Issue 650 – August 7, 2020

________________________________________
Last week’s column rang some bells! Here’s what some folks had to say about training and guiding Senior Patrol Leaders and Patrol Leaders, BSA resources available, district “diplomacy” and the need to avoid “politicos” and “power hogs”…

Hi Andy,

You’ve hit the nail-head again!

A real Scout troop IS really a group of patrols, not a group of Scouts formed into patrols.

Back when I was a 14-year-old Senior Patrol Leader with 96 Scouts in my troop, I don’t know if there was such a thing as JLT (Junior Leader Training) then. Curiously, years later, I wound up Scoutmaster of one of those weeklong leadership training courses for Scouts).

My own Scoutmaster had given me a 1947 Edition of the SCOUTMASTER’S HANDBOOK. In it was an outline for Scoutmasters, that showed how to actually teach-instruct-coach the Senior Patrol Leader and his (at that time) Patrol Leaders. As an adult volunteer, I used that handbook, and that section, for years. I’d use part of it on one or two weekends when the Patrol Leaders’ Council and I had a camping-and-training weekend, and then reinforce the learnings during “Green Bar” (what we called the PLC) meetings. Alas, that handbook, and a lot of other Scouting items important to me, disappeared when my house was ransacked several years ago while I was in coronary ICU, but I still use Green Bar Bill’s foundational guideline for all Scoutmasters: “TRAIN ‘EM – TRUST ‘EM – LET ‘EM LEAD”! (Dean Winery, WB 802-3-64, Scouter Reserve)

Thanks for your solid thoughts and a “memory-jog” for me… “Train ‘em – Trust ‘em – Let ‘em lead,” and I do have the temerity to add one more critical point between points two and three: GET OUTA THE WAY!
==========
Hi Andy,

In your column last week, on that problem with a Unit Commissioner who had come up with their own way of training a troop’s elected leaders, I’m not sure why the “Intro to Youth Leadership Training” syllabus wasn’t suggested. You can add or subtract to that syllabus as you need to, and it works really well. (Darrin, SM, Troop 77)

Hi Andy,

About last week, isn’t this problem what “Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops” is for? We present it for the new leaders after every election. (Cyndi Hanes, Blue Grass Council, KY)

Hi, Andy,

In your issue last week, you were, as usual, right on with your answers. I’d add that Scouting already has a course for the Scoutmaster, Senior Patrol Leader, and the Patrol Leaders: ILST (Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops). This is an excellent way for a Scoutmaster to train the troop’s youth leaders so they can all work as a team. (Robby Wright, ACC, San Diego-Imperial Council, CA)

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to write! Yes, the ILST package works well, and I’ve seen Scoutmasters put it to good use. But it only works with Scoutmasters who are motivated to train the troop’s youth leaders in the first place, and that’s what I believe that Unit Commissioner was struggling with. Once she’s able to engage the Scoutmasters she serves and can motivate them to carry out the single-most important responsibility of a Scoutmaster, this is definitely the “tool” she can help put in their hands.
==========
Y’know, Andy, I had so many different reactions to your column this past week…

First, while it’s definitely possible that the situation revealed a major breakdown between Scoutmasters and Senior Patrol Leaders, isn’t it also possible that those Scouts may have received “informal” training and coaching without knowing that that was actually happening for them?

There’s also a more formal BSA program that Scoutmasters can be using—ILST—and the whole thing is a free download, no less!

But there’s another side to this situation as well… It might be an illustration of why some of us Scoutmasters avoid our district people. Yes, this is a commissioner who wants to fix a perceived problem. But on the other hand, she was ready to offer training to Senior Patrol Leaders of only three troops, which could likely be perceived as meddling by the respective Scoutmasters and committee members. As a troop-level Scouter, I welcome feedback, but the right thing is to first approach me with the concern. Perhaps she could make a presentation on ILST and why Scoutmasters should be using it for training.

Another thing is that the district’s KEY 3 should recognize that their training chair is driving people away from the precise services that the district staff is supposed to be delivering to its units!

I’m one of those who has become more involved in my district as they’re steadily taken action to get rid of the blowhards with “ownership” complexes. I can recall early in my involvement hearing some district staffer telling Cub Scout pack volunteers that if they didn’t send someone to training, the district would “take over” (her words) their “School Night for Scouting.” I informed my District Commissioner that our pack would lose a den leader if that happened, and—when that den leader departs—that blowhard can come on in and take over that now-leaderless den for the rest of the year.

In short, everyone at district needs to always remember that they only exist to assist units—and while many of us are glad for some outside eyes and assistance, we don’t want uninvited meddling. (Kirk Wood)

Thanks for your absolutely valid points—let’s try to take them one-at-a-time.

Yes, it’s not impossible that the Scouts from each of those three troops had been informally coached rather than receiving formal training, which is what ILST is, of course. However, when they all independently say approximately the same thing—that they learned what to do and how to do it as they went along, and never mentioned their respective Scoutmasters at all in this regard—it’s not unreasonable to reach the conclusion that something’s missing and it’s not rocket science to figure out what that is.

The next good thing is that, although this perceptive Unit Commissioner identified a possible problem in the three troops she served, she made no mention of this to anyone in any of those troops and, instead, worked up a rough plan and then consulted with her District Commissioner. This, of course, eliminated the possibility of meddling and is an excellent example of the commissioner-to-commissioner support system in place in her district.

Yes, you’re one hundred percent correct that the fastest way to alienate unit-level volunteers who are doing their best “where the rubber meets the road” is to subject them to martinets, power-mongers, and outright buffoons like that training chair. This is where the KEY 3 had better grow a spine—fast.
==========
Hi Andy,

“Training the troop’s youth leaders” once topped the Scoutmaster “job description” pocket-card. I still have mine from 1961. The card’s a bit worn, but the concept is timeless. BTW, clever workaround with that trainer. (Thomas Linton)

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. 650 – 8/7/2020 – Copyright © 2020 Andy McCommish]