Adult Leader Awards for inspiration?

[Akela in NY]

I walked into Cub Scouts this year anticipating a new adventure with my oldest son and found myself volunteering to be the Tiger Den Leader. Needless to say my volunteering has extended into me taking all the normal training courses for a new Den Leader and now in less than a few months, Im the Pack Trainer. One of the members of the committee told me that I had more training than most of the senior adult leaders. In my new position, I have access to the official records and confirmed what he told me. Clearly, training has been a lower priority in this pack.

 

I could use some advice on how to inspire some of the leaders without sounding too overzealous. Our Committee Chairman has noted that he would like our pack to be eligible for the Quality Unit Award this year and I know that we have a lot of catching up. Other than my attitude and words to inspire people, Im looking for some Adult Leader awards that might be possible.

 

Im lining myself up for a Tiger Den Leader Award and would love to get everyone else to earn it too. I also sewed my Trained leader patch on my uniform for the B&G Dinner last week and thought it might inspire some.

 

What ya think?

 

[gwd-scouter]

Hey Akela. Good for you in taking all the necessary training. You are correct in being cautious about how you approach the lack of training among other leaders in your Pack. Ruffles a lot of feathers when "the new guy" jumps in and says folks are doing it wrong.

 

As the Pack Training Chairman you should encourage all the leaders to take their training and bring it up during committee meetings. It might help to make it a bit personal and tell them that their sons deserve well-trained leaders. I don't mean to suggest that during the meeting you call out by name those leaders that haven't taken training. But, perhaps a one-on-one approach might be in order. At the very least you could find out why they haven't taken training.

 

As for inspiration, adult leader award applications can be found in the Cub Scout Leader Handbook (or at least they were when I was in Cubs). They all require taking the appropriate training depending on the leadership position, some length of tenure (1 or 2 years), and some additional service such as attending roundtables, PowWow or other District/Council events. Each award is represented by a square knot patch worn above the left pocket.

 

Why not photocopy the award apps and hand them out to all the other leaders?

 

Good luck and Welcome to the Wonderful World of Scouting!

[dancinfox]

You might approach it by sitting down individualy with each leader and the specific award application for their position and fill out what they've already done to earn the award. When you come to the part about training, use that as a leadin to talk to them about specific trainings coming up and have the registration forms ready.

Dancin

[Lisabob]

The leader knots are great but in many cases they do take time to earn (two years for some committee positions as I recall). In the meantime, have some fun with the adults too. Give them "local" awards like "top banana" or whatever to recognize the time and effort they are putting in. Recognize those who go to training at a pack meeting, just like you would when the boys earn something.

 

Keep it light hearted but make it noticable and you might find more adults ask you about training. Then...well hey, you're the training chair. Promote the next training session tirelessly. Others are right, a one-on-one approach often works best here, but make sure to make some group announcements too. I was surprised sometimes and was approached by people I might not have asked if I'd done the one on one approach only.

 

By the way, I'd start by asking the committee to agree that ALL adult leaders in the unit should have Youth Protection training. It is free, available on line, and really just so common sense that it is impossible to argue against doing it.

 

Good luck!

 

Lisa'bob

[BSAChaplain]

Here is what is slowly working in our unit.

 

I arrived in the troop about 2 years ago, new to the adult side of Scouting, but from a strong youth background. Becuase I already believed in the value of it, I immediately went out and started attending training and inviting others to go. It has been a slow process, but next week the entire troop committee is going to the new Leader's Essentials and Troop Committee Training together. That's after a year of them saying, yeah maybe we should do that, which came after a year of me saying hey, there's a training event coming up I'm going if anyone else wants to join me.

 

Hang in there and you will affect change.

[resqman]

Fortunately our Pack has a history of encoruaging leaders to get training. The Pack pays the cost of adult leadering training.

 

I wanted to take the Webelos Outdoor Leader Training so I could earn my knot. I found a class, sent email to all the Webelos den leaders and Bear leaders about the date, time, location and cost. I reminded them the Pack pays for training and it was a required class for them to earn their knot.

 

I got a few replies back indicating they were interested. I arranged a carpool between those interested since it was a 1.5 hr drive one way for a 12 hr class. All four Webelos I den leaders attended and one Webelos II leader attended. During the ride home, we all agreed we got something from the class even though all of us were experienced outdoorsman and Cub Leaders.

 

I noticed last month that the cubmaster (8 yrs) who earned his cubmaster knot several years ago, actually sewed it on his uniform. The Webelos II leader was wearing his knot. By earning and wearing the knots, they are providing leadership to the other leaders that training is important.