Understanding the Patrol Method on ScoutmasterCG Archive

The Troop Pivot Point

Thu, 02 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

One troop is led by adults, one is led by the Scouts. What’s the difference? At the risk of oversimplifying the answer the difference is focus.

Troops run by adults are focused on results.

Troops run by Scouts are focused on process.

I accept that between the two extremes of fully adult and fully youth led there are many shades of grey but I think the basic conclusion of focus hold up.

A New Scoutmaster - Chapter Three

Wed, 05 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

This is the third of twelve installments in a story that follows a new Scoutmaster, Chuck Grant, attempting to use the patrol method in a troop that has forgotten how. I’ve based this work of fiction on the stories shared by readers and listeners, questions they have asked, and the advice I commonly share in reply.

CHAPTER THREE “Mountain climbing!?” our membership chairman was surprised, “Is that safe?” “Sounds expensive,” added the treasurer. “Our Scouts call it ‘mountain climbing’, what we’ll be doing is called ‘bouldering’,” I replied, “There’s a great spot at Kitterich state park and I’ve asked one of the counselors who instructs climbing merit badge to help us out.” “So the boys will earn climbing merit badge?” another committee member asked. “They will all get a good idea of what it takes,” I replied, “and the Scouts who are interested in earning the badge can make arrangements with the counselor.” “Shouldn’t we choose a badge for this month that they can complete?’ asked our treasurer. “I think it’s important that this idea came from the Scouts,” I gave John, our committee chair, a knowing glance, “Besides, I don’t plan on having merit badge instruction or work at our meetings quite like we have in the past.” “Well, what will the Scouts do instead?” the treasurer asked. “Sounds like mountain climbing or boulders, or whatever, is a waste of time,” said our membership chair, “If they don’t earn a badge what’s the point?” “The point is getting them doing what Scouts do,” I replied, “because when they do those things advancement and learning come naturally.”

A New Scoutmaster in the Volcano

Thu, 18 May 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I received this email from a new Scoutmaster a day or two ago: I was presented with the opportunity to take over as our new Scoutmaster some months ago and asked your advice.

I had some concerns about the level of adult involvement in what should be a boy-led troop. In your response you suggested I define my vision of the patrol method clearly, present that vision and (if the other adults involved didn’t agree with that vision) be prepared to walk away.

A New Scoutmaster - Chapter One

Fri, 10 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This first of twelve installments is a story that follows a new Scoutmaster, Chuck Grant, attempting to use the patrol method in a troop that has forgotten how. I’ve based this work of fiction on the stories shared by readers and listeners, questions they have asked, and the advice I commonly share in reply.

CHAPTER ONE

Our Scoutmaster of five years announced he was being relocated by his company and I was asked to take his place.

A Troop Revolution

Mon, 25 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Vilhelm Hans Bjerregaard Jensen was a Danish Scout who became a Scoutmaster during the early years of the Scouting Movement . He decided to see something of Scouting around the world, worked his way through Europe and England, arrived in the United States in February 1926 and took a job with the national headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America.

James West (the BSA’s first National Executive) solicited Vilhelm’s thoughts on Scouting. He replied with an 18-page memo describing the lack of patrol structure and leadership suggesting the BSA publish a handbook for patrol leaders written by someone who had been both a patrol leader and a Scoutmaster. West hired him as a writer and editor and Vilhelm’s anglicized name, Bill Hllcourt, started appearing in Scouting Magazine shortly thereafter. Bill would go on to write the first Handbook for Patrol Leaders published in 1929, and serve the BSA for many years to come.

Scale and Scouting

Thu, 09 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Scouting begins with an individual commitment expressed in the life of the Patrol and Troop.

Troops form districts, districts form councils, councils form regions and regions form our national organization. I’ve for years felt strongly that, in all training, we spend too much time on “how to” and vastly too little time on WHY.

I believe, further, that the arbitrary drifting from the “model troop” and “model patrol” (yup, “model pack,” too) is a consequence of our failing to tell the new people we train WHY we do things in Scouting the way we do. ‘ Each step away from the Patrol is overlaid with an ever-burgeoning bureaucracy that obscures the real work of Scouting. In an attempt to make things “bigger and better” we are in danger of loosing focus on the target – the Scout and his Patrol.

B.P.'s Blog - Development of the Patrol System

Sun, 05 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters. Here’s a selection from his writings.

FROM different sources I have had interesting reports of very satisfactory results of developing the Patrol system. The sum of the whole thing amounts to this — every individual in the Patrol is made responsible, both in den and in camp, for his definite share in the successful working of the whole. This incidentally enhances the Leader’s position and responsibilities, and develops the individual interest and civic capability of each member, while it builds a stronger esprit de corps for the group. The Patrol constitutes itself a Council: Patrol Leader responsible as Chairman.

Troop Organization Made Simple

Fri, 17 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Scout troops are built on the principle that “(the) unit is the natural gang of the boy, led by its own boy leader.”

Baden Powell, Aids to Scoutmastership. We have categorized and complicated this simple principle with overlays of military discipline, management science, job descriptions and flow charts that put the Scoutmaster at the top and the boys on the bottom; opposite of the order intended.

Turning the chart upside down better represents the roles of leadership; The Scoutmaster is the base of a pyramid of shared responsibility and service to the apex of the pyramid; the Scouts. This responsibility (and the attendant authority) flows upward to serve the goal of advancing the aim of scouting. From a practical standpoint is is helpful to remember that a patrol is a little troop, and a troop is a big patrol.

The Patrol System

Mon, 13 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

A thorough, yet concise discussion of the Patrol Method available at the White Stag from the Handbook for Scoutmasters, Volume One. © 1936 Boy Scouts of America, Compiled by Bill Hillcourt. We must keep constantly in mind, though, that “The object of the Patrol Method”—as Baden-Powell says”is not so much to save trouble for the Scoutmaster, as to give responsibility to the boy-since this is the very best of all means of developing character. The Scoutmaster gives the aim, and the several Patrols vie with each other in attaining it, thus automatically raising their standards of keenness and efficiency all round.” “Get an easy chair and place it in a corner of the Troop meeting room. If you [the Scoutmaster] can sink into it just after the opening ceremony and just sit throughout the meeting, without a worry for its success, without lifting a finger or moving a foot until time comes for the closing-well, then your Troop is run on the Patrol Method-your boy leaders are actually leading.”

Training or Experience?

Mon, 13 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Conduct youth leader training for ALL the boys, not just the “leaders”, have them work through the experience as patrols, don’t create “training patrols”.

Remind them that patrols are about interdependence; shared leadership and shared responsiility. Let them chose their own patrols, and don’t meddle in it. In our troop of 20 the patrols are 4, 4, 5, and 7, yes I’d like to see one less patrol but that’s not my place. Once they have their patrols help them create and maintain their identities. It may be cheaper and easier to combine the troop for meals, don’t do it, meals are the most basic building block of the patrol method, and don’t let adults “help” the scouts by making sure they make a decent meal. Are they going to burn food? Yes, we have a patrol that still talks about their “e-coli burgers” from 4 years ago.

B.P.'s Blog - Patrol System

Sun, 12 Oct 2014 00:00:00 +0000

During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters. Here’s a selection from his writings.

Many Scoutmasters and others did not, at first, recognize the extraordinary value which they could get out of the Patrol system if they liked to use it, but I think that most of them seem to be realizing this more and more.

The Patrol system, after all, is merely putting your boys into permanent gangs under the leadership of one of their own number, which is their natural organization whether bent on mischief or for amusement. But to get first-class results from this system you have to give the leader a real freehanded responsibility — if you only give partial responsibility you will only get partial results. By thus using your Leaders as officers you save yourself an infinite amount of the troublesome detail work.

B.P.'s Blog - The Patrol Spirit

Sun, 14 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters. Here’s a selection from his writings.

The more I see of Troops which are successful, the more I realize the value of patrol spirit, the system of making the Patrol the responsible unit of the Troop, and the treatment of the Patrol Leader as a responsible being, just as if he were grown up. As a further step in this direction, and one which I think will be helpful to Scoutmasters, we are getting out a Patrol Report Form which the Patrol Leader can fill in weekly and hand to his Scoutmaster. It gives the attendance and performance of each Scout during the week at Scout exercises, rallies, games, church, etc. The percentage of such attendances can then go to the Patrol score for deciding the order of merit of the several Patrols in the Troop. Such competition cannot but be useful to the boys, and puts life into their everyday work. In some Troops each Patrol has its motto, which is an excellent device in the same direction for developing the Patrol spirit. The motto is, as a rule, selected or composed by the Patrol itself, and usually applies in some way to the Patrol animal. Thus, for instance, the Lions Patrol might have as their guiding phrase, “Brave as the Lions”; the Frogs, “We are not croakers though we croak”; the Hounds, “Alert as watch dogs”; or “Faithful Friends,” and so on.

B.P.'s Blog - Patrol Reports

Sun, 07 Sep 2014 00:00:00 +0000

During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters. Here’s a selection from his writings.

I FEEL that anything that can be devised for fostering the Patrol spirit and the responsibility of Patrol Leaders cannot but be valuable from the point of view of character training, apart from the fact that it also tends to relieve the over-taxed Scoutmaster of much minor work. One suggestion as to this may be taken from the custom which prevails with best effect at Winchester, where every boy has to report to his prefect weekly that he has done five hours’ “exercise” during the week.

Why We Have Scoutmasters

Sat, 30 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

I offer it here to spark your imagination, and to answer the question ‘why do we have Scoutmasters?’; In the early days of Scouting boys from all over the country, and later from all over the world, bought the book Scouting for Boys and formed themselves into Patrols.

I want to repeat ‘formed themselves’. This means that someone, a leader, not appointed by anyone in particular, but chosen by other fellows because those same other fellows were willing to follow him, gathered round himself a crowd of chaps who wanted to be Scouts. They formed a Patrol and they started to train themselves, using the book Scouting for Boys as the only guide, but they found, as Patrols have always found, that there were many things they did not know, many things they could not find out and many things they could not do without the help of some adult, and so the practice grew of a number of Patrols getting together, forming a Troop, and usually finding their own Scoutmaster. It was some time in the year 1908 that a gang of boys saved, up their pennies and managed to purchase two or three copies of the 4d. booklet Scouting for Boys. They met together in an old barn and tried many of the things that B.-P. suggested they should do. They had a lot of fun and learned a great deal and they got into quite a few scrapes. One day they came across the chapter on Camping, and as they had tried all the things suggested, they were not going to be defeated by one which seemed a little more difficult. Of course, none of them had ever been to camp and they didn’t know the first thing about it, but they had what I hope your Patrol has – a real spirit of adventure. They were prepared to try anything, not only once, but until they got it right, and so they talked it all over and devised all manner of means to get the things they thought would be suitable. Bill, Jack, and Tom were to get the food – just how, nobody told them – Martin, the Leader, was going to get the tent, and Alec, the youngest, said he thought he could get a cart. The Leader also said he would look after the cooking-pots, and each boy was made responsible for getting his own bedding. So it happened that one Saturday afternoon in early June they duly assembled at their barn and started out on their travels. No questions were asked, although young Alec did indicate that it had been very difficult to get the toy cart away from his baby brother and Jack was not very complimentary about the very old tarpaulin that the Patrol Leader said was to be the tent, but they were all amazed and delighted at the quantity of food that had been produced, which, by present-day standards, would have been enough for a month. Well, they packed what they could into the cart, and after the food was in there was not really much room for anything else, so the rest was carried. They did not know where they were going; they had no map, and I doubt if they could have read one, in any case. They set off, literally into the blue, out of the village and over the hill and across country, because they were not the sort of fellows who walked on roads if they could avoid them, but all their preparations had taken a long time and it was quite late in the evening when they settled on a place to camp; a pleasant enough site between a by-road and a stream. They decided the stream would do for washing and water for cooking. It was all very unhygienic, but they did remain alive for many years to tell the tale. They lit a fire as they had already learned to do, although they used more than two matches, and it was a very large fire, as they had never heard the Red Indian saying – ‘Red man he make little fire and keep close; White man he make big fire and have to keep away.’ They then set to and cooked the food. They mixed some very queer concoctions and they burned quite a lot, but food had never tasted better to those particular boys. Then, rather late, they tried to put up the tent. The Leader had a knife and cut down two saplings, and somehow, with string and ingenuity, they rigged up the tarpaulin into some sort of tent and, as it became dark, very tired, but very happy, they crept into the tent and got into bed.

Scouting is Not (just) Outing.

Mon, 25 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Scouting is outing but Scouting is not just an outing club or another activity.

Scouting is aimed at “preparing young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law”. We do this by applying the methods of Scouting .

Frankly all this would be a whole lot easier if we were just an outing club.

Adults can plan an outing and make the reservations in a half an hour – peice of cake. We can lead, instruct and do pretty darn good at it.

Simple Versus Complicated Scouting

Fri, 22 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

The steps in training have become so absorbing and important that in many cases the aim has come to be lost sight of. -B.P Take a moment and step back from all of your roles and responsibilities and observe how simple Scouting is. The aim is simple : Providing opportunities for the development of character, fitness, and citizenship. The method is simple : We share ideals , express our unity by wearing uniforms , organize using the patrol method based on youth leadership in the outdoors , and recognize the resulting personal growth using an advancement system . All of this happens as our Scouts form useful association with caring adults. The organization is simple : Individual Scouts form patrols and patrols form larger groups.* I think Scouts innately embrace the simple excitement and challenges of Scouting, but we adults often stand in their way by complicating things. How do we adults complicate Scouting? We clothe Scouting in far too many layers of bureaucratic administration. We seek recognition, fulfillment, or aggrandizement for ourselves rather than focusing on our Scouts. We build structures where Scouts become decorations rather than vital participants. We demand or coerce things from Scouts that they would do freely for themselves given opportunity and encouragement.

B.P.'s Blog - Camps

Sun, 20 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters. Here’s a selection from his writings.

As the camping season is now upon us, I may say that one or two of the camps which I have already seen have been unfortunately on wrong lines, though others were very satisfactory.

I strongly advise small camps of about half a dozen Patrols; each Patrol in a separate tent and on separate ground (as suggested in Scouting for Boys), so that the Scouts do not feel themselves to be part of a big herd, but members of independent responsible units.

What Do Scouts Decide?

Sat, 21 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

There’s a lot of discussion about who makes decisions about what activities Scouts put on their schedule. What do Scouts decide?

Should adults be part of that process, or must we always allow Scouts to make these decisions? Some would argue that who makes these decisions is a good test of whether a troop is youth-led or not. ‘Youth led” is a key component of the patrol system, so the question we ought to be asking is if we are applying the patrol system.

Five Patrol Method Fundamentals

Wed, 30 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Patrols are much more than a convenient way to divide a large group of Scouts into smaller, more manageable groups.

Patrols are the single unique feature of Scouting and the indispensable method for achieving the aims of Scouting. Most of us became Scouters as Cub Leaders.

During the Cub Scout years the program depends on a lot of adult involvement and leadership in response to the age of the Cubs. We often mistakenly carry these habits and ideas into Scout troops.

Lead by Walking Away

Sat, 12 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Adult leaders often say things like; “I don’t override the boys decisions at all. ” “I asked them what they wanted to do.” “This was their decision.” What most of us fail to recognize is that many of these ‘boy led’ decisions were probably coerced, at least in part, by the presence of adults when they were discussed. It’s not that the adults shined bright lights in their eyes or twisted their arms behind their backs – it is much more subtle than that. When adults are present youth leadership – the Scouting way- is not happening. Say what? You mean when I am in the room listening and not talking I am somehow affecting the outcome of their decision making process? Yes! So I want to suggest that you lead by walking away. Let Me explain: When adults are listening, watching or talking Scouts are instinctively looking for the assent and approval of the adults. This is a result what they do at School and at home; listen to adults and seek their approval. So even if you say absolutely nothing at all your presence is somewhat coercive. It’s not that you are a bad person or anything – it’s just the way things are. So if we are not supposed to be around and not supposed to talk to them and not supposed to watch what they are doing, how do we do our jobs as adult leaders?

Let Them Live Their Own Lives

Fri, 11 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Green Bar Bill’s analogy of Scouting as a game get’s me thinking about what would happen if we altered other games the way we sometimes see Scouting misunderstood. For example: Basketball is OK, but why all that dribbling stuff?

Letting players carry the ball would be so much easier! And hey, do we really need the baskets to be that high? We’d score a lot more goals in soccer (and it would be a lot more fun to watch!) if the opposing team tackled the goalie and held them down!

... the more things remain the same.

Thu, 26 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Frustrated with your youth leadership? Does it seem as though every effort to get them motivated falls short? Wish for ‘the good old days’ when ‘Scouting really meant something’ and boys were able to think for themselves? See if you don’t share some of the frustrations expressed by this Scoutmaster:

We are continually being told that our Scouts want to run things, for themselves. Is this really so? Am I the only Scoutmaster that has come out of a patrol leader’s council exhausted and apoplectic? Give my boys their head in camp and the Seniors will make one mad rush for the nearest girl, while the youngsters will (a) settle down with a comic, (b) moan they have nothing to do, (c) take a bus into the nearest town (even if it is just round the corner) and have an entertaining time wandering round Woolworths.

Troop Program Death Spiral!

Sat, 29 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Perhaps “Troop Program Death Spiral” is a gratuitously dramatic title but it describes something that does happen. Got your attention, though, didn’t I? How and why do troops get off track and lose Scouts?

There’s a predictable sequence of events that spiral down into a crash.

Scouts are never the problem, it’s the way we work with them that causes problems. When we sign on to volunteer and one of three things happen – We attend training, work at understanding our role and evaluate current practice against what we learn. We don’t get trained, don’t really learn our role, and/or adopt bad practices that were in place when we signed on. We assume that we know our role and carry on regardless or we are working with people who assert that they know what they are doing and we follow along.

The One Essential Feature of Scouting Explained

Tue, 28 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

In one sense it’s easy. Just do it. In another sense, it’s very complicated.

There are a lot of issues to be considered when creating a Patrol.

There are two kinds of patrols.

There are patrols, lowercase “p”.

These are informal groups of boy that form naturally in neighborhoods, sand lot ball fields and elsewhere. This is the patrol structure that BP observed in the field.

There are Patrols, uppercase “P”.

High Adventure, Friendship and Loyalty

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Troop 676 of Bozeman during their August 2012 traverse across Spanish Peaks in the Lee Metcalf Wilderness of Montana, standing atop Indian Ridge listening to our oldest Scout tell an animated story about another adventure from the past. (Photo from Ryan Jordan) Scouts need some structure and direction but they also need the opportunity (plenty of it) for the alchemy of friendship and loyalty to do its work. This is something that Scouters can’t control or manage; trying to make a plant grow is futile and frustrating. If we create the conditions conducive to growth we’ll see it happen. What are the conditions? Self-determination, challenge, time and autonomy. We create these conditions is guiding our youth leadership towards building them into their planning, steeping back, and watching them make it happen. Ryan Jordan touches on this vital aspect of Scouting connecting it with high adventure: Teenagers are social creatures. Why not let them enjoy each other on top of a 10,000 foot ridge instead of a bunk bed in a cabin down in the valley? When they earn and work and suffer together, they just might be more likely to stick together. As a Scoutmaster, I’ve heard this one a lot: “I just want to be with my friends.”

The Patrol Leader's Real Power and Authority

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

A new patrol leader may think, at first, their position is one of great power and authority.

Truth be told patrol leaders do have great power and authority but it’s not aimed at bossing people around or commanding their respect. The patrol leader’s real power is the example they set for their fellow Scouts. A patrol will follow this example – whether it is good or bad. If they are prepared their patrol will be prepared. If they are helpful and kind their patrol will be helpful and kind. If they are positive and encouraging their patrol will be positive and encouraging. If they are selfish and mean their patrol will be selfish and mean. If they are indifferent and disinterested their patrol will be indifferent and disinterested. Any good leader strives to do what they can to help others succeed. They do this through the power and authority of their example. A patrol leader who understands this power will help his patrol succeed in anything they choose to do. You can get this infographic along with OVER 50 other infographics and helpful PDF documents here If you’d like to print this infographic download the PDF file below BEFORE YOU CLICK THE DOWNLOAD BUTTON Consider joining all the other great folks who have become Backers!

Patrol Method in Practice - Objections

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This is post number three in this four part series on the patrol method-1. The Character School ,

The Adult Role ,
Making it happen Our first post in this series establishes the patrol method as the character school of Scouting, that real self-government makes the Scout Oath and law more relevant than a bunch of concepts preached by adults. That Scouts find meaning in the life of the patrol and troop where individual responsibilities become group responsibilities. The second post outlines the adult role as more responsive than directive and suggests that this would be a pretty dramatic change for a lot of us, that change is usually resisted and there will be a number of objections.

Patrol Method in Practice - The Adult Role

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This is post number two in this four part series on the patrol method-1. The Character School ,

Objections ,
Making it happen Imagine a bus tour of some important city where, seated in the air-conditioned comfort of a motor coach, we listen to the guide explain each landmark in detail so we won’t miss anything. The guide sticks to the script, we sit behind the tinted windows of our bus dutifully turning our heads to the left, then to the right.

Patrol Method in Practice - The Character School

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This is post number one in this four part series on the patrol method

The Adult Role ,
Objections ,
Making it happen The patrol system is not one method in which Scouting for boys can be carried on. It is the only method . It is not the slightest use to preach the Scout Law or to give it out as orders to a crowd of boys: each mind requires its special exposition of them and the ambition to carry them out. – Baden Powell Two things drive character development; the example of role models and interaction with peers.

Troop Leadership Elections

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

What’s the best way to hold Troop leadership elections? It’s pretty simple. Here’s all of the references I found in the Scoutmaster’s handbook: Each troop sets its own requirements and schedule of elections, though senior patrol leaders are usually chosen at six- to 12-month intervals and can be reelected.

Scoutmaster’s Handbook p. 13 The members of each patrol elect one of their own to serve as their patrol leader. The troop determines the requirements, if any, for patrol leaders, such as rank and age. Most troops select patrol leaders and other boy leaders twice a year, though a troop might want to hold elections more frequently in order to allow more boys the chance to lead, particularly in the new- Scout patrols.

Scouting as a Game - Green Bar Bill

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

William “Green Bar Bill” Hillcourt is the man who wrote the book on Scouting, literally. His Patrol Leader’s Handbook is, without a doubt, his best and most influential work. His understanding of scouting was simple, but not simplistic. To an outsider, Scouting must at first appear to be a very complex matter. If it were only possible to swing the gates of Scouting wide open to him and show him from a vantage point in one immense view the full panorama of the Scout Movement!

Patrol Names

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I am (probably unreasonably) opinionated about patrol names. No doubt it has something to do with the experience of being a Camp Director and having to read silly or suggestive Patrol names during a reasonably solemn ceremony before a couple of hundred parents each week.

Scouts will sometimes invent silly or inappropriate patrol names.

While the concepts of creativity and ownership are important so are those of honor, tradition and self respect.

Unqualified, Unskilled, Immature: Perfect!

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Experience, maturity and skill are not prerequisites to leadership; they are the traits produced as we practice leadership. We often get email or comments from Scoutmasters with a troop of young Scouts wondering how they can be anything like boy led. They look around a bunch of 11-year-old boys and don’t see anyone who measures up to their preconceived notion of a leader so the adults take over the leadership and may never let it go. A lot of Scouting goes off the rails when adults think that they are the only ones with the maturity and experience to lead. To prevent this from happening I challenge you to get rid of all preconceived qualifications for youth leaders.

Scouting’s One Essential Feature

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

At our council camporee in December I walked around the entire camp and saw only two troops that had identifiable patrols. Most troops were set up as one unit, with all the tents lined up and no discernible internal division into patrols.

Because our site was so small, our tents were all jumbled up and crammed into the site. Only our senior patrol leader and his patrol leaders really knew where the individual patrol boundaries began and ended. This wasn’t the optimal setup for patrols functioning well and but that’s not really what the campsite inspectors were looking for anyway. Why don’t we value and emphasize patrols as much as our founder indicated we should? The Patrol System is the one essential feature in which Scout training differs from that of all other organizations , and where the System is properly applied, it is absolutely bound to bring success. It cannot help itself! The formation of the boys into Patrols of from six to eight and training them as separate units each under its own responsible leader is the key to a good Troop. The Patrol is the unit of Scouting always, whether for work or for play, for discipline or for duty.

Behavior and Program

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Unpredictable sometimes difficult behavior is part of adolescence so it is a part of Scouting.

Scouting responds with a program who’s intrinsic design is a response to this and the other vagaries of being a Scout-aged boy. Boys naturally form groups within groups and institute traditions and practices like initiations, pecking orders and all other forms of regimentation. They are more likely to create their own version of ‘The Lord of the Flies’ than the ‘Hardy Boys’.

What Would You Do? - Commanding Respect

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s the latest question posed by Scouting Magazine’s ‘What Would You Do ‘ column: Commanding Respect Our troop has just seven Scouts who are 14 or older, including me, and then 15 to 20 younger Scouts. On camp-outs, the younger Scouts don’t listen to us, and they give us attitude when we ask them to do something. We have tried many things, but nothing seems to work.

Could you give us some ideas?

The Patrol System - How it All Began

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000

The Patrol System was published by the General Council Boy Scouts of Canada in 1960 and is available in PDF format here (do make sure to check out The Dump ). The next several posts will feature most of the text of this book and some of my ideas about implementing the concepts described nearly fifty years later. The principles of the Patrol System were first introduced by the Founder, Baden-Powell, when he was with the British Army in India. The system he devised enabled soldiers to operate in small groups and use their own initiative within the overall plan of campaign … the Patrol System became one of the basic elements of Scouting. The Patrol System not only gave a real adventure aspect to the program and responsibility to boys themselves, but it also blended perfectly with the natural desire in boys to form into gangs in their neighborhoods and schools. It was these very gangs which met in the streets who spontaneously formed themselves into Patrols and started Scouting .

Integrity

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000

The only alternative to making mistakes is for someone to make all your decisions for you, in which case you will make their mistakes instead of your own.

Obviously that’s not a life of integrity. -Grace Llewellyn, Educator Scouting offers an unusually good opportunity for boys to live their own lives independently to develop integrity.

Scouts should be able to honestly say: ‘we did it ourselves’. We do not have greater intelligence than the young; we simply have more experience.