Posts: 34
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:03 pm
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:38 pm
Online Leader Orientation
http://chinook.scouts.ca/welcome
The link is to the presentation posted on the chinook council website as an online learning opportunity.
One of the barriers to growth that I continue to encounter is that members are unable to "sell" Scouting to friends, family, and neighbours because they don't have the right background information - a simple orientation (like this one) can help correct that deficit.
I've shown this to new leaders, and they feel that it gives them just the right amount of background, and I've shown it to some really old, crusty leaders, and the comment tends to start with "if I'd known that when I started..."
1/3 of our leaders are new every year - in Chinook Council, where I am, that means approximately 1000 leaders every year.
This year, we have trained 573 of them at the WB Part I level. Assuming that we only trained new leaders, that leaves 437 adults who are new this year who have not received any training.
Last year we trained 329, and the year before that 240.
We're doing better, but there's still a significant number of new leaders every year who never attend any formal training.
The lack of basic knowledge is a barrier to recruitment because we have people who aren't recruiting because they feel ill equipped to recruit, and we have people who are trying to recruit, but are telling prospective members things that are inaccurate or out of date.
There are Beaver leaders who I've talked to who when I asked them which group they were with, they told me "I'm not in a group, I'm a Beaver leader on Tuesday night".
I've trained on courses where a majority of the participants had never heard of Venturers or Rovers before they came to the course.
Last month I helped train on a Part I course with 50+ participants. At the beginning, I was asked to cover the Mission, Principles, Practices session. I asked the participants if they knew Scouting had a mission (not what the mission is, just if they'd heard we'd had something of the sort) - 2 people raised their hands. I asked the participants if they knew we had three founding principles (again, not what they were, just if they'd heard something) - the same 2 people raised their hands. The other 50 people had no clue. This is 6 months into the Scouting year.
I've talked to a few section contact leaders in the last two years who were surprised to learn as we talked that Scouts Canada went fully co-ed in 1997 and were still telling people we were boys only.
It's the section level adult leaders that will generate growth (or lack of it). When they're not informed, they're less likely to do a good job of recruiting and retaining members. Orientation can be a first step on the path to becoming an informed, engaged leader who runs an excellent program that's stuffed to the brim with excited, engaged youth.
Let me know what you think.
(this is a carryover from wiggio)
The link is to the presentation posted on the chinook council website as an online learning opportunity.
One of the barriers to growth that I continue to encounter is that members are unable to "sell" Scouting to friends, family, and neighbours because they don't have the right background information - a simple orientation (like this one) can help correct that deficit.
I've shown this to new leaders, and they feel that it gives them just the right amount of background, and I've shown it to some really old, crusty leaders, and the comment tends to start with "if I'd known that when I started..."
1/3 of our leaders are new every year - in Chinook Council, where I am, that means approximately 1000 leaders every year.
This year, we have trained 573 of them at the WB Part I level. Assuming that we only trained new leaders, that leaves 437 adults who are new this year who have not received any training.
Last year we trained 329, and the year before that 240.
We're doing better, but there's still a significant number of new leaders every year who never attend any formal training.
The lack of basic knowledge is a barrier to recruitment because we have people who aren't recruiting because they feel ill equipped to recruit, and we have people who are trying to recruit, but are telling prospective members things that are inaccurate or out of date.
There are Beaver leaders who I've talked to who when I asked them which group they were with, they told me "I'm not in a group, I'm a Beaver leader on Tuesday night".
I've trained on courses where a majority of the participants had never heard of Venturers or Rovers before they came to the course.
Last month I helped train on a Part I course with 50+ participants. At the beginning, I was asked to cover the Mission, Principles, Practices session. I asked the participants if they knew Scouting had a mission (not what the mission is, just if they'd heard we'd had something of the sort) - 2 people raised their hands. I asked the participants if they knew we had three founding principles (again, not what they were, just if they'd heard something) - the same 2 people raised their hands. The other 50 people had no clue. This is 6 months into the Scouting year.
I've talked to a few section contact leaders in the last two years who were surprised to learn as we talked that Scouts Canada went fully co-ed in 1997 and were still telling people we were boys only.
It's the section level adult leaders that will generate growth (or lack of it). When they're not informed, they're less likely to do a good job of recruiting and retaining members. Orientation can be a first step on the path to becoming an informed, engaged leader who runs an excellent program that's stuffed to the brim with excited, engaged youth.
Let me know what you think.
(this is a carryover from wiggio)
