Modern Communication

[SMT224]

We do our program planning for the following year in September, and thoroughly discuss what will be happening and where we will be going. At our first meeting in January we distribute a Troop Activity Calendar with all Troop activities & meetings for the entire year. It has photos of the Troop over the past year and is meant to be hung in the kitchen or bulletin board. With few exceptions, we have our camping trip or activity on the second week-end of the month, so Scout activities can be worked into busy schedules. As SM, I send an email to all Scout families and Scouters at the beginning of each month briefly describing the activities happening that month. In PLC, we discuss monthly activities and who will be doing what. The SPL makes announcements in Troop meetings on what is coming up next as we prepare for activities. We repeat activity announcements at the end of the Troop meeting as well, with specific attention to times and meeting places. Before all camping trips and outings I send out an email completely describing the specifics of the activity. We require Scouts to be at the two Troop meetings (when we prepare menus and check equipment) before a camping trip in order to attend, something that is announced over and over by the SPL and SM.

 

Despite all this, there are always a few Scouts and parents that stand there at the end of a Troop meeting and say, "What? A camping trip? Oh, is there a camping trip? When's this? Where are we going?" I smile and tell them all about the activity and then walk away shaking shake my head. I guess for some folks the cost of paying attention is way out of their mental budget!

 

[highcountry]

Not so much modern communication but communication itself is a major headache in our troop I will say that, I see this topic is evolving down that road already so I will contiue with my rants and observations. I don't see the need to go to any other modes of communication, we already use several ones that SHOULD be effective. The problems I see are.....

 

People Don't read email, or paper copies provided at meetings, paper copies mailed direct or paper copies given face to face and explained. Anyhting sent with scouts is the proverbial Granite Table lost in the black hole (I like that analogy, spot on)

 

People have forgotten the concept of writing things down. In a day and age where everyone is so busy, I think it is even more important to jot down notes, keep a calendar, but it is so easy to reach for the "I'M busy I forgot" excuse that is supposed to make people like me shut up and go away.

 

Cluelessness. I have a number of scouts and parents that are bobbleheads. They are frequently there during troop meetings and the SPL announces the significant points on teh agenda and schedule, points to the sign up table in back where folks can also find meeting agenda, calendar, troop roster and more. I too get the "did I hear something about a campout, when, where ? from scouts in the troop 2-3 years. We have Always had the sign ups on the back table, teh signup explains all your questions, we even reducved it to a few bullet points so you don't have to strain to hard and read and comprehend a paragraph, yet, we get the same wothless qeustions.

 

We use email as an efficient means of communicating to groups, it covers attachements and updates can be sent fast, information forwarded etc. Reading and response is pathetic. We just had to change a campsite withing 2 weeks of the campoout date and asked for a vote on alternate. Of 26 scouts only 7 responded, 2 of those 7 were my own 2 boys at home. This is typical response rate.

 

We have a troop website and remind everone it's location on paper agendas and emails. It has a message board feature. No one uses thsi or goes there save to see some pictures once and a while.

 

We use phone tree SPL to PL's to their members when we have critical and time sensative information. We get a live person about one out of every 3 or 4 calls. We leave voice mail when ever we get one and make the communication clear. Add to it the now writing things down factor we get a lot of the "I forgot" response later on.

 

We went to a new activity sign up sheet when I took over as SM. Each Scout's name is listed and a yes or no check box is included. Explanation is asked for when no is checked, I would like the courtesy of scouts bothering to tell me yes or no after teh work that goes into events, but if scouts are not going because the event is not popular, I will try to see if more popular events make next years schedule and ideas like that. Use of the sign ups is dismal no matter how much is reminded by teh SPL in the announcements, one on one referal by myself or ASM's to scouts and parents at meetings, it really seems like many scouts and even parents seem to have vapor for brains. We may as well simply rtalk to the wall.

 

I have a committee member sending individual invitations to each scout household by mail right now regarding swim tests, we have had numerous email and announcement reminders, one on one reminders verbally, posted on our websites and flyers on teh activity sign up table. In 4 weeks we have had 9 scouts respond out of 26. This committee memebr is a teacher at a local private school and sees the same thing there, she has to send 3-5 notices out in different communication forms and she still sees way too many clueless people who never heard about it.

 

Our previous scoutmaster warned me about too much hand holding. He was short in comminicating and teaching people theri jobs, but he was mostly right, I knew that. I toold him that people couldn't be expected to do theri job right unless ther were shown and coached what that job was. It reaches a point where one says enough is enough though. Same deal with communication, I told him that I was going to be sure the inforamtion was clearly communicated for one primary purpose, so the clueless had no ground to stand on when they come to me griping because they missed out because they didn't know. Everyone in the troop knows we are clear on communication and to not DARE try and whine because they didn't know.

 

Still frustrating. Tought to keep teh motivation to teach kids leadership and responsibility when tehy can't even listen, read or mark anything down, even harder when many parents are the same way and drifting through life and saying I was too busy seems to be more and more acceptable.