Scouting, Volume 60, Number 1, January-February 1972 Page: 8
68, [20] p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Scouts on Maxwell Mesa soon discov-
ered that leaderless groups flounder.
"There's no hurry," he says. "Why
go off half-cocked?"
And the LC guides the members
through a discussion. He cautions
them not to elect a patrol leader on
the basis of superficial criteria: the
biggest guy, the loudest talker. In-
stead of running a popularity con-
test, the LC suggests, why not try
to find out something about one
another before voting for patrol
leader. So each Scout talks about
himself; he lists the things he can
and cannot do; he discusses what he
likes to do and what he doesn't like
to do. Bv the time the patrol elects
a leader—the job is temporary, so
everyone gets a crack at it before
the training is over—each individ-
ual knows the resources of his own
patrol.
That is, each Scout has a good
idea of the skill and knowledge of
every other patrol member. One
guy may be a good cook. Another
may be an expert in lashing. A third
may be an expert with an ax and
bowsaw. The resources of the pa-
trol are the total contributions that
all members can give.
Knowing the resources of the
patrol is only one of eight "leader-
ship competencies" the Scouts
learn during the first week. These
eight leadership competencies are
the heart of what, from now on, we
will call the new junior leader
training. And I suppose now is as
good a time as any to reveal that
the new junior leader training does
not revolve around Scouting skills.
"The new junior leader training,"
explains Jack Keeton, "emphasizes
leadership—not Scoutcraft."
This shift in emphasis does not
signal an abandonment of tradi-
tional skills or, for that matter, a
de-emphasis of the skills them-
selves. But the shift does recognize
that onlv Scouts of First Class and
I
sleFit
higher rank are permitted to take
junior leader training. And First
Class Scouts already have acquired
most of the traditional skills.
For example, instead of learning
more about signaling, the new jun-
ior leader training stresses a lead-
ership competency called Getting
and Giving Information—or GGI,
for short. Let's imagine we are at
the end of the first day and the
patrol has just elected a patrol
leader who will serve for the next
24 hours.
New patrol leaders are sent bv
the LC to a troop leaders' council
where each is given information on
what is going to happen in the next
12 hours or so. He is told that the
only communication with the patrol
—especially in regard to daily
schedules—will be through the pa-
trol leader. This deliberate maneu-
ver by the training staff reinforces
the position of the patrol leader as
the patrol's resource on informa-
tion. If the patrol leader fails at
GGI—getting and giving informa-
tion—the patrol is in trouble.
Each day the patrol faces new
hurdles as it learns new leadership
competencies. Many of these
hurdles are exercises in problem
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Boy Scouts of America. Scouting, Volume 60, Number 1, January-February 1972, periodical, January 1972; New Brunswick, New Jersey. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth353658/m1/12/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Boy Scouts of America National Scouting Museum.