Welcome Aboard! Advice for New Girl Scout Leaders

Are you a new Girl Scout Leader?  Are you the helium-handed one who responded when the recruiter said that they needed a leader at your daughter's school or in your community?  Did you finally figure out that there wasn't going to be a Girl Scout troop for your daughter unless you started one?  Are you someone who didn't get enough Girl Scouts as a kid, so you decided to be a leader, even though you don't have a daughter?  It doesn't matter which (if any) of these is true, welcome to the club.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have (17 year volunteer). 

My first words of advice are "find a tribe".  A reliable co-leader you enjoy working with is worth her weight in gold.  A Cookie Mom who handles that whole project is priceless.  But don't stop there.  Make friends with other leaders in your area, whether at your school or in your Service Unit.  Do things together when you can.  Bounce ideas off each other either in person or in a closed SU facebook group.  Whatever problems you are facing, others have faced and while council trainers have to spout the party line, your fellow leaders will tell you what programming their girls have enjoyed, and what they have not. 

Planing an Event: Coding Basics

One thing many leaders on facebook groups seems to want is more programming provided by someone else.  The girls enjoy a chance to do something different, and you don't have to be the one planning it, making sure everything you need is available, and otherwise running the show.  Going to events planned by others also allows your girls to experience things you aren't comfortable leading.  However, to get events run by "others" you either have to pay a professional a lot of money for what could turn out to be a so-so program, or you need something that someone inside GS offers, basically at cost.  This post is to encourage you, the ordinary leader, to take the lead on providing an event for girls in your Service Unit, with the hope that another leader will do the same, with a different topic.  Supporting each other, we can offer our girls more programming for less money than if we depend on outside vendors or council. While the post is written leader-to-leader, the steps involved are similar to those that would be used if an older girl troop wanted to do programming for younger girls as a money-earning project.

Resources for Meeting Planning

Girl Scout leaders are always looking for help with meeting planning. This page is an attempt to create a one-stop list of handy resources, with some editorializing about the type and quality of help given.

GSUSA and Council Resources

Volunteer Toolkit (VTK)

 VTK is GSUSA's online leader's manual.  Most if not all councils give their leaders access via the "My GS" tab on the council website.  Yes, VTK can be clunky but it does seem to have improved since it was first implemented.

To use VTK you first have to create a year plan.  I recommend choosing the create your own option, and then adding the meetings for a handful of badges that interest you.  Honestly, I don't think it works well as a planner so I don't use it for that, but as a resource, I think it has some good ideas.