Information, Observation, and Inspiration for Scouters
When did you become a leader?
Was it when someone anointed you the head of something and you took charge? Did you volunteer for a job in your unit? Did everyone else take a step backward when Sarge called for “volunteers” to step forward?
Those are ways to take on a leadership role, but there are others that don’t even involve having “leader” in the title! Continue reading “Start leading before you become a leader!”
Starting this month, I’m beginning a series of monthly articles based on a portion of my class at University of Scouting this year. Besides talking about issues that committee chairs typically encounter, I handed out and we discussed a suggested list of things that the committee needs to attend to, month by month. It’s a checklist of sorts, or a timeline for a troop committee’s year. Continue reading “Committee chair timeline: April”
Years ago, AT&T, parent of the Bell Telephone companies, ran an advertising campaign which encouraged people to use their long-distance services to keep in contact with friends. The “Reach Out and Touch Someone” series of ads had everyone singing along and even inspired people to make a few more telephone calls.
The thought that we, as Scouters, should reach out and touch someone is a very good one, particularly when it helps us escape the closed world of our own troop or pack. Continue reading “Reach out and touch someone”
Did you know much about leadership before becoming a Scout leader?
Perhaps you did, if you were a Scout as a youth, or you were a class officer, team captain, or president of your JA company. In the work world, you may have picked up leadership skills through job responsibilities or possibly even formal training. And certainly, the military develops leaders.
For many people, though, taking on a leadership role in a Scout unit is our first exposure to leadership. Continue reading “Volunteering improves leadership”
Cub Scout leaders are among the most committed of our adult leadership. They way overspend their “one hour a week” planning and conducting weekly den meetings and field trips, planning pack meeting participation, scheduling meeting rooms, sending out newsletters, wrangling parents to do stuff, recording and submitting advancement, collecting dues and fees, arranging snacks, purchasing craft supplies, and giving up the hope of using their dining room table for dining, for a few years anyway. They are dedicated to seeing their Scouts have fun, advance, and get the most out of the program.
Then why is it that their kids don’t seem as likely to cross over to Boy Scouts? Continue reading “What’s up with Cub leaders’ kids?”