1. Junior Leader Training Troop 614 – November 24, 2002
What makes communities work?
The joys of leadership
The responsibilities of leadership
What makes a good leader?
Why should I lead?
Have you ever thought about how things get done in a city or village or other small community?
Some things get done by elected officials, some things by committees and some things by paid employees.
But a lot of things get done by volunteers -- people who give of their time and money to further the goals of the community. Putting all those resources together to get the job done requires leadership. That’s why we’re here today.
Being a leader can be a lot of fun. You get to make things happen – and happen in the way that you want them to.
Of course, once you accept the leadership role, you enter into a sort of contract. Being a leader means that you have an obligation to get things done, done well, done quickly, and done in a way that most of the people are happy about it.
Good leaders have some traits and habits in common. There are lots of different ways to be an effective leader but today we’ll share some of the most common. Becoming a leader is something that can be learned. Even if you don’t think you’re cut out to be a leader now, with training and practice you’ll discover you can be a leader – and a good one!
Why YOU? Why should you be a leader? Why not somebody else? I’ll tell you why…in a minute!
Troop Junior Leader Training -- November 24, 2002

2. What makes communities work?
People want to help
It takes leadership to organize projects
Examples of projects in our community
Scotts Valley High School
Eagle projects
Education foundation donations
Service organizations: Lions, Elks, Rotary
People want to help. Take Scotts Valley, for example. There are lots of people out there who want to help make our schools better, to raise funds for charities, to make city government meet the needs of the people.
Each of these goals or projects requires a leader to get going and to finish the job.
SVHS wouldn’t have been built without community members banding together, under leadership to fund and build the high school.
Troop Junior Leader Training -- November 24, 2002

3. Troop 614 -- Junior Leader Training -- November 24, 2002
The Joys of Leadership
You get to see your ideas turn into realities
You get the feeling of accomplishment
Other people look up to leaders
You’ll be included in activities and future projects
You get to tell other people what to do  .
The members of a group or community who help out on a project feel justifiably proud of their accomplishment.
But the leader can feel a special ownership of a job well done.
Every project you participate in makes you a better and stronger citizen of the group. You’ll have more friends, more contacts, more enjoyment out of life!
Delegating work to others is sort of fun! Mainly because they want to help anyway – they just want to be told how to help.
Troop Junior Leader Training -- November 24, 2002

4. The Responsibilities of Leadership
You have to get things started
You have to encourage others to give you their support
You have to monitor progress
You have to report to your superiors
You represent your patrol at the PLC
You don’t have to do everything!
You don’t have to have the initial idea, but you do have to enthusiastically ‘sell’ it to others.
You have to communicate to others how they and the community as a whole will benefit from their participation.
You have to make sure everyone does their part.
Usually you will be in the middle of an organization where you have to summarize and report how things are going.
Even the guy on top has to report status to someone. A CEO reports to the stockholders, the President of America reports to the people, and the Patrol Leader reports to the Senior Patrol Leader.
It’s important to remember that you don’t have to do everything! You organize, you delegate, you monitor and you probably do some of the work directly but you’re not leading if you do it all!
Troop Junior Leader Training -- November 24, 2002

5. What Makes a Good Leader?
A good leader gets others to help – and to be happy about helping
A good leader is trustworthy
A good leader communicates clearly
A good leader delegates
A good leader sets a good example
To get others to help you should be enthusiastic, be a cheerleader. You should think about what will motivate the people whose help you need. Explain how doing <whatever> will get them what they want. Read Minutes p55.
Trustworthy: if you say you’ll be there, you must be there – on time!
if you say you’ll bring some supplies, you’ve got to do it.
if you agree to call everybody in the group, you keep trying until everyone has been called.
Take notes to make sure that you remember everything that has to be communicated. Say it in a couple of different ways if you’re not sure the message got through. Try to be a good listener too. Communication goes both ways.
Make sure that you portion the work out to everybody so that everybody feels like they contributed something important. Do it fairly so that no one feels like they were picked on. Think about who can do a particular job well or who needs practice.
You should act the way you expect and want everybody in the group to act.
Involve everybody.
Troop Junior Leader Training -- November 24, 2002

6. Troop 614 -- Junior Leader Training -- November 24, 2002
Why Should I Lead?
You should lead because you want things to happen
You should lead because, if you don’t things won’t happen
You should lead to because it’s your obligation to help
You should lead because it’s fun to lead!
It’s easy to lead when you believe in the goal. You have ideas you want see realized. Well, to make that happen you’re going to have to lead!
Don’t expect that someone else will take care of it. That someone else is probably waiting for you!
People who have a special talent or training have an obligation to use that talent or training to help people. That’s what makes a community become a better and more enjoyable place to live, work and play.
It’s fun to lead. There’s nothing like the feeling of accomplishment in bringing a group of people together to help make something worthwhile happen. Everybody who helps and everybody who benefits is happy and thanks you for your special contribution.
The leadership positions you may hold in the Boy Scouts will give you the skills and confidence to make a bigger contribution to the community when you’re an adult. This kind of training can also prepare you for better and more interesting jobs in whatever career you choose.
Troop Junior Leader Training -- November 24, 2002