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SESSION # STRIVING FOR GOLD2012 NATIONAL ORDER OF THE ARROW CONFERENCE

SESSION LENGTH: 1 hour and 45 MinutesLEARNING OBJECTIVES: To understand the reason for the change from Quality Lodge to the Journey to

Excellence program. To give guidance to evaluate your lodge’s current position relative to the new

criteria, establishing the starting point of your lodge’s Journey. To identify some “Best Practices” for developing a path to gold level Journey to

Excellence Identify some traditional problems with achieving previous Quality Lodge Criteria Identify potential solutions for traditional problems

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Flipcharts Handouts Computer/Speakers/Projector Music/CD Power Point presentation file

3’ of clear tape

TRAINER PREPARATION

Preparation and background knowledge of the criteria for Journey to Excellence (JTE) are essential in the success of this session. The trainer should have practical knowledge of lodge administration practices, a fundamental understanding of the Guide to Officers and Advisers and the Guide to Inductions, and practical experience of overcoming the challenges of meeting the requirements set forth by the Journey to Excellence program.

TRAINER TIP: Make sure to review the Journey to Excellence criteria and determine the areas of greatest difficulty for lodges of all sizes to achieve. Have a list of things you want to emphasize. Have the participants share what they noticed before you bring out your points. Often times, the participants have great ideas that you may not have thought of. In order to have an inviting session you may want to have transition music playing as participants arrive. The music, if chosen, should be uplifting and inviting. You may want to avoid heavy metal or other controversial music genres that may alienate some participants.

Make sure that you have handouts copied and ready to be distributed. In order to ensure smooth transition and completion of the session in a reasonable time frame, you may want to have the handouts distributed prior to the arrival of the participants. You may or may not want to do an icebreaker. This is a lengthy session, so you might want to have participants introduce themselves as you call on them for responses.

Overview:

Order of the Arrow of 17 Boy Scouts of America

2012 National Order of the Arrow Conference Session #: Journey to Excellence Gold

This course is designed for individuals already comfortable with the specific requirements of JTE. You will discuss the philosophy behind the change to JTE and how to best lead your section, lodge or chapter to gold status. You as the trainer will lead a guided discussion to the participants to provide their ideas of “best practices” for meeting the criteria for the Journey to Excellence program as well as providing your own insight into some of the more complex topics. This discussion should focus on either the more difficult areas of JTE, specifically, membership retention, brotherhood conversion, as well as the areas that are directly related to the strategic plan such as service to the local council.

Play Music VARIOUS ARTISTS: Time: 10:00

SESSION NARRATIVE

INTRODUCTION: 5-7 MINUTES

[Introduce yourself and other trainers present. Briefly go over the objectives of the session so the participants know what to look for during your presentation. Then you will need to give a brief explanation of the transition from Quality Lodge to JTE. Next you will need to convince the audience that the requirements for JTE are very challenging and they are intended to be so. Not all lodges are gold lodges today. This is a journey and we should be taking steps along this journey to achieve gold level in the future. Also, even if your lodge achieves gold JTE the journey is not over, there is always room for improvement and JTE allows lodges to focus on individual areas that they are weak in no matter what stage of the journey they are on. Finally, you should spend a majority of the time allotted getting down to “brass tacks”. Be able to discuss traditional problems that lodges of all sizes have faced along with possible solutions to these problems.]

PPT Slide “SESSION OBJECTIVES”

Objectives:

To understand the reason for the change from Quality Lodge to the Journey to Excellence program.

Evaluate your lodge’s current position relative to the new criteria, establishing the starting point of your lodge’s Journey.

Identify some “Best Practices” for developing a path to Gold Level Journey to Excellence.

Identify some traditional problems with achieving previous Quality Lodge Criteria Identify potential solutions for traditional problems

Advance PPT Slide “Quality Lodge vs. Journey to Excellence”



Quality lodge has been the basis of determining the “health” of the lodge for many years and for the most part it has not changed a whole lot. Quality Lodge was a set of minimum requirements that all lodges should use in developing their goals for the year. The problem with QL is that it is a binary or “pass/fail” type of evaluation. Either a lodge was QL or it was not. If a lodge achieved QL this year then all they had to do the following year was set their goals to the minimum standard next year. Lodges were never encouraged to go beyond the minimum standard. The same is true if a lodge did not achieve QL. The following year they would set the same set of goals and hope and pray that they achieved them.

JTE has changed that. While the basic criteria of QL is still very important, the method of evaluation has changed in an effort to strengthen the Order by encouraging lodges to strive for goals beyond the minimum set of criteria. In addition, it gives lodges more freedom to focus on things that the lodge needs to improve upon using a “babystep” approach. JTE is not a “pass/fail” system but more of a grading scale, A, B, C.

The first word of JTE is Journey and the program is exactly that. If a lodge has not achieved QL the last couple of years or just barely met the requirements, then the JTE program gets them on the right track by taking “baby steps” or making small changes that would improve in areas that would benefit their lodge. These would be small steps toward the ultimate goal of “gold” status. The nice thing about JTE program is that there is no end. The best lodge in the nation still has areas that they can improve upon and JTE encourages them to strive to become even better.

TRAINER TIP: While this information is interested and should be discussed do not spend too much time on this. This is not a session designed to defend JTE but to give insight on how to achieve it. People are reluctant to change and participants may want to drag out the discussion by bringing up all the things that they do not like a particular part of JTE. If this happens, just remind them that the intent of this program is to improve the program within all of our lodges. Also, this is the first year of the program. There may be some unforeseen issues with the program. Encourage the Lodge Advisers to discuss any problems they have with either their Section Adviser or a local member of the National Committee. This program will be reviewed and the Committee is very interested in feedback from the lodges.

General Discussion Overall JTE Success: 10 MINUTES

Advance PPT Slide “General Ideas”

There are a few things that all lodges include in their annual program. These things affect all areas of lodge administration and as expected affect all parts of the JTE program. The following is a step by step approach to successfully to maximize your success in the “Journey.”

1. Key 3 Meet to Establish Starting Point of Journey- First the Lodge Key 3 should meet annually to discuss the achievements from the previous year. For 2012, the lodge Key 3 should estimate what status your lodge would have achieved in 2011 if JTE was in place in 2011. This gives your lodge starting point in your journey. In addition, the Key 3 should discuss the areas of strengths and weaknesses that your lodge posses. You should identify why these areas are strengths and they should be the foundation of your journey. I would recommend that if you determine that something is working don’t change it. However, the areas that are weaknesses



should be examined closely. Try to determine why your lodge has not been successful in those areas. Pick one or two and these areas should be a part of your first step of the journey. Don’t try to fix all of your problems but focus on one or two.

2. Set Goals for each area of JTE- The Key 3 should set a goal (Bronze, Silver, Gold) for each area of the lodge JTE program and ultimately the overall status. Be realistic in your goal setting but do not be afraid to challenge yourselves. The Lodge Executive Committee should establish SMART Goals and Action Plans designed to achieve either Bronze, Silver, Gold designation.

3. Get Chapters on Board- If your lodge utilizes the chapter system, the Lodge Key 3 should take time and discuss your opinion of how each of the chapters should focus on for that year. The chapter Key 3 should set their own goals but estimate vision from the Lodge Key 3 is a good idea so that you can give guidance to the chapters as well as have a feel for how ambitious the chapter goals are.

4. Develop a Vision for the Year-The Lodge Chief should write down what it is he thinks should be the focus for the year. The Lodge Chief should then discuss his vision for the year with the Key 3 and how he plans on accomplishing his vision. The other members of the Key 3 should work with the Lodge Chief to clarify and to sharpen his vision without changing it. (let the Chief drive the car)

5. Engage the Scout Executive- The Lodge Key 3 should meet with the Scout Executive to discuss the lodges strengths, weaknesses, and goals. It is a good idea to get input from the Scout Executive and be able to see from his perspective what the lodge strengths and weaknesses are. This would also be a great opportunity to discuss special projects that the council needs support from the Lodge.

6. Regular Meetings of the Key 3- The Key 3 should meet on a regular/monthly basis to discuss, among other things, how the lodge is progressing on their journey. These meetings also maintain an open line of communication between the youth leadership, adviser’s perspective, and the professional involvement. Regular, well planned Key 3 meetings will eliminate any surprises from all sides.

7. Quality Lodge Leadership Development Courses (LLD)- The lodge should conduct Lodge Leadership Development Courses at least annually to allow the Chief to share his vision for the year to the other members of the Lodge and to develop SMART Goals for the year. LLDs are also great venues to discuss job responsibilities for each member of the LEC as well as training sessions of how to be better leaders.

Advance PPT Slide “Areas of JTE”

As we all know the Journey to Excellence program is broken down into five parts: Finance



Membership Program Council Service Leadership and Governance

We are not able to go through each of these items due to time constraints so I have chosen a few of the more difficult items and some of those described in the Strategic Plan. Even though we cannot go through each item, I have generated some helpful documents that have been included on the thumb drives that each of you has received. I encourage each of you to go through this documentation and possibly tailor it to fit your particular needs.

So let’s get down to the meat of the session…. What are some areas that you would consider some of the more difficult requirements for JTE?

TRAINER TIP: Getting responses from the audience is an important part of this session. Work hard to solicit ideas from other Lodge’s perspective of the difficulties of JTE. Write down on the chalk board the responses provided by the audience. Chances are the majority of the responses will be related to the membership section of the JTE program. Because of this the majority of the time spent during the remaining portion of the session should be spent on the membership area. However, there are other areas that should be discussed.

Detailed Discussion of Specific Areas: 60 MINUTES

Advance PPT Slide “Challenging Areas of JTE”

Here is what I can up with:

Membership Growth Brotherhood Conversion Membership Retention Event Participation Lodge Planning Process Council Service

For the more senior Arrowmen, this is nothing new. These areas were challenges during the QL program and will be even more challenging during JTE due to the more difficult requirements. I would like to go through these areas first and for the ones that you came up with I would like to discuss afterwards. You will notice that some of the solutions for each of these areas are similar to others.

Advance PPT Slide “Membership Growth”

The old saying that knowledge is power is never more true than in the case of Membership Growth. Membership Growth is really made up of two parts:



Retaining Current Arrowmen Getting New Members

We will talk about membership retention in a few moments so I want to focus on the second part: Getting New Members. Now I am sure there are many training sessions about the Unit Election process and how to conduct a quality Unit Election so we will leave that to those sessions. I want to talk about the administration of the lodge with respect to getting New Members.

Know what you need to know- Determine at the beginning of the year how many members you will need at the end of the year in order to grow. For example, our lodge used to take a “wait and see approach” on membership growth. We waited until the end of the year to rush and get unit elections completed so we could induct new members in December. We also set our goals based on percentages. During the planning and management portion of the year, percentages mean nothing. We need to know at the beginning of the year the actual number of Arrowmen we need at the end of the year. This will allow you to be proactive throughout the year instead of being reactive at the end of the year when you can’t do anything about it. The hay is in the barn come December. Publish this number.

Determine the Target Audience- This is really a simple concept that I am not sure many people think about. Our potential new membership is limited to a very specific group of people and we should be targeting them. Our members are Boy Scouts who have obtained 1st class rank and have 15 days and nights camping. Your council office can tell you how many boys from each troop meet these requirements. From this information you can focus your unit election efforts to the units that have the most eligible members.

Don’t forget about the adults. Be sure that every Scoutmaster in your council is a member of the Order. He/she can be your biggest ally or your worst enemy. Get them on your side!

Get Someone one the Inside- Most people will say to utilize the Troop Representative as your point of contact in each unit. How many lodges here have a successful Troop Representative program? Yeah sure each of us has units within our lodge that have Troop Representative but for the most part the TR program has not been as successful as we had hoped, and here is why. Starting with the National Committee, all the way to the lodge level, there is a Key 3, or at least a youth and an adult adviser. This method stops short at the unit level. Troop Representatives are selected by the youth leadership within the unit every 6 months, or so, and most of the time it is impossible for the lodges to keep up with the TR for each unit and their contact information. That is why I suggest that you find and adult, preferably the Scoutmaster, to be the adviser to the TR in each unit. The Scoutmaster tends to be in the position longer and it is proven that the units where the Scoutmaster is in involved in the OA. a higher percentage of the youth participate. Get the Scoutmaster involved in their unit’s OA experience.

Communicate with those on the inside- Contact the Scoutmaster of each of your units and tell them that they have boys who are eligible for membership. Unless the Scoutmaster is an avid Arrowmen, the OA may not a top priority for him. He is constantly thinking about the next meeting, camping trip, or Scoutmaster’s conference. A simple reminder may go a long way in getting new members.

Conduct Unit Elections Early- Consider having an Ordeal prior to summer camp, possibly in the spring when the weather is pleasant. Try to have all of you unit elections completed prior to this Ordeal. This will allow for better attendance at the spring Ordeal, which is typically designed to get ready for summer camp. It seems that no matter when you have an event something will be in conflict with it and some of the candidates may not be able to



attend. Emphasis on a spring Ordeal will allow for candidates who cannot attend to be able to attend a “make up” Ordeal in the fall or winter, getting the new members this year rather than next year.

Actively Communicate with Your Units- Begin scheduling unit elections as soon as possible. Don’t wait on them to call you. The earlier you get them scheduled the better off you are in getting the boys to attend the Ordeal this year.

Utilize the Chapter System- If your lodge uses the chapter system, give them the responsibility of unit elections. Chances are the chapter leadership knows the Scoutmaster personally and can pick up the phone and call them to schedule a unit election. In addition, the amount of units is reduced because the work load is broken up into smaller groups, typically in small geographical areas.

Recognition- Be sure ample opportunities are provided for public recognition or call out ceremonies. Remember that there are only three types of people who like recognition. Do you know the three types of people? [wait for a response, even cause uncomfortable silence to draw responses] Men, Women, and Children. Don’t forget this. Make sure that each new candidate understands the importance of being selected to the Honor Society of the Boy Scouts of America.

Advance PPT Slide “Brotherhood Conversion”

Some of the same concepts for membership growth are applicable for Brotherhood Conversion.

Know what you need to know- Determine at the beginning of the year how many members you will need to become Brotherhood members at the end of the year in order to meet your goal. Again, our lodge used to take a “wait and see approach” on brotherhood conversion. We waited until the end of the year and frantically called as many people as we could to go through Brotherhood at our last event of the year. Again, while the numbers are will not be as clear for Brotherhood conversion as it is for membership growth, estimate how many you need at the beginning of the year; stray away from percentages, they are meaningless. Publish this number.

Determine the Target Audience- Develop a list of Brotherhood eligible members by unit. Lodgemaster is a great tool for doing this. From this information you can focus your efforts in an efficient manner.

Get Someone on the Inside- As I mentioned before, get to know the Scoutmaster and/or other adults and utilize them for encouraging the members of his/her troop to attend the next function and become a Brotherhood member. Encourage the units that are heavily involved in the Order to develop an expectation of becoming brotherhood within their unit.

Communicate with those on the inside- Contact the Scoutmaster of each of your units and tell them that they have boys who are eligible for brotherhood. Let the Scoutmaster do all of the heavy lifting for you. He/she can have tremendous influence on the members of their unit and they will probably be the one who drives them to the event as well.



Utilize the Chapter System- If your lodge uses the chapter system give them the responsibility of Brotherhood Promotion. Have members of the chapter call eligible Brotherhood candidates within their chapter and invite them to the next event.

Emphasize a Spring Ordeal- Let’s think about the timing of Brotherhood for a moment and how it relates to the Brotherhood conversion calculation. Our lodge used to have December Ordeals and Pow Wows in September. Now let’s do the math. If a new Arrowmen completes the Ordeal in December he will not be eligible for Brotherhood until the next December that is 12 months, not 10. This means that our Lodge had one opportunity to convert the newly inducted Arrowmen before the end of the year. If these new Arrowmen were not able to attend the following December Ordeal, the lodge would take a hit on Brotherhood conversion. We now conduct a Winter Fellowship in February, Spring Ordeal in May, a Fall Ordeal in August/September and Pow Wow in December. We focus on the Spring Ordeal and attempt to have larger candidate participation there. This allows the Lodge four opportunities to convert them to Brotherhood. Also, by moving the December Ordeal to August/September, there are two opportunities for Brotherhood conversion.

TRAINER TIP: This may become confusing to the audience so the trainer may want to draw a timeline on the either a flip chart or the Chalk Board to provide a visual explanation.

Consider Additional Brotherhood Opportunities- Summer Camp is an excellent opportunity to conduct a Brotherhood Ceremony. Ordeal wonders still will go to summer camp and even serve on Summer Camp Staff, don’t miss the opportunity. Also, for lodges that make up a large geographical areas, consider conducting Brotherhood ceremonies in different locations around the council. You can call it a Brotherhood Seminar and it can be conducted at a chartered organization, city park, or other venue. This makes it more convenient for people to attend. While you make only get a handful of participants it could put you over the top in making your goal. The only catch is to make sure you follow the Guide to Inductions and keep good records so that you can update your membership database after the event.

Advance PPT Slide “Membership Retention”

There is no magic to keeping the members you have. The theory is quite simple and while the implementation can be more difficult with a good plan and a willingness to implement the plan it can be done. Let’s discuss both the theory and some concrete approaches. First the theory…

Advance PPT Slide “Membership Retention- Theory”

People will participate if they want to- If your lodge is creating an environment that is fun, rewarding, and meaningful then you will have good membership retention. Some of you may have heard of the term sash and dash or Ordeal wonder. Ordeal Wonder- after they go through their Ordeal then you wonder where they went. In most cases, we shouldn’t wonder where they went. Quite frankly, they may have fell victim to the Order of the Arrow Marketing Plan. You may be asking yourself what is the OA Marketing Plan? The Order is the only organization that I am aware of that when they are introduced to the organization they are not allowed to socialize with other members or candidates. We make them spend



the night in solitude and only eat scant meals. Lastly, we ask them to spend the day in arduous labor. Why do we wonder where they go? It should be pretty clear. We are not giving them a reason to come back. Most of us who do come back do so because we have built relationships either prior to or after our Ordeal.

Induction Sequence is Vital to the Success of the Order- Please do not take from this session that I do not support the induction sequence, because I do. Its purpose is to encourage and inspire Arrowmen in the ideals of the Order and Scouting. It is a very important process that should continue in order to build a sense of servant leadership. Remember, hours spent in thoughtful silence are worth more than days and days of talking. What I do think we should do as the Lodge Leadership is understand the OA marketing plan and understand where it may be a detriment to our membership retention. The induction sequence is vital to the success of the Order but it does have some negative effects. We must turn these negatives into positives.

Eliminate Hazing in all Forms- The Induction Sequence has some necessary, but possible negative impacts, do not add additional negative experiences for the candidate. The first words of the Pre-Ordeal Ceremony is “Awake my friends”; this should be remembered through our actions during the Ordeal weekend. Some traditions that we may hold dear within our lodges may seem harmless and fun to some, but others may view them as offensive. The members should observe the tests of the Ordeal while in the presence of the candidates. For instance, I have witnessed in my own lodge, members eating an entire meal in front of the candidates. It was not planned this way, but it happened. Also, I have witnessed lodge members playing games or “cutting up” around the candidates during work projects. Both of these activities were not intended and happened due to the members being unaware of their actions. The candidates could have viewed this as an unintentional, negative marketing tool. As leaders, we should be mindful of our behavior at all times and the behavior of the other Arrowmen of our lodge. Do not ever be afraid to step in and redirect the actions of other Arrowmen within your lodge; it may keep someone from getting a bad first impression of the Order. Also, if your lodge has a tradition that is not included in the Guide to Inductions, consider how it is perceived by the candidates. If it could be considered a bad first impression, I would recommend excluding that tradition from your lodge activities.

Meaningful Work Projects- Nothing is more degrading to a candidate than to assign them meaningless work during their Ordeal. Again, I will use my lodge as an example. Our lodge a number of years ago determined that work projects were going to last until a certain time, let’s say 4:00. We were not organized enough to plan for enough work projects to last that long. In all of our brilliance, we told one of the clans to move rocks from one pile to another. Once they were finished, we told them to move them back. Another clan was told to rake pine straw in the middle of the woods and move it to another part of the camp. This was done just to keep them busy until 4:00. Huge mistake! Generally, people are willing to work hard to provide service to our camp properties but they want to be proud of the work they accomplished. I remember the project that I worked on during my Ordeal and know others who still talk about the projects they worked on. Some of these projects were grueling and very unpleasant, but provided a much needed project for the camp and years later are still proud of the work they accomplished.

Advance PPT Slide “Membership Retention- General Practical Advice”



Dues Collection- Membership is solely based on who paid their dues for the current year. Generate a list of non-dues paid members from Lodgemaster and send the list to the Scoutmaster. Ask the Scoutmaster to help you by getting his Scouts to pay their dues. Another idea that works well is to get the units involved in the dues payment. Every year each unit must go through the re-charter process. Work with your Staff Adviser to generate paperwork similar to the re-charter paperwork and distribute it to the units along with their unit re-charter paperwork. Make it a part of the re-charter process. The unit has to take time to collect re-charter fees so get them to collect OA dues at the time and have them write one check. This will knock out a big chunk of your dues collection.

Membership Tracking Charts- Something that we have instituted in my Lodge is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet exported from Lodgemaster. Each file or workbook contains a worksheet for each unit in a particular chapter. The units worksheet contains information about the membership status of each Arrowmen within that unit. For example, at the top is the list of all the members of the unit that are Arrowmen based on last year’s (2011) dues payment. Just below that is a list of the Arrowmen who paid dues in 2011 but have not paid in 2012. Below this part is a series of list that tracks Scouts through the entire induction sequence. The first is a list of all Scouts in the unit that have achieved First Class Rank and have attended summer camp. Next is the list of Scouts who have been elected and then the Scouts who have been elected but still need to be called out. Continuing further is a list of Scouts ready to attend the Ordeal and lastly is a list of Arrowmen that have satisfied the requirements for Brotherhood. All of this information, with the exception of the First Class and summer camp information, has been exported from Lodgemaster into Microsoft Excel. The First Class info and summer camp information can be provided from your Scout Service Center via Scoutnet. The nice thing about this is we can send the Scoutmaster of each unit the membership status of each member of his troop. We then solicit his help in getting the Scout to the next part of the sequence. We have seen tremendous success in the chapters who use this method and limited success from the chapter who has not taken the time to generate this information.

The first page of the workbook is a summery page that calculates membership growth, membership retention, and Brotherhood conversion. The chapter chief can print the summery sheet and can include this into his report to the Lodge Executive Committee monthly.

Advance PPT Slide “Event Participation”

Make lodge events fun for all- The Guide to Inductions tells us that “The Ordeal is intended to be a day of toil, not a couple of hours in the morning and two more in the afternoon.” However, it also says that there is no requirement that the ceremonies be performed in the dark. A good idea is to have the Brotherhood Ceremony just before dark and have the Ordeal Ceremony start right at dusk. This will allow for fun activities for all members new and old Saturday evening, without taking away the “coolness” of the ceremony. The Lodge should plan their event so that the Saturday evening meal is hearty, good, and plentiful. Steaks and seafood are a great idea if the budget allows. After dinner there should be fun activities for a wide variety of personalities. Work hard, play harder. Having fun activities after the Ordeal ensures the last thing they remember about the OA experience is good food and a lot of fun; not arduous labor and scant food. The key here is to have an event schedule that allows for well planned fun and excitement.



What is fun for you may not be fun for others- We are all different. Some people like chocolate ice cream and some of use like vanilla; personally I like both. The same is true with activities. Some people are sports minded while others are more board game or strategy type games. Plan activities that are fun for more than one type of personality.

Give new Arrowmen a job at the next event- While the new members are still at the event, you have their undivided attention, use that to your advantage. A great way to get them to the next event is to give them a job to do, no matter how insignificant you may think that it is. I have found that small jobs can get new leaders involved and give you the opportunity to cultivate them into a future chapter/lodge leader. As a rule, every leader within the lodge should always have an index card in their back pocket with jobs that need to be performed with a variety of complexities. Take the time to meet as many new Arrowmen as you can. If you are a leader, they will remember the time you spent getting to know them and they will be more likely come back. Remember, if you do not know anyone at the event, you are less likely to attend.

Don’t forget the role of the Adult- Adult involvement has a huge impact on function attendance. Units that have active adults tend to bring more boys to events. They typically promote the Order during Troop meetings and encourage their Scouts to attend. Some Troops are bold enough to have expectations of their Arrowmen to attend all sessions of the Lodge. Troops that do this have a huge turn out to Lodge events and typically the Lodge and Chapter Leadership come from these units.

Schedule Events with minimal conflict- When the Key 3 is setting the dates for the next year, be mindful of holidays, school activities, ACT exams, local festivals and other events that may draw attendance away from your event.

Advance PPT Slide “Lodge Planning Process”

Initial Officer Retreat- This is an idea that our lodge took from the Section Leadership. The Section Officers and Advisers meet for a day soon after conclave and discuss the plan for the year. Our lodge has found that this time is well worth spent in the success of the Lodge. The agenda for the meeting includes a detailed discussion of the budget, function dates, new fun activities for each function, proposed lodge newsletter articles, potential youth EC members, training topics for LLDs and events, and a breakout time for each officer and adviser to discuss their job description and the detailed discussion of the expectation of the job. This meeting should last at a minimum 4 to 6 hours and we have found that it starts the year off right with everyone on the same page.

Lodge Leadership Development- Lodge Leadership Development is a year-long process. There is not a definite timeline or framework for the LLD process; however, there are some key elements that each lodge should focus on. The first element is an initial LLD for the lodge leadership, including the Lodge Officers, Lodge Executive Committee Chairmen, Chapter Leadership and chairmen as well as all of their advisers. This is not meant to say that other arrowmen cannot or should not attend, but the focus of the attendance should be the leadership that will set the plan for the year. We have found that the best way to conduct this initial planning LLD Session is during a weekend event. This allows ample opportunity for multiple training sessions that the key three feel are most important for the leadership to be exposed to but MUST include significant time for the Goal Setting Process, SMART Goals should be discussed, as well as developing action plans for each goal. In addition, we have found that if you try to limit this event to just a single day, people tend to schedule other things that evening and you lose focus towards the end. I have a few recommendations that I would like to discuss:



The Lodge Chief should clearly define his vision for the year. Spend significant time discussing the JTE program and what it takes to achieve each

level. Use the JTE program as an outline for the Goal Setting Process Give the Lodge’s expectation for each item within the JTE program Assign each JTE item to either an Officer or Committee Chairman Let each participant know that they are to report on their progress at each LEC meeting

throughout the year. Plan a fun activity during the weekend away from the LLD venue (i.e. dinner and an

activity away from the LLD location)

Every event should include some aspect of the LLD process. Training sessions should be scheduled for the entire membership. The topics could be leadership bases such as time management or personal communication. They could be OA specific such as an introduction to ceremonies and unit elections. They also could be Boy Scout specific such as portions of the NYLT program, information of the High Adventure bases, or a merit badge program. Never miss an opportunity to pass along information to the general lodge membership, it will strengthen your lodge.

Mid Year Officer Retreat- This event should be conducted after a couple of events have taken place just to review the successes the lodge has experienced and the areas that still need improvement. It is also a great time to draft the next year’s budget. This could only last a couple hours if needed.

Advance PPT Slide “Service to Council”

The current strategic plan has emphasized the necessity of the lodge to support the council as a part of the year round program. There is a variety of ways in which the lodge can do this and we will touch on just a few. Here is a partial list of the areas in which your lodge can provide some much needed support of the council and to Scouting:

Service Corp at Council/District Events Council Summer Camp Promotions Cub Scout Program and Webelos to Boy Scout Transition Financial Support

Let’s look at each of these individually and talk about some specific things your lodge can do to support your council.

Service Corp at Council/District Events- I assure you that the volunteer chairman for every council/district event would love to have the help of the honored campers of the council. I have been the chairman of many of such activities and when I have had the help of the OA my job has become easier. The best way to approach this is to have someone on the Executive Committee have the sole responsibility of providing this service. In our Lodge, the Lodge Vice Chief is tasked with all council level events and the chapter Vice Chief of each chapter is tasked with providing service to all district activities. The Vice Chief can either serve as the chairman of the service corp or appoint someone to this position. Either way, the chairman contacts the event chairman and discusses what areas the Lode/Chapter can support the event. Some examples are facilities, serve as instructors of merit badges or activity pins and belt loops, and/or set up an area for the campfire, if needed,

Council Summer Camp Promotions- All troops are different when it comes to choosing a Summer Camp Program. From my experience, when you get down to brass tacks, adults



pick what camp to go to and the youth decide if they are going to go to camp. This is not always the case, but for the most part it holds true. In order to know for sure, it helps to know how each troop operates. Therefore, it isgreat for chapters to be involved in. If you find that a troop in your lodge/chapter does operate in this manner, help the council market to the consumer. The first consumer is the Adult Leadership. Develop ways to communicate to the Adults why they should attend the Council’s Summer Camp. An idea is to have a Scoutmaster Dinner or Reception where you invite all of the Scoutmasters from you district/council to attend and give the Summer camp leadership an opportunity to “pitch” Summer Camp to the adults. Remember that you are talking to the Adult Leaders and gear the discussion towards their concerns.

The next consumer is the Scout. Ultimately, he (or his parents) will decide if he goes to camp or not. [If every Troop in the council attends your council’s Summer Camp but only one or two Scouts from each troop comes then the overall attendance will be low]. Visit each troop meeting and take the opportunity to tell the Scouts why they should come. Encourage the older scouts to serve on Summer Camp Staff.

Cub Scout Program and Webelos Transition- It is a fact that ScoutinglLoses more participants during the transition from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. The Order can really help in this transition. Let’s face it, Indians are cool, especially for Cub Scouts. The more of a presence you have with the Cubs, the more excited they will be. Simple things like just attending Blue and Gold Banquets, Arrow of Light Ceremonies, and “cross over ceremonies can have a huge impact. Consider writing a Ceremony that includes arrowmen dressed in Indian regalia with speaking parts for Arrow of Light ceremonies or crossing over ceremonies. Kids love that kind of stuff. Use it as a service to the packs in your council/district. Promote this service at Roundtables so the Cubmaster’s are aware of it.

Financial Support- Quite frankly this is the easiest thing a Lodge can do to support their Council. There are a number of ways you can do this

Friends of Scouting Honor an Arrowmen with the James West Fellowship Plan on purchasing materials for the Council Office and Camps Consider purchasing the patches for Summer Camp

CONCLUSION: 5-7 MINUTES

I think that we have covered quite a few examples of how to achieve Gold level JTE. We have brought forth some great ideas and techniques that we can use in order to achieve Gold level JTE.

Have a Plan from the beginning of the Year Know what it is that you need to do to be successful Get people on the inside to help Find ways to overcome the OA Marketing Plan Find ways to make the OA experience fun



APPENDIX: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q1: Where do I find copies of the National Publications such as the Guide to Lodge Officers and Advisers and the Guide to Inductions?

A1: www.oa-bsa.org/publications

Q2: Who wrote this syllabus?

A2: Thad Hendrix email: [email protected] 251-408-2617

184 June Street, Mobile, AL 36608


mailto:[email protected]


APPENDIX: RECOMMENDED SLIDES

The following is a recommended list of slides that can be used for visual presentation.


General Ideas

•Key 3 Meet to Establish Starting Point

•Set Goals for each area of JTE• Get Chapters on Board• Develop a Vision • Engage Scout Executive• Regular Key 3 meetings• Quality LLD Program

JTE: Striving For Gold

Your Name

Session Objective

Insert Session Objective on this slide. It has been omitted due to space constraints

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Membership Growth

• Retaining Current Arrowmen • Inducting New Members

Areas of JTE

• Finance• Membership• Program• Council Service• Leadership and Governance

Challenging Areas of JTE

• Membership Growth• Brotherhood Conversion• Membership Retention• Event Participation• Lodge Planning Process• Council Service

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Brotherhood Conversion

• Know what you need to know• Determine the Target Audience• Get Someone one the Inside• Communicate with those on the inside

Inducting New Members

• Know what you need to know• Determine the Target Audience• Get Someone one the Inside• Communicate with those on the inside

Inducting New Members (Continued)

• Conduct Unit Elections Early• Actively Communicate with Your Units• Utilize the Chapter System• Recognition

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Membership Retention(Theory)

• People will participate if they want to • Induction Sequence is Vital • Eliminate Hazing in all Forms • Meaningful Work Projects

Brotherhood Conversion (continued)

• Actively Communicate with Your Units• Utilize the Chapter System• Recognition• Emphasize a Spring Ordeal• Consider Additional Brotherhood Opportunities

Membership Retention

There is no magic to retaining members.

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Membership Tracking Summary Chart

Insert an example Membership Tracking Summary Chart

Membership Retention(Practical Advice)

• Dues Collection• Membership Tracking Charts

Your Name

Membership Tracking Chart

Insert an example Membership Tracking Chart

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Service to Council

• Service Corp at Council/District Events• Council Summer Camp Promotions• Cub Scout Program• Webelos to Boy Scout Transition• Financial Support

Event Participation

• Make Lodge Events fun for all• What is fun for you may not be fun for others • Give new Arrowmen a job at the next event • Don’t forget the role of the Adult • Schedule Events with minimal conflict

Lodge Planning Process

• Initial Officer Retreat• Lodge Leadership Development• Mid Year Retreat

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APPENDIX: SOURCE MATERIAL & RESOURCES

2008 – 2012 Order of the Arrow Strategic Planhttp://www.oa-bsa.org/programs/splan/

2008 Order of the Arrow Field Operations Guidehttp://www.oa-bsa.org/resources/pubs/FOG-2008.pdf


session length: 50 minutestraining.oa-bsa.org/content home/national oa... · web viewexcellence...

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