Through various responses to posts over the last couple of years, I've hinted at and danced around fully describing a situation -- when my older son joined a troop, it became really clear, very quickly, that the troop was in need of assistance. It was an adult-led, advancement-oriented troop with only passing mention of patrol method (the SM said "we're working on that", but it was getting no closer as the months went on). After awhile, it became pretty clear that he was the dominant player (the troop committee wouldn't do anything without his approval) and that he was content at being the World's Oldest Senior Patrol Leader. Patrols were non-functional, and most PoRs were do-nothing jobs. Scouts who didn't even show up to meetings were given credit for fulfilling PoRs, just because they had a title.
Two things stuck out to me: the first was that the only reason why Scouts were going to summer camp was for merit badges. They'd go one or two summers with the troop, and then go one or two summers to "Eagle Week" (provisional troops, focus on Eagle-required merit badges) and then after that, they would be done with summer camp. They'd forgotten how to have fun at summer camp. There was no need to go to summer camp, because summer camp was about getting merit badges and if you already had enough, why bother going?
The second was that outings were haphazard. They might get cancelled at the last minute from lack of participation, no details would come out until the week before, and most Scouts and families would not commit to attending, because they were unsure if an outing would happen or not. My older son's first year in the troop -- there were exactly six nights of camping, in addition to five nights at summer camp. That was it. There didn't seem to be any call for more camping, because most Scouts in the troop didn't need to, for advancement reasons.
Most advice that I read (on this forum, Ask Andy, and other places) said that it wouldn't be worth the effort to try and fix it. I guess I'm hard-headed enough to think that I could help change it.
As I've always said, I couldn't do it alone -- another WDL/crossover dad, an Eagle Scout (and he's on this forum) thought the same thing, and we were able to team up and facilitate changes. It also helped that the "old guard" were ready to cede control of the troop, as their sons got closer and closer to Eagle. By the way, this WDL/crossover dad is our new SM, and I am now the CC of the troop.
Of course, it wasn't easy to do, and there were issues along the way. One of them I summarize this way: it is near-impossible to improve standards in a troop without actually improving standards. I say this because there were some dads that took exception to their sons being delayed advancement until they actually put some effort into a PoR. One of them started shouting at a committee meeting, because he felt his son was being singled out. Wasn't really true -- it's just that his son was the first case (BoR) coming up after all older Scouts had been told at their prior BoRs that they'd had their free pass and that they'd be expected to actually function in a PoR.
So, in no particular order, here are some of the steps we took in order to rebuild the troop:
- set an outing schedule, and stuck to it -- a fixed weekend every month, no cancellations
- we prevented a couple of older Scouts from running for SPL, because we knew that they wouldn't be participating -- they were part of the "old guard" that looked for credit when doing nothing; that left us with one viable candidate who we knew could be coached into running things properly
- rebuilt the PLC, and gave them actual responsibility for planning the annual schedule and planning monthly outings; we let them fail (case in point: one Scout, responsible for planning an outing, just looked up a campground online; he didn't read the fine print or call; when the troop arrived after dark on a Friday evening, they found that the campground was closed for the winter; all ended up well when another nearby campground was actually open -- in another case, our PLC set a June outing for camping on a Boston Harbor Island, but I knew from reading the fine print online that it wouldn't be open as early as our normal outing weekend; when they finally got around to figuring that out, they attempted to move to a later weekend, only to find that it was already booked).
- we set expectations that our PLs would actually attempt to function as PLs during their tenure, and we held them to it at BoR time; at least two were delayed advancement, and extra effort was put into coaching them
- we set up weekend PL training, and we said it was mandatory to attend (or to attend a PL training session at the annual University of Scouting) if they wanted to hold an SPL/PL PoR. That was how we prevented the two older Scouts from running for SPL.
- at the weekend PL training session (and credit given to Kudu, Bryan Spellman and Bill Nelson for their resources for setting up this training), we did back to the basics. We didn't stick solely with the base TLT or JLT materials, but we went all the way back to "how to" sessions: how to plan a troop meeting, how to plan an outing, how to set up an annual program calendar, etc.
- we sent two Scouts to Brownsea 22 training (this isn't NYLT -- this is the old "All Out For Scouting" era curriculum that our council still uses); we sent another this year, and hope to send at least two every year from here on out.
- we started attending a patrol-oriented summer camp (we're lucky in that it is nearby); the first year, only six Scouts attended (others didn't go because they couldn't get piles of merit badges), the second year, eight attended. This last month, 15 attended. We're on a good path. During the same time period, fewer of our Scouts have attended the local council's "Eagle Week". I would just like that program to die.
- one of my tasks has been to concentrate on talking to prospective troop parents and to new troop parents, with many of the ideas I've gleaned from this forum. I try and be extra clear what our goals are (this last year, I started specifically saying "it isn't our job to turn your son into an Eagle Scout; it is our job to put together an active and vibrant program where advancement happens naturally, and your son can turn himself into an Eagle Scout"). I'd been getting too many parent questions like "how soon can my son become an Eagle Scout?".
We still have plenty of progress to make in terms of instituting patrol method and rebuilding patrol functionality. Part of this has to do with an old car-camping culture in the troop. Most outings are at campgrounds where everyone is bunched together. We were at a summer camp in Quebec just a couple of weeks ago, with mixed age patrols, cooking on their own. I noticed that with a common fire ring, we still have older Scouts gravitating towards older Scouts, and younger ones gravitating towards younger ones. We really do need to get them spread apart. That means we need to find some new camping spots.
By the way -- the collateral effects of rebuilding the troop? A couple of years ago, we were 24 Scouts and dropping. I personally thought the troop was doomed, that once our older Scouts aged out (this year and next) that we'd be down to 8 or so, and that we'd really be fighting. Part of that is because of a "super troop" in town that is now up to 65+ Scouts. They do really well at recruiting. But a strange thing happened -- once we started building an active program, with good future plans (for example, we're looking at a 5-year high adventure plan), our recruiting has picked up. As of today, I think we're at 39 Scouts (and we're kind of at our equipment limits at the moment). Outings have gone from 6 to 8 participating, to 24 or so on every outing.
As others have mentioned, communication with parents is the key. I still get calls asking "what does Fred need to bring to this outing?". This last spring, at the new parent's meeting, I said, "every time you call me with a question, you are depriving a patrol leader a chance to practice his communications skills." :-)
Guy
Two things stuck out to me: the first was that the only reason why Scouts were going to summer camp was for merit badges. They'd go one or two summers with the troop, and then go one or two summers to "Eagle Week" (provisional troops, focus on Eagle-required merit badges) and then after that, they would be done with summer camp. They'd forgotten how to have fun at summer camp. There was no need to go to summer camp, because summer camp was about getting merit badges and if you already had enough, why bother going?
The second was that outings were haphazard. They might get cancelled at the last minute from lack of participation, no details would come out until the week before, and most Scouts and families would not commit to attending, because they were unsure if an outing would happen or not. My older son's first year in the troop -- there were exactly six nights of camping, in addition to five nights at summer camp. That was it. There didn't seem to be any call for more camping, because most Scouts in the troop didn't need to, for advancement reasons.
Most advice that I read (on this forum, Ask Andy, and other places) said that it wouldn't be worth the effort to try and fix it. I guess I'm hard-headed enough to think that I could help change it.
As I've always said, I couldn't do it alone -- another WDL/crossover dad, an Eagle Scout (and he's on this forum) thought the same thing, and we were able to team up and facilitate changes. It also helped that the "old guard" were ready to cede control of the troop, as their sons got closer and closer to Eagle. By the way, this WDL/crossover dad is our new SM, and I am now the CC of the troop.
Of course, it wasn't easy to do, and there were issues along the way. One of them I summarize this way: it is near-impossible to improve standards in a troop without actually improving standards. I say this because there were some dads that took exception to their sons being delayed advancement until they actually put some effort into a PoR. One of them started shouting at a committee meeting, because he felt his son was being singled out. Wasn't really true -- it's just that his son was the first case (BoR) coming up after all older Scouts had been told at their prior BoRs that they'd had their free pass and that they'd be expected to actually function in a PoR.
So, in no particular order, here are some of the steps we took in order to rebuild the troop:
- set an outing schedule, and stuck to it -- a fixed weekend every month, no cancellations
- we prevented a couple of older Scouts from running for SPL, because we knew that they wouldn't be participating -- they were part of the "old guard" that looked for credit when doing nothing; that left us with one viable candidate who we knew could be coached into running things properly
- rebuilt the PLC, and gave them actual responsibility for planning the annual schedule and planning monthly outings; we let them fail (case in point: one Scout, responsible for planning an outing, just looked up a campground online; he didn't read the fine print or call; when the troop arrived after dark on a Friday evening, they found that the campground was closed for the winter; all ended up well when another nearby campground was actually open -- in another case, our PLC set a June outing for camping on a Boston Harbor Island, but I knew from reading the fine print online that it wouldn't be open as early as our normal outing weekend; when they finally got around to figuring that out, they attempted to move to a later weekend, only to find that it was already booked).
- we set expectations that our PLs would actually attempt to function as PLs during their tenure, and we held them to it at BoR time; at least two were delayed advancement, and extra effort was put into coaching them
- we set up weekend PL training, and we said it was mandatory to attend (or to attend a PL training session at the annual University of Scouting) if they wanted to hold an SPL/PL PoR. That was how we prevented the two older Scouts from running for SPL.
- at the weekend PL training session (and credit given to Kudu, Bryan Spellman and Bill Nelson for their resources for setting up this training), we did back to the basics. We didn't stick solely with the base TLT or JLT materials, but we went all the way back to "how to" sessions: how to plan a troop meeting, how to plan an outing, how to set up an annual program calendar, etc.
- we sent two Scouts to Brownsea 22 training (this isn't NYLT -- this is the old "All Out For Scouting" era curriculum that our council still uses); we sent another this year, and hope to send at least two every year from here on out.
- we started attending a patrol-oriented summer camp (we're lucky in that it is nearby); the first year, only six Scouts attended (others didn't go because they couldn't get piles of merit badges), the second year, eight attended. This last month, 15 attended. We're on a good path. During the same time period, fewer of our Scouts have attended the local council's "Eagle Week". I would just like that program to die.
- one of my tasks has been to concentrate on talking to prospective troop parents and to new troop parents, with many of the ideas I've gleaned from this forum. I try and be extra clear what our goals are (this last year, I started specifically saying "it isn't our job to turn your son into an Eagle Scout; it is our job to put together an active and vibrant program where advancement happens naturally, and your son can turn himself into an Eagle Scout"). I'd been getting too many parent questions like "how soon can my son become an Eagle Scout?".
We still have plenty of progress to make in terms of instituting patrol method and rebuilding patrol functionality. Part of this has to do with an old car-camping culture in the troop. Most outings are at campgrounds where everyone is bunched together. We were at a summer camp in Quebec just a couple of weeks ago, with mixed age patrols, cooking on their own. I noticed that with a common fire ring, we still have older Scouts gravitating towards older Scouts, and younger ones gravitating towards younger ones. We really do need to get them spread apart. That means we need to find some new camping spots.
By the way -- the collateral effects of rebuilding the troop? A couple of years ago, we were 24 Scouts and dropping. I personally thought the troop was doomed, that once our older Scouts aged out (this year and next) that we'd be down to 8 or so, and that we'd really be fighting. Part of that is because of a "super troop" in town that is now up to 65+ Scouts. They do really well at recruiting. But a strange thing happened -- once we started building an active program, with good future plans (for example, we're looking at a 5-year high adventure plan), our recruiting has picked up. As of today, I think we're at 39 Scouts (and we're kind of at our equipment limits at the moment). Outings have gone from 6 to 8 participating, to 24 or so on every outing.
As others have mentioned, communication with parents is the key. I still get calls asking "what does Fred need to bring to this outing?". This last spring, at the new parent's meeting, I said, "every time you call me with a question, you are depriving a patrol leader a chance to practice his communications skills." :-)
Guy
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