tweaks are good!

[Trevorum]

 

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In another thread, Hunt says, "I think ... abrupt change is typically a sign that adult leaders have decided to "take charge."

 

That's a great observation which I have never really thought about before. I agree with Hunt. I've seen a bunch of new fireball SPLs come in with some nifty ideas, but inevitably the program marches on in the same direction with only minor changes. Adults, on the other hand, can really disrupt a unit with ham-handed changes of policies and procedures.

 

For an established unit, I think the role of adult leaders should be to merely trim the sails a bit when the youth leadership seems to be going off-course. Small adjustments, made in the background. Invisible tweaks.

 

 

[SR540Beaver]

Yes they are good!!! I love the delicate sponge cake with the creme filling inside. I've even had them battered, deep fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar at the state fair. What? Tweaks? Not twinkies? Oh. Nevermind. Carry on.

[Trevorum]

He is a silly fellow.

[BadenP]

My group loves deep fried tweakies on campouts, also try the snoballs deep fried mmmmmmmmmmmm. Just kidding Trev.,I agree with what you said, the adults should tweak in the background not dominate the program.

[SR540Beaver]

A few years ago, me and two fellow scouters decided to start a new troop for reasons I won't bore you with. All of our scouts were 11 years old, yet we were determined to have a boy led troop. Looking for guidance, I went to lunch with a wise veteran scouter named Barry (Eagledad). I'll never forget what he told me about boy led. There is no single definition. It will look different in every troop. A larger troop that has been around for years and has an active older boy program might be boy led and the boys handle every aspect of their meetings and do all their planning, training, etc. A brand new troop that is small and has only new scouts might be boy led and the boys only do the opening of their meeting. That might be all they are capable of at the time......but they are still leading to the best of their given ability at the time. Barry warned me not to get locked into a single idea of what boy led looked like, because it is ever changing. Think of a college football team with a lot of seniors who all graduate. Now you are left with underclassman and having to rebuild your program. The same happens in a troop. One year you have strong boy leadership and the next year you don't. The adults occasionaly have to step in and fill the gap to get the boys back to where they need to be. It is always an unfinished process.

 

That Barry......he sure loves this scouting stuff!

[Trevorum]

yah, every year it's the same old thing. We get a new SPL all trained up and experienced so he can be a great leader, and the troop up and elects a new fellow! Back to square one!

 

[CalicoPenn]

Barry's advice on "boy-led", shared by Sr540Beaver, is an excellent example of a good program "tweak" that follows the spirit of the rules to benefit the lads. In this case, following the letter of the rules would have been a disservice to the lads.

 

The only thing I might have added to Barry's advice (don't mean to be presumptuous) is that if the adults are doing planning/leading that should be done by the boys but they still aren't ready for it, they should still involve the boys - the adults shouldn't make the plans alone, they should work with the lads to make the plans - the first couple times serves as an example to the boys and as they gain the skills and confidence, they will start taking on more and more of the planning themselves.

 

CalicoPenn

[FScouter]

Training and mentoring boy leaders is not so much a tweak as it is implementing the BSA program. The trick is to know when to switch leadership styles from directing to coaching and supporting. I haven't heard about any rules that go against that concept.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Boy Led Programs

 

A few years ago, a SM that periodically attended our Roundtables asked a question about growth. It seemed he was having trouble with his Troop of many years. One thing that stood out about him was the string of Quality Unit patches that he wore proudly to the bottom of the sleeve of his uniform. What kept coming to my mind was if he had a continual Quality Unit program, what reason for trouble with growth? That question and my curiosity brought on a Troop visit.

 

I noted several things about the visit. After the opening pledge by one of the boys, the SM went to the head of the room, sat down, opened his briefcase and began the meeting. The meeting continued as he read from paper items taken from his briefcase and ended when he closed his case and one of the boys led the Scout Oath. I didn't understand what the SM was doing nor do I think the three boys in attendance did either. I suppose one could call it a boy led meeting because everyone was in uniform and two boys did something but I still think things were amiss.

 

I collect Scout paper items. One of my favorites is a two block cartoon. The first block shows Scouts being very active during a meeting and the caption reads, "What he thought was going to happen". The other block shows boys bored and sitting around the meeting room with the SPL screaming, the caption reads, "What actually happened".

 

I suppose we could define a boy led program by any number of actions taken by a boy in any meeting but then boys are not as easily fooled as adults. fb

 

[SR540Beaver]

Calico,

 

Absolutely!!! That is what I get for giving the Readers Digest version. We adults had to do much of the work, but it was always with a scout by our side to learn how to do it.

[Eagledad]

Wow, I said all that! I find it humbling that Beav and I met for a couple hours and he said in just a few short sentences what it took me a couple hours to say. Boy he is good. But we sure enjoyed talking scouts for those couple hours.

 

Part of what we Beav and I were talking about is that adults only need to step in where the scouts maturity and experience lack to keep the program successful. A 15 year SPL with five years experience is going to run a different program than a 12 year old. That doesnt mean the 12 year old cant run the troop, he just needs more resources than the 15 year old to achieve the same performance satisfaction.

 

The struggle for the adults is learning how far is too far? When do you know the Scout is beyond his maturity and experience level. My best answer is when the scout no longer wants to be a scout. My best suggestion is allow the scout to get reach that limit so that both you can learn his limits. Its hard, I still remember listing to a crying SPL telling me that the job was so very hard. But we both learned that day. He learned when to ask for help, I learned when to offer it. Im not suggesting push the scout to breaking down, I learned to watch closer from that experience and I did a lot better with the rest of my SPLs. But I do suggest getting close enough to learn when he is there.

 

And adults have to learn a lot too. Ive said before, adults have to learn twice as much, faster than the scouts so that we dont get in their way. That means while we look passive at our job, our minds are constantly watching to see what works and what doesnt. Everyone should welcome the first mistake because we are always students of wisdom. But we should despise repeating the mistake because that means we are a fool. I learned quickly that boy 13 and under do not enjoy leading a troop all weekend long. He is still a boy and wants to boy things. 15 year olds however are adults, and adults can and do like to be leaders all weekend long. How can we adults compansate without tweaking?

 

I dont know, what is tweaking? In one since this is a very difficult discussion because how can a program be progressive if something different is never tried. On the other hand, there are important reasons to hold to traditional methods that keep the program driving toward the vision. Personally I think it is the hearts of the adults who make the difference in good tweaks and bad tweaks.

 

A few weeks ago Eamonn asked if he performed an action correctly as an adult in his unit. I dont remember the action, but I remember thinking that it didnt matter because his heart was in the right place. I know that scouts know this because I once had to apologize to my SPL for a mistake I made. He said, no harm done, I know in your heart you thought it was the right thing for me, and that is all that counts.

 

As Beav pointed out, we are each in a different place in our experiences of life, so we have to do the best we can with what we have at that point in time. Where we tend to get off the trail is when we dont know or understand the Vision or methods. Some folks dont care, and they are the worst kind of leaders for boys. But most do care and its a simple matter of education and practice.

 

Tweaking? It was all because I love this scouting stuff.

 

See you around Beav.

 

Beary