THE GROUP COMMITTEE’S ROLE IN THE PROGRAM QUALITY STANDARDS

 

Section Scouters and Section Leadership Teams aren’t on their own in the quest for a quality program full of great, safe Scouting adventures. Group Committees, led by a Group Commissioner, play a fundamental role in coaching and supporting awesome Scouting programs.

 

Ultimately, the purpose of Group Committees is to support Section Scouters and youth.

 

How do Committees know if a Section is facilitating a quality program?

A quality program should surpass youth’s expectations. This can be directly observed by seeing how the Section is using the Four Elements

- Youth Led Activities: Scouting is directed by its youth members not the Scouter leadership.

- Plan-Do-Review: This is a three step system that informs all of the activities on the Canadian Path program.

- Adventure: Scouts explore new things, share new ideas, learn new skills and create new paths.

- SPICES: This acronym stands for; Social, Physical, Intellectual, Character, Emotional and Spiritual. These are the six dimensions of personal growth and development fostered by the Canadian Path program.

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Committee members can use powerful questions to coach and evaluate Sections’ Program Quality assessments and action plans each cycle. As individuals develop their coaching skills, they will be able to intuitively ask their own powerful questions.

 

What should Group Committees do to support Sections?

There are many things that Group Committees can do to support Sections, but in general, they should try to remove any barriers that Sections face in facilitating a great program. Section Scouters should focus on programming and each youth's personal progression. At the same time, the Group Committee supports Sections by ensuring that administrative and volunteer-support tasks occur promptly: finances, fundraising, meeting location bookings, volunteer recruitment, screening, Group events, etc. Group Committees should not, however, lose sight of why these activities happen: to provide the youth of their community with outstanding, safe Scouting experiences. 

To this end, Group Committee meetings should focus on the outcomes that the Group is trying to achieve: a quality program. However, it's essential to know that there is enough money to run the program. The team should remember that this item should not be the focus of the meetings. The focus is on the youth and their program and the Group Committee's support to the youth. Making small changes to each meeting's format can have a real effect on the gathering's tone and refocus your Group Committee on what's important. Discussions can include items such as; inviting youth and asking them how well they think the program is going. You'll find a sample plan later in this document that can help you realign your Group's meetings.