The Girl Scout Leadership Experience
Girl Scouts has always been about leadership, so what makes this new? The new Girl Scout Leadership Experience provides a framework and consistency so all girls have the opportunity to engage in the best leadership experiences available. By modeling authentic, purposeful leadership we can help girls develop their own strong sense of self and their own leadership style. Find out what girls have to say about leadership.
Steps to Becoming a Purposeful Leader
- Discover and develop your own personal leadership story. Determine what leadership means to you, identify the defining moments of your leadership journey, and evaluate how you approach motivating and inspiring others.
- Connect and share your leadership story and your personal approach to influencing change. In partnership with girls, explore tools and techniques for facilitating communication, like cooperative learning, team-building and conflict resolution.
- Take action to develop girls into purposeful leaders by implementing your new tools and techniques, and by applying your own leadership story to help others understand the value of purposeful leadership.
The Three "Keys" to Leadership
- Discover: Girls understand themselves and their values and use their knowledge and skills to explore the world.
- Connect: Girls care about, inspire, and team with others locally and globally.
- Take Action: Girls act to make the world a better place.
All experiences in Girl Scouting incorporate the Discover, Connect, and Take Action keys to leadership. Girl Scout experiences are also, as much as possible, girl led and encourage learning by doing (experiential learning), and cooperative learning. These three processes promote the fun and friendship that have always been so integral to Girl Scouting.
Girls participate in age-appropriate activities based on membership levels defined by Girl Scouts of the USA.
Leadership Journeys
Developing into a purposeful leader is as much about the journey as the destination. The new Girl Scout Journey books helps girls on their journey to leadership. Throughout their experience, girls develop a variety of skills and characteristics, such as positive values, conflict resolution abilities and resourceful problem solving skills. These are short-term and intermediate outcomes. Long term results, or the leadership destination, is a generation of girls who lead with courage, confidence and character.
Short-term and Intermediate Outcomes
You may be wondering how we know that girls are having an effective leadership experience? To gauge the benefits of Girl Scout experiences, facilitators can review the outcomes and the signs of those outcomes.
| Discover Outcomes | Connect Outcomes | Take Action Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
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Long-term Outcomes
Over time, the measurable short-term and intermediate outcomes will set girls on a life-long path to...
- Lead with courage by speaking out on issues they care about and taking active roles in their communities.
- Lead with confidence by making the most of their strengths and feeling empowered to make a difference in their lives and beyond.
- Lead with character by acting with integrity and compassion, making decisions that promote the well-being of themselves and others.
...as they continue to make the world a better place.
