Category: Scouting in General

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Course correction for your journey

JTE-White_250A few weeks ago I answered a question about whether a unit should rearrange its adult roster to take advantage of points available on the Journey to Excellence. By registering a den leader as an assistant Cubmaster instead, the pack would qualify for additional JTE points and possibly a higher level.

It’s not a good idea to fudge the numbers this way, because it doesn’t accurately reflect where your unit stands, and takes away an opportunity to realize where you can improve your service to your youth members.

While you shouldn’t try to optimize your JTE score this way, you can certainly use it to suggest a course correction for your Journey in the coming year. Continue reading “Course correction for your journey”

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Is Scouting a religious organization?

jainworld.orgYou have likely heard the fable about the blind men and the elephant. It’s a tale that’s told in many of the world’s religions as a means of explaining how everyone views the diety differently. One version of the story is told:

Six blind men were asked to determine what an elephant looked like by feeling different parts of the elephant’s body. The blind man who feels a leg says the elephant is like a pillar; the one who feels the tail says the elephant is like a rope; the one who feels the trunk says the elephant is like a tree branch; the one who feels the ear says the elephant is like a hand fan; the one who feels the belly says the elephant is like a wall; and the one who feels the tusk says the elephant is like a solid pipe.[Wikipedia]

What brought this to mind was a discussion we were having last week about the new Boy Scout requirements, particularly the ones at each rank relating to a Scout’s duty to God. Continue reading “Is Scouting a religious organization?”

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Should you skew the numbers?

jte_numbers_200I heard from a pack committee chair, who asked me:

Our unit commissioner was helping me with our charter renewal and suggested that we register one of our den leaders as an assistant Cubmaster instead. He could still function as den leader, but it would make our Journey to Excellence numbers better. We’d get another 50 or 100 points if we did. Sounds like a good idea. What do you think?

Journey to Excellence is a tool for evaluating how well your unit is serving youth. It measures a dozen or so objectives and assigns points depending on whether your unit meets the objectives. It’s not perfect, but as measurement tools go, it’s pretty good. It was carefully thought out  and developed by an experienced team of volunteer unit Scouters and commissioners and is adjusted each year to improve its effectiveness Continue reading “Should you skew the numbers?”

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Your Scouting social network

networking_200The rise over the last several years of social networking in the form of online services like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have revolutionized the way we communicate. Regardless of where we are in the world, we can keep in touch with our network of friends back home or anywhere else.

Networking is not new to the digital age, though. Making friends out of business associates is an art and an essential skill. Success in business is largely tied to having a network of people you can call on – and who can call on you – when the need arises.

In fact, who you know, and the connections you make, is every bit as important as what you know – and in many cases, even more so.

As a Scouter, there’s another sort of social network that you should nurture – Continue reading “Your Scouting social network”