Re: Criteria for Leadership Time and Introduction
Randy Leonard (tstprll@COLUMBIAENERGYGROUP.COM)
Thu, 24 Sep 1998 12:36:10 -0400
Hello List,
My name is Randy Leonard and I am currently serving as Advancement Chairman for
Troop 299 of Dublin, Ohio in the Simon Kenton Council. I have been lurking
here since February of this year and I have benefitted from a great deal of
information and conversation that I have seen here. Thank you all very much for
your insights and opinions.
This fall, I am also on staff for one of the two Advanced Scoutmaster
Fundemental courses that is sponsered by Simon Kenton Coucil, and the thread on
Criteria for Leadership has piqued my interest because Junior Leader Training
is one of the topics I will be teaching. It seems that the real problem here
might be that the boy in question is not taking responsibility for the job he
has, and is using the time in office to fulfill the leadership requirement
while doing a minimal job.
There is no question regarding the time he has accumulated since acquiring the
job title counting towards that requirement. It does and it cannot be taken
away. But has the Scoutmaster done his part?
Consider this: The single most important job a Scoutmaster has is to train the
boys to be leaders. Everything he does is geared towards training. When a boy
is elected or assigned a leadership position, the Scoutmaster's first
responsibility is to conduct an Introduction to Leadership session for that
position. When he meets with the boy, he should give him a thorough
description of the new job and discuss what the expectations he has for the boy
in that job. He tells the boy what he can expect from him as the Scoutmaster.
He identifies resources that will help the boy do the job. He assigns job
related tasks, and follows up to see if the task is completed or if assistance
is required. He encourages training via a Troop JLT workshop or a council
level JLTC. All of this serves to build a working relationship of mutual trust
and understanding.
After the introduction and the intial assignment, monthly meetings (either PLC
or SM Conference) should be held to evaluate his performance and to see if the
boy is comfortable with his job or if he needs help. If the boy is not doing
his job, these evaluations will help determine why. If is because he just
wants the title and not the responsibility, then you can work with him to help
him accept the responsibility. If he flat out refuses the responsibility, then
the title may be stripped from him (by the SM or the PLC) and that date becomes
the end date for the amount of time in office. If it is insufficient for the
rank advancement, then the boy will have to decide for himself when he is ready
to accept responsibility for another job.
This is a watered down version of Chapter Five in the Scoutmaster Handbook, but
it serves to illustrate one example of how JLT ties in with the Criteria for
Leadership. The committee may also hold a BoR at any time to address their
concerns with a lack of job performance, but they should not wait until the end
of the six month term of office to do so because by then it is too late. If a
boy cannot fulfill a job responsibility, it should be a friendly, mutual
decision for him to step down. If he can do so but refuses, he may be removed.
I may incur some flames for this, but I believe this is consistant with not
adding to or subtracting from the requirements as printed.
Yours in Scouting,
Randy Leonard, Adv Ch. T299
tstprll@ceg.com
Team Wolf, Okama 8
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