Jump to content

Wood Badge - Roses and Thorns


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 83
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Posts

This has turned into a very interesting discussion. As a 3 beader and a staffer of both the old course and newer 21C course, I have a pretty good grasp of its pro and cons. I was also the Council Juni

There is a large number of adults who are searching for some kind of recognition of importance in their lives and find it in volunteer organizations because prerequisite education or experience isn't

Absolutely. My comment here has some bolding for emphasis and clarity. As a lot of Wood Badgers in my area like to say "Feedback is a gift." I've actually really enjoyed this thread, because it gives

Posted Images

I haven't read the whole thread yet, but I've seen lots of frustration with Wood Badgers lately.  The key complains are two.  First, brow beating people who have not taken it to take it.  Second, over-emphasizing it as way more important than it really is. 

Over the years, I've taken lots of high performance team building, leadership training and MBA related classes.  When I took Woodbadge, it was good but not enlightening.  In no way way, would I consider someone who took woodbadge as now trained.  IMHO, it has some good training, but it's more about building excitement or rebuilding excitement.  

  • Upvote 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, fred johnson said:

I haven't read the whole thread yet, but I've seen lots of frustration with Wood Badgers lately.  The key complains are two.  First, brow beating people who have not taken it to take it.  Second, over-emphasizing it as way more important than it really is. 

Over the years, I've taken lots of high performance team building, leadership training and MBA related classes.  When I took Woodbadge, it was good but not enlightening.  In no way way, would I consider someone who took woodbadge as now trained.  IMHO, it has some good training, but it's more about building excitement or rebuilding excitement.  

I had the same feelings as you.  I enjoyed the weekends with fellow scouters with a purpose.  But didn't really learn much since I have done a lot of training at work.  I am taking Sea Badge in December, we will see how that compares.  

Yes I am a sucker....  

Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, fred johnson said:

I haven't read the whole thread yet, but I've seen lots of frustration with Wood Badgers lately.  The key complains are two.  First, brow beating people who have not taken it to take it.  Second, over-emphasizing it as way more important than it really is.   

I was at summer camp and a couple of WB (dare I say) zealots were hitting it pretty heavy that WB was the end all be all.  Told them not doubting it may have some benefit, but in the last 5 years I had been pretty busy as we had doubled the number of scouts attending monthly outings, the troop was exceeding 1,000 nights camping each year, we did 2 summer camps, 1 High adventure trek, did 11 other outdoor activities, had 10 -12 Eagle scouts each year, service projects, etc and really was not sure what WB might do to take us the the next level?  I explained my focus was on the unit and delivering program to the Scouts.

They did not have a great comeback

  • Upvote 2
Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, WisconsinMomma said:

I like, wore my Wood Badge hat at a Cub campout this past weekend and I think it might have been considered too showy!

Nah, enjoy it.  Just don't tell people that because you went you are better than them.  And remember there are beads and there are beads......  Not a consistent rubric.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites
19 hours ago, fred johnson said:

I haven't read the whole thread yet, but I've seen lots of frustration with Wood Badgers lately.  The key complains are two.  First, brow beating people who have not taken it to take it.  Second, over-emphasizing it as way more important than it really is. 

Over the years, I've taken lots of high performance team building, leadership training and MBA related classes.  When I took Woodbadge, it was good but not enlightening.  In no way way, would I consider someone who took woodbadge as now trained.  IMHO, it has some good training, but it's more about building excitement or rebuilding excitement.  

This seems to be a pretty good summary of what I'm reading too.  My take here is:

Brow beating, acting superior, etc - this are not good tactics for any of us to employ.  They don't seem to serve Wood Badge well.  Maybe you'll get one or two more people for your course, but in the long run do a lot more harm than good.

Efficacy of the course - Out of this topic, I've realized that it's a mistake for Wood Badge to simply label itself as "leadership" training and most certainly not the "best leadership training ever".  Lots of us take leadership training in other places - especially at work.  I think it sets expectations too high for the course too and then people walk away and say "eh, not that great".  I liked @Eagledad's description above.  Further, regardless of what we call it, there will certainly always be a good segment of our community for whom it's not adding a lot of new value.  That doesn't mean it's not a good course for the BSA to have.  There are lots of Scouters who don't have all these skills.  I know that from my troop's perspective, I see participants making a bigger impact after taking it - that's a good thing.  

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I took WB. It was neither great nor a complete waste. More like a disappointment after all the hype. In hindsight I'd say WB is about how to implement a vision. If you know where you want to be then WB provides tools to get there. That's fine but it's not really specific to scouting. Plenty of people have said they've seen this material elsewhere.

The two weekend training I'd rather see is the vision of running a pack, troop, or crew, and how to solve the typical problems you run into.

If the trainers were seeing how their training was helping units then they'd be much less likely to see WB as the goal. Training should never be a goal, the goal should be people that successfully use the training. If WB was much better than anything else then there would be feedback on how units were doing better.

JTE is supposed to be that feedback. Originally the metrics used in JTE were going to get harder as units got better. I haven't really seen that so I assume that units are not generally getting better. The bottom line is good units are figuring it out on their own.

Link to post
Share on other sites
18 hours ago, WisconsinMomma said:

Wait, there are 365 days in a year???

Troop total: 13 outings per year, 40.3 average scouts, 2.3 nights average per outing = (roughly) 1,205 nights of camping last year

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...