An Example in Troubleshootin

[Beavah 205]

Yah, so our new member highcountry has been describin'' his challenges with the troop he recently inherited. His is a good example of how all kids and all programs start from someplace, and how the path to improvement from that someplace is going to be different. "Full" use of any one method may take a back seat for now, while the highest priority things get worked on.

 

So if highcountry is up for it, it might be fun if we helped him Troubleshoot, eh? This is a good example of da life of a good Commissioner. Help him identify what da most important things are, what the next small steps are, and give him the tools to take the next small steps while keepin'' his enthusiasm up for the Ultimate Goal.

 

From now through Friday, October 5, only data gathering is allowed. Nobody can give worthwhile advice until after they''ve gathered enough data to get a real feel for what''s goin'' on. So from now through Friday, I request those wishin'' to play on this thread only ask questions of highcountry about his program. Starting Saturday, hopefully we''ll have enough data that we can help him as he prioritizes and start givin'' him ideas.

 

Here''s what he gave us so far:

 

* We get about a dozen to 15 on most campouts. (We have 38 in the troop, with 27 active and 4 patrols of about 7 scouts each)

 

* Last weekend we went to Camporree and origianlly had 12 scouts signed up, 6 dropped but 3 new names were added for a final show of 9 scouts. The numbers of scouts by patrol changed entirely from where we started to what ended up showing up. Had we planned to cook as patrols origianlly we would have been way off the mark when we ended up going to the event. (Not enough food for the large patrol, way too much for the patrol that ended up with only one scout showing.)

 

* The boys worked in shifts as one patrol sort of and they produced the meal for the most part...adult help was required as we were cooking in 50+ mph sustained winds in a dusty field).

 

* As I noted earlier, the boys continue to see life as adults doing things for them as reinforced by parents and somehat by previous troop methods. I am trying to improve decision making and responsibility, independence and skills and one way is through meals. I am focusing on the proper planning of a menu, portions, nutrition and quantites, proper cooking methods and coordinating the production of a meal. If I do so by one patrol making a portion of the meal, patrol b making the second course etc I am achieving far more than what I inherited. I can ahve the ASM shop for the trip and if some boys drop and others add in, I am not going to stress about the patrol cooking method. It is far better than adults simply running everyting. It is a far advanced state to teh way things happened when I took over. part of the problem was that the CC from down below that we got rid of came on campouts and would not let the boys cook, or plan the meal. She would just go and shop and start cooking and the boys would run off and play. This prolonged my ability to even get teh boys started in being any part of the meal process.

 

Patrol ccoking is way to far off for me to even dream about implemetning and is way too much work to be practicle for us, it is just not going to happen. I cannot get teh scouts to even do patrol meetings other than ones included within troop meetings as the previous SM had the same problems. parents and scouts alike feel that returning email and voicemail is optional and i ghet maybe 5% repsonse to either. The excuse of we are too busy seems to be adequate response and they carry on with their lives. there is no way I am ever going to get tehm to shop as patrols, to make that as a goal is a waste of my time, I may as well ask each patrol to provide me a cure for cancer.

 

 

[Beavah 205]

Highcountry,

 

Can yeh tell us a bit about the makeup of the boys? How many scouts of different ages & ranks? Who are those 11 inactive boys? What are the youth leaders like (PL''s, SPL, etc.)?

 

How good are the boys'' individual skills? On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being "Paperwork Advancement Mill" and 1 being "Every boy is retested 5 times and knows everything cold", where is your troop?

 

Other than your former CC from hell, what''s your adult staff like? Any good ASMs? How about da Committee? COR?

 

 

 

 

[John-in-KC 311]

Highcountry,

 

When was the last time unit Youth Leader Training was offered?

 

When was the last time a Scout went to Council level Youth leader training?

 

Are any of your Scouts Den Chiefs? Are they trained?

 

Do any of your Scouts have known Special Needs?

 

Do your Scouts earn Merit Badges outside of Camp, the Troop, or large group functions (ie Merit Badge Days)?

[highcountry 13]

I really appreciate this thread, I bet it will proovide some really beneficial information to many, not just me. I will try to start answering some of this and maybe providing more info in bits as I can.

 

Last council youth leader training in march....2 patrol leaders attended. 3rd patrol leaxder is 16 and already has had quite a bit of council training ove the years. 4th patrol leader has had no training. All 4 APL''s have had no training. Of the 4 APL''s 1 is 15 and very responsible, 2 of the remailing APL''s are starting to show some maturity Age 13). Last APL is 16 and comes from a very troubled family.....scout troop is basicall his family and trying to raise him. No responsibiilyt at all we are rying to get him to stop his nasty and aggressive behavior. He has been better teh past 7 months so we tried to reward him with the APL position to see if he would improve further. To date no more positive changes from this youth.

 

Of the PL''s, one who had training in MArch is useless.....has no leadership skills at all, very lazy, will not help out unless asked repeatedly, no self motivation or awareness. He got the position in the spring to try to inspire him to move to the next level but it is not working. He will probably get replaced by the boys this month when we adjust leaders and patrols. Patrol leader who is 16 is very responsible but shows up about half the time, good leadership skills otherwise. Probably moving up to ASPL this fall with re-adjustment. His APL will step ut to PL to replace him, this is the 15 year old with no training but at least shows leadership skills as a starting point. SPL is 16, star and has had youth leadership training. Very responsible ut is extremely busy with high scool related time demands so he amkes a little over half the meetings. He has only gotten better since spring when he was elected and hes started out pretty good.

 

I am once again encouraging youth leaders to attend youth leader training next march and Leadership camp next summer at Tahosa.

 

last time Council level youth training was offered that I am aware of was march.

 

Den Chiefs.....We had 6 last year, 4 were active. Non trained. We cover 2 local packs. A new Adult ASM recruited a year ago took this under his wing. Our troop did very little in the past to support local packs and this is the first serious attempt we had at a Den Chief program since anyone can remember. Local packs were suffering terribly and I think we helped support thier programs and we not only got a good number of new webelos cross over but we had 100% retention. The 4 active Den Chiefs moved to Troop Guides since tehy built a relationship with the new scouts, 2 semi active stayed for one more year of Den chief plus 2 new recruits for that program.

 

SPECIAL NEEDS

 

We have one in a wheelchair with seriosu disabilites. We have arranged for special requirements on some merit abdges etc. parents are thrilled to have him there and he is thrilled to be part of the activities with the other scouts. Other scout treat him well and with respect, do not leave him out. He is severly handicapped and advancements etc are really not the reason he is there.

 

All merit badges are earned at Summer camp, troop sponsered merit badge programs and occasionally merit badge colleges offered in the area. Where else wuld they earn them besides these sources ?

 

OTHER YOUTH LEADERS

 

JASM.....ASPL just made Eagle, is staying on as a JASM. Youth trained. pretty reposnible but we only see him once a month due to high school time commitments.

 

JASM #2....new recruit coming this month, troop transfer from another suburb. Eagle Scout looking for palms and a good troop. Sounds very concientous on the phone. One meeting per month commitment again due to time crush from High School.

 

Troop Intructor....17 year old former ASPL and PL, about 6 months from Eagle. Likes working with younger kids, schoool time crunch will not allow SPL and the current one is pretty good and improving. We never had an Instructor before and troop meetings 2 years ago had little to no planned afgenda or advancement activity so this should be a big improvement over me having to plan and implement it all the time.

 

Quartemaster....thias had always been an adult position but I am in the process of transferring it to a responsible and ambitious scout

 

Scribe....We have a 17 yr old who si unmotivated adn hardly makes any meetings. bad attitude and very unfriendly. In it as Mom wants him to make Eagle (He is Life now) I think this is going to be re-assigned as I doubt we will see this scout much any more and he cannot be relied upon.

 

Historian....This was handled by the CC from Hell''s son but word is they yanked him from teh troop after she was fired by COR. We have to re assign this position. Old CC has not told us anything firm but we are hearing from local sources in the community she is taking her son to a sea scout troop down on the front range.

 

[Eamonn 61]

OK, I''ll play.

A few questions for highcountry:

Tell us a little about yourself (What you feel comfortable with!!)

Were you a Scout?

How long have you been an adult Scouter?

Do you have a son in the program?

What trainings have you taken and what did you get out of them?

Do you have a personal Vision for the Troop?

What and where do you see you and the Troop doing in five years from now?

Ea.

 

 

[John-in-KC 311]

Highcountry,

 

We will answer questions, but as Beavah said in his starting post, it''ll be after we gather data!

 

OK, lots of Council level junior leader training... the week long version, correct?

 

From what you posted, no indication of IN-HOUSE, unit level JLT? Is that correct?

 

Does the Commissioner staff provide you support, or are they pretty much invisible? How often do you (as SM), your CC, and your COR/IH see the DE?

 

Where did you go for summer camping this past summer? Did the youth choose it, was it "we''ve always went there?", or did the adults choose it?

 

Did any part of the Troop go and do something High Adventure, be it council based or National based (Philmont/Sea Base)?

 

Can you describe the environment where the Troop typically does monthly campouts? (As an example, my youth was in LA: We did lots of high desert camping, some beach camps, and some backpacking overnights in the local coastal ranges to prepare for summer backpacking trips).

 

We appreciate your joining in with us on this, highcountry.

 

John

[AnneinMpls 10]

Cool thread idea!

Helloooo Highcountry!

 

If you asked your most active/enthusiastic scouts what do they think are your troop''s greatest strengths and weaknesses, what would they say?

 

Anne, playin the homegame in Mpls

[highcountry 13]

Just answering questions as I get time.....Makeup of unit and recent history.....

 

5 years ago troop was down to 7 scouts...4 active. 2 scoutmasters ago the SM was in the position 7 years, did a great job I understand. Last SM before me did it 3 years, the parents and adults burned him out, I took over a year ago (early Oct 06)....no one else would step up to do the job. I did so and decided to try and do a good job, not just fill the position. Previous built the troop up from 7 scouts when he took over to between 20 and 30 with about 2/3rd being active.

 

I took over a year ago with 23 on the roster. We added 15 scouts in the year that has gone by since.....1 was recruited by another parent, 7 were recruited by me and my 2 boys personally, we got 7 webelos crossover from the local packs to make it 38 scouts.

 

On the scout side per the question of inactives, ages etc.....

 

Of 38 we have 11 inactive, 27 active (mostly active to extremely active)

 

Of the 11......

 

2 of these made Eagle and turned 18. One of those went away to college, the other while no longer a Scout is staying on as an ASM even though he moved 35 miles away this year.

 

1 is the son of the CC from hell and she pulled him after she was fired by COR

 

3 Were Webelos cross overs who made maybe one meeting. They got busy over the summer and this fall enrolled in karate or school sports and are no longer interested in scouts. They crossed over thier registration but other tahn coming to one meeting (One of the 3 never even did that) they have moved on to other things.

 

1 was a 13 year old we recruited who decided he did not care for scouts and dropped out.

 

1 Was a 17 yr old Eagle scout who intended to stay on to finish a palm or two and work as a JASM. He re-uppped membership but we have never seen him in at least a year. He has sincec turned 18 and is gone away to college.

 

1 is an older (16 or 17) scout who made life but is no longer interested in the program. He re-joined as his parents are pushing him to make Eagle. he has a bad attitude, is unfriendly and does not do his job (Scribe). He rarely makes meetings and is now really busy with high school and took a summer job. We are going to take the scribe job and provide it to someone who will do it and I expect he may not renew or finish his eagle.

 

The last 2 are teh sons of the previous SM. One is about 14 and is a bit of a smart allec.....lots of complaints about his hanging in his clique and I''m better than you attitude. He went to another area school as they ahve a better sports program. His only point in joining was because his dad was SM. I see no real leadership skills or interest in the program unless some activity perfectky suits/intersts him. I doubt he will re-up at recharter and this is not loss to the troop frankly.

 

The other son is well into High School, very busy with activitiers and studies there. Highly intelligent and is a life scout but is no longer interested in the program. Was only there to Life as his dad was SM. He acts pretty goofy and never demontrated any interest in leadership. Only shows if we offer something high adventure that is of interest to him. His parents have about given up on him making Eagle and I am not going to taylor programs to this scout who only wants to come to things of interest to him, yet give nothing back to the troop in teh way of responsibility and leadership. This oen will probably be lost at next re-charter too.

 

The camporree last weekend was lower than normal praticiaption due to numerous schedule conflicts for the boys. We had 22 at summer camp and came away with 71 blue cars and at least a third advanced in Rank.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[highcountry 13]

Here is an idea of the patrols and 27 semi active to active scouts.

 

Patrol #1.....Patrol leader (My oldest son) 14....trying to lead and be responsible, doing an OK job and improving with age and experience. makes almost evcery activity, community service and fund raiser. makes calls to his patrol and trys to run them as a team to the best of his current ability. Took One day all day youth leadership training at Council last march. He is in this position strictly on account of the other scouts recognizing his take charge attitude and willingness to build a team and organize, not my pressure at all. he is also a Den Chief last year and a troop guide this year. He will take all week youth leadership training next summer. He has been in scouts since Wolf and made his Arrow of light. Currently Star and is close to getting Life.

 

APL....My youngest son (13) he does not have the maturity yet to lead at all, more interested in playing....no training to date. he will take all day leadership council training in March and will go to all week leadership training in Tahosa next Summer. A Den Chief last year and a troop guide this year. he also was in Scxouts since Tiger and made Arrow of light. He is currently first class and is close to getting Star.

 

Balance of this Patrol is made up of my sons buddies they recruited. All but one were recruited at ages 12-14 when they started. We are at teh point we are looking to break teh patrol up now that all these recruits are established and stayin in the program. One is extremely organized and take charge gut, 9 months into the program and is already almost First class. He was elected SPL at teh recent camporree due to his reliability and leadership. he is probably going to become quartermaster soon. next is a 13 year old, son of Merit badge coordinator. Very smart but not over goofingaround enought to be a dependable leader....maybe better in a few more months. He is Almost to Star. Nest is a good frind of all teh kids in teh Patrol, he went through cubs to Arrow of light but dropped scouts when the earlier troop functions 4 years ago were so unorganized. My son recruiteed him back a bit over 2 years ago. Friendly nice kid at 14 burt he never stops screwing around. has to be asked to help out repeatedly, very un focused. Just amde 1st class. The remaining 4 in this patrol all recruited in by us over the past year, all between 13 and 14 and were never scouts previously. They are only semi intersrted in teh program but enjoy meetings and activities. These scouts will do well if they stay in to 16 and make Star. None show leadership qualities but are there to learn some things and enjoy the activities. They are screwing around less and helping out more as they get older.

 

Patrol #2....patrol Leader got the job as an effort to try to get him to step up. he is absolutely useless in leadership and lazy when anything is needed to be done. His term as PL will soon be done. He ahd all day youth leadership training last march but it had no effect. His Asst is Tenderfoot, 13 home schooled an Arrow of light webelos with a desire to lead instead of goofing around. He is nearly to 1st class and makes activities off and on base don other time commitments. Balannce of patrol are 4 webelos cross overs. All are at least to Tenderfoot and most are nearly to fist class at thsi stage. 3 of teh 4 are very responsible and active and show signs of staying long term and advancing. 4th has some issues and acts 5 years old much of the time and is having diiffiiculty getting along. We are hoping he starts to mature this coming year.

 

Patrol 3 is led by a nice young man, about 15. Good friends with the former SM''s 2 sons, he is intent on staying and making Eagle. He makes most activities. He has had no Youth Leadership training yet but we plan on getting him into some this coming year. With age and experience he is showing more leadership qaulities and independece on realizing things need doing and taking action or delegating. His APL is a child from a problem home....16 but acts like a 12 yearold, goof off all the time, has frequent suspentions from school. Father is a useless peice of work, mom is in Jail, Grandmother is trying to save him from being a Juvenile Delinquent and troop is basically his family truning to raise him. He has nearly been removed from the troop on several occasions for very serious issues but has been improvinfg somewhat the past 9 months. We tried to give him a booost up with responsibility but it has been worthless and he will likely loose the APL spot soon. He is 1st class and if luck might make Star if he stays in teh troop. No previious history with cubs and has had no Leadership training. The balance of the Patrol (6) has 4 of teh inactives on it that are either already gone or will be officially gone at recharter. The remaining 2, one has some minor learning disabilities, he will help out if asked and is slowly advancing but he is there mostly to go on occasional activites and have fun. No leadership skiils and comes to summer camp and rare other fund raisers or activities. The final one here is a new recruit from a somewhat troubled home, he was a cub but fropped before Arrow of light. was hanging with bad kids until mom got divorced from the useless faterh and is dating a former Eagle Scout. he has outdoor experience and is basicall a good kid, he seems enthusiastic and may someday demonstrate leadership qualities, he joined 5 months ago and is already tenderfoot with 4 merit badge. He was active but summer conflicts and mom''s work schedulte made him absent most of the summer.

 

Patrol #4

PL is 16, numerous leadership trainings including week long at Tahosa, demonstrates leadership, will likely move to ASPL very soon. Star scout almost Life, intends to go to Eagle. Does not make a lot of activities etc due to other time commitments, makes 3/4 of troop meetings.

 

APL....15 year old, no training yet, 1st class, almost Star, makes half of the activities and would do more but school and sports commitments eat into his time. Will likely move to PL. Concientuous and showing leadership and tema building skills.

 

Balance of patrol (4) one is inactive and for all purposes gone, one is his younger brother (13) who is not out of teh goofing around stage in life but he is showing signs of improvement, 1 is the severly handicapped individual, the 4th is 17 and almost to eagle, is pretty responsible but due to school and otehr time commitments is going to be troop instructor.

 

Youth leaders.....

 

 

SPL....Star Scout 16... very responsible, makes half of troop meetings and 1/3rd of activities, school and other commitments are heavy for this yout, he is doing a good job, has had youth leadership training and has improved as time has gone on since he took over in February.

 

ASPL.....Currently moving to JASM...16....just made Eagle, has been trained, is repsonsible and shows leadership. School commitments keep him to 50% meeting attendance and 1/3 activity participation.

 

JASM....New rercuit last month, 16 Eagle sounds responsible, moved to our area in August.

[John-in-KC 311]

How often does the Troop camp?

 

How heavy (troop trailers and Dutch Ovens) or light (backpacks and backpacking style foods/meals) does the Troop camp?

 

How does the Troop give community service?

 

Is there a Method of Scouting you think needs to be the first priority in your Troops program?

[highcountry 13]

OK....some more answers.....

 

Summer camp....youths always choose it, youths do presentations adn vote on it. This coming year we asked the boys stay in our home state. 2 yrs ago they elected to go to Alaska and the fundraising nearly killed the troop. last year is was a 10 hr drive each way to camp and we struggled to cover rides for all the scouts. Camp last year was Hunt in Utah as the boys were after some unussual water based merit badges. District commisioner is propsing a boundary waters trip in 2008 for a half dozen of the older scouts to keep them interested.

 

Activty planning has always been by the boys but int he past there were almost no restrictions, 2 or 3 activites a month in addition to troop meetings, merit badges, community service etc. It was too much and about 3/4 of the time activities were cancelled. We are in teh Mountains and half the activities were suburban stuff that really does not belong in scouts. This year we have written down the boys suggestions and also offered ideas of our own and floated test ballons to gauge acceptance. Those things that seem to be very popular are on a proposed schedule for 07-08. It is all outdoor based and anyone wanting to do extras (College Hockey games, bowling and the like) are encouraged to do it on the side as a Family, "non Scout" event. This takes all the organizing and management out of the time buckets of the adults who have to set these things up.

 

In the past our troop did summer camp, camporree and Klondike. They also did 1 or at most 2, 2 niters a year. Some Whitewater and caving, maybe a hike or two a year. Troop is set up with trailer for heavy camping, but we will be doing a couple short backpacking trips this year. Troop calander (If accepted) plans 7, 2 nite campouts, 1 summer camp, one day camp, one caving trip (Day long), 2, 1 nite camps, 1 ski outing and one day camp.

 

Camping is all done pretty much in the rocky mountains, we have more camp areas than you can skae a stick at within 1 hr drive, plus trails and 14''ers to hike.

 

Community service varies, some has been to the Contintal divide trail group, some to various projects to teh church and high school. We used to do highway clean up but the things we srtarted to find were sometimes dangerous (Hypodermics, meth lab remnants, bags of urine etc) so we stopped that a couple years ago. We have also asssisted teh US forset service and local fire dept and residents by piling slash after mitigation work. Scouts also help our Eagle projects (We had 3 this year).

 

Me......I was a scout in the early seventies, I was a suburban kid and a bunch of my friends were in scouts. I wanted to camp and such and unless I joined scouts that was never going to happen so I joined. I stayed until I was about 15 and high school activities became the new priority. I was never in it for advancement, jsut campingand fun, I barely made Star (Back then, only 1 eagle required badge was need to make star, not 4 like today)

 

I was a committee member of the local cub pack 4 years ago, when I came to the scout troop with my youngest son I was quartermaster, then a year later I stepped up to Actities coordiantor, about 6 months later I becamew Asst SM and 6 months after that it was up to SM. I have not done woodbadge or outdoor leader essentials but I have the book on the later, I have done leader specific training, safe swim, leave no trace, safe trek, safety afloat youth protection, fast start, dealing with difficult scouts, who runs the troop,cooking for groups, scoutmaster minute and developing youth leaders.....all in the past 18 months.

 

We ask the scouts all the time, in scoutmaster reviews, in meetings, on campouts, in BOR''s about strengths and weaknesses in the troop. Honestly we are hearing nearly nothing as far as weeknesses, they and the adults like the direction and program, they like the focus oin the outdoors, the scouts like the adult team. The scouts used to sit in a big gaggle in chairs at troop meetings without uniform, although they sai they wanted to identify as patrols they squaked when I made them stand in patrols and squaked about uniforms, but within about 4 months tehy now tell me they prefer it that way. The also like the fact there is less on the calander but almost nothing gets cancelled, the outdoor focus although innitially griped about (They wanted to have their suburban comfort zone activites that they never supported in sufficient numbers causing cancellations) but now they allmost all love the outdoor program.

 

Adult leaders, Previously the SM and hsi wife who was CC had a feud with the merit badge councelour. There was blame to go all around but this went on for years. The trip to Alaska almost tore teh troop apart, and long story short I inherited the troop with an $1800 deficit because of it. Of course you all heard the CC from hell story and that took much of my time for 9 months and prevented teh committe from functioning well. When I became SM the 2 ASM''s sons ahd made Eagel and they were burned out after 5 or more years, they work mostly ou of town now so for all purposes I have lost them, great guys who still help when they can. I recruited 3 new ASM''s, one a former eagle scout from teh late sixties who is on the fire dept with me, his kids are grown and he is in ti for the love of the program. One is the SM from 2 terms ago, he is our eagle Mentor, but had a heat attack and was away recovering for the better part of the year. Other ASM also had a heart attack and is coming back us after recovery....he was a cubmaster years ago. A new ASM is one of my Eagle scouts who turned 18, very responsible, also possibly another ASM recruit from the fire dept but his time is taken up and may be an issue.

 

New CC just came into the troop with his son from a local pack after finishing arrow of light, very personable and loves teh program, Merit Badge and advancement coordinator ahs been doing this for years, does a good job, helsp on fund raisers and some activities, we sp;it the secretary duty 3 ways to ease teh workload, we are getting them trained and getting everything up to date this fall. We have 3 people handling fund raisers, and an large fund raisers are done by committee. I had to recruit a new Treasurer, teh old CC from hell ran him out and I got a Gem of a guy who moved up to our town from the front range, extremely personalble and responsible, he is at all activities and fund raisers and does a great job as secretary too. He is my right hand man and share teh same vison I do for the troop. Committee ges along now and should soon be all trained, with defined job descriptions and pulling in one direction.

 

I have 4 goals for this year.....1 is to re-equip the troop, we are missing stuff we need and have far too much broken down antiques stuff so if we are hitting the outdoors we are doing it right.

 

2nd main goal is to get the scouts truely boy led taking action, making decisions, commmunicating running the show. Our Greenbar tomorrow is going to address this and point it out as a focus for the year, with training, mentoring and clear expectations. We are weeding out the dead wood and putting only those who will do the job, or are capable of it with some coaching and encouragement.

 

3rd is better organiztion, everyone doing their jobs efficiently, events planned for well in advance, schedules and meetings and projects set up and communicated etc.

 

4th is to set up some troop traditions, a number have been discussed we are ready to begin to implement. We want the boys to have a strong sense of belonging to something bigger and also feel tis is their unique group or troop and want to stay in it because it is truely theirs.

[Beavah 205]

Thanks highcountry. Just a few follow-ups.

 

What are your particular outdoor interests/skills? Like water more than mountains? Like skiing a lot, etc.? How about your other ASMs.

 

Tell us a bit about your current committee. On da surface, it seems like you are developing a good feel and plan for program, and a good feel for the needs and character of each kid. Tell us a bit about the skills/interest/relationships/levels of commitment of your non-program staff. Treasurer? Quartermaster?

 

What does your fundraising look like?

[Beavah 205]

And one more...

 

Tell us a bit about your vision, and, if there is one, da vision of your CO.

 

At the end of the day, as a result of your program, what do you want to see each boy be able to do / live / believe on his own, without help or outside coaching?

 

B

 

 

 

[Beavah 205]

OK, It''s past Friday so it''s time to open up this thread for suggestions and comments. O'' course, highcountry can keep givin'' us information, too!

 

Now, like any good Commissioner, I''d ask respondents to begin by identifying and praising strengths. It''s easy and cheap to find errors and weaknesses in a nitpicky way. Start by buildin'' a relationship, and by helpin'' highcountry see where he''s got some good things in place, or some internal resources to use. Spend your first reply, or at least the first half of your reply helping him to see fun and strengths to build from. That''s the first step to gearin'' up for continued improvement.

 

Our goal for da second bit is to help him find the one or two most important things to work on next, and then figure some suggestions for how to do that, preferably by building on his troop''s strengths.

 

Beavah

 

[John-in-KC 311]

I appreciate that you found room for the HS students who cannot give 4 weeks a month anymore

 

I appreciate that the youth have planned a realistic program that actually gets executed

 

I appreciate that you are moving a major responsibility (equipment) to youth stewardship

 

I appreciate that you are actively supporting a young man with special needs in your program

 

Frankly, I think your Troop has some pretty good rock in its foundation, and may well be set to take off as a quality, growing program!