Philmont: Youth leadership and the role of adult advisors

From the first step off the bus upon arrival to the step back on the bus to leave, the youth Crew Leader, not the adult lead advisor, is responsible for leadership.

The three “official” Philmont leadership positions are Crew Leader, Chaplain’s Aid, and Wilderness Pledge Guia. Of these, Crew Leader is, by far, the most crucial position. In consultation with the other scouts and with appropriate advice from the adults, the Crew Leader makes decisions for the crew. We encouraged our Crew Leader to rotate responsibilities for the various jobs between the scouts. For example, each scout was the navigator for a day. This worked well for us as it gave all the scouts ownership in the crew’s success or failure.

This is not to say that adults are just spectators. As crew members, adults owe a responsibility to everyone else and must pitch in to help the crew achieve its goals. On our trek, this meant that I helped hang bear bags, cook dinner, clean dishes, and hang the crew dining fly at various times.

Most adult advisors I observed and visited with understood their role appropriately. But I know from visiting with staff and other advisors that this is not always he case. The most common problem is adults who fail to allow the youth to lead. Adults should not decide when a crew will take a break, where to set up camp, what route to take, or what programs to attend. Of course, adults can advise the crew leader on these matters, but adults should be prepared to abide by the crew leader’s decision even if the adult disagrees (unless the decision is unsafe). 

Indirectly, adult advisors also play an essential role in setting the tone for the crew. If adults are laid back, laughing, and positive, chances are the scouts will take that cue and be positive. If adults are critical of each other in front of the scouts or overly critical of the scouts, a negative vibe will likely take hold of the crew. On Day 1 of the trek, the Philmont General Manager held an advisors meeting, where he advised each of us that we would be confronted with a situation where we would need to force ourselves to smile when we did not want to, but for the sake of the crew, we had to. This was great advice.

A Note on the Importance Advisors Coffee

The staffed camps usually hold an “Advisors’ Coffee” in the evenings, where the adults from different crews can visit with each other and staff. This is an excellent opportunity for adults to recharge and share perspectives. My crew’s adults also held our advisors’ coffee at the unstaffed trail camps. We were not compelled to limit advisors’ coffee to once a day! Sometimes, we would have an impromptu advisor’s coffee under the tarp during an afternoon rainstorm or around a campfire; other times, we would have it during a long trail break. We even had advisors coffee on top of Baldy. These on-trail breaks allowed us to joke around, maintain our sanity, and give space to the scouts to own their trek. So make sure you bring your mugs and coffee.