A few years ago the BSA put together a skills worksheet to hand out to parents with the idea that they would be able to see what talent they had within their units, and give the leaders an opportunity to tap that well of talent.
Show Notes:
- Sklls Worksheet (PDF)
- Skills Worksheet (MS Word Document – editable)
Transcript:
Running a pack or a troop requires a lot of people and skills, but how do you find the right people to help train and engage youth?
Each of us have special skills and talents, and without questioning each and every person in your unit it’s impossible to know.
A few years ago the BSA put together a skills worksheet to hand out to parents with the idea that they would be able to see what talent they had within their units, and give the leaders an opportunity to tap that well of talent.
I have taken that skill sheet and updated it, as well as make it into an editable Microsoft Word file, so you can customize it for your unit.
See the show notes on ScoutmasterDave dot com for this video for the download.
Now logistically, we are trying to just get people with skills to help out, but there is a hidden agenda to this worksheet that you might not really thing about.
People love to talk about, explain and teach things they are passionate about, so the worksheet is great to take those folks that may not be directly involved with your pack, troop, or crew and let them lead.
This theory is the foot in the door theory, that after someone has a done something they are more apt to do something else. So if you have John Parent talk about railroading because he works for the rail system, it’s much easier to go to him, compliment that experience, and ask him to sign up to be a rail road councilor, or run a go-see-it event to the local hardware store, or even help out at den meetings.
You are more likely to get a positive answer after the initial good experience.
The worksheet can also be used in other ways.
In our pack years ago we has a parent that was really into archery, and was part of a club that has a tract of land with targets set up at different distances for their members to practice those skills.
He was able to, and enthusiastically willing to arrange for our den to visit the club space and for each scout and parent to take a turn shooting arrows at targets.
This is something we would have never known if it hadn’t come up, as this dad was always one of the quiet ones on the back.
The kids got a great unique experience, because of the connections from this parent. – And, it cost us nothing, since he was already a member.
Sometimes it’s not a skill someone has but sometimes it what they may have access to.
On the form there is a place to query if anyone has or has access to property the scouts could camp on.
You would be surprised at how many people’s families own non-scouting style property that could host a patrol or a troop for a weekend. This gives the boys and girls the opportunity to go somewhere new, and may open a whole host of other opportunities in the local area that scouts can take advantage of.
So, please take, customize and use this worksheet, which has been updated with all the scouting merit badges on the back. Make it an annual thing to hand out to parents. It’s a low impact way that you can get access to new opportunities, and possibly some help with your unit.
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 the skills worksheet.
