Last summer, Arrowmen from around the nation gathered at Philmont Training Center to recreate a new, modernized Lodge Leadership Development (LLD) to help improve their programs.
The rewritten LLD program is a fresh, innovative, and simple way to deliver quality training. Each of the sessions and supplemental learning materials have been rewritten. In addition, there is now an algorithm which generates a list of suggested sessions to teach based on your Lodge’s Journey To Excellence (JTE) scores. The tool is on the OA website at oa-bsa.org/training and gives you recommended sessions based on whether your lodge wants to host a half-day, full day or weekend long LLD. Don’t be afraid to have fun and incorporate team building exercises into the training mix! A weekend of wall-to-wall training will not be as fun so be sure to include time for recreation, fellowship, and make the weekend unique to your lodge.
For the training sessions, not only have all the materials been revamped, but a new genre of sessions have been created. There are now two categories: flagship sessions and general sessions. Flagships are big concept sessions meant to be taught to as many ears as are willing to listen. Flagship sessions include building and maintaining relationships and member retention.The general sessions are meant to be taught in breakout sessions to specific groups to whom the content would most benefit. For example, budget creation and management would most likely be a session taught to lodge officers.
Another point this program stresses is you do not need to restrict the attendance to only the lodge executive committee. Lodges can invite more people than just lodge officers to train at the LLD. Consider inviting past lodge chiefs and section officers or lodge officers from other lodges to help you train so your lodge officers can get something out of it too. There is additional information about how to plan a new LLD in the guidebook soon to be released online at oa-bsa.org/training. Also, additional resources that will be posted to the national training website are branding and supplemental materials, including official PowerPoint templates, certificates of completion, and a fully customizable LLD patch! The LLD program is a wonderful way to help launch your lodge into the next level of performance.