Eagle Project Leadership Ability?

[bsa504mom 10]

We are getting ready to do an Eagle BOR. HOWEVER, for some reason this Scout did NOT ask any Scout or Leader from our Troop to be apart of his Eagle Project. He did ask other Scouts previously from our Troop and friends.

My concern is how can this BOR evaluate his "Leadership Ability" which is what the project is all about when no one observed the projest? Did he do the work himself? Did adults do all the work?Did he delegate well? Did he problem solve well?

I see in the regs he does not have to use Scouts, I get that but pictures and planning guide do not show inter-active leadership skills.Yes, the SM already signed off with no leadership observation.

 

 

[Beavah 205]

Hiya, bsa504mom, welcome!

 

I reckon by now that the adult leaders and other youth in the troop would know all about the lad's leadership ability just from his other activities and his service in a position of responsibility.

 

The things I would look at in a project writeup are whether the project got done to the organization's satisfaction and who the workers on the project were. If mom and dad had outsized contributions to the project effort, then perhaps some harder questioning needs to take place at the board of review.

 

Otherwise, you tell by how he presents the project and the level of knowledge and confidence he shows in that process. A lad who has truly led a project on his own can talk in intimate detail about all parts of it, once he gets over his nerves and any shyness with the group. He'll talk about this thing that worked and that thing that didn't and how he had to do somethin' different here and had to tell Fred not to carry the glass jars on his head and whatnot. Look for those things, eh? How he responded to challenges, difficulties, changes.

 

It becomes pretty obvious in the report and conversation.

 

Beavah

 

[MoosetheItalianBlacksmith 13]

I sit on the Advancement Board for the District and we have this problem with every boy we see because we are not members of their troop. We have to make sure when we approve the project that there are opportunities to show leadership and when they finish it we need to ask questions that delve into those areas and look for that leadership to have been shown.

 

We try to assign 1 advisor from the board to each boy when he gets his project approved. This does multiple things.

 

1) If they have questions they can talk to us.

 

2) They are supposed to invite us to every work day they have

 

This is so we can see whos running the project and give helpful hints. This does not mean the advisor will come to them all; it depends on each others schedules. But if there are any questions the advisor is the person the board can turn to and double check stuff with.

 

3) The advisor also ends up being a face that the boy is more comfortable with when they come back for the eagle board.

 

The problem is getting the boys to actually use the advisors. Where happy when they call us (although recently they have been getting better with it).

 

SO back on topic. Its all a matter of asking the right questions if youre worried see if there was anybody else you might be able to talk to double check how the project ran.

 

and Beav's right if he did it hell know his topic and be able to answer any of the questions you wanna throw at him... if he doesnt know it off the top of his head he should have it in his binder.

 

Hope that helped.

 

[evmori 11]

I sit on the Advancement Board for the District and we have this problem with every boy we see because we are not members of their troop.

 

Why is this a problem? An Eagle candidate can lead whomever he wants in his project. Members of his unit can be involved if he so wishes but they don't have to be.

[moosetracker 132]

evmori - I doubt MIB meant problem that they sit around and complain about it.. More as the OP sees it as a problem, but the board members normally do not work the project, so this is a common issue that is part of the whole Eagle board process.. The board must ask questions and take the word of the scout. Even if the troop was involved in the project the board (most times) are not aware of if the unit is boy-run or adult run.. So for them it makes no difference whether the volunteers are the troop members or friends & relatives outside of scouts.. Asking questions and trusting the scouts honesty & integrety is part of the process.

[John-in-KC 311]

To drive a stake in the heart of this point,

 

There is not one single word in ACP&P #33088 or Requirements #33215 requiring the Scout/Venturer to use youth from his own unit as his labor pool!

 

The Scout can use friends, his school band, his school team, whoever he chooses for his ELSP. The project may depend on special expertise that the typical Scout cannot achieve without 1-2 years of training!

 

So, don't worry about this. Ed said the same thing as I, but far more simply!

[pchadbo 60]

Reading between the lines, I think the question the OP was asking is if nobody from the troop watched him in action how do they know that he displayed leadership?

 "this Scout did NOT ask any Scout or Leader from our Troop to be apart of his Eagle Project."

Just my take on the question.

and as for an answer, I think Beavah hit the nail on the head.

[qwazse 4342]

b540mom,

 

Bottom line: Ask detailed questions, including why the boy chose the team he did.

 

Take the list of "did he's" in your original post and turn them into "how did you's".

 

Did he do the work himself? ==> How did you divide up labor?

Did adults do all the work? ==> How did you employ your adults?**

Did he delegate well? ==> What tasks did you ask others to do, and what did you do yourself?

Did he problem solve well? ==> How did you solve the biggest road block in your project?

 

**(Note: not a problem if they provided lots of manual labor or expertise. We would not want to hear that they *supervised.*)

 

And, for future EBORs, always ask these questions even if other members of the troop were present and are sitting on the board. Part of leadership is being able to reflect on and evaluate your performance.

 

By the way - The project report should include service hours contributed by each person. That's often a great springboard into discussion.