Girl Scouts has been building leadership skills in girls since our beginning. How do we do it? By giving girls opportunities to take the lead as they tackle new adventures, build their skills with our badges and awards, develop strong core values, and learn to work together to solve problems. How do we know it works? Because we’ve tested it! (Seriously, we’ve got the data…check out Girl Scouting Works: The Alumnae Impact Study.)

So how can you continue our legacy of leadership with your troop?

Start by inviting others to mentor you! Younger girls need to see it before they can do it. Brownies can invite a Cadette troop to teach them a skill or even earn their Leader In Action (LiA) award by helping the Brownies with a Journey. The Brownies get a chance to learn and spend time with teenagers, and the teenagers earn a mentoring award. That’s a win-win for both groups!

Need more information about the LiA? You’ll find a detailed description of the steps and activity ideas that are needed to earn the award in the Brownie Journeys: Brownie Quest, A World of Girls, WOW Wonders of Water, Think Like an Engineer, Think Like a Programmer, Think Like a Citizen Scientist, and the Outdoor Journey.  Curious about what the steps are? Check out this link for an example from Brownie Quest LiA. You can find the first 3 Journeys in our council shops or check out a copy from one of our G.I.R.L. Resource Centers. The Outdoor and STEM Journeys can be accessed by troop leaders on the Volunteer Toolkit.

After your Brownies have been mentored by others, it’s time start honing their own leadership skills by helping a daisy troop Bridge to Brownie.

When the troop bridges up to Juniors, remind them how much fun they had learning from the Cadettes and helping the Daisies bridge. Ask if they’d like to take the lead again as Junior Aides and help guide a younger troop on a Journey. You can find the Junior Aide requirements in the Junior Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting handbook (like above, you can buy one from our shop or check one out from the G.I.R.L. Resource Center). Girls will be excited when they realize they’re now the experts and can share their skills with younger Girl Scouts. You can even have the girls pick their favorite activities or badges from when they were Brownies and recycle those activities to use with the younger troop. Plus what Daisy and Brownie leader wouldn’t love having another troop help them plan activities for at least three meetings?

And when you hit the Cadette level? It’s your girls’ turn to take the lead with a Brownie troop by earning your own LiA! Make sure to take a minute to remind the girls how far they’ve come (and all they’ve learned) since they started building their leadership skills as Brownies. You’ve come a long way, Girl Scouts!

So what are you waiting for? A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Help your girls take their first step toward becoming amazing leaders, include learning from older girls and guiding younger girls in your troop plans this year!