Journey to Excellence??????? Why bother

[Basementdweller]

Your gonna laugh at this.....Our DE filled out the form and had our CC sign it without my knowledge.......Just found that out at the last round table.

 

My beef with our DE is honestly. If he would have called me and said.....Hey Base, would you mind filling out your Journey form for me......My evaluations are based on that and it would really help me out.

 

No problem, I would do it.

[Abel Magwitch]

The DE filled out the paperwork without the knowledge of the unit leader. Where have I heard that one before? ;-)

 

At least your DE got the committee chair signature.

 

 

[qwazse]

It's like a game of Scrabble. If the other players don't challenge a mispelled word, you get the points.

 

As long as the DE takes credit for units that meet standard, and nobody challenges him that his #'s are padded with "paper units", he's in the clear. Moreover, he hasn't wasted time chasing signatures.

 

Win-win.

 

I wouldn't like to be at the district meeting where a JTE ribbon was challenged!

[Tampa Turtle]

I am replying to this (dormant) thread after reading Scouting last night.

 

I don't see why the Great Chief Scout Executive was so verklempt in the article talking about JTE? I played with the spreadsheet and our Troop could do Silver/Gold but it seems to smack of too much management/business speak.

 

I am a Planner by trade these days so I am all about benchmarks and metrics. I just can't believed they PAID a consultant to come up with that...

 

The only thing I got out of the exercise is a reminder to have the SPL and PLC in on the budget planning more.

 

I can see how you could have a busy little Troop of parlour scouts and paper Eagles getting a Gold JTE as long as they do enough plop camping.

 

I think it misses some of the core issues we keep batting about on this forum -boy led, outdoor oriented, etc. Maybe it is just me but the older I get the less patience I have for all the creeping corporatism and management-speak coming out of Irving.

 

[qwazse]

It's like orienteering. If you didn't bring your map and compass, you'd better hope someone marked a trail well enough for you.

 

If you've hiked the trail several times, you'll see some new "targets", decide to bring your map and compass, and work the terrain. Those trail markers become irrelevant at best and an eyesore at worst.

 

Those of us who have been "working the terrain" with the handbook(s) and fieldbook would rather not bother with JTE, but those who are new to this gig (e.g. my crew officers) kind of like the "trail markers". It let's them know where they are and what the potential could be.

 

It's up to you whether JTE is a goal, irrelevent, or an eyesore.

[SeattlePioneer]

I agree with Qwazse---

 

 

The JTE can provide a useful guide to unit leadership to avoid shortchanging parts of the problem the BSA considers to be useful and important. By and large, I think they are correct.

 

It's also practical leadership training for adults that may be new to planning and running a program. Adults who get used to using formal goal setting methods are probably going to be more able to take on bigger and more complicated leadership program as Scouters, employees and in other parts of life.

[Once_Eagle-Always_Eagle]

>> It's up to you whether JTE is a goal, irrelevent, or an eyesore.

 

Well stated!

[Newb]

I'm with the poster that was amazed at the reasonably priced day camps! $80 a boy? Ours is also around $200. We have committed our troop to providing scouting to several boys that are under economic hardship. Several times these families have approached me and handed me a worn $5 bill or few ones because they know how important this is to their son and I know they are stretching things to provide even that much. $200, heck $80 isn't going to happen.

 

Right now we are trying to fund raise enough for the whole troop to attend camp. The boys are working hard but I'm not optimistic that we'll get thre. That said, I'm not sweating the JTE. Maybe its a bad attitude, but I could really care less how we do on that as long as I have brought scouting to every boy that wants it.

[cricket624]

I'm with a pack that graduated a class of 16 AOLs - 1/3 our strength. Their parents were the pack leadership and they had checked out a year before their boys, just going through the motions, and then left with their boys, leaving no knowledge behind. They didn't orient, train or change jobs. The cubmaster had been in the position 8 years.

 

We newbies had to rebuild the whole pack. J2E has been invaluable to us. Like the handbook, it gave us a clear set of markers to reach in order to advance. It got us to add important features to our program and to allocate resources and volunteers more effectively. I'm not saying it's the be-all, end-all in pack management, but it gave us direction. And, when we win Gold this year, we will have earned it.

 

Btw, I HATE Six Sigma, TQM and I've been Myers-Brigg'd to the point where I feel I've served a prison time. This is not the same thing.

[Basementdweller]

JTE is kinda like teaching to the the test in the Public schools now.

 

On paper the schools look like they are doing a great job, but the reality is far different.

 

This reminds me of the Paper Eagle thing too.

 

 

Cricket, In your years of scouting before you were abandon you didn't pick anything up??????? While you feel betrayed by their departure, you are to blame as well.

[moosetracker]

Basement - not kind or Scoutlike at all !!!

 

For all you know cricket my be the parent of a Tiger or wolf.. Even if not, most parents take a while getting use to their den before they sink their fangs into the management of the overall unit..

 

What is to be commended of this Pack is that the parents DID pick up the reins, and it sounds like alot of parents came forward.. This could have been the case of the whole pack folding, or 2 or 3 coming forward to be burnt out by the rest of the parents to cling like leeches and complain of the lack of service they feel entitled to..

 

To move from practically no leadership.. To leadership that is well enough focused to win the Gold should be applauded..

 

Good for you Cricket for stepping up during uncertain times.. And for the rest of the parents in you unit who stepped up and carried your unit to victory!!

[Basementdweller]

Victims, yes Cricket was a victim

 

Its not my fault. We didn't know.

 

They left us.....They didn't train us. They They They They

 

Honestly all their boys crossed over and they couldn't see it coming???????

 

I am guessing that the newbies didn't react till the train wreck stopped moving.

 

Far as not kind.....that is a crock as well.......Everyone in the situation is to Blame, just not the folks that left.

 

Victory......what the heck does that mean????? They simply provided a program for their sons and the Pack simply didn't fold. It isn't like they won a war or battle or even a soccer game.

 

To me a smile on a boys face after a fun day should be enough reward. Not another ribbon or patch.

 

My Scouts will not be victims, they will stand on their own two feet. They will not blame anyone.

[moosetracker]

By the time Parents & Son get to Boy Scouts they should see and prepare for what is coming, and be proactive, because

1) They have enough time in the program, and enough lumps & experience to know to look at the adult leaders and gauge the possible time their son may stay in the program (but still can't judge drop outs & family movings)..

2) They can look at the incoming of possible crossovers and judge how active the parents are with the cub scout program, to guage the possiblity of what they can expect for adult Leadership.

 

But in cub scouts you have the first year to two years of parents who:

 

1) Walk around without a clue, giving you the deer in the headlights look.

2) Under some misconception that these are paid Adult Leaders.. Sort of like an after school program..

3) Only exception may be the Den Leader that was recruited who is just a befuddled, deer in headlights person who is not quite sure what hit him.

 

4) By year 3 they (if inclined) may start stepping up to help out.. But, they don't jump in knowing the program to the point of being able to sum up the current situation and project into the future..

 

5) By the time they know the program well enough, to work the present and project the future, they are the Webloes who are moving on to Boy Scouts..

 

And YES !!! It is a victory.. You may not like the J2E, and they may do some improvements with there Pack that is not listed on J2E, But, to accomplish Gold when they could have been a troop in the red or defunct is an accomplishment..

 

To earn it they had to bring 16+ new scouts to replace the webelos who crossed over and retain those already in the program.. These are statics you don't like Basement, but you don't pull that off without offering a fun exciting program that would draw in new scout and retain current scouts.. You don't do that without putting a smile on those boys faces..

 

This is Crickets 2nd post, and you are trying to run a newbie forum member out with you crabbyness, rather then welcoming them, and let them get to learn from being around some very knowledgable people.. Over time they may pick up a few ideas not on J2E, that will improve their program, might even pick them up from you if you can offer it in a kind & friendly manner, rather then jumping down their throat because they don't do things your way.

[Once_Eagle-Always_Eagle]

A scout is HELPFUL, FRIENDLY, COURTEOUS, KIND

 

I hate to choose sides but I will. ;-)

 

Basement: your replies are generally wise, well thought out and add value. I like reading your regular posts, don't stop. :-)

 

But your post to Cricket was more hard and critical than helpful, friendly, courteous, or kind. Cricket professed to be a newbie.

 

I join Moose in encouraging Cricket. If he can follow a bureaucratic JTE outline to hit Gold while he learns the ropes, I predict it is the boys that benefit in the end, and *THAT* I strongly applaud.

 

Similarly, I don't see Cricket playing the victim card. Someone that really embraces the victim mentality would have let the pack fold and just gone to another unit, or left scouting altogether and blamed the previous leaders. Cricket has tried to make things better for their son and the other boys in the pack.

(This message has been edited by once_eagle-always_eagle)

[Basementdweller]

Ya I am crabby,

 

Had my meeting with the district committee last night.......New bodies, same old powerless do nothing attitude. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO you can't do that.

 

I am not allowed to take the Pack out of District or out of council to events any more. Really???? so how ya gonna enforce that one?????? Start denying my tour plans?????? The program we provide as a district is more than adequate for what cubs are supposed to be doing.

 

They got wind I asked the DE to be sent to camp school, I was going to pay so it wasn't like I was asking for money. Oh well. NO NO NO what do you think your going to do with that.

 

I give up