Commissioner Comments for May and June

I recently attended the Central Region, Area 1 Key 3 conference with your Scout Executive and Council President.  As we had the opportunity to interact with the other Key 3 leaders in attendance, I realized how special our own Council is.  We have assets in our staff, our properties, our wonderful volunteers, and most importantly in our great youth.   In the Northern Lights Council, we see through the actions and activities of our youth how truly special they are and how much they can achieve.  But, coming to that conclusion also makes me wonder what we can do to accomplish even more.  What is it that we as the volunteers who work hard to make a difference in the lives of these youth can do that would create even more fantastic results. 

 At the conference, there was one overriding point that almost everything came back to, training.  The leaders within our units, youth and volunteers alike, need to know what to do, how to do it, and how to enjoy the success we can achieve. If we are to have great success, it can only be achieved when we have a solid foundation upon which to build.  Training gives that foundation.  Training begins with each person knowing and fully understanding what training is necessary for a position, and then where and how they can get the training necessary to be successful.  Our youth get that leadership training from their volunteer unit leaders and also from the formal courses provided by our Council such as the National Youth Leadership Training which is offered every summer.  This course is now open to our female members of the Venture Crew.  There is no substitute for the quality and effectiveness of this training for our youth.

 For our volunteer adults, there is leader specific training offered by the districts, on-line, during summer camp, and in other formal training opportunities. We as leaders can be far more effective in assisting the units in planning events, outings, and even our weekly or monthly meetings by being trained.  It has been said many times that a good trained leader helps ensure there is a quality program for the unit.  The most important benefit of this is that our youth then get far more out of the program and we retain more of them longer within the program.  So what is it the volunteer leader can do to be even more effective?  Get thoroughly and completely trained. This means we have to do better than having only 30% of our direct contact leaders trained.  How many good teams have only 30% of the players trained and expect to compete much less win. That means that even if we are trained for our current position, and then we should be looking beyond that requirement. Have you considered taking the training for the next level where you may one day be a volunteer leader.  Attend the Wood Badge course which our Council provides every two years (Aug and Sept 2011).  Look for the adventure and travel to Philmont to attend a course at the National Training Center. Every one of these opportunities improves our understanding of the program and how we can make it better for our youth.

 This year, the new Journey to Excellence quality program has a specific measurement at every level for training.  Let’s accept the challenge that 30% is not even a good start.  Our goal should be 100%. But even realistically, we should be aiming high for at least 70% this year.  Each and every volunteer leader has a responsibility and role in achieving this goal.  I have challenged our Commissioner staff to make educating the unit leaders on this important task a priority through the end of the year.

We are now rapidly approaching the “Outing” time of the year.  What is your unit doing to maximize that time to get the youth out and enjoy the outdoors?  Any adventure plans, even if it is just down the block, in the park, at camp, or on a larger adventure.  Whatever gets planned will be an experience and a memory for the youth and adults. Plan several activities so everyone gets a chance to participate if there are conflicts in the schedule where one event is a personal conflict.  Most important of all, have fun this summer and give our kids a fun time, that is what will bring them back this fall and keep them around for a long time. 

Thanks for everything you do to make Scouting strong in out Council. Join me in making 2011 the best year yet in Scouting; Prepared, For Life.

Thank You.

Sincerely yours in Scouting,

Michael Lewis
Council Commissioner