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What’s the heartbeat of an outpost and how can you check the pulse?

Of all the muscles in the body non is more valuable than the heart and yet knowing its heath can seem illusive.  How many of us have known a person, in apparent tip top shape, that has had a heart attack?  Fortunately, technologies in medicine have given us many tools to help evaluate the heath of your heart.  Apple has even gotten into heart check business.  First with a simple pulse and now with an EKG with its watch OS5.  If you experience the feeling of irregular heart beats or skipping heart beats your Apple watch can take an immediate 3-point EKG.  What is that you might ask.  I didn’t have a clue, but my wife has been working as a cardiac nurse for a very long time.  Each point gives a slightly different picture of the whole and when put together can give a very accurate assessment of the heart’s overall strength.

So, what are some ways you measure the pulse and rhythm of an Outpost’s heart?  Three points that can be very effective are: Advancement, Engagement, and Follow-up.

Advancement

This seems like the obvious one but how effectively are you not only keeping track of your boy’s advancement, but how often do you recognize their achievements and how can they see their score.  At our Outpost we use Navigator and we do our best to keep this up to date.  Up to date is the key here.
All of us have learned in Ranger Basics that a boy’s attention is roughly their age.  If that’s true than keeping their records up to date so that you can give them credit for their advancements in a timely manor is huge.  This keeps the excitement level high and maintains a competitive atmosphere.  Recognize your rangers as close as possible to the time they complete the work.  We award merits every five weeks.  We do hold on to the medal awards for our indoor rally or COAs.
Get the scoreboards up.  We have talked about this on several other episodes, but it can not be overstated.  We all play differently when we keep score.  Get creative, have fun, but get it up.

Engagement

This may be a bit harder to measure but it can be done.  We always print worksheets for each merit or keep hands on project carefully labeled so that we can track progress.  We also print and store copies for those boys that are absent so that they have every opportunity to catch up.
Take time to dissect every step of your merits and look for opportunities where the boys can get personally or collectively engaged.  The merit materials from TraClub does a great job with this, but every Outpost is different.
At the end of the night take 5 minutes with your team and talk about the engagement of the group.  Remember, behind every set of eyes is a story.  Engagement or the lack of engagement can give you a glimpse of that story.

Follow-up

This has been one of the areas that has most impacted our Outposts growth.  Know who is not there, find out why they weren’t, and help them get caught up.  This speaks to the whole family and lets parents know how much you care about their boy’s success.  Also, keep a prayer list and remember to ask about needs that are date specific.
So, if you want to avoid an Outpost heart attack, take the pulse regularly.  Three touch-points that can really give you a good reading are: Advancement, Engagement, and Follow up.