Scoutmaster

Evaluating Leadership Tenure Towards Advancement

Star, Life and Eagle rank all require tenure in a leadership position. For each rank the requirement states:

"serve actively (x) months in one or more positions of responsibility "

The word 'actively' can be a pinhead on which many angels dance. In my experience Scoutmasters often read this word and start instituting metrics to evaluate the term. But the official interpretation of "active" is much simpler than that:

A Scout is considered to be active in his unit if:

1. He is registered in his unit (registration fees are current).
2. He has not been dismissed from his unit for disciplinary reasons.
3. He is engaged by his unit leadership on a regular basis (Scoutmaster conference, informs the Scout of upcoming unit activities, through personal contact, and so on).

This is not an interpretation, this is official BSA policy of what active means towards membership and, by extension, leadership. So not only are metrics a bad idea but they are prohibited by policy.

Does this mean that a Scout can be elected to a leadership position, do little else than wear a patch, not show up to any meetings or outings and still fulfill the leadership requirement? In a word yes.

Before you fire off a scathing comment consider this - if Scouts are active enough to be elected to a leadership position and then do nothing it is not the Scout who has failed, it is the Scoutmaster. If we engage the Scout on a regular basis through conferences, information and personal contact and cannot get them to participate then it is likely not the Scout's fault but the way we present the program.

The Scout who shirks all responsibility, never shows up and then appears a month before his eighteenth birthday and wants to finish his Eagle may actually exist here and there but he is largely a straw man. That being said I'd accommodate this Scout without hesitation - he is at least showing some interest and he became a Life Scout somehow.

But what about the quality and integrity of the advancement program? We have to maintain standards don't we?  What needs the most maintenance is our clear conception of the success of the Scout realized in giving his own best effort.

Here is how I evaluate leadership at a Scoutmasters Conference. It takes a few simple questions.

"How have you fulfilled the leadership requirement for this rank?"
"How do you evaluate the job you did?"
"According to your own evaluation do you think I should sign off on your leadership requirement?"

During this exchange I can support or challenge the conclusions that the Scout reaches, encourage him to do better or congratulate him for a job well done. It is not within my power to withhold my signature if he has fulfilled the basic active requirements as interpreted above.

What if the Scout has done a really awful job? How can it be responsible or fair to him to sign off on a poor job? Discuss the positives and the negatives, work with the Scout to improve his performance, instill him with confidence and watch him grow.

How is this fair to the other Scouts?  The Scouts choose their leaders, they get what they vote for good bad or indifferent. They have the power to change their leaders when enough of them want to.

Won't they all just shirk their responsibilities when the realize that I'm going to sign off no matter what they do? Scouts aren't that stupid and irresponsible, they want to excel, to do a good job of things.

Somehow Scoutmasters get into their head that they are the ones who control things, that they are guardians of quality and standards. I'll reiterate that the Scoutmasters position is purposefully designed to be powerless in these matters. They cannot appoint or remove youth leaders, they cannot withhold their signature based on their personal evaluation of a Scout's performance in a leadership role.

That being said Scoutmasters wield the tremendous power of their personal example, the 'bully pulpit' of encouragement, exhortation and mentoring.

When Youth Leadership Doesn't Lead

A predictable frustration for Scoutmasters is the Scout who takes on a leadership position and doesn't meet expectations. We may respond using employee-employer or soldier-officer thinking and tactics because these are familiar models.

Scouts are not employees, Scoutmasters are not employers.
Scouts are not Enlisted Men, Scoutmasters are not Officers.
Scouts don't sign contracts, they volunteer.

I have attempted to write job descriptions and contracts for leadership positions in an attempt to lawyer my Scouts towards responsibility. It does not work. I have attempted orders and brow-beating discipline like an officer talking to the enlisted men. It does not work. Both of these approaches will bring limited successes but they will ultimately fall short of the goal.

Every Youth leadership position in Scouting is controlled by the Scouts themselves. They choose their leaders by election (Quartermasters , Scribes and similar positions are usually appointed by the SPL but he is elected by the Scouts). I should pause to say that if you are appointing leaders in your Troop or setting requirements for candidacy you are doing your Troop a disservice by not adhering to the Scouting program. If a leader is doing a substandard job the Scouts themselves will be the first to know and if the situation demands they can elect a new leader.

The Scoutmaster's single goal is that all of his Scouts succeed. Success is defined individually, not by a static standard of performance. When a youth leader is preforming poorly, or not at all, it is the Scoutmaster's responsibility to mentor, cajole, exhort and encourage the Scout to succeed. The Scoutmaster can't fire them, demote them or threaten to withhold approving their advancement because none of these things are within his power. Even if these things were within our power we would never use them because positive reinforcement is so much more effective.

I have had some sharp conversations with my youth leaders but more often I prefer to quietly push them towards success by helping them discover their  leadership skills, however nascent, and building them up.

If all of these efforts fail and the Scouts are still complaining about an under performing youth leader I ask them;

"How did he get a leadership position in the first place?"

The answer: "We elected him."

My next question is:

"So, then, when is the next election?"

Neutralizing "Bad Apple" Behavior

Almost all of us have either had the personal experience of working with someone
who displayed bad apple behaviors ... When this process starts to unfold at work, it consumes inordinate amounts of time, psychological resources, and emotional energy. ... such  circumstances underlie many people’s reluctance to fully commit to teams...  they offend us, reduce our enthusiasm, change our mood and may ultimately lead us to personally de-identify or leave the group, with a high likelihood that the group itself will perform poorly, fail, or disband.

Will Felps - How, when, and why bad apples spoil the barrel: Negative group members and dysfunctional groups. PDF LINK

Professor Will Felps was interviewed on a the December 19, 2008  episode of 'This American Life' (Ruining It for the Rest of Us). He relates the results of a study in group dynamics where an actor put into a group of unwitting students and told to model one of three 'bad apple' behaviors: the slacker, the depressive pessimist and the jerk.

After dozens of trials Felps conculded that the bad apple did 'spoil the barrel' significantly reducing the performance of the group with one remarkable exception. One member inthis exceptional group was a 'particularly good leader' who would 'ask questions, engage all the team members and diffuse conflicts'.

Now Felps is studying the technique of asking questions and engaging everyone's opinion as a way of strengthening groups.

Any reasonably attentive student of human nature understands how very difficult it is to moderate or overcome the 'bad apple' effect. The discovery that engaging people in a group setting with questions may significantly neutralize bad apple behaviors is encouraging.

Questions are an especially effective tool for Scoutmnasters. They engage youth leadership in discovery and development, diffuse difficulties and, now apparently, help balance the efforts of a group working towards a goal.

Building Confidence in Youth Leadership

Green Bar Bill Hillcourt's oft repeated  encouragement to "Train em' trust em' and let them lead" remains the simple formula for building and maintaining confidence in youth leadership.  Hillcourt's formula has three active components

Train
Training youth leaders need not be a protracted formal training event. Real-time, authentic and immediate on the job training (OJT) has proven to be an effective approach. OJT works best where there is an existing model of good youth leadership  Absent this model it must be created by showing Scouts good youth leadership in action. Observing a Troop with strong youth leadership is ideal.

The training continues throughout the life of the Troop and Patrol, mostly in short bursts at the beginning and end of meetings or brief huddles on campouts. Well placed questions and modest observations probe actions and direction and help steer them towards confidence and success.

Trust
Trusting youth leaders, particularly new ones, is probably the most difficult acheivement in the process. Sitting in the passenger seat while teaching a student driver isn't easy. There are no brakes or steering wheel on that side of the car. Both new and long-tenured Scoutmasters report that they find keeping themselves from interfering is a continual challenge.

Trust is bottomless patience and undying confidence. When things fall apart Scoutmasters must summon an academy award performance that reassures youth leaders and restores their self confidence. Celebrate small victories and minimize any defeats.

Let
Don't give a Scout leadership responsibility and undermine it with continual interference, comment or what a friend of mine calls "the stink eye". As aloof and disaffected as they may like to appear youth leaders are seeking your approval. They need an avuncular, friendly, understanding coach rather than a nitpicking hair-triggered dictator.

Their shortcomings may be many, their failures and oversights may be greater than their successes but so long as they are encouraged towards honest effort and imbued with confidence they will ultimatley rise to the challenge.

Associated Resources at Scoutmaster

Ten Things Adults do to Frustrate Youth leadership
The author is able to write about these ten frustrations largely because he has been guilty of all of them at one time or another.

Hitting the Wall
Youth leadership is especially susceptible to growing frustrated, feeling inadequate, and subsequently giving up. They have hit the wall.

JLT or OJT
OJT works. The scouts own their responsibility and their solutions, for good or ill. In my experience their capacity for leadership is huge when they are given the autonomy to accomplish things for themselves.

Storm Over Everest

Rick Curtis at the Outdoor Ed Community blog recommends the Frontline documentary Storm over Everest as a study in risk management. (A preview of the show is embedded above)

If you missed the spectacular Frontline documentary on PBS by David Breashears on the 1996 Everest tragedy you can watch the full two hour episode online at Frontline. There are also interviews with expedition members and interactive maps of the mountain and the accident. The documentary is a fantastic case study in risk management, judgment and decision making and is highly recommended as a staff training tool.

The full documentary is no longer available for viewing on line. It is scheduled to be released in September on DVD and can be pre-ordered at Amazon.

I am planning to use the documentary as a leadership training tool.

Stages of Competence

Psychology's four stages of competence describe the process of learning:    

1.       Unconscious incompetence          
    Neither understanding or knowing how to do something, nor recognizing the deficit or a desire to address it.          
2.       Conscious incompetence          
    Does not understand or know how to do something,  recognizes the deficit, without yet addressing it.    
3.       Conscious competence          
  Able to demonstrate the skill or knowledge with consciousness concentration.    
4.       Unconscious competence          
   So well practiced the skill or knowledge becomes "second nature". A person at this stage is able to teach others the skill.

Before students can progress an instructor must first lead the student towards a realistic estimate of their abilities. We tend to do a poor job of evaluating ourselves. The Dunning-Kruger effect describes the phenomena that those with little knowledge or skill tend to overestimate their skills or knowledge. Those with more knowledge or skill actually tend to underestimate their capabilities.

Training Scouts to lead is a progression through these stages. Progressing from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence is a very big step in the process, and often the most problematic. Often those who are unconsciously incompetent will first place themselves at the level of conscious competence.

I am reminded of two stanzas from the poem "Chase them Away!" by Tibetan Buddhist master Patrul Rinpoche:

When first I heard instructions,
I had the feeling of wanting to turn them immediately into action
Like a hungry person pouncing on food:
That's what is meant by making an experience of it.

When later I heard instructions,
I had the feeling of great uncertainty Like words spoken far away:
That's what is meant by not having got rid of notions.

An instructor must first bring a pupil to this state of uncertainty and then help him progress towards competence.

Summer Camp! More Dos and Don'ts

Summer camp is a big part of most Troop annual programs. A week of opportunity awaits and what follows is some advice on how to make the best of it.

Preparing Scouts for camp is relatively simple, preparing adults is somewhat more difficult and important. Without wishing to sound like a broken record most difficulties in Scouting arise from adults who misunderstand their role.

Simply put the role of adults at camp is not any different than their year-round responsibilities; to enable the Scouts to plan, prepare and lead their own program. DO encourage Scouts to plan, prepare and lead their week at camp - DON'T impose your goals and aspirations on them.

Adults in camp should plan to spend much of their day at one remove from the Scouts. DO look for opportunities to preform a service project, offer or present adult leader training, or  do something with your fellow adults. DON'T leave a lot of time on your hands and interfere with the autonomy of youth leadership.

The Adult to Scout ratio seems to have grown over the past few years at our camp. It has reached 1 Adult to 2 Scouts in some Troops! While the interest and engagement is laudable it is also likely to erode the experience for the Scouts. DO be aware that too many cooks spoil the broth, DON'T let the numbers get out of hand.

Scouting is a game. We are the coaches, the Scouts are the players. Our place is on the sidelines, theirs on the field. DO watch the game with pride and confidence win, lose or draw. DON'T cross the line and take the field from the players.

Other Summer Camp postings here at Scoutmaster:
Scoutmaster Summer Camp Dos and Don'ts
Don't over-do it and make yourself into a time bomb. If you are hot, tired, hungry and thirsty get cool, rested, fed, and hydrated. I tend to be cranky if I don't look after myself. Years of observation prove that many of my fellow leaders may share the same problem.
Homesickness
A smart scoutmaster understands that homesickness, while relatively easy to cure in a vast a majority of cases, is a very real problem and it should not be trivialized. I must admit that I have been guilty of less than sensitive ways of handling homesickness; here are some more successful strategies-
Summer Camp Week
We are off to camp all this week!
I plan on earning my "Scoutmaster Merit Badge", here are the requirements.
Summer Camp Thoughts for Scoutmasters
What is a successful week at camp? That is largely for the Troop to decide. Here are some goals to consider.

From Webelos Den Leader to Scoutmaster

I was a Webelos Den Leader for eighteen (!) boys. The next year I became a Scoutmaster. It took some time and mentoring to get me to stop being a Den Leader and start being a Scoutmaster.

Working with Webelos is fundamentally different than working with Scouts. Webelos den leaders are required to do most of the planning and leading that become the responsibility of youth leadership in a Scout Troop. Making the shift from Den Leader to Assistant Scoutmaster is an important step. We do all we can to help new Scouts transitioning from Webelos - let's not forget that Den Leaders stepping into new roles will need some help too.

A formal sit down with all of the adult leadership is in order when a new leader joins the Troop. Here are a few points that I share with transitioning Webelos Den Leaders:

• In becoming an assistant Scoutmaster your role in Scouting has changed significantly. It is my job as a Scoutmaster to help you make the transition from Den Leader.
• The Scouts who were once members of your den are now under the leadership of a Patrol Leader. They are now his responsibility. If this responsibility is to have any integrity he must be given plenty of latitude to do the job as sees fit. Both the Senior Patrol leader and I will be monitoring his performance and would appreciate any concerns being expressed directly to me rather than the Patrol Leader.
• Your Scouts will naturally look to you for direction. When they do direct them to their Patrol leader for answers even if you know the answer.
• It is likely that you are going to feel uncomfortable or antsy and doubt the ability of our youth leadership. Welcome to the club. It is a natural reaction that all Scouter's experience. The best thing to do in this instance talk to the Scoutmaster or another Assistant Scoutmaster.
• Our youth leadership is very respectful and responsive of any direction or comment given by an adult. They also respect a chain of command - talk to the Scoutmaster before you talk to a Scout.
• If you see a situation that is an immediate danger to propriety or safety you have permission to step in and correct it. I have to do this once every four or five years.

Some frank talk, good humor and empathy will go a long way towards easing the transition for everyone.

Ten Things Scoutmasters Can Do For a Senior Patrol Leader

1. Let him own the program.
SPLs are actually responsible for the Troop program, meetings, outings, the whole megillah. If he is receiving a written plan from you he is not actually responsible for the program, he is responsible for running your idea of what the program should be.
2. Praise publicly, criticize privately
Never ever holler at or criticize your SPL in front of other Scouts. No other action will undercut his authority more completely than this.
3. Give him some direction and boundaries.
Always keep him focused on what Scouting promises Scouts. Show him where the boundaries are and point out the vast possibilities.
4. Be polite, ask permission.
Can I take a moment to say something? Do you need any adult support for that? What can I do to help you with this?
5. Encourage him
There will always be problems - challenge is good. He is responsible not to prevent problems but to lead the Troop through them.
6. Set the proper tone for leadership.
Scouts are not soldiers, you are not the captain, the SPL is not you drill sergeant. You are the coach, your SPL is the team captain, the Scouts are the players.
7. Use your authority sparingly.
When circumstances demand step in quietly (with permission) and ask questions that will lead to a course correction. Don't grab the wheel out of his hands unless the wreck is imminent.
8. Keep your distance.
Let the Scouts live their own lives, go fold a tent, conduct a Scoutmaster's conference, have a cup of coffee or watch quietly.
9. Guard the playing field.
When other adults interfere quietly redirect their attention to something else. One direct, clear statement about the role of adults is usually all that is needed.
10. Give him plenty of feedback.
Plenty is two minutes a meeting.

Training by Action.

The picture that forms in my mind when I look at most attempts at leadership training is watching someone try to get a prize out of one of those claw machines. Manipulating the frustratingly inaccurate claw to catch a prize worth less than the quarters required to win.

Training done at one remove from the situation where the skills will be applied is about as effective as the controls on the claw machine. Most training tends to favor abstract explanations and remote analysis over action.

Given the opportunity to go out and do compelling, interesting things Scouts train themselves in leadership. They don't need manipulation through the seven points of something or the eleven steps of that - they need to go out and give things a try.  Scouts are clamoring to do -- not to study. Once they start doing real things instead of discussing or looking at videos of how things are to be done they begin leading.

Scouts learn best through action and discovery. Complex concepts are best understood by experiencing rather than discussing them. Reflecting on an experience is far more effective than an abstract explanation and analysis.

So how does a newly minted Patrol Leader (for instance) learn his job? The same way one learns to rappel down a wall or swim- by doing it. When learning to rappel or swim someone is nearby to help or explain but  not to carry the Scout through the experience on their backs. Good training does not carry a youth leader through the experience - it puts him into the harness or in the pool.

We may observe but must not physically hover around a patrol meeting. For one our presence changes the situation, besides the temptation to interfere is often too great.  Later, rather than making observations and talking too much, we ask lots of questions that enable the Scout to discover his strengths and find his own answers.

Once a Scout learns how to reflect on his own actions and find his own answers it will become an integral part of his experience as a leader - he learns to train himself.