[philmont] Team Building Skills - DEFINE YOUR TEAM

I think John makes a very important distinction in his email post below. And this is one which has befuddled me on this message board for months....

I guess I had the "luxury" of advising a crew from 1 troop. We shared a bus to Philmont from Denver with a Council contingent. A troop crew is VASTLY different in terms of team dynamics from a Council crew.

We all need to be very clear on what we are speaking about with respect to these two types of crews. John's post below points this out in terms of team building. It also goes for everything else: hiking together, tent sharing, load sharing, adult cooperation, pre-Philmont prep, and on and on.....

As I read posts here for 2 years prior to my first trek, I kept seeing conflicting entries. I think many of the conflicts are due to the comparision of experiences of troop crews with council crews as if they were on a level playing field.....which they most certainly are not. So when you ask a Q....mention if your Q relates to a Troop or a Council crew. I think that the question AND the answer are greatly influenced as a result.

(Going back into stealth mode now.)

John Guerin
ASM T650
612G - 2006 crew advisor and hoping for 2008 in any capacity (even as the burro)!!!

-------------- Original message from John LeBlanc <philmontjohn@yahoo.com>: --------------

Bill Parcells is a good coach but is continually frustrated at not putting together a viable team in Dallas. There are many factors open for debate on this one, but the bottom line is the team isn't working. He is capable, but just not with what he has to work with right now. His record of the past shows his capability.

This is not a debate about Bill Parcells, but a lesson to think about when putting together a Philmont crew.

There have been many posts recently about "behavior contracts". Occasionally you may get a bad apple and have to deal with it before it ruins the barrel, but so often the Philmont Trek Crew (the team) is a composite and just haven't had the opportunity to gel as a team before they hit the trail.

There is a lot of time spent on reservations, choosing the right trek, cooking and hiking methods, reserving a shuttle buss, but oftentimes team building is left to evolution.

If left this way, sometimes it works itself out eventually, but more often than not it doesn't.

The troop crew has spent many hundreds of hours in camp together working these things out, but composite crew have not.

It is imperative that the leader of these crews set up team building as it's number one priority above all else. Above hiking methods, cookiong methods, above everything.

There are many good methods to get this done. The business community has come to realize that this is paramount. The military realized it long ago, however their method is a bit forceful for Scouts.

If you want your crew to succeed, invest in team building skills before they hit the trail. It doesn't happen overnight or by accident or by following an instruction manual.

John LeBlanc

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Received on Wed Nov 1 19:40:44 2006