On the Club's org chart, the Counselor sits one rung below the Director and the board. In practice, the gap on paper is misleading. You are the one who spends the most hours with the Pathfinders, who knows each of their nicknames, who first notices the fight that started at camp and the discouragement that has crept into the last few meetings. That spot in the middle of the road brings an art rarely talked about: knowing how to work well with the person above you.
Leading up has a name in the management books (managing up) and deep roots in the Bible. Aaron and Hur held up Moses' arms until sundown. David spared Saul's life even though he had every reason to act otherwise. Neither one became a doormat, and neither one undermined the leader God had placed at the front.
This guide is for you, Counselor, and also for the Director and the parents who follow along closely: loyalty without flattery, disagreement without a fight, and the reason to back a decision you would not have made.
The link that keeps the Club standing
On the Club's org chart, the Counselor sits just below the Director and the board. But the gap on paper is misleading. You are the one who spends the most hours with the Pathfinders, who knows each of their nicknames, who first notices the fight that started at camp and the discouragement that has crept into the last few meetings.
That spot in the middle of the road has a name in the management books: leading up, or managing up. It is the skill of making your leader successful, delivering what was agreed, heading off problems and upholding the leader's decisions before the Unit. A Counselor who masters this is worth gold to any Director.
The Club's atmosphere depends heavily on this link. When the Counselor pulls together with the Director, the Director leads with peace of mind and there is energy left over for what matters: the Pathfinders. When the link grinds, every meeting turns into a negotiation, every order turns into a debate, and the ones who pay the price are the teenagers who just wanted to camp and earn an Honor.
What the Bible calls submission
The letter to the Hebrews is direct about the relationship with those who lead. Hebrews 13:17, in the New International Version, reads: 'Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.'
Notice the reason the text offers: the leader keeps watch over you and will give an account for it. A Director loses sleep over the safety of the camp, the budget for uniforms, the hard conversation with a parent. Your submission does not erase your opinion or turn you into a robot. It gives the Director the foundation to lead without carrying the whole Club on his back alone.
Peter writes in the same vein and speaks straight to the younger ones. In 1 Peter 5:5, in the New International Version: 'In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.' The humility here cuts both ways: the young person submits, and the leader clothes himself in it too. No one is authorized to give orders with arrogance.
Aaron and Hur: the picture of a good counselor
Israel was fighting the Amalekites at Rephidim. As long as Moses held his hands up with the staff of God, the people prevailed; when his arms dropped from exhaustion, the enemy gained ground. Moses was the leader, and even so he could not hold out alone.
Exodus 17:12, in the NIV, records the solution: 'When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up, one on one side, one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset.'
This is the picture of a good Counselor. Aaron and Hur did not take the staff for themselves, did not complain that Moses was weak, did not go looking for another leader. They stood at his side, one on each side, holding up the arm that could no longer hold itself. When you take on a task the Director does not have the energy to touch, when you cover a last-minute meeting, when you carry the load without fanfare, you are being Aaron and Hur. To go deeper into your own role, it is worth revisiting what makes a good Counselor.
Read alsoHow to run the Club leadership team meetingDisagreeing with respect: right time, right place
Disagreeing with the Director is not rebellion. A silent Counselor, who swallows everything and never speaks up, does the Club a disservice. The Director needs your read as the person who is around the Pathfinders every Saturday. The point is where and when to say it.
There is an old rule of leadership that fits the Club perfectly: praise in public, correct in private. If you disagree with a decision, take the conversation to a quiet corner, away from the Pathfinders and, above all, away from the parents. Challenging the Director in front of the troop cracks his authority on the spot and teaches the teenagers that an order is something to be haggled over by shouting.
When it is time to speak, choose your tone. The same principle behind the positive discipline we use with the Pathfinders works between adults: address the decision or the behavior, without attacking the person. Swap 'you messed up again' for 'I got worried about us leaving the trail, can we go over the route together?'. And bring a solution along with the criticism. No Director likes the person who only points out the problem and disappears.
Making the call and pulling together
The moment comes when the Director makes the call, and the decision was not yours. This is where the mature Counselor is set apart from the immature one. Once the board decides, within what is right and safe, your job is to carry it out as if the idea were your own. Pull together, with your body and with your words.
Undermining the Director's authority has many versions, almost all of them subtle. It is the backstage comment ('I was against it, but what can you do'), it is the half-hearted compliance the troop soon picks up on, it is letting the activity fail on purpose just to prove you were right. None of that is loyalty. It corrodes the Club from the inside, and no one comes out ahead, least of all the Pathfinders.
Before the Unit, the Director and you speak with one voice. If the decision caused a problem, you already raised the point in private, in the right place. In front of the Pathfinders, the line is firm and united. That is the difference between a Club the parents trust and a group living in a state of internal war.
Two paths: Miriam and Aaron, David and Saul
The Bible preserved two opposite portraits of how to react to the person above you. The first is in Numbers 12. Miriam and Aaron, Moses' siblings and leaders in their own right, began to speak against him. The pretext was Moses' Cushite wife, but underneath it was jealousy of his leadership: 'Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?'. The divine reaction was harsh. Miriam was struck with leprosy and spent seven days confined outside the camp before she could return.
The second portrait is in 1 Samuel 24. David, already anointed king and unjustly hunted by Saul, had the king at his mercy inside a cave. His men urged him to kill Saul right there. David cut off only the corner of the robe and, even so, felt the weight on his conscience. He said, in 1 Samuel 24:6 (NIV): 'The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.'
| Figure | Attitude | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Miriam and Aaron (Numbers 12) | Criticized Moses behind his back, driven by jealousy of his leadership | Miriam struck with leprosy, seven days outside the camp |
| David (1 Samuel 24) | Spared Saul and honored the office, even while being hunted | A clear conscience and a throne confirmed by God |
Miriam was right on several points and fell anyway, because she attacked the authority behind its back. David had every reason to strike back and chose to honor the office, even though he could not honor Saul's character. The lesson for the Counselor is plain: honoring the Director does not depend on his being perfect. It depends on your understanding that there is an order that keeps the Club standing.
Loyalty is not flattery
Loyalty and flattery look alike from a distance and are opposites up close. The flatterer agrees with everything, praises to your face and criticizes behind your back, and seeks his own comfort by pleasing the boss. The loyal one tells the truth in private, defends the leader in public and seeks the good of the Club above his own image. A wise Director quickly learns the difference: the flatterer vanishes when the boat rocks, the loyal one holds the wheel.
Taking a concern up the chain is part of the job and there is a way to do it. Choose a calm moment, away from the heat of the meeting. Come with facts, not gossip: 'three parents came to me about the departure time' carries more weight than 'people have been complaining'. Bring a suggestion along. And respect the final decision, even if it does not follow your advice. You fulfilled your role by raising the alarm; the responsibility to decide belongs to the office.
Biblical submission has a clear limit, and that limit protects the Pathfinders. If an order puts a child at risk, breaks the law or asks you to lie or cover up something serious, the greater loyalty is to the truth and to the safety of the minors. In those cases, take the matter to the pastor, the Regional or the proper authorities. Honoring leadership never becomes complicity with what is wrong.