Leadership Skill — Effective Communication

It just makes sense that good leaders need to be effective communicators. Yet effective communication can become very difficult even when the importance of the process is fully understood by leaders. The 2007 Quality Lodge Planbook recently published by the Order of the Arrow has this to say about communication.

"Two-way communication is a big part of any evaluation and it should also be maintained wherever possible. Mailings and web sites work in one direction and do not allow for much feedback. Without input from members, the lodge can not asses its progress on Quality Lodge or any other goals."

Even when there is a desire and a reasonable attempt to communicate it does not always happen the way we would like. Simple messages can be a great way to communicate that is why marketing people have been using them with great success for a long time: "Breakfast of Champions," Wheaties; "You're in Good Hands," Allstate; "When It Rains, It Pours," Morton Salt; and the ever popular —

"Be Prepared" of the BSA

This picture of the Boy Scout who wrote out the message "HI MOM" on a napkin during his trip to the 2005 National Jamboree is priceless. This Boy Scout clearly understands the value and importance of effective communication. It took a while for his Mom to receive this message, but I am certain Mom's response to this communication indicated the message was received as intended. More complex messages are more difficult to ensure they are received in the manner intended. Hi Mom is simple. An organization's vision for success may be much more complex to effectively communicate because complex messages are more difficult to interpret.

Effective Communication is much more than just sending out data. In order for effective communication to happen the process must be a two way transmission. A few years back my good friend Aristotle (humor!) had some thoughts on the process of communication. He came up with the model.

In this model communication originates with the sender is then received by the intended receiver and then a return message is sent verifying the message was received. Wow, that is a lot of stuff to take place. Yet it happens all the time with little conscious thought on our parts, well almost all the time. The message sent is not always received as the sender intended message. There are many things that can change or alter how the receiver interprets the message. Sometimes the language used in the message requires getting out the old Funk & Wagnall Dictionary to ensure we understand the meaning. Beyond just understanding of the meaning of the words we use to communicate there are many other characteristics that can shade the way a communication is received. The tone of our voice, body language, attitude, and the method of delivering the communication can also be obstacles to the message being received in the manner intended.

The important thing for a leader to understand is effective communication is critical to completing the vision of success. The group needs to have the vision of success communicated to them in a manner that ensures understanding and allows the group members to accept the vision of success. Then all along the journey to fulfil the vision of success effective communication takes place from the leaders and back again. If leaders just broadcast information without a desire to listen for a reply that indicates a message has been received and interpreted as the sender hoped, then effective communication has not taken place. Parents of teenagers understand this. The communication to my sons to clean up their bedroom was not often effective. A clear communication was sent in plain English however it seldom was interpreted in the manner I expected. I think it has to do with a hearing deficiency in teenagers. It gets better when they get into their twenties!

Relate this concept of effective communication to your leadership roles in Scouting. Evaluate how your communication is being sent and is it being received in the manger you expected. Is there a return communication verifying the message was received as in tented. Often we need to use multiple methods of communication when communicating with large groups of people. This I learned in my years of conducting training events in Scouting. Often the message about the training event was put into a flyer and sent out to the world. Few would show up at training. Then we tried making phone calls to everyone for the next training. Again, few would show up at training. Then came the internet and web sites training events were posted and great expectation of high attendance at the next training were dashed when again only a few Scouters would show up. Then my training team started getting smarter and we sent out flyers, made phone calls, put notices in newsletters, posted the event in calendars, etc. The point is, sometimes we must communicate in a wide variety of methods. I call it a multiple layered approach. Tell them the right message, with the right frequency and in as many methods as possible. That is how we learned to effectively communicate about our training events. It worked. Over time the energy for our training events grew because the communication process was more effective and more Scouters started to show up to training events. There is a very big difference in presenting your well prepared training presentation to an audience of 3 Scouters compared to making the same presentation to an audience of 30 Scouters. Energy, excitement, involvement all increase with a larger audience of participants. As we learned to become better communicators about our training events we became more successful at getting the Scouters to attend training. That is a good thing.

But it all begins with a desire to communicate. When things are not going well for an organization the desire to communicate gets weaker and weaker. Why, because most people do not want to tell you that things are going badly. If there is not a vision of success to give direction to the group the process of communication becomes difficult. When you don't know where you are going, how do you tell people how to get there?

Of course if leadership just gives up and stops communicating or communicates false information that does say a great deal about their ability to lead. A good leader must be able to communicate honestly and effectively. When communication stops, leadership stops. At least 22.5% of the time! —Rick

In the next edition of Rick's News! the leadership topic will be SMART Goals.

BE - KNOW - DO of leadership

"If you can see it, you can be it!"

Access additional information about the 2007 Tres Robles, NYLT - [ HERE ]

Dealing with the Challenges of Hyper-Normal Scouts

Hyper-Normal Scouts, what a thought provoking marriage of words. Hyper and Normal - can they coexist in the same person? I have worked with many Scouts over the years and a fair number of them got the label of “hyper” assigned to their behavior. When that happens it seems the behavior of that Scout is then seen through the filter of the “hyper” label. But that is just one way of describing behavior for that Scout and often there is a lot of “normal' behavior associated with the same boy that gets lost in the "Hyper" filter. So I like the term “Hyper-Normal” because it helps remind us that these Scouts also have a fair amount of “normal” behavior if we are willing to see it. (Hopefully!) As a Scoutmaster it was the Scouts like this that presented my most frustrating challenges because I did not understand how to help these Scout. At first I did not even understand they needed help or that I was capable of providing them help. Over the years I have learned from a number of good Scouting resources how to more effectively work with “Hyper-Normal” Scouts and I would like to share some of the things I have learned.

The first resource that really helped me better understand my “Hyper-Normal” Scout's behavior was the publication “Scoutmaster's Guide to Working with Scouts with Disabilities.” The publication has been discontinued since I first read it in the early 80's. What I gained from this publication was an explanation of how a series of behaviors that I characterized as “bad behavior” was really a more complex problem that my Scouts personally battled with. It was not behavior they wanted, but never the less behavior they produced. This new knowledge helped me look at these boys differently. I started to look for ways to help my “Hyper-Normal” Scouts instead of just getting angry with the “Hyper” side of their behavior. Soon I started talking with parents and reading more about how others were helping these boys. The following checklist came from the “Scoutmaster's Guide to Working with Scouts with Disabilities.” I extracted this checklist from the publication and made it available to all my assistant Scoutmasters, committee members, and interested parents.

Learning Disabled Youth: A Checklist for Scouting Leaders

"Learning-disabled youth have the following characteristics or combinations of them. Each boy is different, but the list will help you determine strengths and weaknesses. Always build activities around strengths, and give frequent praise for achievements."

Using this checklist was not an attempt to diagnose specific medical issues with my boys, it was just a great tool to help us identify certain behavior patterns that allowed us to then understand better ways to help our boys succeed. Over time and with the focused help of many good people we did get better at helping our “Hyper-Normal” Scouts succeed. Better is a very subjective assessment but what I saw was a significant improvement in how our troop operated because we became better at meeting the needs of all our Scouts. Many people, including other leaders, parents, and even the other Boys Scouts started to become involved in making things better instead of complaining about frustrations and irritations growing out of the misunderstood needs and irritating behavior of our boys.

I even attended the week long training course at Philmont on “Working With Scouts With Special Needs.” What a great group of Scouters attended this course. The Scouts most of these leaders worked with on a weekly basis often had special needs that were very clearly identifiable as Scouts with special needs and far beyond my experience with my “Hyper-Normal” Scouts. Often “Hyper-Normal” Scouts can be difficult to identify and I felt rather out of place in the class at first. An important lesson learned during this week was the many resources available in Scouting to help volunteers work with Scouts with special needs.

One of the best resources I have found in Scouting to help understand and deal with the behavior of “Hyper-Normal” Scouts was recently posted on the Supplemental Training page of the BSA National Web site. It is titled “Supporting Scouts With ADHD.” It is a Microsoft Power-Point presentation and you may have trouble viewing it if you do not have Microsoft Power Point installed on your computer. If you do not have Power-Point installed on your computer you can download a free Power-Point viewer program from [ Here ]

“Supporting Scouts With ADHD, Tips for Parents and Scout Leaders” is the title on the first page. This presentation uses an iceberg metaphor to help us understand that the hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention we see is a small portion of the behavior often associated with these boys. There can also be Physiological Factors, Delayed Social Maturity, Coexisting Conditions, Weak “Executive Functioning”, Learning Difficulties, Impaired Sense of Time, and Low Frustration Tolerance associated with these boys. When I read through this list it starts me wondering if I was a “Hyper-Normal” Scout or maybe I still am!

Some of the tips presented for parents of Scouts include:

• Communicate with your son's Scout leaders about his special needs. Explain what works with your son and what does NOT.
• Consider taking medication during Scout activities.
• Become trained as a leader yourself.

The issue of prescription medication for Scouts during Scouting activities should receive some additional attention. The best source of information on this is the Guide To Safe Scouting, which states:

Prescriptions
The taking of prescription medication is the responsibility of the individual taking the medication and/or that individual's parent or guardian. A Scout leader, after obtaining all the necessary information, can agree to accept the responsibility of making sure a Scout takes the necessary medication at the appropriate time, but BSA policy does not mandate nor necessarily encourage the Scout leader to do so. Also, if your state laws are more limiting, they must be followed.

Another important issue with medication for ADHD is how it is discussed with the Scouts and others leaders. Characterizing medication as what makes a Scout “be good” implies a diminished responsibility for his actions without the medication, this is a misleading implication. This is also known as an excuse. A better way of explaining the affect of the medication may be that it helps him stay “focused.” These issues should be discussed with your son's physician and also key unit leaders.

Within the “Supporting Scouts With ADHD” presentation are some very good ideas for Scouting leaders. This is especially important because as volunteer leaders we are not prepared to understand all the implications and subtle ways to help our “Hyper-Normal” Scout's succeed. Some of the ideas in the Power Point presentation are very general in nature and could be applied to almost all Scouts. This would include the ideas of redirecting a Scouts behavior: in private with a calm voice and avoid yelling, never humiliate a Scout, and “sandwich” concerns about behavior between examples of good behavior. The ideas of a “private non-verbal signal” or proximity control have both worked very well for me on a number of occasions. Additional helpful ideas from the presentation include:

Offer opportunities for purposeful movement, such as

• Leading cheers
• Performing in skits
• Assisting with demonstrations
• Teaching outdoor skills to younger Scouts

This may

• Improve focus,
• Increase self-confidence, and
• Benefit the troop as a whole

Within all these resources are new ways of finding solutions for what can be a sometimes-frustrating encounter with “Hyper-Normal” Scouts. It can be a daunting experience to spend a weekend camping with a boy who is normally on medication and then be confronted by the behavior of a special Scout no longer on medication. I know this from very personal experience. Although these boys can be frustrating, there are excellent resources available within Scouting to help us more effectively work with these boys. Volunteer leaders and our Scouts can both survive these experiences as we all learn better skills to deal with these often frustrating behaviors.

The whole idea here is to find and use the resources needed to help all your Scouts become successful. “Hyper-Normal” Scouts may require a little more work and focus to find the best methods to help them find success, but they are well worth the effort. I do not believe this short article will change the world by making things perfect. My hope is that volunteers facing these types of issues realize they are not alone, that is a start. We can then become more aware of resources to help and as we put these resources to work we make things better for all our Scouts. Being a social organization, Scouting has a responsibility plus great opportunities to teach us all better ways to help those in need of special help from society. —Rick

I prepared this document for a University of Scouting presentation on this topic in 2002. I have updated the document and you might find it a good additional resource piece.
[ Scouts with Disabilities and Special Needs ]

Supporting Scouts with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
[ http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/supplemental/pdf/ADHDTips.ppt ]

Working With Scouts With Disabilities Web Site
[ http://wwswd.org/ ]

Scouting For Food

Lompoc — January 27, 2007
 Lompoc Food Pantry, 903 E. Chestnut

The Lompoc Food Pantry is normally CLOSED on Saturdays.

Drop-Off time is only
1 pm to 2 pm

This One Hour Window to drop off food is due to the donated time of the Pantry Coordinator. [flyer]

For further information for contact Tara Height at 805-735-5613 or taraheight@verizon.net

Scouting For Food

January 27, 2007
 Santa Maria — Guadalupe

Drop-Off time is
10 am to 1 pm (Time Correction!)
Food bank of Santa Barbara County
490 W Foster Rd, Santa Maria, CA 93455 [map]

Sign ups for work areas will happen during December 14, 2006 Roundtable in Orcutt.
For further information for contact Joe Hughes 938-1617
or the Santa Maria Scout Store 925-1955.

Calendar Items

Weekly Scouting Term

This feature of Rick's News! presents a new Scouting term taken directly from the Language of Scouting web page each week. This information may help upgrade your understanding of Scouting terminology and the Scouting program. If you have a term you would like listed let me know.  [http://www.scouting.org/identity/los/]

grand howl
A special Cub Scout yell to recognize a leader or a Cub Scout's achievement. May also be used to close a den or pack meeting. See the Den Chief Handbook.

Weekly Web Site

"Since 2003, gamers have banded together through registered Seattle-based charity, Child's Play. Over a million dollars in donations of toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children's hospitals across North America and the world have been collected since our inception.

We collect no administrative fees or other charges, 100% of all gifts and donations go directly to our partner hospitals, to help make life a little brighter for a sick child.

This year, we have continued expanding across the country and the globe. With over 25 partner hospitals and more arriving every month, you can be sure to find one from the map above that needs your help! You can choose to purchase requested items from their online retailer wish lists, or make a cash donation that helps out Child's Play hospitals everywhere. Any items purchased through Amazon or DStore will be shipped directly to your hospital of choice, please be sure to select their shipping address rather than your own."

When gamers give back, it makes a difference! [ http://www.childsplaycharity.org/ ]

Quotable Quotes

Wit — Wordplay — Wisecracks

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.