encouraging others to sign up for WB

[Lisabob]

OK it is late and I'm just playing around with this. But I've thought several times over the last year that there are a few adults in my son's troop (incl. current SM) who would benefit greatly from WB, both personally and in terms of their scouting activities. In particular I see a need to work on team building, communication, leading change, and maybe most important, building a shared vision. I'd really like to do what I can to encourage them. I've mentioned it a few times though and gotten pretty uninterested responses. The obstacles as I see them are:

 

1. Around here the second WB weekend is always labor day, which doesn't work well. (I realize this is a tough one to get around)

2. I am the only person in the troop who has done the current WB course. I did it when I was a cub leader. And admittedly I haven't always seen eye to eye with some of our troop's "old guard" leaders regarding the need for any change or different approach to the things I mentioned above, so I may not be in the best position to persuade them.

3. The only other people from the troop who have had WB in recent memory took the "old" course. (Of these, one left the troop several years ago and I expect the other will this year since her son is off to college.) Several folks, perhaps following these people's lead, have commented that they'd gladly take the old course but aren't too sure about the new course.

 

Help me brainstorm a little. I can talk about why I personally believe WB is worth the time and money until I'm blue in the face but it hasn't worked so far. I think I need some different approaches to convince these guys that it is worth THEIR time and money. What do you tell people who aren't already chomping at the bit, to get them interested in the course?

 

Lisa'bob

[Crew21_Adv]

Lisa,

 

Greetings!

 

Using a Fishing merit badge analogy....

Really all you can do is bait them, and see if they bite.

 

Not everyone will attend Wood Badge. They should, but in reality they don't. If they did, in each council there would be about four - five courses a year. Still, there are quiet a few Scouters mildly interested. Only mildly though.

 

Sometimes there is a small desire to attend Wood Badge, but not at the expense of vacation and personal finances. (Weeklong courses and additional uniforms and camping equipment) As you testify about your experiences, you would need increase their desire to make a commitment and pay that first deposit.

 

Many times they have heard Wood Badge is a leadership and camping course. Many times our Troop (and Pack) leadership have attended Management Seminars in their profession. Equally many have been camping a few years, with their youngest Scout about to turn 18.

 

So, Here is what I "bait" during Roundtables.....

 

The most fun you'll ever have with your Scout uniform on!

 

If you want to have a successful troop, send the leaders to Wood Badge, send the Patrol Leaders to NYLT, send the SPL to NYLT and KODIAK!

 

Ever heard of

Steven Covey, Franklin Covey

"Seven Habits..."

Kenneth Blanchard.

"Who Moved my Cheese"

 

The Movie October Sky (anagram for Rocket Boys)

The true story of Homer Hickam

"Sometimes one dream is enough to light up the whole sky."

 

If you run a double feature on movie night, everyone loves a Disney flick! The true story of Coach Boone and Coach Yoast and their team working together to achieve one goal.

 

Also clips from another great Disney movie. Mr Holland's Opus.

 

Finally, You receive a PATCH at the course end. (Who wouldn't sign up for that alone?)

 

Hope that helps!

 

Scouting Forever and Venture On!

Crew21_Adv

 

[Crew21_Adv]

Lisa,

 

I almost forgot..

 

Some Troop Committees may be open to a Scoutership.

 

A Scoutership (similar to a Scholarship) is usually used to assist good and deserving scouts, that may not financially attend Summer Camp.

 

However, each year, I recommend to my units committees to authorize a Scoutership (either full or partial) to attend training. The committees may decide if they will provide a Scoutership and eligibility requirements.

 

This also may push a potential Wood Badger over the edge to commitment, especially if they know the Committee is supporting and encouraging them to attend.

 

Maybe in a course of 30-48 learners, you will have 1-2 that had a full ride "Scoutership".

 

Crew21_Adv

[scoutmom111]

Having just completed the practical WB, and hind site being 20-20,I've noticed that several of my tickets were items that had been identified as a need by our troop. The tickets seem to be one of the hardest parts of WB (except for mine but that's a different thread **smile**). I will be talking to my troop committee about WB. The overall experience was great. I would love for the troop to idenify several more needs that are potential tickets. I think that this follows into having a vision. If we define a vision for the troop, it might help people see how their personal troop vision fits in... and it might encourage them to do WB.

[BrentAllen]

Being the first leader in our Pack to attend WB, I wanted to make a strong statement about the value of the training. I offered a 50% scholarship to any of the other leaders to attend. This was not Pack money, this was out of my wallet. I am not rich by any stretch, but I wanted to show how much this training meant to me, personally.

I've had one leader take me up on it. He was going through a divorce, so the money was tight. I don't think he would have been able to attend otherwise.

Yes, there are usually camperships available to those with funding problems. This act was more a statement about the value of the course than as actual financial aid. In the end, it turned out to be both.

[eagle-pete]

I'd just like to add one more point to the excellent afore posted suggestions - and this is really to illuminate somewhat on something Crew21_Adv touched on: Not everyone attends Wood Badge. I would also say... Not everyone should attend Wood Badge right away.

 

Let's keep in mind that Wood Badge is *Advanced* training - meant for a Scouter who already has attended other preparatory trainings. In fact, one of the requirements to attend Wood Badge is "You must have completed Basic Training for your registered Scouting position."

 

Typically, I don't start pushing Wood Badge until the individual has at least attended their Basic Training.

 

Point and case - We had a Scouter in our Troop decide they would go ahead and jump right into Wood Badge, not having gone through any other previous trainings. This individual was completely unprepared. IMO, they wanted more of an "Express Wood Badge" and they were also looking for the recognition more than anything.

 

Fortunately, their Wood Badge experience was positive. However, soon after the newness and enthusiasm of their training wore off, and without a solid foundation of a phased-in method of training, much of what they got out of Wood Badge as far as Scouting methods and how to apply it to the Troop dissipated into a sort of foggy, halfway trained Wood Badger.

 

I don't doubt that this participant got something from Wood Badge. However, I also believe that their once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience Wood Badge as a participant was, in a way, wasted. I learned a valuable lesson - don't send someone to Wood Badge unprepared for the experience. The result can be a Wood Badger robbed of the full WB experience.

 

Eagle Pete

 

[John-in-KC]

Lisa,

 

Frankly, the bait I'm using now is: Make new friends. I went out-of-Council for WB. Had I gone in-Council, I would have known well over half the class. Going out, I met new folks!

 

The other advantage of going out-of-Council was I was able to find a course that matched my available time. .

 

Make new and different friends. Good idea

[emb021]

A couple of comments.

 

Some councils may have Wood Badge Scholarships to help people attend their WB courses. Mine does (it gets funded out of our annual WB Breakfasts and stuff we sell there).

 

I also have to agree with Eagle-pete's comments. I think that too often people are encouraged to attend WB too soon. I personally feel that for a new scouter they should:

 

* get fast start within a week or two of joining (which on-line and video delivery, this should be easy).

 

* get basic training within a couple of months. (most councils will have courses in both fall and spring, in different districts, so if its not available in your district in a timely fashion, go to another).

 

* attend WB AFTER getting your basic training under your belt AND some experience. I personally feel one should be attending WB during their 2nd year as a scouter. At a minimum, 6-9 months after starting. I found it a little annoying when I was staffing a course how many people were ignorant of what I felt were basics of Scouting (ie, had never heard of: Venturing, OA, Jamboree, etc).

 

My view on training is that it should be: training, put into practice, more training, put into practice, repeat. too many think its: do all your training, put into practice, end.

 

 

[scoutmom111]

We had a young man that had just gotten his Eagle and turned 18 in our WB patrol. That was way too young IMO. He didn't pay a lot of attention to the programs. I think he felt like as an Eagle he knew it all. Of course we, as adults, see issues and concerns that we keep from the boys. A 18 year old scouter hasn't any of that experience. I know he wanted to get his beads with his dad. We made it a plus by having him lead on things we weren't experienced in. None of us had done Philmont, so he was in charge of our backpacking trip. He did a great job with the fire and cooking! We followed his lead. We also let him lead in many of the scout skills. Not that we didn't know our knots, but it gave us an opportunity to practice following... something with scouters need to practice often in a boy lead troop **smile**.

 

I agree that the person should be in scouting for about 2 years and very involved... before WB. I think you just have a better perspective on what is being taught.

[emb021]

"The obstacles as I see them are: "

 

"1. Around here the second WB weekend is always labor day, which doesn't work well. (I realize this is a tough one to get around) "

 

I assume by this that in your council they do WB such that the second weekend is on labor day weekend. In most councils, they seem to schedule their WB courses around the same time each year.

 

The thing is, if that doesn't work for YOU (or other Scouts), and you can't get your council to consider a change DO WB IN ANOTHER COUNCIL. Its no big deal. Find out the WB schedule in the surrounding councils. On the course I was staffing, we had someone from a nearby council coming, who was supposed to be in the patrol I was guiding. He didn't show up, never found out why (he had paid, etc). There can be some logistics issues, and I don't know how you handle the ticket, but it is done. In fact, there exist WB courses that will draw from an entire Region for specific ethnic groups (certain asian cultures) or religious groups (kosher WB).

 

"We had a young man that had just gotten his Eagle and turned 18 in our WB patrol. That was way too young IMO. He didn't pay a lot of attention to the programs. I think he felt like as an Eagle he knew it all."

 

I would have to agree. Having gone from a scout to a scouter at age 18, I don't think I would have been prepared for WB. I know of several fellow scouts who are Eagles at that time that took the attitude that 'I'm an Eagle, what do I need WB for?' which I think is bad. There is a difference between being an Eagle Scout scout and being a scout leader.

 

"I agree that the person should be in scouting for about 2 years and very involved before WB."

 

Not quite what I said. I said they should do WB, at a minimum, DURING their second year. By that time they've gotten basic training under their belt, hopefully done a year's worth of scouting events (scout show, summer camp, etc), several roundtables, camporee, etc. They've put into pratice the training they got, been exposed to scouting thru events like scout show, etc (cubs, boy, venturing, etc). At that point, the're ready for the next step.

 

 

(This message has been edited by emb021)

[BrentAllen]

eagle-pete,

We had to have all our prerequisite training courses (Fast Start, NLE, LS) completed before we could register for WB. It has been a couple of years now, so I can't remember if we actually had to show the Training cards or not. I thought the prerequisites were standard across the councils.

[scoutmom111]

THe training is suppose to be standard. But I know that there were people in our WB that didn't have the training. Shoot one of the guy's tickets is to take his position training! Part of the reason in our council is the records were all screwed up. They did a concerted effort to get everything up to date at the last camporee. I know they plan to be much more careful from now on.

 

A few years ago, I went in to clean up the records for my 2 boys. The council had my youngest listed as a first class cub scout...hummmm... After I got my boys corrected, I went ahead and got the troop records corrected. As it turned out, my efforts made it possible for a young man to get his eagle that would have been turned down. He had his first aid merit badge before he joined BS! It was fixed and his Eagle went thru. I've encouraged other troops to verify records. It is important. As the Adv chair...(hey I got the job because of doing the record verification... they figured it made me a good choice... one hour a week **smile**) I do a verification of they boys' records every 2 years. I am working on the training records for adults this year.

[eagle-pete]

In response to BrentAllen's post to me...

 

The official BSA website states the following:

 

"Qualifications

Each Scouter invited to participate in Wood Badge training must have completed the basic training courses for their Scout position and completed the outdoor skills training programs appropriate for their Scouting position." (excerpt from the following site: http://www.scouting.org/nav/enter.jsp?s=xx&c=ds&terms=wood+badge&x=43&y=8 )

 

Although I cannot speak for other councils, ours follows this requirement as a rule. However, we do not turn away participants who cannot produce proof of their prerequisite trainings, as this could be due to inaccurate records at the council level. As with many programs in Scouting, we use the "On My Honor" system and err on the side of providing positive experiences to volunteers willing to serve.

 

Personally, when I consider introducing an individual to Wood Badge I try to assess their level of experience and training with Scouting before immediately delving into a pitch for Wood Badge. I remember what it was like for me when I first began as a Scouter. Wood Badge wasn't first on my list of accomplishments.

 

Eagle Pete

[emb021]

"THe training is suppose to be standard. But I know that there were people in our WB that didn't have the training. Shoot one of the guy's tickets is to take his position training!"

 

As someone else noted, AFAIK, its standard across the board that one must have completed basic training for your particular position.

 

Now, one thing I found on the course I staffed was that some scouters were taking WB in between switching their positions. Many were coming to WB as fully trained cub scouters, but planned on moving over to boy scouting within the next 3-4 months, which means that one of their ticket items was to take the new training for their new positions (I also know of some that got asked to be unit commissioners, etc, due to their involvement at WB). Personally, I would have preferred these 'transitional scouters' to wait a bit in their new (and probably more long-term position) before taking WB, but that's only a recommendation.

 

[scoutmom111]

In this case he hasn't taken the training for his current position. He was in our patrol. He is a cubmaster and we got him to join our troop so he will do some additional training. He said it was really hard coming from the cubs and not having Boy Scout exposure. But we brought him along nicely... nicely enought to make him a T111!!! Our council records are very messed up right now so they probably can't check everyone. I do know that they are trying to do much better.