{"id":2656,"date":"2020-07-30T15:01:38","date_gmt":"2020-07-30T19:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/?p=2656"},"modified":"2020-07-30T15:01:40","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T19:01:40","slug":"issue-649-july-30-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/2020\/07\/issue-649-july-30-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Issue 649 July 30, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

________________________________________
\nHi Andy,<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got a sticky situation here and it crosses several levels. We need some outside, non-partisan help and you\u2019re the guy for that, so here it is\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a District Commissioner and have a bunch of pretty darned good Unit Commissioners on the front-lines. One, in particular (I\u2019ll 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\u2019s deliberate, but on to the story here\u2026)<\/strong><\/p>\n

So during these Eagle reviews, Poppy noticed in three specific cases (different troop each time), that the Scout had served as his troop\u2019s Senior Patrol Leader. So when it was her turn, she asked the Scout about how he\u2019d learned how to do the job, or where and how he\u2019d been trained, and in all three instances the answer was along the lines of, \u201cHuh? Trained? Uh, well I sort of figured things out as I went along.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

When she probed a little further\u2014she didn\u2019t press too far because it would have misdirected the purpose of the review\u2014Poppy 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\u2019d never heard of NYLT<\/em> (National Youth Leader Training<\/em>). The third Scout\u2014also a former SPL\u2014had attended NYLT<\/em> as a Patrol Leader, but when he was elected SPL he got stonewalled by his Scoutmaster, who ran the troop with an \u201ciron hand\u201d (the Scout\u2019s own words for it, as told to me by Poppy).<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2019ve looked it over, and it\u2019s pretty darned good! It\u2019s not a \u201creplacement\u201d for NYLT<\/em> by any means, and it\u2019s not intended to be. Poppy developed it for a three-session sequence via Zoom<\/em> or Skype<\/em>, with some homework following the first and second sessions, and then a wrap-up in the third.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u2019s Training Chair got wind of this and called foul. \u201cIf it\u2019s not an official BSA training syllabus, I won\u2019t approve it; you do not have my permission to proceed,\u201d he told us, and then he added, \u201cIf anyone\u2019s going to train anybody, it\u2019ll be run by me and my training team, period.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course I went straight to my Key 3<\/em> counterparts, the District Chair and our District Executive, but they both told me I\u2019d better not rock the boat. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to lose our Training Chair,\u201d they told me. \u201cPlease don\u2019t upset him any further.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

So here we are. Poppy\u2014a darned good UC\u2014spotted a need and came up with a way to address it. We\u2019re ready to go. But we\u2019ve been smacked down by an ego-tripping jerk and two district leaders with chocolate eclairs for spines.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay, I get it. Good news \u2013 There\u2019s a solution to this whole hairball, and we\u2019re going to take it step-by-step, so stick with me here\u2026<\/p>\n

First, Poppy\u2019s right on the money\u2014It\u2019s the pretty rare Senior Patrol Leader who actually gets trained beforehand, much less coached along the way, and that\u2019s a real bummer. But here\u2019s the thing\u2014Untrained SPLs are the symptom; that\u2019s not the problem! The true problem here is that Scoutmasters either don\u2019t understand, haven\u2019t been trained to know, or simply don\u2019t care that \u201cTHE SCOUTMASTER\u2019S FIRST RESPONSIBILITY IS TO TRAIN THE YOUTH LEADERS SO THAT THEY CAN RUN THEIR OWN TROOP.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> This quotation is taken from the BSA\u2019s SCOUTMASTERSHIP<\/em> syllabus. It\u2019s the most important sentence in that entire training course. As a concept, it remains and always will remain topmost. Although I\u2019m sure it\u2019s somewhere in the 368 pages of the current two volumes of the BSA\u2019s TROOP LEADER GUIDEBOOK<\/em>, I can no longer find it, and that\u2019s a darned shame. This pity of this is that, if it\u2019s lost in the book it\u2019s more likely to also be lost in the Scoutmasters\u2019 position-specific training. So here\u2019s the big deal\u2026<\/p>\n

The person-to-person relationship between the Patrol Leaders Council members\u2014the Senior Patrol Leader and the Patrol Leaders\u2014and 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\u2019s gopher (\u201cgo-fer\u201d), and the Patrol Leaders will get a patch to wear that that\u2019s about all they\u2019ll get.<\/p>\n

(Let\u2019s jog our gray-matter here. Contrary to wide-spread belief \u201ctroop\u201d is NOT a group of Scouts divided up into patrols; it\u2019s two or more patrols of Scouts who join forces to create a troop! And while we\u2019re at it, how about this one: A Scoutmaster is NOT \u201cmaster\u201d of the \u201cscouts\u201d\u2014he 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.)<\/em><\/p>\n

So back to the actual problem: Scoutmasters aren\u2019t 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!<\/p>\n

So while Poppy was definitely on the right track, she needs a different sort of \u201cengine\u201d\u2026 If she\u2019s willing to refocus her energies on Scoutmasters, you\u2019re going to have a winner here! So now let\u2019s look at the job of the Unit Commissioner. In a very real sense, just as the Scoutmaster\u2014Senior Patrol Leader relationship, the Unit Commissioner\u2014Scoutmaster relationship can accomplish the same result: A happy, skilled, and competent leader who\u2019s 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\u2014different \u201ctarget\u201d and coaching points. Goals: Better \u201csensitized\u201d Scoutmasters, more successful SPLs, and ultimately more successful troops!<\/p>\n

Now here\u2019s what we used to call the \u201cLucky Strike Extra\u201d<\/em>\u2014If the \u201ctraining\u201d terminology is changed to \u201ccoaching,\u201d 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\u2019s not governed by the district training team, because it\u2019s now clearly a commissioner responsibility. (\u201cThe Art of War\u201d<\/em> by Sun Tsu teaches us that our objective is not to \u201ckill\u201d our enemy; it is to disarm our enemy. Got it? :->)<\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay positive!<\/em><\/strong><\/span>
\nHappy Scouting!<\/em><\/strong><\/span>
\nAndy<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Have a question? Facing a dilemma? Wondering where to find a BSA policy or guideline? Write to askandybsa@yahoo.com<\/span>. Please include your name and council. (If you\u2019d prefer to be anonymous, if published, let me know and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll do.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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: \u201cAsk Andy\u201d by Andy McCommish.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

[No. 649 \u2013 7\/30\/2020 \u2013 Copyright \u00a9 Andy McCommish 2020]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

________________________________________ Hi Andy, We\u2019ve got a sticky situation here and it crosses several levels. We need some outside, non-partisan help and you\u2019re the guy for that, so here it is\u2026 I\u2019m a District Commissioner and have a bunch of pretty darned good Unit Commissioners on the front-lines. One, in particular (I\u2019ll call her Poppy), has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2656"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2660,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2656\/revisions\/2660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/netcommissioner.com\/askandy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}