Junior Leader Training -- White Stag Leadership Development

The Patrol Method

Lord Robert Baden-Powell intuited the dynamic power of the patrol method long before sociologists could prove it worked in youth or adult groups. He writes, "The formation of boys into patrols of from six to eight and training them as separate units, each under is own responsible leader, is the Key..."⁸ This, he felt, was Scouting's most essential contribution to education.

Twenty years later, commenting on the successful use of the patrol method, he says, "The sum of the whole thing amounts to this--every individual in the patrol is made responsible, both in den and in camp, for his definite share in the successful working of the whole."⁹

Patrols enter every area of what we do. While it used to be that one man could hollow out a tree and make a canoe, or perhaps cut the wood and forge the steel required to build a stagecoach, today's society is a maze of complex tasks that create tremendous specialization.

There are few if any individuals who alone could design and build a car, bus or office building--which we all generally use. Cooperation--and patrols, or teams--are the hallmark of our modern society. Civilization is a group effort.

For more information, see Creating the Patrol Method and Follow the White Stag, Applying The Patrol Method.

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Leadership Development and Junior Leader Training -- White Stag Leadership Development

The Patrol Method