Hey, ScouterStam, let’s talk a little bit about standing back a little bit from the youth. This is a huge subject that was brought up on the YouTube channel. There was a question there about getting the level or the balance in a successful program by allowing the adults to step back from the youth leadership. First off, let’s understand the role of the youth leadership. It’s important to emphasize the youth-led program within Scouting. Youth leadership must be coached and mentored to help build confidence and problem-solving skills and this gives them independence.
There are certain signs when youth are ready to lead, they can demonstrate the ability to make decisions. And this skill is critical to the youth being able to take on more responsibility. When a scout shows signs of being able to plan a meeting and carry it through also they have confidence and they can communicate with their peers and be understood. Being able to explain very complex things in a way that their peers can understand. They’re also able to ask questions of the adult leadership and be able to communicate those answers back.
When should adult leaders step in? The main reason would be a safety concern. One of the primary goals of all Scout leaders is the safety of all the Scouts. If safety protocols are not being acknowledged and adhered to, the adult needs to step in to make sure that the safety concern is addressed. I recommend, unless it’s something that is a real emergency, that this needs to be addressed with the youth without undermining their leadership. Public admonishment will reflect poorly in front of the group. Always addressed noncritical issues on the side. That way, they can come back to their peers and remind everybody of those safety guidelines. This prevents any kind of bullying or humiliation of that youth. That must be always thought of. That’s one of those safety things that all leaders need to be thinking about. Now, the second reason would be extreme conflicts and a total breakdown of some kind of leadership. If the youth leader is completely overwhelmed and unable to resolve a serious issue, it’s time to bring in the adult leadership and this should be kept limited and try to make sure that you understand before you try to correct. Your communication skills need to start working with that youth, give them the gentle guidance and coaching that they need, and then allow them to jump back into that situation if they can and as needed.
As adult leaders, we’re constantly solving problems. The youth should be allowed to do this too. We all make mistakes and we learn from them. But stepping back and not away, but just stepping back promotes the personal growth of the youth, but it’s also important that the adult leadership provide constructive feedback. And we’ve talked about this feedback in a previous video, ‘Advice for a new Scoutmaster’. That was something that we did in the past. So definitely go back through the catalog and find that if you’d like more feedback information.
The balance of support and autonomy is very important for adult leaders and they should advise and do mentorships and coaching behind the scenes. Now this is all within Youth Protection Training (YPT), so you need to work as a team of two adult leaders for every interaction with the youth. The youth leaders need to be the ones out front, on stage, in the spotlight. Find that balance in guiding and letting go. Transitional leadership is very important to cover and manage any transition between adult leadership and youth leadership, particularly for large-scale events and projects. This comes up all the time at the Eagle Scout Project. The Eagle candidate is running that project. They’re the boss, not the adults. They are supposed to be able to communicate and manage that project. So this can be very transitional for a lot of the youth to start working with adults directly within a large-scale project. That’s why the Eagle project is so vital to that rank advancement.
Now, this is a big one. A lot of adult leaders need to respect youth ownership of their troops. They may be the Scoutmaster or Assistant Scoutmaster, they might even be the Committee Chair.
But the youth have a youth program and they are there to run it. The adults are there to support and manage the behind-the-scenes things that go on within the unit. The youth have chosen a leader from their peers. The youth have chosen a leader and that needs to be respected. There are signs of overstepping your bounds. When you discover that you’re micromanaging activities instead of relying on your youth leadership to take care of things, That is a big indication.
Another warning sign is answering questions that youth leadership could answer themselves. Many adult leaders constantly repeat “Ask Your Patrol Leader… Ask Your Senior Patrol Leader…” An additional overstepping would be making decisions for the youth without their input. Now, these are three big signs that something is going on where you need as an adult leader to step back. There are times when a committee may decide without youth input. That may be in regards to either finances, the ability to do things, or a safety concern. But always keep in mind the entire purpose of Scouting is to allow the youth to run their youth meetings. They should never be interrupted on a regular occasion by adult leaders. It’s OK if the youth invite adult leaders to help out with certain things or give instructions on some things, but this should not be the norm. These signs of overstepping are really the adults getting in there and being a roadblock to the success of their youth leaders. It’s best to step back and we do so much that it’s very hard when we need to look at the situation and think about helping by letting go. Scouting is a safe place to fail because we’re focused on safety and those behind-the-scenes things. The youth can step out and make a difference. So think about your situation with your unit. It is so important that we’re there to help mentor and coach, not run the show, and I appreciate all that you do for scouting. We couldn’t do it without you and I look forward to seeing you on the trail.
