The Emerging Program Model

Clear About Their Goals, Girls Want to Be Their 'Best Self'
To learn what girls have to say about the plans for a new Girl Scout program model —a model that will serve as world’s best path to personal growth and leadership development for girls 5-17—GSUSA partnered over the last two years with two top-flight youth market and educational research and strategic consulting firms. Those firms, Just Kids Inc. and SmartyPants, worked with GSUSA’s Program Department and the Girl Scout Research Institute on focus groups and surveys that assessed girls’ thoughts about Girl Scouting’s mission and its program goals, pathways to participation, activities and potential products.

This research involved more than 1,500 girls ages 8-17 both in and outside Girl Scouting. Participants represented all geographic regions of the country, and included urban, rural and suburban populations from 19 states.

Most of the research took place in focus groups with girls, and the discussion in those focus groups centered on building the unique Girl Scout experience. Girls discussed the mission of Girl Scouting: to build “girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.” They also talked about the ways in which they would like to “Discover, Lead and Take Action” through the Girl Scout program. Here are some of the key findings:

• Girls are clear about having a universal goal, and that goal is "to be my best self." Girls' idea of “being my best self” is closely related to building courage, character and confidence and making a difference. For girls, this means being true to themselves, being independent, having a good body image, being a leader, being confident, going to college, giving back to the world, and having large and far-reaching goals, such as ending poverty and hunger and finding a cure for cancer.

• Girls recognize that their own growth and success is dependent upon continually discovering more about who they are and the world around them. In their own words, discovery means many things:

"I want to learn something new … something I could maybe even teach other people."
"You can still learn stuff while you having fun."
"You could learn more about yourself … then about your family … then about your friends … and then about your community [and then the world]."
"You have to be smart to be successful."
"You have to know what you're talking about to be a good leader."
"You can learn what's going on in other parts of the world."

• Most girls want to be leaders: They recognize that being their best means possessing leadership skills and related characteristics, including: problem solving skills, leading by example, self-confidence, the ability to get consensus, being a good follower, helping others with their problems, and taking responsibility.

• Girls define leadership in terms of the qualities a leader possesses and the actions she takes. From a girl's viewpoint, leadership qualities include being a good follower and a good listener, having integrity and a positive outlook or good attitude, being kind, "cool," creative, considerate, fun and flexible. For girls, a leader's actions include resolving conflicts, making decisions, being prepared and organized, taking charge, teaching others, taking responsibility and speaking in front of others.

Girl Leadership vs. Boy Leadership

It's important to note that girls see "girl leadership" as distinctly different from "boy leadership." Boy leadership involves authority, control and ego. Girl leadership is about being a good listener, building consensus and ensuring happiness for all.

In the new model, leadership will be the area where discovery and taking action intersect — it's the bridge between what girls "get” in Girl Scouting through discovery and what girls "give" back by taking action. Above all, the new program model will focus on girls gaining leadership skills through activities that match what girls say they want: to belong and to have fun.

Check back each week for a new update on the Core Business Strategy. Coming next: Realignment: What the Demographers Say