Information, Observation, and Inspiration for Scouters
In the world of work, we hopefully have a job we enjoy and are prosperous at. The primary reward is a paycheck. But when people volunteer, they do so for many reasons – they believe in the organization and its mission, they want to help provide an experience for their kids and others (like Scouting) or do some good for the community.
So how do we “pay” our volunteers?
Last week, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote an op-ed piece titled It’s Not About You as a rebuttal to the countless college commencement addresses that implore our newly-minted Bachelors of Whatever to go and blaze a trail in the world, motivated by their own inner dreams and passions. Go ahead and read the column now, if you wish, and then come back here (the link will open in a new window or tab). As you read, think about your role in Scouting and how what we do could apply. Continue reading “The antidote for self-centrism”
I frequently sit on rank advancement boards of review in our troop. Because it’s so important to me, I usually ask the scouts we interview about leadership in one aspect or another. I ask whether the scout holds a position of responsibility in the troop, how he’s handling it and if he’s  had any problems. I also ask him what he thinks “being a leader” means. While occasionally we’ll hear an answer that really impresses me – the “right” answer: a leader serves others – usually what we hear is “a leader gets to boss people around” or something similar. I’ll also ask if he views himself differently since he’s held a position, and in what way. Continue reading “Leader: a title or an attitude?”
Recently our troop took part in a joint landscaping project with the other troop in town. Most of us adults are acquainted with at least one or two families in the other troop because of our Cub Scout connections, but many of the boys either don’t know each other or know one or two through other connections such as school or church. Though we participate with them in service projects once a year or so, we don’t do joint events like campouts or high adventure, so they aren’t familiar in the context of Scouting. A few of our boys even look at the other troop as the “enemy,” as they have seen their friends from Cub Scouts join their troop instead of ours, and continue to attract boys that they feel should be joining us instead. Continue reading “Helpful and friendly”
A lot of us work for fairly large companies where our coworkers number from a few dozen to a few thousand, and every now and then the top management holds an “all hands” meeting to pass along information that is of importance to everyone in the organization. A recent article in Harvard Business Review touches on the responsibility of a company’s top leaders to communicate essential (and sometimes not so essential, but nonetheless interesting) knowledge. Many use it as a reinforcement of the organization’s mission. Some even treat it as a social happening. The article focuses on the how, what, who and when of communicating with staff. Continue reading “Lines of communication”