Issue 649 July 30, 2020

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Hi Andy,

We’ve got a sticky situation here and it crosses several levels. We need some outside, non-partisan help and you’re the guy for that, so here it is…

I’m a District Commissioner and have a bunch of pretty darned good Unit Commissioners on the front-lines. One, in particular (I’ll call her Poppy), has really sharp eyes, and she spotted something while serving on a couple of recent troop-level boards of review for Eagle Scouts. (In our council, we do all Eagle reviews at the unit level; we have no district-level reviews and that’s deliberate, but on to the story here…)

So during these Eagle reviews, Poppy noticed in three specific cases (different troop each time), that the Scout had served as his troop’s Senior Patrol Leader. So when it was her turn, she asked the Scout about how he’d learned how to do the job, or where and how he’d been trained, and in all three instances the answer was along the lines of, “Huh? Trained? Uh, well I sort of figured things out as I went along.”

When she probed a little further—she didn’t press too far because it would have misdirected the purpose of the review—Poppy found out that all three of these newly elected Senior Patrol Leaders were pretty much on their own. Two of these Scouts got no training or guidance from their Scoutmasters and they’d never heard of NYLT (National Youth Leader Training). The third Scout—also a former SPL—had attended NYLT as a Patrol Leader, but when he was elected SPL he got stonewalled by his Scoutmaster, who ran the troop with an “iron hand” (the Scout’s own words for it, as told to me by Poppy).

These experiences and insights inspired her to sit down and rough out a leadership training course for all current and potential Patrol Leaders, with special focus on the Senior Patrol Leader role in a troop, and the skills required to be successful. I’ve looked it over, and it’s pretty darned good! It’s not a “replacement” for NYLT by any means, and it’s not intended to be. Poppy developed it for a three-session sequence via Zoom or Skype, with some homework following the first and second sessions, and then a wrap-up in the third.

I was about to give her a green light for a pilot series just with the current SPLs of the three troops she serves as UC, but then things went sideways. Somehow, our district’s Training Chair got wind of this and called foul. “If it’s not an official BSA training syllabus, I won’t approve it; you do not have my permission to proceed,” he told us, and then he added, “If anyone’s going to train anybody, it’ll be run by me and my training team, period.”

Of course I went straight to my Key 3 counterparts, the District Chair and our District Executive, but they both told me I’d better not rock the boat. “We don’t want to lose our Training Chair,” they told me. “Please don’t upset him any further.”

So here we are. Poppy—a darned good UC—spotted a need and came up with a way to address it. We’re ready to go. But we’ve been smacked down by an ego-tripping jerk and two district leaders with chocolate eclairs for spines.

Sorry to drag this story out, but I want you to have all the gritty details. Any suggestions you have would be really appreciated! (Luke Rainwater, Mammoth Council, KY)

Okay, I get it. Good news – There’s a solution to this whole hairball, and we’re going to take it step-by-step, so stick with me here…

First, Poppy’s right on the money—It’s the pretty rare Senior Patrol Leader who actually gets trained beforehand, much less coached along the way, and that’s a real bummer. But here’s the thing—Untrained SPLs are the symptom; that’s not the problem! The true problem here is that Scoutmasters either don’t understand, haven’t been trained to know, or simply don’t care that “THE SCOUTMASTER’S FIRST RESPONSIBILITY IS TO TRAIN THE YOUTH LEADERS SO THAT THEY CAN RUN THEIR OWN TROOP.” This quotation is taken from the BSA’s SCOUTMASTERSHIP syllabus. It’s the most important sentence in that entire training course. As a concept, it remains and always will remain topmost. Although I’m sure it’s somewhere in the 368 pages of the current two volumes of the BSA’s TROOP LEADER GUIDEBOOK, I can no longer find it, and that’s a darned shame. This pity of this is that, if it’s lost in the book it’s more likely to also be lost in the Scoutmasters’ position-specific training. So here’s the big deal…

The person-to-person relationship between the Patrol Leaders Council members—the Senior Patrol Leader and the Patrol Leaders—and the Scoutmaster is absolutely critical to the success of the troop. Without this linchpin, The Patrol Method is most likely far from ideal, the Senior Patrol Leader will either flounder or wind up the Scoutmaster’s gopher (“go-fer”), and the Patrol Leaders will get a patch to wear that that’s about all they’ll get.

(Let’s jog our gray-matter here. Contrary to wide-spread belief “troop” is NOT a group of Scouts divided up into patrols; it’s two or more patrols of Scouts who join forces to create a troop! And while we’re at it, how about this one: A Scoutmaster is NOT “master” of the “scouts”—he or she is a resource, coach, mentor, and guide for the Senior Patrol Leader and the other elected leaders of the troop, plus the other youth leaders appointed by the SPL.)

So back to the actual problem: Scoutmasters aren’t training, guiding, coaching, or mentoring the Senior Patrol Leaders. Fix this problem and the symptoms go away! Plus troops as a whole are happier and more successful!

So while Poppy was definitely on the right track, she needs a different sort of “engine”… If she’s willing to refocus her energies on Scoutmasters, you’re going to have a winner here! So now let’s look at the job of the Unit Commissioner. In a very real sense, just as the Scoutmaster—Senior Patrol Leader relationship, the Unit Commissioner—Scoutmaster relationship can accomplish the same result: A happy, skilled, and competent leader who’s doing the job! In short, how about some small-group Zoom sessions for Scoutmasters, coaching them on how to train and guide their SPLs? Same basic concept—different “target” and coaching points. Goals: Better “sensitized” Scoutmasters, more successful SPLs, and ultimately more successful troops!

Now here’s what we used to call the “Lucky Strike Extra”—If the “training” terminology is changed to “coaching,” this is a perfectly appropriate Action on the part of any Unit Commissioner; it falls right inside his or her bailiwick. This means that it’s not governed by the district training team, because it’s now clearly a commissioner responsibility. (“The Art of War” by Sun Tsu teaches us that our objective is not to “kill” our enemy; it is to disarm our enemy. Got it? :->)

So there you have it. A coaching module for Scoutmasters, improved SPL leadership, happier troops, and all fully compatible with commissioner service. Could you ask for more?

Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay positive!
Happy Scouting!
Andy

Have a question? Facing a dilemma? Wondering where to find a BSA policy or guideline? Write to askandybsa@yahoo.com. Please include your name and council. (If you’d prefer to be anonymous, if published, let me know and that’s what we’ll do.)

Although these columns are copyrighted, any reader has my permission to quote or reproduce any columns or column parts so long as you attribute authorship: “Ask Andy” by Andy McCommish.

[No. 649 – 7/30/2020 – Copyright © Andy McCommish 2020]