volunteers that can come back and teach some skills.

Your goal, should you decide to accept it, is to write a manual to be given to unit leaders on how to grow scouting. It has to be simple enough to get them started, have fun and make progress. It should have a way for units to help other units when they get stuck (because you can't help them).

What would you do?

I ask this because I think that's not too far off from where the BSA will be next year. The BSA will not provide help and councils won't do much either. Districts are also hurting.

[InquisitiveScouter]

I believe the biggest issue is lack of adult leaders with the time needed to create and nurture a robust unit program.

At each unit, I would start a separate 501c3, similar to "Troop XX Booster Club", and that corporation would hire a full time unit leader called "Scoutmaster'. Each member has a fee and/or fundraising goal to support this. Then, I would hire someone ( like a retired veteran) who is already financially independent (or nearly so) so they wouldn't have to rely on their unit salary to live, but that salary would cover ALL costs associated with their unit functions.  Limit unit size based on how many adults the corporation could hire (that's a whole other discussion), so that the paid positions' span of control for mentoring and managing is workable.  Drive the actual cost of Scouting to the unit level.

There are other groups that do this all the time...churches for example, hiring a pastor.

And some councils (at least in the past) have paid unit leaders to work in units in underserved areas.

[qwazse]

8 hours ago, MattR said:

…  Your goal, should you decide to accept it, is to write a manual to be given to unit leaders on how to grow scouting. It has to be simple enough to get them started, have fun and make progress. It should have a way for units to help other units when they get stuck (because you can't help them).

What would you do? …

Camp (not the council’s crown jewel, an older — maybe oldest — land trust) was full this weekend. Our neighbors, about 200 yards off, were new girls’ troop. The usual female who camped with them was not available so the SM’s spouse came along. She was no fan of camping and this was a brutal weather even for those of us who were. It wasn’t warm enough to stay thawed, nor cold enough to keep the precipitation from crawling through your clothes. I praised her effusively for coming along with her scouts.

However I’d  write, it would have to include high praise for such people.

Related to that, I would ask leaders to walk a mile in their scouts’ boots. Go through the Handbook and try to earn 1st class, getting signed off by their senior scout along the way.

 

[Eagledad]

When I was a trainer, I gave new Troop leaders the SPL Handbook and PL Handbook, and suggested they use those very simple handbooks to guide their program along side their scouts using the same handbooks.. I don't know if the BSA is still publishing those handbooks.

In the pack, I highly suggested that the committee recruit an adult for every task and responsibility. Burnout is the number one problem with packs, so making sure everyone only has one responsibility helps reduce burnout. Our pack would even recruit parents for Blue and Gold, and Pinewood Derby at the beginning of the year so the committee could monitor and help them early if they needed help.

Barry

[InquisitiveScouter]

12 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

I don't know if the BSA is still publishing those handbooks.

They do...

https://www.scoutshop.org/patrol-leader-handbook-647788.html

https://www.scoutshop.org/sr-patrol-leader-handbook-647789.html

We provide them to our PLs, APLs, SPL, and ASPLs.  But, they mostly go unread and unpracticed.

As for adults, most don't get or won't read the SHB...

Edited November 15, 2021 by InquisitiveScouter

[MattR]

Maybe I was misunderstood. The idea is to start with a group of scouts and adults with very little experience and show them how to have fun while learning the skills they need to be great volunteers to take over. So, smart with simple stuff and stay focused on fun to encourage everyone to come back for more. I think a pancake cooking competition would be worth a lot more than an hour of training - which nobody is around to do anyway.

[T2Eagle]

I would always start with camping.  If you're really being cautious make it weather dependent, and only go if the weather's nice.  Don't worry about requirements or anything like that, just put up some tents and have everyone, adults and scouts, divvy up the basic tasks:, cooking, cleaning, fetching water.  Get a campfire going and get everybody around it telling bad jokes and old stories.

Do this a few times and everybody will get better at their outdoor skills and the scouts and adults will become comfortable with, and start desiring, to separate themselves from each other, or as we call it, forming patrols.

[fred8033]

1 hour ago, T2Eagle said:

I would always start with camping.  If you're really being cautious make it weather dependent, and only go if the weather's nice.  Don't worry about requirements or anything like that, just put up some tents and have everyone, adults and scouts, divvy up the basic tasks:, cooking, cleaning, fetching water.  Get a campfire going and get everybody around it telling bad jokes and old stories.

Do this a few times and everybody will get better at their outdoor skills and the scouts and adults will become comfortable with, and start desiring, to separate themselves from each other, or as we call it, forming patrols.

Absolutely great answer.  Great.

... and I only comment ... because I tend to comment ...   ... "only go if the weather's nice" ... I would absolutely work toward never canceling.  Yes, if the weather is dangerous or not managable, don't go.  BUT, if there is a way to moderate the experience, go.  Maybe it means, working with the camp ranger to have a roofed shelter.  Or, change the plan to do XXXXX.  ... Or camp out at your CO's building for the night with an outdoor camp fire.  ... A key to success is to keep to your schedule.  Too many cancels and scouts / adults find other places to spend their time or will 2nd guess if the troop will really go.  

[qwazse]

My childhood troop had been started a few years earlier with help from the loan (donation?) of an SPL of the troop my SM was assigned to start as a member of the CO.

So, instead of going to training. Training came to him.

I didn’t appreciate it then. But now … Look at your top scout. Think of going to him/her and saying, “It’s time for you to finish your tenure in a unit of newbies down the road.”

[Eagle1993]

If it was my district, I would ask other units to share ideas of events they put on, camping locations, hiking spots, etc. and share them with the new unit.  Perhaps even see if some units would be willing to invite the new Troop to their events.  Trop XYZ would invite this new group of scouts & parents along.  The new group would be in their own patrol.  Perhaps by going to 2-3 other Troop/s outings, the new Troop would start seeing how other Troops operate and start forming their own culture aligned with the one they like best.

I agree with starting with setting up patrols and youth leadership early and give them the list of ideas (ones that the adults are willing to support).  Let them select and then get out camping, hiking, etc.  I would look a bit at advancement as I do see kids who earn advancement as more likely to stay onboard, but advancement should be done as part of outings. 

[Eagledad]

28 minutes ago, qwazse said:

My childhood troop had been started a few years earlier with help from the loan (donation?) of an SPL of the troop my SM was assigned to start as a member of the CO.

So, instead of going to training. Training came to him.

I didn’t appreciate it then. But now … Look at your top scout. Think of going to him/her and saying, “It’s time for you to finish your tenure in a unit of newbies down the road.”

This is an idea we discussed locally many times over the years as a way of starting new troops. I think it would work well with two scouts and I would be willing to push it. Taking a scout on loan might be the one way I might even consider being a SM again. 

But, I will reflect on the experience of one of the most popular troops in our district. The troop had, and still has, a long tradition of great leadership and a fun program. However, their was a time they two outstanding scouts who took turns for several years being the SPL and ASPL. They were natural scouts with charismatic personalities that everyone enjoyed being around. One of my WB patrol mates became their scoutmaster. He was a very smart scouter and found himself be pulled in many directions at the district and council level at this same time Because the two scouts had everything pretty much under control at the scout level, he left them to the program without much observation. And, the ran it well.

The troop grew like crazy and the program's reputation of being fun grew even in the council. The SM was getting a lot of praise an pats on the back for the troop success. Until the two scouts went to collage. Then the truth came out and within a few months the troop program fell apart. Mainly because nobody really knew what to do. The adults were in the dark as much as the scouts. In short, the one basic flaw of the two scouts was they didn't leave any legacies to follow. They didn't train new leaders, and they didn't work along side the adults to continue the patrol method part of the program. Ironically, the SM was receiving top awards for his contribution to the the district and council. But, he realized that he missed out on the rewarding experience of working with older scouts to help continue the growth. The long tradition of the troops reputation weighed heavy on the SM, so he stepped aside after a few months and disappeared from the scouting. .

I knew the two scouts well because they were my son's friends. They were just fun people to be around. But, the SM failed them and the troop because he didn't push growth of their experience and maturity in the program. In stead of being direct leaders of the PLC, they should have been pushed to be mentors and role models of Aims and Methods of Scouting. If the SM pushed and mentored growth of the two scouts, I think they would have then seen how leadership has to be continued into all levels of the program so new leadership blooms naturally. 

I would enjoy taking a mature SPL or two and mentoring them to grow as they start the new troop. I can't imagine a more rewarding experience for both the scouts and the SM. 

Barry

[Armymutt]

Is this hypothetical unit a Pack or a Troop?  A Pack is far more reliant on parental involvement.  A Troop can work with very few.  For a Troop, I would look at the 1920s.  How did it work then?  Why the focus on a district?  My first Troop as a kid (well, second, but because the first sucked) basically ignored the district and council.  It was first chartered in 1933 and ran like a pirate ship.  Probably still does.  I never attended a camporee or council summer camp with them.  Until they bought some land in southern MO in the 60s, they would pack up the boys in a bus, have a parent drive it while an older boy drove his dad's car with a boat behind it, and headed for Kentucky Lake.  They spent a week on the shore, canoeing, motorboating, waterskiing, fishing, etc.  They even had a "water carnival" consisting of stuff I don't know about beyond a greased watermelon.  In my time, we went to the camp in southern MO.  It's about 17 acres total.  We did motorboating, water skiing, pioneering, a float trip, visited state parks, fished, played games, had campfires, etc.  We didn't need expensive council camps.  If a boy didn't have his own tent, the troop had canvas ones from the 70s.  We cooked on stoves by patrol most days.  The menu was predetermined by the PLC, SM, and ASM - probably cost us about $20 for the week.  None of us could drive.  The SPL was a freshman.  There were 8 Scouts and we piled in the ASM's RAM 1500 van.  It was far more magical and impressive to me than any other summer camp I've been to, other than Philmont.  That includes a week in Switzerland at Kandersteg.  Loved it so much that I went back two additional summer when I returned home from England after high school.  Would have gone more, but my parents moved to FL and I didn't have a place to stay in IL during the summer.  

The point of this tale is that Scouting can be done on the cheap, and without the district.  Summer camp may not be a merit badge factory, but the boys will have fun.  

Getting around the inexperienced leaders is tough.  A humble leader would be able to learn from an experienced older Scout and the available material.  This might be a good thing to bring to the OA.  Ask the Scouts and adults to come help and serve as coaches and mentors.  I'm going to try to put this into practice next year, hopefully.  My plan is to start slowly and avoid the DE and commissioner until I really need them.  They are too motivated and dead set on perfection.  

[MattR]

Building on @qwazseand @Eagledad 's comments, what if, rather than bringing in an oracle scout, consider taking the new troop - which is likely the size of a patrol - and putting it in the troop where the split would have come from for a year? Then split off a new troop with that one patrol. The new parents would also have someone to learn from as well.

The comment from @T2Eagle is also good. How many units start off bad because they forget about fun? Rather than make a big plan for advancement I'd much rather ask the scouts what they want to learn. If the answer is how to make great pancakes (because they just torched the last ones) then there's a plan the scouts will get behind.

@Armymutt , this is a hypothetical district. It has very few volunteers, no OA, and the DE is busy doing something else. Maybe the OA, as originally intended to bring ideas back to units, is an idea worth pursuing. I don't think districts currently help improve units as much as they think. The people best able to do that seem to be the ones in the thick of it. So I'd rather see units helping each other be the focus. To be honest, a troop needs 7 years of great ideas and then it can start recycling them. I'd think sharing ideas would really help units come up with more enjoyable calendars but every time I saw a roundtable ask units to share it's rather superficial.  If you saw the SNL skit called Man Park last week, that's what roundtables remind me of other than announcements. And the announcements don't really help either.

[Armymutt]

3 hours ago, MattR said:

Building on @qwazseand @Eagledad 's comments, what if, rather than bringing in an oracle scout, consider taking the new troop - which is likely the size of a patrol - and putting it in the troop where the split would have come from for a year? Then split off a new troop with that one patrol. The new parents would also have someone to learn from as well.

The comment from @T2Eagle is also good. How many units start off bad because they forget about fun? Rather than make a big plan for advancement I'd much rather ask the scouts what they want to learn. If the answer is how to make great pancakes (because they just torched the last ones) then there's a plan the scouts will get behind.

@Armymutt , this is a hypothetical district. It has very few volunteers, no OA, and the DE is busy doing something else. Maybe the OA, as originally intended to bring ideas back to units, is an idea worth pursuing. I don't think districts currently help improve units as much as they think. The people best able to do that seem to be the ones in the thick of it. So I'd rather see units helping each other be the focus. To be honest, a troop needs 7 years of great ideas and then it can start recycling them. I'd think sharing ideas would really help units come up with more enjoyable calendars but every time I saw a roundtable ask units to share it's rather superficial.  If you saw the SNL skit called Man Park last week, that's what roundtables remind me of other than announcements. And the announcements don't really help either.

Yeah, Roundtable is kind of boring.  I get boring lectures all day.  Don't really want to do it for fun.  It's not so much a Man Park.  It's a combo in-person and Zoom, and the presenter always is on Zoom.  Ever try to sit in a big room and listen to someone lecture from their home computer to a laptop projected on a screen?  Shoot me!  At this point I go to try to figure out who is in our district so I can put faces with names.

[Eagledad]

15 hours ago, MattR said:

Building on @qwazseand @Eagledad 's comments, what if, rather than bringing in an oracle scout, consider taking the new troop - which is likely the size of a patrol - and putting it in the troop where the split would have come from for a year? Then split off a new troop with that one patrol. The new parents would also have someone to learn from as well.

Not a bad idea, but adult personalities have to be just right.

We have done something like this in troops that are growing to big and found that the coordination on the adult side can get complicated. The adults have to be willing to step back and learn. My observation is that one unit typically has weak adult leadership and they last about five years before merging back to the stronger unit. That goes for packs as well..

We have discussed this idea from the district perspective and the complexity is finding a good troop to take the patrol with the idea the patrol and adults will eventually split. Unit leaders just don't think in that way, so a mediator is often needed to guide the process. And the question there is who is the mediator that all the adults will trust and follow. Most Scoutmasters have a bit of pride or arrogance that resist being lead to a specific way of thinking. It can work, but the mediator is the key.

15 hours ago, MattR said:

The comment from @T2Eagle is also good. How many units start off bad because they forget about fun? Rather than make a big plan for advancement I'd much rather ask the scouts what they want to learn. If the answer is how to make great pancakes (because they just torched the last ones) then there's a plan the scouts will get behind.

I've told the story before of a call I got from a new SM of a new Troop asking how to keep the program fun after doing all the first class advancement requirements on their first 6 months of campouts. I suggested he let the scouts have 2 hours of free time after they finish their planned program and he balked saying that scouts could not do 2 hours free time without getting in trouble.

Fun is a hard concept for adults who don't understand the scouting program. Adults like neat and orderly agendas that have measurable outcomes that tell them if they are succeeding or failing. Unfortunately first class advancement fits that mind set perfectly. Burnt pancakes is messy and means failure.

The best way to get fun in the program is with experienced leaders. Which might take us back to the first point of finding a big brother to assign to the unit.

15 hours ago, MattR said:

 

@Armymutt , this is a hypothetical district. It has very few volunteers, no OA, and the DE is busy doing something else. Maybe the OA, as originally intended to bring ideas back to units, is an idea worth pursuing. I don't think districts currently help improve units as much as they think. The people best able to do that seem to be the ones in the thick of it. So I'd rather see units helping each other be the focus. To be honest, a troop needs 7 years of great ideas and then it can start recycling them. I'd think sharing ideas would really help units come up with more enjoyable calendars but every time I saw a roundtable ask units to share it's rather superficial.  If you saw the SNL skit called Man Park last week, that's what roundtables remind me of other than announcements. And the announcements don't really help either.

I think units helping units will work if the district can build a culture for it. But, building a culture requires a good team with a common plan, and that is challenging for districts, especially a team for at least 7 years. There really aren't that many adults who are good team leaders, which is why so many  districts struggle in the first place. I could do it, you could do and I'm confident qwazse could do it. But, I'm not sure who else could do it.

Barry