Youth Leadership Training

[ScouterRob]

I am moving my troop over to the patrol-led method. I am having some confusion from my scouts to learn accountability. My SPL came to me and understand what I am trying to do, but he and his leader wants to get advanced training.

 

Can anyone recommend any training that can be done at the PLC or Troop meetings? I know there is the troop leadership training, but it does not see to be enough for the scouts.

 

Any suggestion is highly appreciated.

 

Robert Crisco, SM

[ntrog8r]

What are the skills your leaders are in need of? I may have some stuff I can provide depending on what they're looking for.

[ScouterRob]

The youth leaders keep coming to me and saying that I do not know how to do my job. What do I do?

 

I have given the SPL the handbook for this job and the PL the handbook for their jobs. We are doing PLC now and I am trying to do the Patrol-led methods. The main issue comes back is when I let the boys go, they freeze up because they are unsure what to do. They have a Troop meeting plan, but they just fall apart at that time.

 

The other issue is the SPL and PL does not how to communicate to keep the boys turning into a mob. So nothing in the meeting gets done.

 

I have assign several jobs (QM, Librairian, Scribe, Historian). When I ask my ASPL to work with them to get their jobs done, they just sit there and talk while none of the work is being done.

 

The last issue is my SPL and PL has never done real camping, hiking, or outdoors activites, they have always been do family level activities. They have not done an overnight without parents doing everything. I have cut that out.

 

 

[Lisabob]

Your last comment suggests to me that you have a lot of very young fellows in positions of responsibility. How old is your SPL? How long has he been in boy scouts, that his camping experience is all family camping? Or is it just that mom & dad always tagged along with the troop in the past?

 

I think you need to give the boys very specific tasks to do. It is not going to work to tell them "go make sure the Librarian is doing his job." More than likely, neither the ASPL nor the Librarian has any idea what the specifics of his job are, or how to do them, or (for the ASPL) how to motivate the Librarian to get going on it.

 

Also make sure your SPL and ASPL are on board with what you're trying to do. If they don't understand or know where you're coming from, they will not be able (let alone willing) to help get the troop there. Give them your overall vision and ask their serious input into how to get there. What are THEIR views on what works and what doesn't in the troop? How do their ideas fit with what you're trying to accomplish?

 

Thinking again about what I see in my son's troop, I really think it would help for the SM and SPL to have regular meetings - not the PLC - where they can strategize together. The SM could use the time to mentor the SPL in terms of leadership skill too, but above all he needs to make the SPL a true partner in this process and not treat him as a puppet for the SM.

 

 

 

[Eagle92]

It sounds as if you have a very young troop. I'm going to do my KUDU impersonation and suggest getting a copy of the 3rd. edition of the SM Handbook, both volumes. In it is a very plan for training your leaders. While it may need to be modified to today's standards, It is an excelletn resource. If the troop is a young one, you may need to be the PL of the PLC for a brief time to train them, just as the 3rd. ed. says.

 

I always liked the Socratic method of teaching,and use in when I do MBs. You can apply it to the SM situation to a degree. When your SPL and PLS come up to you for advice, ask "what do you think?" if they leave anything out, then ask "Anything else you might have overlooked?" If they have and cannot think of one, ask them a question that would give them the correct asnwer, without being obvious. You want them to think for themselves and think through.

 

 

Good luck!

 

[Buffalo Skipper]

The straight line (from BSA) is that TLT is the way to go. This is chapter 7, I believe, of the Scoutmaster Handbook (word for word, chart for chart). I use it but mostly as a way to introduce new scouts to the troop.

 

Go to this website: http://inquiry.net/patrol/green_bar/index.htm

I have found this plan to be much more effective to prepare patrol leaders (and SPL) for their duties. Very much worth my time. I do not subscribe to everything presented on this website, but this training progrm is a leftover from Bill Hilcourt's days and is very good. Also be sure to check out the "games" pages there.

 

Good luck on this exciting endeavor!(This message has been edited by Buffalo Skipper)

[sherminator505]

Train them. Then coach them.

 

"I know there is the troop leadership training, but it does not seem to be enough for the scouts."

 

I can't tell from your post whether or not you have already done TLT with your junior leaders. If so, please disregard the next paragraph.

 

The canned training modules that are available aren't very complete or comprehensive, but they are a good framework. Try this. Set up a four hour session, maybe on a Saturday, and hold the training. Take the time beforehand to review the material and decide what needs to be emphasized, and if there are any holes that need to be covered. Provide lunch.

 

As part of the training, be sure to communicate what you expect from your junior leaders from that point forward. After that, you will need to provide coaching, but you will also need to back away and let them struggle a bit. It may be frustrating at first, but it will be worth it in the end.

[ScoutNut]

Your older posts stated that you had been called to be the Varsity Team Coach. From your signature, and current comments, it seems that you now have been moved to the SM position for the Boy Scout Troop.

 

Having only 12 and 13 year old boys can be difficult. Especially if they did not get any leadership training at the 11 year old level.

 

As others have said, if you have not done TLT with the boys you should do it as soon as possible. If you have already done it, do it again. Make sure you use the TLT position description cards.

 

Mentor them, give them clear comments, help them to see what/how they should handle things. When they freeze up, give them a nudge in the right direction. If the SPL and the PL's say they don't know what their jobs are, and as you state, you have given them their respective Handbooks, I would suggest to you that perhaps they have not read them. When they tell you they don't know have them bring out their SPL/PL Handbook and see what the Handbook has to say.

 

Do a SM Minute at the end of a meeting reminding all of the boys of the Scout Law. In particular that a Scout is Courteous and Obedient to his leaders, both adult and youth.

 

Have a roses and thorns session with the PLC (SPL & PL's) after every Troop meeting. Talk about what worked and what didn't at the meeting and why.

 

Edited to add that I notice your Council/District is holding a Patrol Leader Development Training in mid November. That might be a good training to send your youth leaders to.

 

(This message has been edited by scoutnut)

[ScouterRob]

My SPL is 16 year and been scouting since a cubscout. My troop never really had steady PLs or SPL. The adults alway ran the show, so scouting was just a camping trip with no jobs for the boys.

 

I was assigned as a varsity leader for the older boys and found out that without training I could not provide a decent program. But also at the same time, the SM was leaving for another state, so I stepped in and was choosen to become the SM.

 

Now, the boys are doing the work. They don't mind alot but they are unsure about what to do. Most boys has lost their scoutbooks and they are First Class Scouts with no leaderhship or non-parent camping exp.

 

I am also short on leaders and the current leaders are Scout Parents. So I do not have time to keep tell each boy(20 boys) what specific to do. My SPLs and PLs keep asking me what to tell the boys. I do not want to Micromanage.

 

So I do have an opportunity to turn this troop around but I been having issues to have my SPL or PL to lead, because they feel they need more training on how to lead first.

 

I have done a TLT with the SPL and the PL, but my SPL and PL keeps saying they don't understand.

[Buffalo Skipper]

In the Green Bar training I talked about above, training is done by creating a mock patrol meeting. You, the SM, play the role of PL. Your SPL is the APL. The patrol is made up of the PLs and other youth leaders (quartermaster, etc.) You walk the scouts through the process, step by step, so they learn everyone's repsonsibilities and how to do the same thing you did. You plan outings (a hike and a campout) which you follow through with.

 

It is a great model, and completely supports the "new" training EDGE expectation of BSA. In a nutshell, you Explain, Demonstrate, Guide and Enable the scouts.

 

I like to use the TLT also, though not exclusively as it is presented. I have found it is most effective for the incoming Webelos scouts (to teach them their responsibilites as a "member of a patrol", especially when the olders experienced scouts do the teaching. The older scouts still need more of a "meat and potatos" hands-on course (like Green Bar).

[ScoutNut]

I'm surprised. I did not think an LDS chartered unit had the option to have a regular, all ages Troop.

 

Buffalo's GB training sounds like it might be a good model for your boys to follow. You might also consider talking to your District Training Chair, and your District BS Roundtable Commissioner, to see if you could get some experienced SM's to come and help you with it.

[Eagledad]

You will get a good jump start by getting the scouts the SPL Handbook and the Patrol Leader handbook. Those books are pretty good, but you need to get them and read them as well so that you aren't guiding in conflect of the books. In fact, I think you can almost tell them to go by the book and they won't need much help at first. Most of the answers for the boy running a basic program are in those two books. Typically its the adults who don't read the books that get in the way.

 

Barry

[Twocubdad]

I've sent Robert a the syllabi for the past couple TJLT's our troop had conducted and will be glad to do so to anyone else who wants to give me a real email address by private message.

 

For the benefit of the others, one suggestion I made to Robert is something we did a couple years ago which is to distribute the official BSA job descriptions and have the Scouts rewrite them to reflect the way our troop really works. Even if their isn't a whole lot of modification, the time the Scouts spend working through the job descriptions makes them really focus on the details.

 

And the final product, a customized set of real-world troop job descriptions is a great thing to have on hand.

[Mike F]

rdcrisco,

 

It is indeed challenging to get the guys thinking in terms of responsibility and accountability when they have never seen these things in action by boys.

 

You have received lots of good advice.

 

Another thing to consider is to use the BSA resources and come up with a more concise job description for each position. Put it in writing. As part of the training, work with the boys to make sure they understand exactly what is expected in order to be successful in each position. Have their youth "boss" be part of the discussion to make sure they understand the chain of command (ie., who they are working for and reporting to - PLs report to SPL, etc.). This document spells out the details of each position's responsibilities. After initial training is complete, have the boy holding the position sign this document as a contract for his performance. His immediate "boss" and you (SM) also sign it.

 

After clearly establishing the responsibilities comes the accountability part.

In the troop I serve, if a leader does not fulfill the responsibilities he agreed to perform, he does not get advancement credit for the term of duty. Let the parents all know this is the plan for teaching them responsibility and accountability (critical life skills) so they aren't too shocked when Johnny doesn't get the advancement credit he was hoping to get for Star/Life/Eagle. (If you get the parents on board, they will help give Johnny a nudge from the home side.)

 

But don't just leave the guys floundering.

The next step involves care Monitoring by all of the relative bosses in the chain of command and you (with assistance from one or more Asst SMs). SPL should be keeping close tabs on the PLs to make sure they are having patrol meetings and getting their patrols ready for activities. Scribe should be keeping attendance and preparing minutes from PLCs. Instructors should be preparing and leading skill events. Etc.

Lots of Coaching & Mentoring is what makes this successful.

If a boy is not fulfilling his end of the contract, he should get all of the help he needs to be successful, but in the end, it's up to him to show the initiative and get things done.

 

New leaders often have trouble knowing how to get started. During our training, we work with each one to come up with 2-3 immediate action steps for him to get started. Once they get some inertia (and confidence), things start rolling. The process reminds me of teaching a kid how to ride a bike. At the very beginning, they have no idea how to make it move forward or point it in the right direction and it's very frustrating. We start with simple instruction and keep a firm hand on the bike as they start to learn. With our assistance and encouragement, we're able to avoid really nasty falls. As their skill starts to improve, we relax our grip a little and keep cheering. Before you know it, we let go and they're off on their own.

 

Send me a Private Message if you'd like a copy of the position contracts we've developed and used successfully for many years.

 

Hang in there - the program does work!

[Mike F]

Twocubdad,

 

I didn't see your note before dropping mine.

Come to think of it, when we started with written job descriptions about 10 years ago, we had the guys help develop the job descriptions like you suggested. This helped a lot with the initial understanding and buy-in. Since then, the following leaders have seen it modeled, so it wasn't such a strange concept and we've just been tweaking them since.