Practical Leadership

     The Boys' Brigade uses different leadership roles and responsibilities which help the organisation meet its objectives.  As a Queen's Badge Candidate you are asked to show your commitment through your leadership. 

     In your own Company there are many jobs waiting to be done.  Assisting with Company Section Programme or Club Night; helping with the Anchor Boys or Junior Section; helping within your Church as part of your Company's contribution, are some of the ideas you may want to explore.  Which are you going to do throughout the next year, and how are you going to be sure that they have been done to the best of your abilities?

     Remember, attending a Section is not sufficient, you should have agreed a clear leadership role and been briefed for it by the officer-in-charge.  You should also seek feedback on your performance to enable learning and improvement to be achieved.

     There are other jobs to be done when you go to camp or some other residential event.  You are asked to show your leadership qualities there too.  Where will you go?; when?; how will you get there?; who will do the cooking?; who will organise the games programme?; are all part of running the event.  For this part of your Queen's Badge programme you have to take your share of responsibilities.

     Leadership skills also have to be learned.  Your Battalion, District, Region and the Brigade, run training courses and you could go to one of them.  Why did you go?; what was it like?; what did you do?; how did you rate the course?; these are the kind of questions you need to be thinking about in this part of “Get Ahead”.

     Now complete the rest of this section adding in as many pages as you need to complete your record.  Remember that you do not need to write down everything you did; you can add photographs, pictures, maps and drawings to show what you did as a leader.

Leadership Training Course
     You should attend an approved course as early as possible for it to be of benefit. Note that Brigade Leadership courses at Carronvale run early in the session and are often over-subscribed!  Discuss the options with your Captain as soon as possible, and make sure you are booked on a course.

     Your adviser may have details of approved courses, but cannot book / reserve places for you. Further details are available from Carronvale.

     If preferred, you may choose a specialist course designed to help their leadership in a chosen activity (eg Band, Gymnastics etc). This must be approved in advance by your Adviser.

Leadership in the Company
      It is generally easier to complete Company Leadership within the Junior Section or Anchor Boys - working with younger Boys, it is much easier to establish and enhance Leadership skills. If it is not possible for you to work in another section of your own Company - please ask your Captain to consider ‘loaning' you to another Company - this has benefits for everybody involved.

     If you intend to work in the Company Section (of your own or another Company), the Target Award class is the most suitable area of service. Wherever possible, a Queen's Badge Candidate should not be used in an unsupervised rôle with his own age group, unless he has strong leadership skills and specific, in-depth knowledge of the subject.

NB     General leadership rôles such as leading a squad (or a tent at camp) are expected of older Boys, and as such do not qualify for this section of the award. Performing a service such as typing the Company magazine, maintaining web pages or running the tuck-shop or camp bank, no matter how much work is involved do not in themselves constitute Leadership, and therefore do not qualify for this section of the award.