Girls First, Girl Led

In light of our upcoming new program, “Girls First”, here in Canada, I was interested in the perspective offered by a long-time Girl Scout leader, Carol Lee Spages, who founded GreenBlood News in 2006. She has kindly given me permission to reprint her post here, in its entirety.

WHAT IS GIRL-LED? MY PERSPECTIVE - Carol Lee Spages, GreenBlood News

For over 20 years I had either been a troop leader of levels from GS Brownies through Ambassadors. There was never a time when I did not have a girl-led troop...even before "girl-led" was the buzz word. If GS adults are sensitive to their position in the troop, they should always be using girl-led as the defining way to manage the program. Many many years ago before "girl-led", GSUSA published a little book about leading a troop. One of the pictures that always stuck with me was one of an adult pulling a chain of girls holding hands. The leader was straining to pull them along and the girls looked unhappy. The caption was "leading". Another picture showed an adult standing to the side of a group of girls walking along all together. Everyone had smiles on their faces. The caption was "guiding". Those pictures became my guiding images of what a leader should look like.

If you are not familiar with Edith Macy, it is the GSUSA conference center in Briarcliff Manor, NY. It is where many national and council staff people go to receive training. I have been there over 20 times both as a volunteer and council staff person (I was the adult development director and special programs manager for 24 years). One of the sessions was on a new program where "girl-led" was introduced as the "new" way to manage a troop.

The participants had a big discussion on what "girl-led" meant. Turns out it simply means what I had always done with the troops I led. Listen to the girls...really listen. Help them set their own goals. What are their interests? Do they want to do a lot or do less? I always tell people if the girls leave with a smile and come back the next meeting, you are doing a good job. It does not matter how many awards are earned, how full the backs of their uniforms are with patches, how many trips they have been on... What matters is that they have learned to embrace the principles of the Girl Scout Promise and Law. They have learned to seek new challenges, explore their world as they have never done before, and found their own voice.

GS Daisies are girl-led very differently than GS Ambassadors. The littlest ones need lots of oversight. By the time the girls are Ambassadors, they should be running the troop, seeking their own resources, facilitating for their own program elements, managing the finances, and the adults are simply making sure the policies, standards, and guidelines of the organization are being followed.

Girl-led has ALWAYS been the way a troop should be led. From the inception of the program to today. A good leader should always listen to the girls. The troop does not "belong" to the adults. It "belongs" to the girls. It always has been that way.

Unfortunately, I have seen troops in my own town where the adults were IN CHARGE. There was a lot of stress on how many awards earned, how far did they travel, how many fun patches can be crammed on a uniform, how many pictures can they get in the newspaper. Competition for the "best troop" in town got heated. Really, all these things do not matter. What matters is what the girls want. That is "girl-led". Adults oversee with a gentle hand that moves further and further back as the girls mature into their roles as girls leading.

Thank you, Carol Lee. My feelings are similar, and I think it is one of the biggest struggles Guiders face – how to give control and decision making to the girls. It will be fascinating to see how GGC rolls this out. If anyone has ever read “Scouting for Boys”, or any history books about our movement, they will see that it primarily started out with the KIDS getting together, wanting to play the jolly game of Scouting, and inviting a trusted adult to be their mentor and sponsor. Hard to think of today’s youth in that light, eh? Have we “programmed” that skill and initiative out of our kids? Interesting thought – and I look forward to reading YOUR perspective in the comments! Thanks again, Carol Lee. (GreenBlood News has a Facebook page as well as a Yahoo group.)

Till next time,

North Owl