Leadership skills

Leadership is a process of getting things done through people. The captain moves the team toward a touchdown. The senior patrol leader guides the troop to a high rating at the camp. The mayor gets the people to support new policies to make the city better. These leaders are getting things done by working through people football players, Scouts, and ordinary citizens. They have used the process of leadership to reach certain goals. Leadership is not a science. So being a leader is an adventure because you can never be sure whether you will reach your goal at least this time. The touchdown drive may end in a fumble. The troop may have a bad weekend during the camp. Or the city's citizens may not be convinced that the mayor's policies are right. So these leaders have to try again, using other methods. But they still use the same process the process of good leadership.

Leadership means responsibility. It's adventure and often fun, but it always means responsibility. The leader is the guy the others look to, to get the job done. So don't think your job as a troop leader or a staff member will be just an honor. It's more than that. It means that the other Scouts expect you to take the responsibility of getting the job done. If you lead, they will do the job. If you don't, they may expect you to do the job all by yourself. That's why it's important that you begin right now to learn what leadership is all about. Wear your badge of office proudly. It does not automatically make you a good leader. But it identifies you as a Scout who others want to follow if you'll let them by showing leadership.
You are not a finished leader. No one ever is, not even a president or prime minister. But you are an explorer of the human mind because now you are going to try to learn how to get things done through people. This is one of the keys to leadership.
You are searching for the secrets of leadership. Many of them lie locked inside you. As you discover them and practice them, you will join a special group of people skilled leaders.
Good exploring both in this handbook and with the groups you will have a chance to lead.

The Tasks of Leadership

In this ‑section, we will consider several common statements about the people who serve in leadership positions throughout our world. After you have read the statement, decide for yourself whether you feel it is true or false and why you think it is. Here is the first one.

True or false?

The only people who lead have some kind of leadership job, such as chairman, coach, or king.

Do you think that's true? Don't you believe it. It's true that chairmen, coaches, and kings lead, but people who hold no leadership position also lead. And you can find some people who have a leader's title and ought to lead. But they don't.

In other words, you are not a leader because you wear the leader's hat. Or because you wear the patrol leader's insignia on your uniform. You are a leader only when you are getting things done through other people.

Leadership, then, is something people do. Some people inherit leadership positions, such as kings, or nobles, or heads of family businesses. Some are elected: chairman, governor, patrol leader. Some are appointed, such as a coach, a city manager, or a den chief. Or they may just happen to be there when a situation arises that demands leadership. A disaster occurs, or a teacher doesn't show up when class begins, or a patrol leader becomes sick on a campout.

Try this statement. Is it true or false?

Leadership is a gift. If you are born with it, you can lead. If you are not, you can't.

Some people will tell you that. Some really believe it. But it's not so. Leader‑ship does take skill. Not everyone can learn all the skills of leadership as well as anyone else. But most people can learn some of them ‑‑ and thus develop their own potential.

You don't have to be born with leadership. Chances are, you weren't. But you were born with a brain. If you can learn to swim or play checkers or do math, you can learn leader‑ship skills.

How about this statement. True or false?

"Leader" is another word for "boss.”

Well, what do you mean by "boss”? A guy who pushes and orders other people around? No, a leader is not one of those. (But some people try to lead this way.) Or do you mean a boss is somebody who has a job to do and works with other people to get it done? This is true. A leader is a boss in that sense.

True or false?

Being a Leader in a Scout troop is like being a leader anywhere else.

This one is true. When you lead in a Scout troop, you will do many of the same things as any leader anywhere. The important thing now is Scouting gives you a chance to lead. You can learn how to lead. in Scouting. You can practice leadership in Scouting. Then you can lead other groups, too. The skills you will need are very much the same.

What Does a Leader Deal with?

Every leader deals with just two things. Here they are: the job and the group.

The job is what's to be done. The "job" doesn't necessarily mean work. It could be playing a game. It could be building a skyscraper. It could be getting across an idea.

A leader is needed to get the job done. If there were no job, there would be no need for a leader.

The group, such as a patrol, is the people who do the job. And in many cases, the group continues after the job is done. This is where leading gets tough, as you'll see later. Think about this situation. Mark has a lot of firewood to split. There he is, all alone with his ax. He's got a job to do. Is he a leader? We have to say in this situation that Mark won't be leading. Why? No group. There's nobody on the job but Mark. Here's another example. Danny and three of his friends are on their bikes. They have no place to go. They're just riding slowly, seeing how close they can get to each other. Is Danny ‑‑ or any one of the others ‑‑ a leader? From what we know, we have to say no. Why? No job. There's a group of friends, but nothing special to be done. You don't need a leader for that. (You don't need a group, either.)

The Job of a Leader

A leader works with two things: a job and a group. You can always tell when a leader succeeds, because:

1. The job gets done.

2. The group holds together.

Let's see why it takes both. Frank was elected patrol leader. That same week, the patrol had a job cleaning up an old cemetery. It was Frank's first leadership position, and he wanted it to go right. In his daydream he could see the Scoutmaster praising him for the great cleanup job. So when Saturday morning came, Frank and the patrol went over to the cemetery, and Frank started to get the job done.

He hollered. He yelled. He threatened. He called them names. He worked like a tiger himself. It was a rough day, but the cemetery got cleaned up. Frank went home sort of proud, sort of mad, and very tired.

"How'd things go, Frank?" the Scoutmaster asked a few days later.

"Good."

"No problems?"

"No." Frank wondered what he meant by that.

"Oh! Well, a couple of the boys in your patrol asked me if they could change to another patrol. I thought maybe something had gone wrong...”

And that was how Frank learned that getting the job done isn't all there is to leadership. He had really given the group a hard time, and now they wanted to break up. Almost anybody with a whip and a mean temper can get a job done. But in doing it, they usually destroy the group. And that's not leadership. The group must go on. Another new patrol leader called a meeting at his house. Everybody seemed to be hungry when they came. So they got some snacks from the kitchen. Then they tossed a football around. It began to get dark, and one by one they went home. Everybody had fun. But the patrol meeting ‑‑ the job ‑‑ never started. One of the following statements is the message of this section. Which one?

a. Nice guys finish last.

b. Mean guys finish last.

c. Leaders get the job done and keep the group going.

d. Leaders have a special title or badge that makes others like to follow.

We'll take the third one. Will you?