The new online tour plan process
After a couple false starts, the long-awaited revision to the online Tour and Activity Plan process is now live in most councils and can be used to file a tour plan for outings as required by your council. The new …
The Bloggers
Bobwhite's Blather
- Active 2011–2020
- Posts 459
- Words 89,533
Every post, newest first
Showing 401–450 of 459 · page 9 of 10. Each title opens the post in a new tab.
Your unit's complaint form (opens in a new tab)
Regardless of how hard you try, you just can't please everyone. The sentiment goes all the way back to the Greek slave Aesop, whose fable about the miller, his son and their donkey concluded with "he who tries to please …
Why are we still training? (opens in a new tab)
Every boy deserves a trained leader." "Train ‘em, trust ‘em, let ‘em lead!" If there's one thing that's everywhere in Scouting, it's training. We train our youth leaders to run their troop. We teach Scout skills – that's a form …
Do you look like a Scout troop? (opens in a new tab)
Every now and then, I have a chance to visit another troop, and when I do, I observe how they operate compared with other troops (and our own). I pay attention to who is leading – the Scouts or the …
Teaching is communicating
If you've ever had to stand in front of a group and try to teach them something, you've experienced it. Sometimes you can talk until you're blue in the face and still get the feeling that you're not getting through. …
Scouting's "one piece of paper"
Most successful leaders didn't get that way by accident. Leadership is a learned skill, based on guiding principles and developed through experience. For an organization, these guiding principles are usually codified in a mission statement, which members of that organization …
Do you have a troop handbook? (opens in a new tab)
It's been said that the Boy Scouts of America is responsible for more dead trees than any other organization – based on the sheer number of handbooks, guidebooks, pamphlets, training guides, and other publications. Don't believe me? Just visit your …
Please stay behind the rope!
An AP news item which ran in our local newspaper last week told of an Easter egg hunt in a Colorado town being canceled for behavioral reasons. No, not the kids misbehaving – the parents. Aggressive parents were to blame …
Ever try to cook an avocado?
One of the things I like to do in my spare time that isn't taken up by Scouting is to cook. The Food Network has a lot of shows that I enjoy watching, and one of them is Worst Cooks …
So where does camping fit in?
Like the Scouts of nearly every troop, our boys recite the Scout Oath and Scout Law at the beginning of troop meetings. How often do they – or you – stop to ponder what those words mean? They are the …
Order in the troop! Order in the troop!
You've heard the sayings. Order is Heaven's first law. (Alexander Pope) Good order is the foundation of all things. (Edmund Burke) Order is power. (Henri Frederic Amiel) Henry Miller also had something to say about order: Confusion is a word …
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 …
"So, what is it that you do?"
At a recent troop meeting we were welcoming a parent of a boy new to Scouting and discussing how the troop and Boy Scouts all works, and in the process of explaining which committee member takes care of dues, or …
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 …
Walking away is easy
Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to decide to do the right thing. Every year we get a handful of Scouts who decide, for one reason or another, not to continue in Scouting. They decide that they'd rather play …
Look at yourself! (opens in a new tab)
Taking a break from answering readers' questions, a recent Ask Andy column, Troop Spotting instead gives advice to parents of Arrow of Light Scouts who are shopping for a troop. Much of the advice is stuff we know about: uniforming, youth …
Who's steering the ship?
One of the hallmarks of Scouting that sets it apart from other youth activities is its emphasis on youth leadership. Boys form their own patrols and hold elections, govern themselves within the framework of Scouting, decide and plan their own …
Scout Sunday and Scout Sabbath 2012
The Scouting movement is unique among non-faith-based youth groups in that it recognizes and expects a belief and duty to a higher power of its members. It's part of rank achievements in Cub Scouts, one of the points of the …
Book review: Beginning Boy Scouts
Every year, our troops usually pick up some new members as they cross over from Cub Scouting and set out on new adventures with us. At the same time, their parents, weary from several years of running everything from pack …
Helping the committee go (opens in a new tab)
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 …
What are your Scouting New Year's resolutions?
As the calendar clicks over another year, many of us take time to look back at where we've been in the last twelve months and look ahead to the next twelve. It's also a good time to assess what your …
Why do Scouts leave?
Each year, when we recharter, we may find that there are a handful of Scouts who, for various reasons, don't return. Often, these are boys we haven't seen active in some time; usually they are first-year members who crossed over …
Calling All Scouters!
As a Scouter, one of the most important things you can do to improve not only your experience in Scouting but also to improve the program for the boys is training. In addition to online and classroom training courses, a …
More tips on rechartering
In the last post, we discussed an important step to take before you embark on the annual rechartering process for your unit. It's essential, for many reasons, to ensure that everyone that you think is a member of your unit is …
Get ready to recharter
Each year, each and every part of the Boy Scouts of America must renew its charter, giving it authority to operate for another year. This applies to packs, troops, crews, districts, OA lodges, and even councils. The annual renewal process …
Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops (opens in a new tab)
Training boy leaders is the Scoutmaster's most important job, and that process has now been revised and updated in BSA's new publication Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops. ILST, as it's known in the acronym-crazy world of Scouting, succeeds Troop …
The knots, they are a-changin' (opens in a new tab)
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 …
Trained or trained? (opens in a new tab)
A rather confusing clarification came forth from the national training team recently regarding just what constitutes being "trained." It seems there are two slightly different definitions of the term, and they apply to slightly different things. A Scouter has generally …
For aged-out Scouts, a new option
If your troop is like mine, you probably have had a few Scouts age out of youth membership and head off to college or military service. Most likely Life or Eagle Scouts, these young men still enjoy being active in …
More advancement changes (opens in a new tab)
Here are a few other advancement-related items that have been changed or clarified in the recent Guide to Advancement that affect the troop committee: If you've ever been caught short on a board of review night without enough committee members on …
Fulfilling responsibility (opens in a new tab)
The new BSA Guide to Advancement lays out and clarifies what it takes for a troop to evaluate whether a Scout has satisfactorily served in a position of responsibility as required for the ranks beyond First Class. While this is …
The new definition of "active"
The BSA raised our eyebrows recently with the publication of the new Guide to Advancement, which replaces the Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures book that had been in use for several years. There are thirteen significant changes in the new …
What do trainers need to know? (opens in a new tab)
Have you ever been called upon to do some training but weren't sure how you would do? It could be training Cub leaders, perhaps other committee members in how to do a board of review, or teaching Scouts about leadership …
"Do your best." Honestly?
We all know the Cub Scout motto: Do Your Best. But what does it really mean? It means to put out your best effort, no matter what, and make that effort your own effort. We realize that one boy's best may …
A Jamboree in your own backyard
Have you ever wanted to attend an international Scouting event, but were unable to make it to one of the World Jamborees, a Camporee in another country, or even a local event? How about attending a Jamboree that literally could …
Leaders as teachers
Even though neither the official mission statement nor the aims of the Boy Scouts of America makes mention of it, leadership is one of the hallmarks of the Scouting program. In fact, while leadership development is one of the methods …
How's your Journey going?
As we move into mid-September, it's time to stop and evaluate how our Journey is going this year. Of course, I'm referring to the Journey to Excellence, the BSA's replacement for the Centennial Quality Unit award. Last fall, I wrote …
What can Scouters learn from skaters?
Skateboarders and Scouts may seem at first like completely different groups of kids. Scouts are seen as courteous, obedient, cheerful, and clean, while skaters have been typecast as disrespectful, rebellious loners who wear dirty, ripped clothing and hang out in …
The Changing Law
The Scout Law: Twelve guiding principles that govern our movement. Twelve points that never change. Or do they? In looking up the meaning of A Scout is Kind a few days ago, I found this history of the Scout Law …
A Scouting Stylebook
You say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to. You say Venture, I say Venturing. Which is correct? Many times we find ourselves writing about Scouting, either for our own units or for outside purposes. Whether writing a memo to your unit's families, …
The one question
As committee chair, it's your responsibility to see that the committee supports the troop or pack program by providing those things that the Scoutmaster or Cubmaster needs to be successful. These things can be similar between these two programs (help …
More keys to success for Webelos leaders (opens in a new tab)
In my last post I mentioned several ideas that Webelos leaders can use now to get the most out of the program. Here are a few more. First-year Webelos leaders: Map out the next few months' worth of den meetings. …
Webelos leaders: Some keys to success (opens in a new tab)
Recently, while I was working on another article, I was poking around the excellent website of Troop 97 in Ft. Collins, Colo., and I came across their comprehensive list of secrets of success of great Webelos leaders. If you have been a …
What adults don't do
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 …
Who's the leader of the club?
I'm about to date myself. Seriously date myself. One of my fondest childhood memories was sitting down in front of the Zenith black & white television set in the living room with a glass of milk and a cookie and watching …
Engagement
Many observations from management training can be adapted in several ways so we can use them within Scouting. Perhaps this is why Wood Badge is so successful on both fronts: it's an excellent training program for Scouters but it also …
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, …
Notes from summer camp (opens in a new tab)
Each year, summer camp brings with it new scouts, new challenges, and new things to remember. This year was no exception. You would think that after going to summer camp for many years, we'd have everything all figured out, but …
The captain of the ship
Making my way through fellow Scouters' blogs, I've recently come across some interesting observations about Committee Chairs and their role in a unit. In some units (Troops and Packs), the Committee Chair is a figurehead position — a name filled …
Are you paying your volunteers well?
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 …