The long list of Eagle Scouts who have gone on to become business leaders, military commanders, nonprofit leaders, and public servants is impressive. It’s not an accident. The heart and soul of the Boy Scout program is an organized leadership development program presented as an adventure program. Skills acquired by scouts, sometimes unconsciously, are the same skills that characterize good leadership in all walks of life.
Leadership Starts Earlier Than You Think
In most youth programs, leadership is a characteristic of the older or more seasoned kids. Scouting inverts this. With just a few minutes into the meeting, even a new scout is responsible for following the rules, handling their own gear, joining in with patrol conversations, and joining in group decisions. By First Class, a Scout is regularly leading younger Scouts in the same activities that he or she has just mastered.
One of the most effective components of the program is this “teach back” approach. The best way to know something is to teach it to others, and scouts do this all the time!
Formal Leadership Roles in the Troop
BSA’s troop structure offers a clear pathway of formal roles of leadership with actual responsibilities:
- Patrol Leader: Boy scout patrol leader responsibilities include a small patrol, patrol meetings, and serving as the patrol’s representative at the senior patrol leader meetings.
- Assistant Patrol Leader: Assists the Patrol Leader when they are out of the office.
- Senior Patrol Leader: The highest youth leadership role within the troop, handling troop meetings and planning.
- Assistive roles: Scribe, treasurer, librarian, and administrative roles that develop organization and financial management skills.
- Junior Assistant Scoutmaster: For older scouts who work in an adult-like manner.
The EDGE Method: A Teachable Leadership Framework
A major tool that is transferable from BSA is the skills-teaching process EDGE: Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, Enable. It helps in scouting and leadership development. Scouts know this process from the get-go and use it often—when they teach a younger scout to tie a bowline knot, when they lead a patrol through a navigation challenge, when they are coaching a team in the workplace years later. The EDGE method is, essentially, a coaching model that expands from the campfire to the boardroom.
Decision-Making Under Pressure
The leadership in the field is not the same as in the classroom. If the weather is poor, and a patrol is out on a trail, it’s up to the patrol leader to evaluate the situation, consult the other members of the patrol, consider options, make a decision, and be responsible for the result. Simulations can’t replicate these high-stakes, low-resource moments, which develop a kind of decision-making muscle.
From Scout Skills to Professional Strengths
You can learn life skills from scouting. The commonalities between traditional scout leadership skills and today’s more professional skills are remarkable. Recruiters and executives recognize the rare and valuable skills that come with public speaking (flag ceremonies, board of reviews, and Eagle ceremonies), project management (Eagle Scout project planning), team motivation (keeping a patrol energized on a 10-mile hike), and conflict resolution (managing disagreements in close quarters). You can join Boy-Scouts.net to train in an environment that is challenging and very enjoyable.