New Approach to Troop Planning Extracted from Article by Clarke Green Dec 13, 2017 http://scoutmastercg.com/a-new-approach-to-scout-troop-planning

Program Participation Challenge Competing with crowded family calendars Unpredictable Scout/Scouter participation Incomplete patrols at outings/events

Cause? Author made the following observations: Not a lack of spirit Families are not too busy Program is not flawed Family commitment to the program was not the issue Author determined the root cause was how his unit built and managed their calendar Troop planning needs to cooperate and not compete with other activities Their planning practices were outdated, not the Scouting program

Participation is Everything Solid program is certainly the foundation to make others want to come Need to create and manage opportunities Calendar defines the opportunities Participation in turn drives the quality of the program Lots of scouts equals lots of fun and full patrols Past fun equals future participation—provided the opportunity is defined in sufficient time

How Other Activities Operate Two common themes A schedule roughly corresponding to school quarters A financial commitment (paying for lessons, buying sports equipment, etc)

How Scout Troops Work Annual plan Ala carte pay-as-you go In the annual plan once a year, we try to deconflict as best we can Changes ineffectively conveyed Chase permission slips to the last minute End up serving the calendar more than serving the members

The Quarterly Solution Still have an annual plan Cornerstone event each quarter Backpacking in the Fall Skiing in the Winter Featured Spring trip Summer Camp Leaves two trips each quarter for PLC to plan Hold quarterly parent meetings and exchange monthly permission slips for quarterly permission slips

Quarterly Parent Meeting Combined parent meeting and CoH 3-weeks before the next quarter During regular meeting time Told to prepare for commitments and bring family calendar and checkbook Scouts prepare for CoH while parents meet with SM and Committee to go over next quarter’s plans. 1-1.5 hours for both (same as regular meeting) Permission slips for all three trips

Quarterly Permission Slips Eliminates continuous stream of permission slips Payments creates further incentive to participate (not refundable) Required from each family whether attending events or not Important to know who is going/not going to create a quarterly roster

Quarterly Roster Generate rosters for the next three camping trips “giddy feeling” having a roster that far in advance Quarterly roster tells who is participating In turn used to build the quarterly plan for leadership development

Quarterly Plan for Leadership Development Unrealistic expectations for full involvement through a full 6-month leadership tenure Quarterly Youth Leader Elections Advancement requirements aren’t continuous Creates more opportunities Commitment demand realistic Results: 90% participation by SPL and PLs But is 3 month’s enough?

3 Months for Leadership Development Quarterly plan doesn’t limit length of time in the same Position of Responsibility (POR) Participation impacts leadership development 6 mo position with just 3 campouts is the same as 3 mo position with 3 campouts. Participation matters. Long enough to learn the job? Some POR yes, some not Nonetheless, expectations are higher and commitments are more likely to be kept by scouts elected to PORs for the quarter

Patrol Benefit Patrol method works Full patrols with elected leadership Old method patrols could quickly fall below critical mass and had to wait for election cycle to fix it Quarterly roster now drives the patrol compositions You have scouts committed to the campouts

Principles, Practices, Rules of Thumb Some “fits and starts”, but first year was successful Quarterly absolute/fixed rules? No. Common sense and rules of thumb prevailed. 90 day commitments are reasonable. Monthly is too short and yearly is too long. Had to question some long-held assumptions about developing youth leaders and the patrol method Who are you serving? Scouts or traditions?

Questions?