Category: Cub Scouts

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Abolish “death by meeting”!

A while back I posted a series of articles on making your committee meetings more effective. These were aimed at the committee chair or meeting facilitator to help improve the meeting experience for everyone concerned.

Harvard Business Review had a short “management tip” article recently on ways for participants to, as they put it, save the meeting that’s going nowhere. It’s a very short article but it can get you to thinking, especially if you’re stuck in such a meeting.

My solution to these issues  is prevention, and that lies in the hands of the committee chair: Continue reading “Abolish “death by meeting”!”

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Webelos den leaders: What’s your most important job?

Look in chapter 21 of the Cub Scout Leader Book and you’ll find a description of the Webelos program including an outline of the Webelos den leader’s responsibilities. It’s really brief: The Webelos den leader plans and carries out a year-round program of activities for the Webelos den.

Look just above this job description and you’ll find what is most likely the most important job of a Webelos leader:

One of the purposes of the Webelos den is to prepare boys for Boy Scouting and to graduate Webelos Scouts into a Boy Scout troop. (Emphasis added)

Of the ten purposes of Cub Scouting, the tenth – Preparation for Boy Scouts – is the most lasting, for it is in Boy Scouts where boys not only experience adventure but learn skills that will serve them their entire lives – leadership, cooperation, communication, responsibility – and the values of citizenship, character and fitness.

But the #1 reason that Webelos Scouts fail to cross over and become involved in Boy Scouts is often the Webelos den leader. Continue reading “Webelos den leaders: What’s your most important job?”

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Helping the committee go

As a committee chair, what do you think your biggest challenges are? Conducting the monthly committee meetings? Keeping track of finances and advancement? Helping out at pack meetings or troop campouts?

These are all challenges faced by committee chairs, but there’s one challenge common to all of us: Keeping our committee members feeling useful and appreciated.

If there’s one thing we all crave, it’s to be wanted, needed and appreciated, especially in something we care about, like Scouting. Continue reading “Helping the committee go”

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The knots, they are a-changin’

Cub Scout leaders and volunteers can expect to see some changes to their training awards and insignia beginning next year.

The national training team has received requests and suggestions for simplifying the large number of personal achievement, recognition, training and service awards, commonly called “square knots,” that are available for leaders to earn. Among the changes coming are a consolidation of the Cub Scout Leader training award knots. Continue reading “The knots, they are a-changin’”