Leadership Notes #60 – The 10 Characteristics of a Servant Leader

(This series of “notes” first appeared in the YahooGroup “VenturingList” and are written by Michael Brown. I thought that they were worth sharing with the Commissioner Corps.)

In my first Notes on servant leadership, I spoke of the concept of 10 characteristics of servant leadership that was developed by Larry Spears, taken from the works of Robert Greenleaf. While only briefly mentioned in that work, this concept is so important that I think it deserves its own Note.

My Fraternity, in teaching servant leadership as the core underlying concept of our whole leadership development program, works in these 10 characteristics as well. We spend 45 minutes in our core course going over servant leadership and the 10 characteristics, tying in other leadership skills to several of them.

So what are the 10 Characteristics? They are:
- Conceptualization
- Persuasion
- Foresight
- Stewardship
- Listening
- Empathy
- Healing
- Awareness
- Building community
- Commitment to the growth of people

So let’s look a little more deeply in these characteristics.

“Conceptualization” is about being future-oriented. You need to visualize a long-term plan for the group. Next you need to then articulate that vision. Having a vision is nice, but you need to be able to articulate it. And to realize that vision, you need to balance the daily operations of the group with achieving that goal. This means using both leadership and management skills.

“Persuasion” then continues that. Here, you need to sell that vision and goal to the others in the group. They need to buy in to that vision, otherwise how will you achieve those goals. Both conceptualization and persuasion tie into the concept of a VISION and a MISSION, which we covered in a previous Note, as well as the importance of GOAL SETTING, which we also covered.

“Foresight” is about learning from the past, be aware of what is going on today to plan for the future. This touches on the importance of CHANGE, another previous topic. And as we noted, we must also learn from the past. What worked, what didn’t work, what does that tell us.

The next characteristics is one I too often don’t see in Venturing, and that is “Stewardship”. Stewardship is about holding something in trust for another. We often hear the term used in the sense of natural resources (park and wilderness). But here it means our organizations, our crews, VOAs, etc. We (or more precisely the Venturers) should hold their crew in trust to those who will follow them. They should take a responsibility of growing and sustaining their crew, passing them along to their successors, who should do the same.

For any leader, there is a need for communication skills. We have touched presentation skills, but another vital skill is “Listening”. This is vital for decision making (a future topic). It’s important that the leader understand what the will of the group is. And this can be obtained by listening to what is said AND what is not said. Further, listening is a vital skill to deal with conflict resolution (another future topic) or even avoiding conflict.

“Empathy” is also a vital communication skill, as it’s about understanding others. Everyone is unique, with unique backgrounds and needs, and the leader needs to be open to this. We’ve probably all heard the old saying of “walk a mile in another’s shoes”, which is about understanding the point of view of others. This can be difficult, but necessary.

Further, if there is conflict, the servant leader must work to resolve that conflict constructively. There needs to be “Healing” whenever there is conflict. Only then can things be made whole and the organization become stronger.

For the organization (crew, VOA, etc) to be stronger, the servant leader should be encouraging the organization to develop as a health group. There should be a good sense of “Community”, which can happen if the leader is working to “Build that Community”. This sense of community can often come about ONLY if there is a common sense of purpose and goal, which goes back to some of the other characteristics. Promoting a mentoring program for new members is also a great way to develop this sense of community.

A big part of being a servant leader is that they have a “Commitment to Growth” of others. They take an interest in their followers. They want their followers to develop themselves as leaders in their own right. This can be by being a mentor (again, another past topic). This can be by being a trainer. A true mark of the servant leader is they are always on the lookout for potential leaders and want to help them develop.

Finally, the servant leader must have a sense of “Awareness” about themselves. This is actually a big part of what this series is all about. A servant leader must be learning. They must be working on improving themselves. What skills do they have, what do they lack, what do they need to work on? Too often, people don’t want to bother with learning or improving themselves. If the servant leader is working to develop their followers, shouldn’t they also be working to develop themselves?

So if we looking again at these 10 characteristics, we see:

- Conceptualization -> Vision, Mission, Goal Setting
- Persuasion -> Vision, Mission, Goal Setting
- Foresight -> Change
- Stewardship -> maintain the group
- Listening -> Communication
- Empathy -> Communication
- Healing -> Conflict resolution
- Building community -> create a community
- Commitment to the growth of people -> mentoring of others
- Awareness -> self development

Here we’ve matched up some of the other skills and topics (again, a few
will be the topic of future Notes), with the characteristics.

For those wanting to learn more about these characteristics check out the work “Practicing Servant-Leadership”, edited by Larry Spears. The introductory essay covers it. There is another essay you can assess on-line here:
http://www.sullivanadvisorygroup.com/docs/articles/Practicing%20Servant%20Leadership.pdf

I couldn’t find a video on this topic, but did find a good series of videos of Larry Spears interviewed by Gonzaga University. Here is a pair on Leaders Growth that I think are appropriate here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDeF9clVIhg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6SC9Q9c5PE

Leadership Notes #59 – 10 Top Leadership Books

(This series of “notes” first appeared in the YahooGroup “VenturingList” and are written by Michael Brown. I thought that they were worth sharing with the Commissioner Corps.)

Recently, I started to think of what 10 books might I recommend that all Venturers read. I set a few criteria. They should be essential works. They should be works of value to Venturers as much if not more so then adults. For me, this excluded any works that were too business oriented (this eliminated works focusing on the success of a certain business or books that struck me as more management then leadership). I also have a dislike of leadership books that are more of biographies or autobiographies of certain individuals. I find works focused on how a certain person became or is a leader isn’t as valuable, as it’s hard to transfer what worked for one person to others. And too often I’ve seen people not fully grasp what the leader is really doing, and so only half implementing what he did with disastrous results. It’s better to look for essential skills that several leaders have made use of, then just focusing on one person. I do like works that use real world examples, but there it’s more on how different people used more or less the same skills or concepts. Next, all the works had to be easily obtainable, which meant that they are all in print and hopefully easy to find in used bookstores as well. And finally, I wanted to be sure all the works were ones I had already covered or reviewed.

I also tried to limit it to 10, or tried being a “Top 10″ list. I had problems keeping it within that, as a few works I felt needed to be paired up others. And I wasn’t comfortable with ranking them from 1 to 10. So this became a “sort of top 10″ list.

So I came up with the following list. I based this list on looking at similar lists complied by other people.

• Developing the Leader Within You: John C. Maxwell
• Leaders: Bennis & Nanus
• 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: John C. Maxwell
• Leadership Gold: John C. Maxwell
• How to Win Friends & Influence People, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, and The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking: Dale Carnegie
• Case for Servant Leadership: Kent Keith
• Leadership & OMM, OMM builds High Performing Teams, Self Leadership & OMM: Ken Blanchard et al
• Leadership at a Higher Level: Ken Blanchard
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, 8th Habits: Steven & Sean Covey
• Leadership is an Art & Leadership Jazz: Max De Pree

So a little more on these works.

“Developing the Leader Within You” is John Maxwell’s first work on leadership. I covered this with his others in the Notes on him. In many ways, I think if you are starting on your path to become a leader, this is a good first work to get. While I think that Maxwell might want to look at this work for possible updates or tweaks, I think this is an excellent first work.

“Leaders” by Walter Bennis and Burt Nanus is also considered a classical introduction to leadership. Both authors have written works on leadership, and this is a good one. It may be too corporate focused, but it’s hard to find a leadership work that doesn’t talk about business leadership.

Maxwell’s later “21 Laws of Leadership” has become Maxwell’s most well known work on leadership. What’s great about it is how each Law is dealt with, with examples of how following that law is important or what happens when you don’t, and with information on how to apply it in your own life.

I found Maxwell’s “Leadership Gold” a great collection of little leadership lessons. Each one can be used to improve yourself as a leader. Like “21 Laws”, this isn’t a book that should or needs to be read cover to cover, but just picking out individual chapters and reading and studying them will benefit you.

Dale Carnegie’s works are classics in the area of `self improvement’. And what he has to say is of value to anyone wanting to be a better leader (and anyone wanted to be a leader should understand they should always be learning and improving themselves). Rather than just recommend one of his works, I will actually recommend three works: “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” and “The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking”. These 3 are the core works of his, used for decades in the Dale Carnegie Course. At this point I can’t recommend the new edition/version of “How to Win Friends” as I haven’t read it, and these are all easy to find, even in used bookstores.

Servant Leadership is an important concept for all leaders to understand. In this series I have devoted several Notes to the topic, and will do so in the future. I debated as to what servant leadership work to recommend. Should I recommend Greenleaf’s foundational essay? Or one of the 2 books collecting his most important essays? Instead, I felt that I should recommend Kent Keith’s “The Case for Servant Leadership”, as this short book was created to be an introductory work on servant leadership as it exists today. Only then would I recommend that people follow up with Greenleaf’s “The Servant as Leader” and other works on the subject.

Situational Leadership is another important leader concept, and another I have spent time on in this series. And again, here I don’t recommend one book, but the `trilogy’ of works on Situational Leadership, Team Situational Leadership and Situational Self-Leadership by Ken Blanchard et al: “Leadership and the One-Minute Manager”, “The One Minute Manager Builds High Performing Teams” and “Self-Leadership and the One Minute Manager”. These are all short and well written works on these topics, and encourage them to Venturers.

Ken Blanchard’s “Leading at a Higher Level” is also an important work of his. Blanchard and associates have covered a lot of ground in their various works, and this volume gives a great update on many of them all in one place. It can serve as a good starting point into delving into their other leadership works.

The 7 Habits concept is one that everyone should be looking at. Instead of recommending the main work, I felt for the Venturers they should get the one by Steven Covey’s son Sean intended for teens. Learning and living these 7 habits will help them immensely in their lives. Then they should get the 8th Habit by Covey as a follow on to that work.

Finally, I would recommend the 2 major leadership works by Max De Pree: “Leadership is an Art” and “Leadership Jazz”. These are both easy to read works on leadership, with a strong element of servant leadership. They can also serve as a great introductions to leadership.

So there you have it. My “sort of 10″ leadership works for Venturers. Maybe I’ll come up with a “second 10″ list at some point.

Leadership Notes #58 – Emotional Intelligence

(This series of “notes” first appeared in the YahooGroup “VenturingList” and are written by Michael Brown. I thought that they were worth sharing with the Commissioner Corps.)

A theme that runs thru many of these Notes is the need for leaders to understand themselves to be a better leader. “Emotional Intelligence” falls into that. What is Emotional Intelligence? Well, we know what emotions are. We all have them: anger, happiness, sadness, joy, etc. The basic idea of EI (or EQ, I’ve seen both abbreviations used) is about the ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. And we have all met leaders who do a good job of handling emotions and working with others well. These are probably the leaders we want to work with. And we’ve all met leaders who do a poor job of handling emotions, who are usually unpleasant to work with.

The important thing (I think) with EI is that you can take tests to determine your EI levels. And then you can work to improve your EI levels and be tested again to see how you’ve done so.

There are several models, but what seems to be the one used in the area of leadership is based on the work on Daniel Goleman. His work, “Emotional Intelligence” (1995) is one of the leading works. His more recent “Primal Leadership” (2002) with Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee more clearly ties it to leadership. What made his work so popular, was he (and those who followed him) have shown that those with higher EI levels are more effective as leaders then those who aren’t.

In his model, EI is made up of four domains or skills:

• Self-awareness
• Self-regulation or self-management
• Social management or social awareness
• Relationship management

These domains are actually gathered into 2 groups. Self-awareness and Self-management are about personal competence. They are about how we manage ourselves. And Social awareness and Relationship management are about social competence. They are about how we manage relationships with others.

What are these domains?

Self-awareness deals with emotional self-awareness. This is about reading your own emotions and understanding their impact. Your “gut sense”, if you will, is also part of this. You also need to have an accurate self-assessment of yourself: know your strengths and limits. And you need to have self confidence. But this needs to be true self-confidence- a sound sense of your own self-worth and capabilities, not a puffed up or false sense of worth.

People with high self-awareness are the ones who seem “in control”, even in a crisis. They are open and honest with others, with clearly defined goals. Those who are low in self-awareness will be positive when things are going well, but seem to be “under stress” when things aren’t going well. They often push back or push off onto others.

Self-management is about what happens when you do or don’t do something. It’s the continuation of self-awareness. It’s how you react to your emotions. Being in control of your emotions, having emotional self-control. Other aspects are displaying honesty and integrity. You must be adaptable to changing situations or obstacles. Further, you need to have a drive to improve things and initiative, which means you seize and act on opportunities. And you must be optimistic – seeing the positive in things.

People with high self-management, again, are those who are open and honest with others, and are in control even in a crisis. They are always positive in their interactions with others. People with low self-management are those who often are deceitful with others. They may spread lies and rumors, or put others down. And in a crisis, they lose control.

At this point, it should be clear that these are ALL characteristics that we should want to see in ANY leader. Those who we meet and think are good leaders probably have high levels of self-awareness and self-management.

Moving into the social competence domains, we see this going further.

Social awareness is about how you can pickup the emotions/feelings of others and understand how they are feeling. Listening and observing are a big part of this. Sometimes the term used is `empathy’, which is about sensing others emotions, understanding them, and most importantly, take an active interest. Another aspect of this is to take it further to the group, and be aware of the group’s `mood’, if you will. And there is a service element of this, as you need to recognize and meet the needs of the follower.

People who are high in social awareness show a great empathy for others. They are great at “active listening” and communication with others, and are able to defuse issues when others are upset. They also show a genuine interest in others and are able to help them with their issues. Those low in social awareness often show a lack of carrying about others. They don’t listen. They don’t care about the opinions, input, or feelings of others.

Relationship management is a big one. It actually builds on the other 3, as it’s about how you use your understanding your emotions (self-awareness) and others (social awareness) and manage interactions successfully. It’s about the relationships you build with others: your followers, your peers, your superiors (those above you in the group). A lot of things go into relationship management. Inspirational leadership, which is about having a compelling vision and influence. You must develop others and at times be a change catalyst. You need to be able to manage conflict, but also build bonds and establish teams.

People high in relationship management are usually the ones we think of as great leaders. They work well with others, finding common ground, and work to bring out the best in others and bring people together. When there are issues, they work to bring this to a positive conclusion. People low in relationship management are usually the ones we think of as bad leaders. They seldom work well with others, are always find (and pointing out) faults and flaws. When there are issues, they usually make things worse.

What I found interesting is that many of the elements that go into Emotional Intelligence are many of the leadership topics I’ve covered (or in some cases will cover) in this series. I see: ethics (honesty and integrity), change (both being adaptable and being a change catalyst), listening and communications, service to others and develop them (basically servant leadership), influence, conflict management, and teamwork.

Goleman has also gone beyond Emotional Intelligence into the area of “Social Intelligence”, which looks a human relationship. If you want to read his works, either his short works on EI and leadership (published in the Harvard Business Review) or his work on “Primal Leadership” are what I would recommend.

If you are interested in an EI/EQ test, there are a few out there. Here is a free on-line test:
http://www.queendom.com/tests/access_page/index.htm?idRegTest=3037 “Self-Scoring Emotional Intelligence Tests” is an inexpensive option. This booklet is stocked at most Barnes & Noble stores.

A more extensive work is “Emotional Intelligence 2.0″ by Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves, which serves as a good introduction to the concept along with an on-line test (this is why, like the StrenghsFinder works, you must get this book new so you can access the on-line test). It gets into strategies on how to improve you EI. I would actually recommend this work for those wanting to get into EI rather than Goleman’s more academic works, and it uses Goleman’s EI model.

Short video with David Golemon on EI: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJhfKYzKc0s

There is a series of videos based on a webinar on EI from Tracom. This is a decent overview of the concept:
Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNbEi4Jazho
Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6R5gGpY_Zg
Video 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aosCUfMOuks
Video 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1SJX6jEkz0
Video 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7rKnbCS-E0
Video 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZIIGgd1OVQ
(note this video series makes reference to Social Styles, which I covered in a prior Notes)

Leadership Notes #57 – Leadership Quotes IV

(This series of “notes” first appeared in the YahooGroup “VenturingList” and are written by Michael Brown. I thought that they were worth sharing with the Commissioner Corps.)

Leadership offers an opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life, no matter what the project. –Bill Owens

Leadership consists not in degrees of technique but in traits of character; it requires moral rather than athletic or intellectual effort, and it imposes on both leader and follower alike the burdens of self-restraint. –Lewis H. Lapham

The very exercise of leadership fosters capacity for it. –Cyril Falls

Actions, not words, are the ultimate results of leadership. –Bill Owens

You have to enable and empower people to make decisions independent of you. As I’ve learned, each person on a team is an extension of your leadership; if they feel empowered by you they will magnify your power to lead. –Tom Ridge

My philosophy of leadership is to surround myself with good people who have ability, judgment and knowledge, but above all, a passion for service. –Sonny Perdue

Leadership is about doing what you know is right – even when a growing din of voices around you is trying to convince you to accept what you know to be wrong. –Robert. L. Ehrlich

Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want. –Dianne Feinstein

But the person who scored well on an SAT will not necessarily be the best doctor or the best lawyer or the best businessman. These tests do not measure character, leadership, creativity, perseverance. –William Julius Wilson

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. –Harold R. McAlindon (also attributed to Emerson and others)

There go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader? –Alexandre Ledru-Rollin (attributed to others as well)

A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him. –General Douglas MacArthur

Men are governed only by serving them; the rule is without exception. –V. Cousin

The real leader has no need to lead– he is content to point the way. –Henry Miller

Not the cry, but the flight of a wild duck, leads the flock to fly and follow. –Chinese Proverb

Be known for pleasing others, especially if you govern them…Ruling other has one advantage: you can do more good than anyone else. –Baltasar Gracián

A leader is a dealer in hope. –Napoleon Bonaparte

He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander. –Aristotle

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. –Publilius Syrus

I light my candle from their torches. –Robert Burton

Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise. –Woodrow Wilson

The greater a man is in power above others, the more he ought to excel them in virtue. None ought to govern who is not better than the governed. –Publius Syrus

A bold onset is half the battle. –Giuseppe Garibaldi

The power is detested, and miserable the life, of him who wishes to be feared rather than to be loved. –Cornelius Nepos

To be a great leader and so always master of the situation, one must of necessity have been a great thinker in action. An eagle was never yet hatched from a goose’s egg. –James Thomas

Ill can he rule the great that cannot reach the small. –Edmund Spenser

No man can stand on top because he is put there. –H. H. Vreeland

A ruler should be slow to punish and swift to reward. –Ovid

It is impossible to imagine anything which better becomes a ruler than mercy. –Seneca

No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent. –Abraham Lincoln

It is absurd that a man should rule others, who cannot rule himself. (Absurdum est ut alios regat, qui seipsum regere nescit.) Latin Proverb

Let him who would be moved to convince others, be first moved to convince himself. –Thomas Carlyle

The task of leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already. –John Buchan

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it. –Theodore Roosevelt

I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times. –Everett Dirksen

The price of greatness is responsibility. –Winston Churchill

I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure: which is: Try to please everybody. –Herbert B. Swope

High sentiments always win in the end. The leaders who offer blood, toil, tears and sweat always get more out of their followers than those who offer safety and a good time. When it comes to the pinch, human beings are heroic. –George Orwell

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet. –Theodore M. Hesburgh

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. –Steve Jobs

The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say “I.” And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say “I.” They don’t think “I.” They think “we”; they think “team.” They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but “we” gets the credit…. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done. –Peter Drucker

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others. –Bill Gates

Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal. –Vince Lombardi

I am personally convinced that one person can be a change catalyst, a “transformer” in any situation, any organization. Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. It requires vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence, courage, and faith to be a transforming leader. –Stephen R. Covey

A boss creates fear, a leader confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss makes work drudgery, a leader makes it interesting. A boss is interested in himself or herself, a leader is interested in the group. –Russell H. Ewing

One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency. –Arnold Glasow

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives. –Theodore Roosevelt

Leadership Notes #56 – Mentoring

(This series of “notes” first appeared in the YahooGroup “VenturingList” and are written by Michael Brown. I thought that they were worth sharing with the Commissioner Corps.)

In recent years, the idea of mentoring has become more popular and widespread. While it’s more a personal develop method then a leadership concept, it does have strong tie-ins with leadership, or as a way to develop and nurture new leaders. You many times hear people speak of their mentors, many organizations now make stronger use of mentoring. And it’s being used and spoken of more within Scouting as well. Max De Pree and Walter Wright feel that the relationship between the servant leader and the follower is basically one of mentoring, and put heavy emphasis on this “relational leadership”. (they have been covered in an earlier Notes)

So, what is it? As noted, it’s a method of personal development in which a more experienced or knowledgeable person (the mentor) is paired with a less experienced/knowledgeable person (the apprentice, or nowadays the mentee). Note I said “more experienced”. I didn’t say expert. The mentor doesn’t need to be an expert, but just more experienced, and be able to pass along their knowledge and experience. How the mentor is paired with the mentee can vary. Some groups seem to go with the idea of a mentor being selected for a mentee. Others go with the idea that the mentee should seek out their mentor. And in many cases, a mentee may have multiple mentors, as they seek out people with varying skills and area of expertise to help them in achieve their goals in life.

The relationship between the mentor and mentee is important. It is what separates mentoring with other methods of learning. This should not be a rigid student-teacher relationship, in which the mentor sets up formal sessions or the like. The relationship needs to be less formal. It could be conducted face to face (important at the beginning of the relationship),on-line, via phone, and the like. Ideally, the mentee should take a more lead role in terms of what they are looking for (their goals), with the mentor passing along their knowledge as the mentee seeks it out.

And that is an important part. Too often I hear of the relationship being more of the mentor just passively listening to the mentee, acting as more or less a sounding board for the mentee. If that is all they are, then what is the value in seeking out a particular mentor? If it all about speaking with someone, you could do that with your friends. The value from the mentor is MORE than that. It is what the mentee gets from the mentor: their experience and knowledge. It is getting back information, ideas, feedback, suggestions, advise. And sometimes the mentor needs to take a more active role. Ideally they should have an idea of what the mentee is looking for (their goals). And sometimes we need someone to push and prod us to action. The mistake I see too often made (with those who wish to be mentors or advisors), is thinking they are not allowed to take the initiative to move the mentee along.

The following example I think illustrates this. It’s something that happened to a friend of mine with one of his mentors. He does bike races, and was working hard to qualify for one. This required that he place in qualifying races, but he hadn’t been able to do so. If he didn’t place in the next qualifier, he would be eliminated from competing. He spoke with his mentor about his frustrations about qualifying, hoping to get some suggestions or advise, which he got. As he completing the qualifying race, he saw his mentor coming up from behind. He realized that if his mentor passed him, he’d be disqualified. This spurred him on harder, and he was able to finish the race and be qualified for the competition. But he was very upset with his mentor, as he knew how much he needed to complete that race. His mentor asked him: “Did you qualify”. He had. Then he said: “You’re welcome.”

Hopefully, everyone got the point. My friend did. His mentor DID help him. By putting that pressure on him, it caused him to put more into completing that race, which he did. And this is something ANY good mentor (or advisor) must do at times. Take action to spur on those they mentor/advise to achieve the goals they set out to.

An important factor in the mentoring process is for organizations to cultivate an mentoring program or at least a “mentoring culture”, in which mentoring is an important aspect of the organization, and to encourage people to seek out mentors and support of the mentoring of members. Some organizations do this in various ways. They may have a formal mentor program, where mentors are identified and recognized for their work. They may also realize the importance of mentoring members of the organization, and in looking out for people who have potential that can be mentored, such as those who may be future leaders within the organization.

Another aspect of mentor is something I call “group mentoring”, for lack of a better term. It’s something I see in other organizations, but which isn’t really used well in the BSA. Most organizations have a well defined process for new groups being formed (local chapters, if you will). With the BSA, once you have the minimum numbers required for a charter, you’re chartered. With other organizations, the chartering process may take weeks or months as the group might need to met requirements, or bring together the number of members needed. This is overseen by a sponsor, which is an experienced member of the organization. This process is done because it helps ensure that the group understands what that organization is all about, and is set out on the right path.

Once the group is chartered, many organizations then follow up with a further period of oversight that may last 6 months to a year. This may be done by the same sponsor, or by others who serve as mentors for the group, mainly to ensure that the group continues on the right path. This further period is done because many organizations have found that after expending so much time and energy to get chartered, that sometimes these groups can flounder and go under.

Further, if a group gets into problems, usually indicated by falling membership, they might be signed experienced members from the organization to work with them for a period of time to bring them back in line.

By and large, we don’t do this in the BSA. While we have unit commissioners, these people are overseeing several units and often don’t have the time and energy (or the experience) that is needed to do the job that is usually expected from the roles I outlined above, who are usually attending most meetings and events of these groups. I have heard of some Councils who organize groups of experienced Venturers who can act as similar “group mentors” to help new Crews get off to a good start. It’s unfortunately that no one has worked out a more formalized way of utilizing such a system, as I think it could benefit crews and the program.

As to resources. I have mentioned a few, such as the works of Walter Wright and the publications of the De Pree Leadership Center (covered in an earlier Notes). I am disappointed that the Mentoring training developed for Venturing was never properly released. It was promised back in 2009 and who knows when it will come out, if ever. There are several other works on mentoring, but I haven’t been able to review them. The works by Lois Zachery look good, with guides for both mentors and mentees, as well as one on developing a mentoring culture. Several of the works I’ve covered in the past on experiential learning also cover the topic.

Here are some videos I found on mentoring.

Colin Powell on youth mentoring: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suYhxYBHhKo

Comedian Steve Harvey and his wife on mentoring young people:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX1NtAyDG7M

Jack Canfield on finding mentors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEPtqx90grI

Funny video on being a mentor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZGxWC2qdSM(for the humor-impaired, yes it’s meant to be funny)

Funny video on how NOT to setup a mentoring program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glg_HMRcXzI

Leadership Notes #55 – The Servant Organization

(This series of “notes” first appeared in the YahooGroup “VenturingList” and are written by Michael Brown. I thought that they were worth sharing with the Commissioner Corps.)

We’ve spent several Notes speaking of servant leadership, what it means and its importance. Is your organization, whether crew, VOA or the like, conducting itself such that it supports the concept of servant leadership? That is, has it created a culture within the group to support servant leadership. If not, it’s not being a “servant organization”. A way to assess this is to use Jim Laub’s Organizational Leadership Assessment (OLA). (www.olagroup.com). My Fraternity, which uses servant leadership, teaching the OLA concept, but does so as an organization model for our chapters to follow, called the “Servant Chapter Model”.

As an assessment model, the OLA gives each organization a rating of 1 to 6, which indicates its organization health. This assessment looks at the members of the organization, the leaders, the team, the culture, and the outcome. Culture means the culture of the organization. How people are treated in the organization is due to its culture. It’s sort of self perpetuating. People are treated a certain way due to the culture, and they learn to treat others that way, which perpetuates the culture. Outcome is about what the future holds for the organization. Will it succeed or will it go under? Level 1 is a toxic organization, members are not valued, true leadership is absent, people are out for themselves, there is a lack of integrity, and the outlook for the organization is grim. Unless something changes, it’s going under. Level 2 is a poor organization. It’s a little better then the toxic organization. It’s autocratic, with members not valued, with a lack of teamwork. Again, the outcome is not good, but better then the toxic org.

Level 3 is a limited organization. People are valued for what they can do, not for who they are. Leadership is of a negative paternalistic type, where the focus is on making members do what they are told (like a naughty child might be). Level 4 is a moderate organization. It’s better than level 4, with the leadership being a positive paternalistic type, where people are treated like a cared-for child, but still like a child. Teamwork exists, but often it’s used as one team against another. In both these types of organizations, while they will keep many good people, the “best and brightest” will go elsewhere (they don’t like being treated like a child, even a cared-for child).

Level 5 is an excellent organization. Most people feel valued, leadership is shared and people are encouraged to be leaders and be empowered. There is a high level of community feeling in the organization, and this is a servant-leader organization that will attract the “best and brightest”. Level 6 is an optimal organization. It’s almost the perfect version of the level 5 organization. Outlook for both these types are excellent.

One of the pages at the site explains these 6 levels. Trying taking a look at the descriptions and see if your group fits into one of them. It would also be interesting to compare the levels show in the concept of tribal leadership (see the previous Notes on that).

The heart of the OLA is six key areas:

• Display Authenticity
• Value People
• Develop People
• Build Community
• Provide Leadership
• Share Leadership

And organizations are assessed against these 6 key areas to determine their level.

Display Authenticity is about leaders in the organization being open, real, approachable and accountable to others. Most leaders too often try to protect themselves from mistakes; they refuse to be open and accountable. Leaders need to be willing to learn. This also encourages other to step up and be a leader, if they know they will be allowed to make mistakes (if this lead to them being better leaders). And honesty and integrity should be their hallmark. In my Fraternity, we say that this point is about being yourself and do the right thing.

Value People is about how the organization should view the people within it: as someone to be valued and developed by the leaders, not used by them for their own ends. My fraternity says this is about empowering others (a concept we covered in a previous Notes). Some of the main points of this is to serve others first (there’s that servant leadership concept again). To believe and trust in people, so that they may do their best. And finally, that leaders should listen receptively (also known as active listening).

Develop People again goes to that concept of servant leaders developing the people they lead, to better individuals and in many cases, into leaders in their own right (who may even take that leaders place). Healthy organizations seek out such people to develop, unhealthy organizations shun or drive away such people. Leaders should provide opportunities for learning and being leaders (give someone the chance to lead in their own right, maybe for an even). Leaders model behaviors for others to follow. They do the right thing so that others know how to do it. And leaders encourage and affirm. They praise good work, recognize accomplishments; catch others doing the right thing. In my Fraternity we say that we ask members to serve the organization in various ways, either elected or appointed.

Build Community is about how the organization works together, creating a community of people. This is why many times one speaks of the “culture” of an organization, which can be a good culture (if it encourages and nurtures the right things) or a bad culture (if it doesn’t, or encourages the wrong things). And people want this. They want to feel they are part of the `right team’, not stuck in a group they don’t want to be part of. As part of this, organizations should encourage the building of relationships between members of the group. The organization should also value the differences in people. Too often the different ones are driven out of the organization, and the organization loses, because they lose the talent of those they drove out. And people need to work collaboratively. Having different groups or individuals within the organization competing does no one good. My Fraternity says of this point that we develop and continue to develop brotherhood thru action.

Provide Leadership is about the need for leadership. Leaders should have a bias for action; they should take action, not a back seat. Leadership should be about Initiative, Influence and Impact. The organization should be future oriented (remember the importance of the Vision back in an early Notes?). Leaders should take initiative, when too often they don’t. And goals should be clarified. (hence the importance of goal setting, another Notes topic). In my Fraternity, we say this is about how opportunity exists for members to be formal leaders.

Share Leadership again goes to that concept of servant leadership where follows can be leaders, and hence leaders need to share leadership with others. That Vision that the organization has must be something shared with all, so that it’s something all are working to make real. Else it’s meaningless. Power must be shared. This can be at different levels, and within levels. And status must be shared. Leadership is not position, status or prestige. My Fraternity says that all members should be encouraged to be leaders, either formal or informal.

Further, my Fraternity ties these 6 key areas to our 3 cardinal principles and the concepts of ethics, morals, and values.

• Leadership & morals- Provide Leadership & Share Leadership
• Friendship & ethics- Value People & Develop People
• Service & values- Build Community & Display Authenticity

As noted, it’s a big concept. I’ve given a high level overview of this. In my Fraternity, we spend about 30 minutes (of a 3 hour course) on the “Servant Chapter Model”, this after spending about 30-40 minutes on servant leadership. There are no books on it; I can only recommend that people check out the website for more information. Again, take a look at the 6 organizational levels. See if you can figure out where your crew or ship is. Or your district or council VOA. One thing my Fraternity does in our training is challenge our members to implement this model in our chapters. So I would ask Venturers how they might see this being implemented in their crews or their VOAs.

There is this video that introduces the concept: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqai-5bjjns

Leadership Notes #54 – Dale Carnegie

(This series of “notes” first appeared in the YahooGroup “VenturingList” and are written by Michael Brown. I thought that they were worth sharing with the Commissioner Corps.)

One of the classic works of “self improvement” is Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” (1936, 1981 revised edition). Sadly, I wonder how many of today’s youth are aware of this work, or even considering reading it. Which is too bad, because it’s a great work. But this series is about leadership, right, so why cover this? Well, as a leader, we should always be looking to improve ourselves as individuals and as leaders. And a big part of this work does apply to leadership. Remember as we’ve pointed out, leadership is INFLUENCE. And this work covers the idea of working with people and influencing them. That’s leadership.

Dale Carnegie’s works are widely available. Some background on him and these works. He was actually born Dale Carnagey. It’s pronounced “Carnegie”, and he changed the spelling to match the more well known Andrew Carnegie. In 1912 he started a course on public speaking at the local YMCA. This was different, as in those days, “public speaking” was not something most people engaged in, it being something limited to orators. (and it’s interesting that this is very similar to how Toastmasters started a dozen years later). He worked to bring public speaking to everyone. The focus of the course was more on businessmen (salesman more likely), but certainly its great for anyone.

This course lives on today. Many speak of going thru the “Dale Carnegie Course”, or to use its full name: The Dale Carnegie Course in Effective Speaking and Human Relations. I went thru it in the late 80s. Dale Carnegie Training (www.dalecarnegie.com) puts it on around the country, many times thru companies for their employees. For myself, I feel that while the course is good, being a member of Toastmasters is betters, as once the course it’s done, it’s done, while Toastmasters is more ongoing training.

His first work was “Public Speaking & Influencing Men in Business” (1926), which now lives on in two different works (edited by his wife)- “The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking” (1962) and “How to Develop Self-Confidence & Influence People by Public Speaking” (1956). As noted, these works focus on public speaking.

But his most famous work is “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. It has four parts. One is on the fundamentals of handling people. Next is on how to get people to like you. Then is how to win people to your way of thinking (and isn’t that what many of us as leaders must do?). And finally on being a leader and changing those around us. These are all topics that anyone should be comfortable with.

Another major work by him is “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living”(1948). He also wrote a hagiography of Lincoln called “Lincoln the Unknown” (1932). The Dale Carnegie Course (at least when I took it), provided each participant with “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living”, and “The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking”.

What is confusing when looking at the Dale Carnegie books is there are several others. These were usually created by Dale’s wife, or the Dale Carnegie Training organization from his works. These include “The Leader in You”, which is based on “How to Win Friends”, “How To Enjoy Your Life And Your Job”, which is a combination of material from both “How to Win Friends” and “How to Stop Worrying”, and Dorothy Carnegie created “How to Win Friends and Influence People for Teen Girls”. The “Dale Carnegies Lifetime Plan for Success” is a combo edition of “How to Win Friends” and “How to Stop Worrying”. There is the “Dale Carnegie Scrapbook”, which is a collection of his writings and ideas. And there is “Public Speaking for Success” (2005), which is yet another update of Carnegie’s public speaking book, updated by Arthur Pell.

Most recently, the Dale Carnegie Training group came out with a new edition of “How to Win Friends”: “How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age” (2011). I have not read it, but wonder how better it might be. They have also come out with a set of 4 new books that are interesting: “The 5 Essential People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts”, “Leadership Mastery: How to Challenge Yourself and Others to Greatness”, “Make Yourself Unforgettable: How to Become the Person Everyone Remembers and No One Can Resist”, “Stand and Deliver: How to Become a Masterful Communicator and Public Speaker.”

That said, I think Ventures would benefit from getting Carnegie’s classic works: “How to Win Friends”, “How to Stop Worrying”, and “Quick and Easy Way to Public Speaking”. I wonder if a short course based on H2WF might work as a training workshop?

Here are some videos that tie in with this:

Warren Buffet on Dale Carnegie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7gXaPY524I

An inspiration video using quotes from Carnegie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeLezpLBnM8

Leadership Notes #53 – White Stag and the 11 Skills of Leadership

(This series of “notes” first appeared in the YahooGroup “VenturingList” and are written by Michael Brown. I thought that they were worth sharing with the Commissioner Corps.)

As a follow-on to last week’s Note on a history of the BSA’s leadership development programs, this week we will take a look at White Stag, which used to be a part of the BSA’s leadership development programs.

What is White Stag and its history?

White Stag started with the work of Bela Banathy, a Hungarian now living and working in the US after WWII at the Army Language School and who had an interest in leadership development. From this interest in leadership, he developed a concept of “11 skills of leadership”, and in 1958 in Monterey, California, rolled out a local training program for Boy Scouts, which he called “White Stag Leadership Development”. The name came from a Hungarian folk legend, and was uses as the logo of the 4th World Jamboree held in Hungary before WWII (which Bela attended as a Hungarian Boy Scout).

BSA National took an interest in this training program and after testing, incorporated it into the new Troop Leader Development program in 1973 and in the new “Leadership Development Wood Badge” course rolled out in 1972. TLD became the basis for JLTC and subsequent “junior leader” training courses until the more recent Wood Badge-based NYLT came along. “Leadership Development Wood Badge” (usually called “Boy Scout Leader Wood Badge”) was more or less the standard Wood Badge course until it was totally revamped as the 21st Century Wood Badge in 1998, with the White Stag-based “11 skills of leadership” was replaced with Situational Leadership/Situational Team Leadership.

In addition, Banathy wrote up a report for WOSM called “World Scouting Reference Paper No. 1: Leadership Development” (you may read a copy here: http://whitestag.org/history/world_scouting_ref_no1.html) which explains the 11 skills of leadership. Further, in the earlier editions of the “Venturing Leader Manual”, there was a chapter covering the 11 Skills. This chapter was dropped in the wake of the Wood Badge revamp.

Despite National dropping White Stag and the 11 Skills of Leadership, White Stag continues to this day as a local training program for youth. They maintain their own website (www.whitestag.org) with full info on the program. It’s a three phase program that is more actually a 9-level training program. The levels are:
1. Patrol Member Development (Phase I)
2. Patrol Leader Development (Phase II)
3. Troop Leader Development (Phase III)
4. PMD- youth staff
5. PLD- youth staff
6. TLD- youth staff
7. PMD- adult staff
8. PLD- adult staff
9. TLD- adult staff

These levels are explained here: http://whitestag.org/youth_leadership_camp/index.html

So what, then, are the 11 Skills of Leadership? They are:
1. Getting and Giving Information
2. Understanding Group Needs and Characteristics
3. Knowing and Understanding Group Resources
4. Controlling the Group
5. Counseling
6. Setting the Example
7. Representing the Group
8. Planning
9. Evaluation
10. Sharing Leadership
11. Manager of Learning

BSA National actually changed a few when they incorporated them into TLD & Wood Badge, but we’ll go with the original names. Most of these skills seem obvious, and we’ve touched on a few in past Notes.

“Getting and Giving Information” is all about communication. And it focuses on the importance of *two way* communication between a leader and a follower. And in including the importance of the leader obtaining information from a higher level and passing it along to their follows.

“Understand Group Needs and Characteristics” is about getting to know the people you work with. Otherwise, how will you know their needs? How will you know their characteristics? And “Knowing and Understanding Group Resources” is kind of the twin to that. What can the group do (or more precisely, what can the members in the group do)? What are the skills, knowledge, resources that exist in the group? Too often people overlook what the people they work with can do.

“Controlling the group” sounds negative. More accurately, it may be better to say `directing the group’, getting them aimed at their goal and keeping them on track.

“Counseling” means mentoring & coaching the members of the group.

“Setting the example” is something that all leaders must do. How you conduct yourself is a reflection of who you are. If you say one thing, but act another, you are setting a poor example, and people will notice. “Do what you say you will do” should be your watch phrase.

“Representing the group”. Often times as leaders, part of our job is to represent the group to another, perhaps higher group. This could be giving a committee report to the crew executive committee, or serving as your crew’s VOA representative. In representing the group, one must give a correct and fair assessment. This can include not taking credit for others work (someone WILL find this out). And it goes back also to “giving and getting information”, in conveying information back and forth.

“Planning” is pretty obvious. We’ve touched on this before. The importance of planning what the group is doing, using problem solving techniques to come to a decision.

“Evaluating” is about always giving feedback. What is going well, what is not. In many ways this ties in also with Counseling.

“Sharing Leadership” actually touches on Situational Leadership, where the leader shares leadership with their followers. It also can be seen as similar to servant leadership.

“Manager of Learning” is about the concept that the leader should be developing their followers, but in a method of ‘guided discovery’, which could also be called ‘facilitation’. Again, this touches on an aspect of servant leadership where the leader develops their followers.

All of this is covered at their website, as well as fully covered in the book “Resources for Leadership” (5th edition) which may be purchased as a PDF. A separate PDF book, “Follow the White Stag” (3rd edition), gives information on how to implement the training. (I guess they haven’t discovered the concept of “print on demand”) Overall I think the White Stag program is one that is too often overlooked in favor of more well known programs. Check it out.

Here is a YouTube video on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMSH-X5WhqQ

Leadership Notes #52 – Overview of BSA Training for Leaders

(This series of “notes” first appeared in the YahooGroup “VenturingList” and are written by Michael Brown. I thought that they were worth sharing with the Commissioner Corps.)

On this, the first year anniversary of Leadership Notes, I thought I’d do something a little different. In addition to studying leadership development, for some time I have been studying the history of the BSA’s “senior” programs (Air Scouts/Explorers, Sea Scouts/Explorers, Explorer Scouts, Explorers/Exploring, and Venturing). As part of this, I have been collecting literature (as best I can, as too often I get outbid by others on eBay), including training materials.

The training we provide to those in the senior programs, both youth and adults, have changed over the years, many times in parallel with what the BSA has done in other areas. It shows a rich area of history that I think too many are ignorant about. Below is the information I have been able to gather so far, as this is an area I continue to seek out information on.

History of Training for Adult Senior Leaders

By and large, basic training for Senior Leaders (this includes leaders for Explorer Scouts, Sea Scouts, Air Scouts, Rover Scout, and subsequent programs) has paralleled the training for Boy Scout Leaders. So as changes in BS Leader training has changed, so too has training for Senior Leaders. Because of this, I have organized this into loose eras as I’ve seen changes to leader training overall in the BSA.

Early 20s-around 1928.

First part consisted of Minimum, Approved, and Standard courses.

Not sure when “Principles of Scoutmastership” was put in place or when the “5 Year Training Program” went into effect.

The only Senior program that really existed during this time was Sea Scouting, and I have no data as to what might have been offered during this time. As Sea Scouting was still in flux, it’s uncertain what forms of formal training may have existed.

1928-mid-1930s

Minimum, Approved and Standard courses replaced by “Elements of Scoutmastership”.

“Principles of Scoutmastership” was the second level course.

“Principles of First Aid” was the third level course.

Specialization courses also existed.

Again, uncertain of what Sea Scout training exists, other then what I note next.

Mid-1930s thru mid-1940s

During this time, the “Principles of Scoutmastership” course would be replaced with a 3-part “Elements of Scout Leadership”. This course was expected to be proved to ALL Scout leaders, including Senior Leaders. The three parts consisted of:
• Pt 1- Introduction to Scouting
• Pt 2- Troop Operation
• Pt 3- Short-term Camp Manual for Course Instructors & Leaders of Troops, Tribes, Patrols

The next level course from this one consisted of a 2-part “Principles of Scout & Cub Leadership Training Course”, again, intended for all leaders. The two parts consisted of:
• Pt 1- Troop & Pack Management;
• Pr 2- Roundtables

Now, I do have some scans of manuals produced by the Sea Scout Division that consisted of their own version of “Elements”: “Elements of Sea Scout Leadership”. These are undated, and are usually dated as being early 30. So far, I am aware of the following:

Sea Scout Service Aids for Leadership Training
#1 The Elements of Sea Scout Leadership, Part 1. [have copy]
#1a Sea Scout Requirements
#2 Songs Sea Scouts Sing [have copy]
#2a Sea Scout Games & Play-Ways (Chas F Smith)
#3 Traditions [have copy]
#4 A Cruise to the Isle of Nukaheva (A Sea Scout Play in 3 acts) [have copy]
#5 Ship Meetings [have copy]
#6 Organization and Management of an Elements of Sea Scout Leaders’ Training Course [have copy]
#7 The Ship Chest: Thrift Training for Sea Scouts [have copy]
#11 The Elements of Sea Scout Leadership, Part 1 1930s (repeat of #1) [have copy]
#12 Course Leader Helps for Part 1
#13 Outline of Talks for Part 1 (Sea Customs & Traditions- update of #3) [have copy]
#14 The Cruise to the Island of Nukaheva (repeat of #4)
#15 OPENING CEREMONEY FOR SEA SCOUT SHIP (update of #5) [have copy]
#21 Elements of Sea scout Leadership, PtII
#22 Course Leader Helps for PtII
#23 Outline of Talks for PtII
#24 Plans for sea scout Ship Meeting Place (Sea Scout Service Aids Part II)

Another course I am aware of, but again do not have, is Preparatory course in Sea Scout Leadership #3432 1934

Mid-1940s

During this period, the “Elements of Scout Leadership” course is replaced with series of program-specific training courses. Part I was replaced by an “Introductory Training Session” (#3737). Part II was replaced with the Scoutmaster’s Training Course, which consisted of a Course Guidebook (#3732) for staff, and a participant’s Notebook (#3731). The same style was used for Senior Leaders. For Explorer Leaders, there was the “Explorer Leader Training Course” (#4167) [afaik, there were no separate guidebooks & notebooks]. For Air Scout Leaders there was the “Air Scout Leader Training Course” (#4163 for Notebook; #4164 for Guidebook). And for Sea Scout Leaders there was the “Skipper’s Training Course” (#3739 for Guidebook; #3738 for Notebook).

Elements Part III was replaced by the Troop Camping course.

The second level course, “Principles of Scout & Cub Leadership Training Course” was replaced by the Scout Leader’s Advanced Training Course, which was intended for ALL Scout Leaders. It consisted of a Guidebook (#3708) and Notebook (#3707).

In addition to these courses, there were various specialty courses offered. Some of the ones I have seen references are:
• Senior Scout Leader Training Course T-10
• Sea Scout Cruising & Boat Handling Course T-310/11-322
• Trail Expedition Training Course T-410/11-230
• Senior Scouting Conference T-25

Others may also exist.

1950s

In 1950, all BSA training was again revamped. Now basic training consisted of several standalone courses. Participants were given a Notebook to use for all the courses, to keep their notes. I have no data as to what training may have been made available to Air Explorer or Sea Explorer leaders during this time. Training info I have is only for the new Explorer program.

Initially, this new training, called the “Explorer Leaders’ Training Series”, consisted of these works:
• Explorer Organization #3152
• Explorer Leadership #3153
• Explorer Program #3154
• Explorer Service #3155
• Expedition Skills #3156
• Notebook for Explorer Leaders #3157

These works were first rolled out as `proof editions’, soon as released versions. Explorer Organization would be renamed Explorer Fundamentals.

In 1956, the training was revamped, and the Notebook was dropped. The courses were now:
• Basic Training #6601 (included Exp Fund, Exp Ldrshp, Expl Prog)
• Outdoor Activities #6602 (renamed Expedition Skills)
• Service Activities #6603 (renamed Explorer Service)
• Social Activities #6604
• Vocational Activities #6605

In the 1950s, we also had Explorer Wood Badge. As Explorers was an outdoor program, this made sense. The course was ONLY made available at Schiff and Philmont. There were about 30+ courses done. Participants were organized into 4 crews (remember, Explorer units were called Posts, subdivided into crews) named after mountain men: Jim Bridger, Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, and William Clark. The course was aimed at program trainers. Participants wore a brown neckerchief, instead of the standard green participant neckerchief. They still received the standard Wood Badge neckerchief, woggle and beads at the completion of their ticket.

1960s

With the radical changes to the Explorer program, the training for Explorer leaders was also changed. During this time, there was now one course for them: “Explorer Leader Basic Training” (#6601A). An additional course called “Understanding Explorers” was also added.

Also during this time, a course for Sea Explorer leaders was released “Sea Explorer Leaders’ Specialized Training” (#6664). With changes, this course has existed to this day.

1970s

During this time, with further changes to Exploring, changes again occurred with Explorer Leader training. What information I have gives the following courses:

Explorer Advisor’s Seminar (#6608)
Explorer Leader Development- The Advisor (#6619)

Also during this time, Sea Explorer leaders developed the Seabadge course, a weekend leadership development course for Sea Explorer leaders. At first, course participants had to complete a “praxis”, similar to a Wood Badge ticket, to complete the course, but this was later dropped.

1980s.

During this time, Explorer Adult Leader training consisted of just one course: “Explorer Leader Basic Training” (#6632).

Also during this time, Explorer leaders out west developed a course to be an equivalent to Wood Badge for them. Called “Explorer Leadership Institute” from 1984 to 93, then renamed “Advanced Concepts in Exploring”, this was a weekend course. No uniform insignia was developed, tho I have seen a patch created. Participants got a bronze gavel, with staff getting a silver gavel and course directors a gold gavel. It was never accepted as a National course, and with the roll out of 21st Century WB, the need for this course ended.

1990s

During this time, Explorer Adult Leader training consisted of a revision of the previous course, now called “Adult Explorer Leader Basic Training” (#34637)

2000s

With the roll out of Venturing replacing Exploring, the basic training for Venturing leaders was just a revision of the previous course, now called “Adult Venturing Leader Basic Training” (#33491). It would soon be expanded to 5 hours from 4, and later brought into the same structure as the rest of the BSA’s Basic Training programs, and became “Venturing Leader Specific Training” (#33491C, later revised to D).

During this time, the “Sea Scout Officers Specialized Training” became an add-on to the adult Venturing leader training. Most recently (about 2-3 years ago), it’s become a stand-alone program, replacing VLST, despite the fact that it’s just a 3 hour course and leaves a lot out.

History of Training for Youth Senior Leaders

As with adult leaders, youth leadership training in the senior programs have usually, but not always, has paralleled the training for boy scouts.

During the early years of scouting, formal youth training pretty much didn’t exist. It’s not until the 1950s that I see any indication of courses. At the local level there was Explorer Elected Leader Training (#6615). At Philmont a course was created in 1953 called “National Senior Crew Leader Training Course”, replaced in 1956 with “National Explorer Elected Leader Training Course”, which was meant as a `train the trainer’ course like the old NJLTC. This course was dropped in 1959 with the change in the Exploring program.

The next course I am able to find is one for Elected Post Officers (#6635) in the 1970s. This seems to be replaced by a Post Officer Seminar (#6626) in the 80s.

For Sea Explorers, a big change was SEAL (originally Sea Explorer Advanced Leadership Training) was rolled out in 1996. It many ways, it’s a sort of “NYLT” for Sea Scout leaders, and continues to be run today with 4-5 courses a year.

With Venturing, the first big change was the rolled out of Venturing Leadership Skills Course (VLSC). The term “Nature of Leadership” started to emerge around 2001. It was first used as the term for the course that would become Kodiak, then became the umbrella term for Venturer training (VLSC, Kodiak, Kodiak-X).

VLSC was the first course, and unlike its counterpart for Boy Scouts, VLSC was intended for ALL venturers to attend, whether an officer or not. Also given was a special strip, not just using a trained strip, which means a youth who is not a officer (and hence not have an office patch) could still wear the VLSC strip.

Kodiak was first rolled out in 2004, but was first done under the name of “Nature of Leadership” from 2001 thru 2003. Kodiak-X, the weekend follow on course was developed in 2005 and soon rolled out as well.

At the same time Kodiak-X was being developed, there was also talk of courses for Mentoring and Training for the Venturers, each with their own strips. While the mentoring course was completed, it was never really rolled out, and the training course was killed in favor of Trainers Edge.

Of course, now with us all being in ‘one big family’, things have changed. VLSC and Kodiak-X were killed off. ILSC was rolled out and Kodiak became Kodiak Challenge, and Venturers are expected to attend NYLT and NAYLE. I’ll leave it to others to determine if this was good or bad.

Leadership Notes #51 – John C. Maxwell

(This series of “notes” first appeared in the YahooGroup “VenturingList” and are written by Michael Brown. I thought that they were worth sharing with the Commissioner Corps.)

Go to any bookstore and in the business section will probably be a whole shelf of books by John C. Maxwell. His works on leadership and related areas are widely popular. He has been a major writer on not just on leadership topics, but related areas of relationships, attitude and ‘equipping’. He founded EQUIP and the John Maxwell Company (www.johnmaxwell.com), both of which focus on the training of leaders. And all this while being a minister. Youtube has several videos of his, and I’ll point out a few I found valuable.

A little background on Maxwell. He is an evangelical Christian pastor, author and leadership trainer. He continues to both preach (tho not full time) as well as write and speak on the concepts of leadership. His faith does color his works, and this may put some people off, so be advised of this.

Another aspect of his works is that he focuses on teaching concepts and more importantly, helping people developing these matters in their own lives. So most of this works have sections aimed at helping people do so. This is something that is frankly rare in other leadership works. Most that do this usually do so in separate (and purchasable) works. He is not what I would call a researcher of leadership, but more of someone who has learned leadership, observed it, and is able to turn around and teach others what he has learned.

Our focus in this Notes will be on his major leadership works. Probably his most well known work now is “The 21 Laws of Leadership” (1998; 2007), which recently came out in a 10th Anniversary edition. It also has a companion workbook (as noted, several of his works do, aimed at helping people develop the skills covered in the book). Each law is explained by real-life examples. Some of these examples show how successful some have been by following the law, others by what happens when one does not. After the example, we get further explanation of the concept, and then a short piece on how to apply the law into our daily lives. The book itself ends with 2 appendices: one to evaluate yourself and then a section of selected readings to improve yourself with each of the 21 Laws.

Most of the laws should not be a surprise. Maxwell believes that fundamentally, leadership is INFLUENCE (which is pretty much what we said back in one of the first Notes). This is shown in the Law of Influence: the True Measure of Leadership is Influence- Nothing More, Nothing Less. Others are also obvious, like the Law of Empowerment (a concept we touched on in another Notes), the Law of Priorities (which is why time management and goal setting is so important), and the Law of Victory (which is about making sure the team wins).

One of the new Laws in the new edition is the Law of Addition. The subtext may make that one clearer: “Leaders add value by Serving Others”. This is basically the concept of servant-leadership, and is illustrated by the conduct of one of the founders of Costco.

Here is a great video interview about the new edition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuP8tpLotvc

A sort of companion work is “The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader” (1999). The qualities given should not be a surprise. They include things like character, commitment, communication, focus, responsibility, and vision. Each quality is illustrated, along with usually 4 points about it. Then there is a reflection on it, how to improve it in yourself, and a daily take-away.

With his book “The 360° Leader” (2006), I wondered if this was a topic that would be of interest or use to Venturers. I have not gone over the book myself. Its focus is on `middle managers’, or people within an organization: not at the top or at the bottom. The concept of “360°” is that the leader would need to work with those above them, their peers, and those they lead. For Venturers, the way to approach this is as a leader in your crew you have those you lead, those you work with (your leader peers) and those above you (both the adult advisors, as well as Venturers working at the council and/or district levels).

“The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork” (2001) and “The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player” (2002) are Maxwell’s main works on teamwork. They follow a similar style as the 2 works on law/qualities of leaders. Some of the laws are concepts such as everyone having a place (Law of the Niche), the importance of a vision (Law of the Compass) and values (Law of Identity), the issue of bad attitudes (Law of the Bad Apple), and the importance of goals (Law of Big Picture). Similar to the 21 Laws, each section wraps up with a teamwork thought, and a short brief on how to be a better team member and team leader. With the 17 qualities, you have concepts such as committed, collaborative, dependable and the like. The layout is just like the leadership qualities work with its 4 point fleshing out, followed by a reflection, how to improve, and then the daily take away. Please note that this is qualities of a team MEMBER, not a team leader. Too often I find that in speaking of teams we focus too much on the leaders and not the members and their importance to the success of the team.

His “Developing the Leader Within You” (1993) is actually his first leadership work, and is still very popular. It is in this work that he lays out his foundational views on leadership. He sets down that leadership is ultimately influence, and lays out the 5 Levels of leadership (more fully exposed in his recent work). Other principles of this work are that integrity is the important part of leadership, and having a vision is the indispensable quality of leadership. In many ways, those wishing to delve into Maxwell’s work would do well to start with this one.

“Developing the Leaders Around You” came later, and as the title indicated, is about develop those you are engaged with to become leaders. I have yet to go thru this work.

Here is a video on this work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x6pgr47Qro

“Leadership Gold” (2008) is a recent book, billed as lessons he’s learned from leading. This is not a unified work like “Developing the Leader Within You”. Each of its nearly 30 chapters are more or less stand alone, and can be used as a learning experience. Some of the lessons include concepts such as the best leaders are listeners, a leader’s first responsibility is to define reality (remember Max DePree?), keep learning to keep leading, people quit people not companies, and more. All follow a basic structure. The concept is given, and expanded upon. This is followed by 3 application exercise and then a mentoring moment.

The “5 Levels of Leadership” (2011) is his most recent work. It expands upon the concept of 5 levels of leadership introduced in “Developing the Leaders Within You”. This concept should not be confused with Jim Collins’ Level 5 Leadership. In Maxwell’s concept, the 5 levels are levels that leadership can and should be moving thru. All start at level 1. The goal is to get to level 5, tho most only move up a level or two.

5 Levels:
1. Position
2. Permission (relationships)
3. Production
4. People Development
5. Pinnacle

What are these 5 levels? Position is that people follow you because they have to. You have the position (job, title, etc). Permission is that people follow because they want to. Here you have built a report with people and so even if you do have the position, it’s the relationship you’ve built with them that causes them to follow you more so then the position. Production is that people follow you because what you’ve done for the organization. You get results and people want to be part of that. With Pinnacle, people following you because of who you are and what you represent.

As noted, this work expounds upon this topic, delving more deeply into each level, giving behaviors and laws of leadership for each level, and what beliefs and grown must be accomplished to get to the next level.

Videos: http://youtu.be/MnSuSW1cu3k and http://youtu.be/GACt8H6oEfU

I found on John Maxwell’s site a list of recommended books for young readers, along with a video (http://youtu.be/Q2T4m78Q8pE ) explaining the importance of these works (and for reading by young readers). The books, instead of being among his leadership works are works in other area. These are the works:

• The Difference Maker
• Talent Is Never Enough
• Failing Forward
• Today Matters
• Winning with People
• Your Road Map for Success

I have not read over these works, but hopefully these may be of value to our Venturers. Perhaps Venturers could read these and submit reports on them. (if you watch the video, you will understand …)

Another good resource is The John Maxwell Company: http://www.johnmaxwell.com

Overall, I found his works a great asset. The fact that all of it is gear to learning and applying the concept, and less on theory, there is much here that could be applied within our program. Another thing is that a creative advisor could easily use these books for a whole series of lectures or training on leadership. Each law/quality/concept could be a training session in its own right, even if just a short one.