Understanding Teenagers

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Understanding Teenagers
Working With
Cooper Wright Crew 1519 National Capital Area
Council
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• So now you are almost finished with Powder Horn
  training!
• What do I do now?
• How do I take what I have learned here and build
  a strong crew?
• How can Powder Horn training help to build
  Venturing in my district and council?

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Understanding Teenagers

• Very busy jobs, band, sports, drama
• Venturing is just one small part of their lives
• Very social
• Like traveling in co-ed groups
• May have already had a serious relationship
• Always looking for new and exciting challenges
• Do not think sequentially very well - teens
  dont do meetings

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First Things First

• Train your crew officers
• Set aside several hours with lots of food!
• Have them develop their own job descriptions
  along with your job description!
• Discuss both your and their expectations time
  commitment, job responsibilities, communications
• Assign each officer a task based on their job
  description with a negotiated completion date
• Make sure each crew officer has an adult mentor

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Begin The Planning Process

• Hold a crew weekend planning retreat
• Pick a special place where weather will not be an
  issue. Make sure there is lots of food!!!
• Develop a crew vision statement what to we
  want to be in a year, in two years, in five
  years
• Develop crew bylaws include youth developed
  expectations for co-ed behavior and uniform wear
• Review the various program and advancement
  options
• Sketch out a first years program

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Begin The Planning Process

• Be sure to have a variety of fun activities i.e.
  day hike, evening movie with popcorn and sodas or
  ice cream sundaes to break up the hard work
• Begin work in drafting individual Personal Growth
  Agreements
• Conduct an ethical controversy
• Make sure the crew officers run the retreat as
  much as possible

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Program, Program, Program

• Based on the crews input, flesh out the
  programs details
• When, where, how much will it cost, consultants,
  indoor or outdoor activity, will teaching be
  required, is this an individual or crew activity
• Use consultants from your Powder Horn course
• Publish or perish A plan not written is only a
  wish
• Assign activity chairs with adult mentors
• Provide activity chairs with a step by step event
  planning guide
• Keep good records so what works can be used again

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Program, Program, Program

• Be sure to include time in your program year for
  
• ethical controversies
• Boards of Review
• parents/awards nights
• open houses
• Youth Protection Training
• service project
• crew elections and crew officer training
• annual planning weekend
• Venturing Leadership Skills Training course
• summer high adventure trek or camp

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Program, Program, Program

• Try using intense weekend training sessions
• Provides captive audience and sufficient time to
  train
• Use normal crew meetings to go over
  administrative requirements
• Plan multi-crew training and events
• Helps eliminate we are the only ones doing
  Venturing syndrome
• Provides a synergy that adds enthusiasm and
  excitement to your own crews program

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Program, Program, Program

• Hold a Crew Officers Meeting each month
• work with Crew President to develop written
  agenda ahead of time
• have Crew President run the meeting
• check on progress of program planning for
  upcoming events with activity chairs
• critique last months events and meetings

Failing to plan is planning to fail
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Program, Program, Program

• Think outside the box
• There is no rule that you have to meet each week
  or that every meeting must conform to a formal
  structure
• A meeting can be a dinner out together, a movie,
  a game of putt putt golf, a night at the bowling
  alley or a full fledged meeting

Remember, the program is what keeps them coming
back each week!!
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Recruit, Recruit, Recruit

• Crews are very fragile organizations
• maximum youth membership retention is about 2-3
  years
• at Venturing age, parents no longer come with
  their kids so dont forget to recruit adults
• Look for opportunities to recruit
• school open houses
• community or sponsoring organization newsletters
• everyone bring a friend crew meeting
• formal open house
• crew flyer at local outdoor sports shops

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Visibility

• Make sure your crew is visible at district and
  council events
• Have crew members demonstrate a skill at adult
  leader training
• Have your crew run a station at a district
  camporee
• Attend district roundtables with your crew
  president
• Have crew members in uniform assist at key
  council events

A Venturer in uniform can sell the program better
than the best 8 color handout produced by National
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Advice For Advisors

• Leave your troop scouting experience with its
  emphasis on uniform and advancement at the door
• Venturing is not Advanced Boy Scouting With
  Girls
• Let the youth members lead be there to guide and
  offer advice
• Remember the 3 Ds of management
• Define the task
• Delegate it
• Disappear
• Allow youth members to fail mistakes can
  sometimes be the best teacher

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Advice For Advisors

• Use youth to communicate with youth
• Let the crew members set the rules for uniform
  wear and behavior through the Bylaws
• Teach your Venturers the interpersonal skills
  they need and then trust them
• Coach by asking questions
• Be clear with your own expectations
• Reward the positive

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Advice For Advisors

• Walk your talk
• Be understanding of the teenage years and their
  search for autonomy
• Show mutual respect as a team member
• Keep it simple, make it fun (KISMIF)
• Remember, perpetual optimism can work wonders,
  even in the worst situations!

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Resources

• Books
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey
• Outdoor Leadership by John Graham
• Internet Articles
• Lessons Learned for Venturing Crews by Jamie
  Soetaert
• 101 Helpful Venturing Tips by Taylor Dewey

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Resources

• Internet Sites
• Venturing News, www.venturing.info
• Venturing Electronic Magazine, www.venturing-mag.o
  rg
• USSCOUTS Venturing list, http//usscouts.org
  /lists
• Yahoo Venturing list, http//groups.yahoo.com
  /venturinglist

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Leadership is the capacity to move others towards
goals shared with you, with a focus and
competency they would not achieve on their own
John Graham, Outdoor LeadershipEffective
leaders understand the KISS principle, or Keep It
Simple Stupid.. They convey an unwavering
firmness and consistency in their actions,
aligned with the picture of the future they
paint. The result? Clarity of purpose,
credibility of leadership, and integrity in
organization - Colin Powells Lessons in
Leadership