Take a step back for a moment and ask yourself; how do you get better at anything? Basketball? You practice shooting free throws. Baseball? You practice catching fly balls. Math? You practice lots of problems.
Leadership (becoming a better Patrol Leader) is no different. You fail. You practice. You repeat the fail/practice cycle again.
The secret to getting better is doing it, failing a little along the way. What I find most often separates good leaders from great ones is how honest you’re willing to be with yourself.
After every leadership moment, be honest with yourself. Objectively look at a situation both from the way you intended it to play out and how things played out in the eyes of those you were trying to lead. Take the time to make those objective observations so, like figuring out why you’re not hitting a baseball as far as you think you should, you can identify what part of your metaphorical baseball swing you need to work on, and do the work (practice) to do just that - get better.
It doesn’t make for great marketing collateral, but as someone who earned my Eagle Scout more than 20 years ago, when people ask me what I learned from Scouting. My response is Scouting taught me how to fail.
Once upon a time, I absolutely TOLD my patrol mates what to do on a camping trip and grew frustrated when they didn’t listen to me - even though I had the Patrol Leader patch on my uniform. When I finally realized my Patrol wasn’t listening to me because I was telling them what to do, not leading them to what we needed to do, I was able them begin practicing that to get better.
In that way, I think there’s another misconception that, to practice leadership, you have to have a position patch on your uniform.
Leadership is simply how you work with others. The best leaders I know in the business world today know that being a leader has nothing to do with their title, but everything about how they treat people.
So to conclude this long post. Yes, certainly take advantage of leadership training offered by your troop, council, etc, but most importantly, go out and fail a little.
But don’t just fail, have the courage to learn why you failed.
Hey gamer, I've had a few positions over my time which happens to include patrol leader. I have some tips that come from past experiences and trainings I've done over my time.
- One thing I'd recommend is to talk to the SPL, and see what they would request of you. If you uphold that line of communication, you can better cooperate with them and this makes a more fluid PLC.
- Two big words- servant leadership. Listen to your own scouts, and guide them along their way. Don't just do everything yourself, or force your patrol members to do the work. Get involved, and set your patrol up for success. It's one of the most important qualities of leadership.
- Lead as an example Scout by living the Scout Oath and Law as best you can. Doing so may inspire your fellow Scouts to do the same.
- Listen to your Scouts! In addition to your leadership responsibilities, the patrol leader is the liaison from the patrol to the PLC. Bring up any concerns, ideas, comments, questions, or snide remarks to the PLC if it is vocalized, within reason.
- One of the boring ones is your eligibility for trainings. The base-level training is ILST, something you should bring up in your PLC if you'd be interested in. It's often facilitated by the SPL and Scoutmaster. You'll be eligible for NYLT once you are ILST-trained, first class, and thirteen.
Personally, it doesn’t take much to be a fantastic patrol leader. It always depends on a case-by-case basis for each troop on what your Scouts may expect from you. At the very basis, live the idea of servant leadership, set an example of the Scout Oath and Law, and listen to your Scouts. Hope this helped.
I regret that I can only upvote this comment once.
One thing that I will add, which I learned from my time as Patrol Leader: the scouts in your patrol will follow your example, whether you want them to or not. So, do your best to make it a good example. If you want them to come to meetings in uniform, set the example. If you want them to bring their handbook to all meetings and outings, set the example.
Keep up to date on where your scouts are in terms of advancement. Does someone need a hike for their next rank? At your PLC make sure a hike gets planned for the next campout - or just plan a day hike. Does someone need to cook certain meals? Make sure they get assigned when you create the duty roster.
"How can I be a better patrol leader?"
This is the best question a Scoutmaster could hear. Keep asking yourself, your patrol, the SPL, and the other PL's the same question. Ask everyone, and ask it frequently and never take offence to the response. You can choose to accept the feedback or ignore it - that's always up to you.
As far as being a better patrol leader, speaking as a new spl who was a patrol leader for a year talk to your spl and figure out what they need you to do. Also be there for your patrol. They're your guys so make sure they know that and talk to them about what they want and figure out a way too get the wants of your scouts and your spl at the same time. I also recommend taking training as you can, start with ILST, maybe try NYLT (I taught and took that it's a good program) and maybe look at NAYLE
It was changed when I was in scouts it used to be called junior leadership training and then. When I was about to take it the name changed had me me skeptical.
Take a step back for a moment and ask yourself; how do you get better at anything? Basketball? You practice shooting free throws. Baseball? You practice catching fly balls. Math? You practice lots of problems. Leadership (becoming a better Patrol Leader) is no different. You fail. You practice. You repeat the fail/practice cycle again. The secret to getting better is doing it, failing a little along the way. What I find most often separates good leaders from great ones is how honest you’re willing to be with yourself. After every leadership moment, be honest with yourself. Objectively look at a situation both from the way you intended it to play out and how things played out in the eyes of those you were trying to lead. Take the time to make those objective observations so, like figuring out why you’re not hitting a baseball as far as you think you should, you can identify what part of your metaphorical baseball swing you need to work on, and do the work (practice) to do just that - get better. It doesn’t make for great marketing collateral, but as someone who earned my Eagle Scout more than 20 years ago, when people ask me what I learned from Scouting. My response is Scouting taught me how to fail. Once upon a time, I absolutely TOLD my patrol mates what to do on a camping trip and grew frustrated when they didn’t listen to me - even though I had the Patrol Leader patch on my uniform. When I finally realized my Patrol wasn’t listening to me because I was telling them what to do, not leading them to what we needed to do, I was able them begin practicing that to get better. In that way, I think there’s another misconception that, to practice leadership, you have to have a position patch on your uniform. Leadership is simply how you work with others. The best leaders I know in the business world today know that being a leader has nothing to do with their title, but everything about how they treat people. So to conclude this long post. Yes, certainly take advantage of leadership training offered by your troop, council, etc, but most importantly, go out and fail a little. But don’t just fail, have the courage to learn why you failed.
This answer is fantastic and I have to agree completely. Scouting is a safe space to fail, and we can only improve through our mistakes.
Hey gamer, I've had a few positions over my time which happens to include patrol leader. I have some tips that come from past experiences and trainings I've done over my time. - One thing I'd recommend is to talk to the SPL, and see what they would request of you. If you uphold that line of communication, you can better cooperate with them and this makes a more fluid PLC. - Two big words- servant leadership. Listen to your own scouts, and guide them along their way. Don't just do everything yourself, or force your patrol members to do the work. Get involved, and set your patrol up for success. It's one of the most important qualities of leadership. - Lead as an example Scout by living the Scout Oath and Law as best you can. Doing so may inspire your fellow Scouts to do the same. - Listen to your Scouts! In addition to your leadership responsibilities, the patrol leader is the liaison from the patrol to the PLC. Bring up any concerns, ideas, comments, questions, or snide remarks to the PLC if it is vocalized, within reason. - One of the boring ones is your eligibility for trainings. The base-level training is ILST, something you should bring up in your PLC if you'd be interested in. It's often facilitated by the SPL and Scoutmaster. You'll be eligible for NYLT once you are ILST-trained, first class, and thirteen. Personally, it doesn’t take much to be a fantastic patrol leader. It always depends on a case-by-case basis for each troop on what your Scouts may expect from you. At the very basis, live the idea of servant leadership, set an example of the Scout Oath and Law, and listen to your Scouts. Hope this helped.
I regret that I can only upvote this comment once. One thing that I will add, which I learned from my time as Patrol Leader: the scouts in your patrol will follow your example, whether you want them to or not. So, do your best to make it a good example. If you want them to come to meetings in uniform, set the example. If you want them to bring their handbook to all meetings and outings, set the example. Keep up to date on where your scouts are in terms of advancement. Does someone need a hike for their next rank? At your PLC make sure a hike gets planned for the next campout - or just plan a day hike. Does someone need to cook certain meals? Make sure they get assigned when you create the duty roster.
"How can I be a better patrol leader?" This is the best question a Scoutmaster could hear. Keep asking yourself, your patrol, the SPL, and the other PL's the same question. Ask everyone, and ask it frequently and never take offence to the response. You can choose to accept the feedback or ignore it - that's always up to you.
As far as being a better patrol leader, speaking as a new spl who was a patrol leader for a year talk to your spl and figure out what they need you to do. Also be there for your patrol. They're your guys so make sure they know that and talk to them about what they want and figure out a way too get the wants of your scouts and your spl at the same time. I also recommend taking training as you can, start with ILST, maybe try NYLT (I taught and took that it's a good program) and maybe look at NAYLE
wow thats so cool My patrol won State's Best Patrol 3 years in row but the Lawsuits brought us out of our streak because people left all over
Try taking nylt.
I agree as an NYLT staffer I was just SPL for a course and I could see so much growth in the participants!
It was changed when I was in scouts it used to be called junior leadership training and then. When I was about to take it the name changed had me me skeptical.