I’m always fiddling with our troop website, adding file downloads, updating news and external links, and revising and expanding our FAQs. Currently, I’m working on a section to be called Adult Scouting to serve as a guide for adults as to what our role is in a boy-led troop. I point out the things the adults are responsible for – safety, training boy leaders, and support. Continue reading “What adults don’t do”
The waterline test
I came across a really insightful post to the Harvard Business Review faculty blog by Teresa Amabile and Steve Kramer called Declaring Independence in the Workplace. The post deals mainly with problems that ensue when upper management micromanages their teams, and how team professionals deserve a “Declaration of Independence” of their own – independence to do their work without undue interference from above.
I began to draw many Scouting allegories from this, going back to the “Green Bar” Bill Hillcourt advice to train ’em, trust ’em and let ’em lead as we must do with our Scouts. However, one of the comments jumped off the page at me, full of meaning for the adult role in Boy Scouting. Continue reading “The waterline test”
Don’t sabotage the boys, or yourself
A recent article by reinvention guru Jim Mathis got me to thinking about how often we sabotage ourselves and those we lead by a tendency to be a control freak.
The People Issues: Problem characters
Have you ever been in a committee meeting and had the experience where two participants are like oil and water? They absolutely refuse to agree on common ground or see the other’s point. Other times it’s like you are Sisyphus, and instead of things rolling along, it’s like rolling a boulder uphill. What’s worse is when you are one of them, and you are supposed to be in charge of the meeting,
The People Issues: Relationship guidelines
Have you ever studied the characteristics of high-performance teams? In Wood Badge, and in many corporate teambuilding programs, you’ve learned about how groups of people interact. Most likely you remember the terms Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing, and when you hear those words you probably even visualize the four-square diagram sometimes used to illustrate the process. Well, in order to become a performing team, you need to get past the forming and storming to reach a phase of norming.
Continue reading “The People Issues: Relationship guidelines”