Re: Troop needs help

I think the first place you should put your efforts is on the SPL and
his appointed leadership corps. You and the SM must hold regular
meetings with these boys outside the night your Troop holds its meetings
where you adults teach (or reinforce) the principles of leadership, and
where you teach each Scout exactly how to do his Troop job. If the SPL
never meets with his staff, and he won't unless an adult prods him into
doing so, he will never have a functioning leadership corps, and you
will never have a boy-led Troop that can accomplish anything.

In my opinion the SM should consider the "true" Greenbar members (SPL,
1st ASPL, 2nd ASPL, and all PLs) as the equivalent of a Venture Crew
whose adventure is the discovery of how to become a leader. If this
analogy doesn't make sense to you, think of the leadership corps as a
group of Scouts who have asked the SM to be their counselor for the
"Troop Leadership Merit Badge". Any half-baked MB Counselor or Venture
Crew Advisor would see the need for holding a series of meetings to
teach or coach the Scouts through the intellectual material or physical
skills they need in order to achieve their goal. So why don't SMs do
this too?

In most of the Troops that I'm familiar, the boys in a Troop's
leadership corps never really understand their jobs. Although the
Troops in our District combine twice a year to run a large (and popular)
Troop-level JLT course, few of the Scouts really benefit from having
attended it since the course does nothing to teach them their jobs.
Yes, we have them read the JL Handbook, and we ask them to read their
new job's job description, but I'm convinced that they can't see how it
applies to them. We do teach them how to teach, and we certainly teach
them how to follow adult orders, but we don't teach them how to perform
their Troop jobs.

To gain control of your Troop's behavior, the SM and his assistants must
make a concerted effort to teach the boy leaders how to perform their
duties. And then the adults must see to it that the PLC demands that
the boy leaders actually do their jobs. Watching them from the back of
the room each Scout night as the "run" the Troop meeting, hoping that
they'll "grow into" their jobs is foolishness. Children that they are,
the Scouts are only going to do the minimum that they can get away with,
and absolutely no more. In my view, a good SM must be willing to expect
a lot, perhaps a great deal more than their parents expect. But, having
said that, the SM must also be willing to work with the boy leaders
outside the Troop meeting to see that they really know how to accomplish
what they're expected to achieve.

These how-to leadership classes must never be held at a time when the
leadership corps (both boy and adult) must be present to conduct Troop
business. Therefore, don't try to combine this training with Troop
nights or camping trips. Find a time when most everyone can come.
Expect full attendance, making it clear a boy's continuance in his job
is predicated upon successfully completing these work shops. Be
politely relentless on this. The Scouts will whine and complain, and
they'll give you every excuse in the book as they try to avoid
attending, but don't let them off the hook. Be sure that the PLC agrees
with this training requirement, and that they agree that non-attendance
will result in an offending Scout loosing his Troop job. This will work
far better than adults "hinting around" during Troop meetings that the
Troop jobs aren't being done, and the Scouts had better "tighten up" or
risk failure. Even if the boy leaders wanted to "tighten up" they don't
know how.

So, what's my message here? 1) The SM (and his assistants) must
actively teach the boy leaders how to do their jobs, holding seminars
and hands-on coaching sessions all during the year. And 2) the SM (and
his assistants) must see to it that the PLC constantly requires that the
boy leaders actually perform their jobs.

YiS,
Drew

--
Andrew Hagemann <hagemann@visi.net>
SA, New Scout Patrol, Troop 6 (Colonial Virginia Council)
A "Charging" Buffalo, SR-158 / Jamboree '97 Metal Work MB Booth
Coordinator

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