Being a good manager or a good Scoutmaster is all about organization of your time. This is how I get it all done without letting anything slip through the cracks.
Show Notes:
- Scout Planning Worksheet (Bryan on Scouting)
- Camping planning Guide (from Troop 114)
- Strategic Planning Kit For Dummies (Amazon)
- Lost and Stranded: Expert Advice on How to Survive Being Alone in the Wilderness (Amazon)
- Cover Photo by Casey Horner on Unsplash
Transcript:
By nature or habit I’m a very organized person, my lists have lists. I do this mostly because my short term memory has always been bad. It’s much more comfortable for me when planning a trip, or specific items for a meeting if I write it down.
Doing this for camping trips is particularly useful to me. A trick I use is to play the whole event over in my mind. If we are going to a local boy scout camp, I know the particulars, there is ample firewood and water, and I know if there are benches, tables or lean tos. With this in mind I think about the drive out there, If I need directions for the other adults, are there maps I need to secure or print, is there a stipend involved with drivers, how many drivers do I have to pay, things like that.
Once out at camp I think about the basics I need to consider. Weather, light, shelter, food, and then activity. I do this long before I get into the car.
We might need rain gear or be able to put up a rain shelter, how are the lanterns, do I have extra mantles, do I have propane bottles. Are we in a cabin or are we bringing tents, if so, how many. Do the patrols have money for food, do the adults have food, who’s cooking, and then what is the activity, and what are my contingencies for bad weather, or good weather. If the goal is Ice fishing, do we have a place to get equipment, fees, how far from camp. It all comes into play.
Each of these things might spawn a list, a trip to the store or phone call or email.
In recent years I’ve gotten better at letting others do some of these things, and as I run through my last year as scoutmaster, I will have to let more go. This is a good thing. We have help with the cars, the medicals, the permission slips for the trips, and even the booking and running of the trips, which doesn’t mean I don’t still follow up.
Even as I run through my mental checklist, I can say Mike is booking the trip, and Bob is collecting all permission slips, and Joe is buying the adult supplies, but I have found that the more I run through the list, and work through the what ifs the smoother an event we have with the goal of making it all looks easy, But this is what works for us.
Take what you like and leave the rest, and as we say in Woodbadge, feedback is a gift, leave yours below in the comments, with the hope we can all learn together.
I’m Scoutmaster Dave, and this was being organized.
