Developing a Culture of Growth

Categories and Motivations Developed at the Spring Training

This was the capture from our session of the groups identifying the different types of staff worked at camp and the types of activities and motivations they brought with them.

Staff Categories

1 Counselors 1.1 New 1.1.1 Networking 1.1.2 food and board 1.1.3 new things 1.1.4 learn from teaching 1.1.5 escape from norm

1.2 Returning 1.2.1 raise 1.2.2 new responsibiltiy 1.2.3 enjoyed the work

1.3 CIT 1.3.1 keep them out of trouble 1.3.2 Job experience 1.3.3 step up 1.3.4 stepping stone

1.4 Staff in school 1.4.1 resume 1.4.2 meet with people 1.4.3 diversity

1.5 general Work force 1.5.1 more fun at camp 1.5.2 maybe money would be better 1.5.3 less stress 1.5.4 outdoor

1.6 Teachers 1.6.1 extra money 1.6.2 new teaching methods 1.6.3 enjoy the work 1.6.4 good at 2 categories

2.1 counselorfs 2.1.1 hS 2.1.1.1 enthusiastice 2.1.1.2 responsible 2.1.1.3 in touch 2.1.1.4 Subtopic

2.1.2 college 2.1.2.1 more experience 2.2 youth volunteers

2.3 specialists 2.3.1 outgoing team

2.4 administrative 2.4.1 customer service 2.4.2 multiple task 2.4.3 thick skin 2.4.4 Subtopic

2.5 Leadership Staff

2.6 Youth volunteers 2.6.1 passionate 2.6.2 opportunistic

2.7 cooks 2.7.1 sanitary 2.7.2 Subtopic

2.7.3 Subtopic

2.8 Nursing

2.9 Maintenence

2.10 Subtopic

3 categories 3.1 hs 3.1.1 trendy 3.1.2 believeable

3.2 college 3.2.1 more mature

3.3 young adulct 3.3.1 creative 3.3.2 pay check

3.4 seasonal 3.4.1 excited 3.4.2 looking forward 3.4.3 refreshed 3.4.4 committed and loyal

3.5 part time 3.5.1 limited goals and scope 3.5.2 set in their ways 3.5.3 Subtopic

3.6 full time 3.6.1 Subtopic 3.6.2 bigger picture 3.6.3 responsible

3.7 returning 3.7.1 older more mature 3.7.2 familiarity 3.7.3 independent

3.8 volunteers 3.8.1 warm body for ratios 3.8.2 more relateable to campers 3.8.3 train as you go 3.8.4 Subtopic

4 Age groups 4.1 cit 4.1.1 build responsibilities 4.1.2 leadership 4.1.3 fun 4.1.4 future employment

4.2 hs 4.2.1 incentive money 4.2.2 community service 4.2.3 resume 4.2.4 purpose in life

4.3 college 4.3.1 new experience 4.3.2 internship 4.3.3 lifeskills 4.3.4 get them away from home 4.3.5 maybe a major connect 4.3.6 helps define a career path 4.3.7 Subtopic

4.4 specialists

4.4.1 cooks 4.4.2 pationate

4.4.3 divers 4.4.4 Subtopic

5 non students

5.1 parents to be involved 5.2 connect with kids 5.3 flexibilities for life style 5.4 historical backgrounds 5.5 great resource 5.6 temporary workers 5.7 hobby 5.8 helpers 5.9 mediators 5.10 responsibilities taken on

6 HS 6.1 hands on experience 6.2 tranfer 6.3 guidance and support 6.4 know it all 6.5 chance to build on the3ir maturity 6.6 counselor mentor relationships 6.7 open minded 6.8 follow instructions

7 college students 7.1 flexibility for schedule 7.2 internships 7.3 motivatioin 7.4 young at heart 7.5 first or only job experience 7.6 task oriented and time management 7.7 time for unstructured pleasure 7.8 temporary works

8 Junior counselors 8.1 job training 8.2 great potential for coming back 8.3 confidence building 8.4 out of trouble 8.5 HS 8.6 resume building 8.7 social 8.8 time with the kids

8.9 College 8.9.1 resume building 8.9.2 adapt and relate to campers

8.10 Post College 8.10.1 motivated 8.10.2 good attitutde 8.10.3 next steps 8.10.4 opportunity for investment 8.10.5 job development 8.10.6 Subtopic

8.11 Volunteers 8.11.1 Community Service 8.11.2 community needs 8.11.3 feel good feeling 8.11.4 achievement or legacy

8.12 Specialties 8.12.1 Passionate 8.12.2 knowledgeable 8.12.3 creative 8.12.4 convenient for schedules 8.12.5 Subtopic

8.13 Directors 8.13.1 experiences 8.13.2 managment skills 8.13.3 very vested 8.13.4 staff development 8.13.5 deal with parents 8.13.6 customer service 8.13.7 problem solving skills 9 groups 6

9.1 counseling staff 9.1.1 work ethic 9.1.2 long term 9.1.3 works experience 9.1.4 community 9.1.5 worried about money 9.2 admin 9.2.1 experimenting 9.2.2 having fun

9.3 specialists 9.3.1 practiciing your craft 9.3.2 new crafts 9.3.3 different age groups 9.4 operations 9.4.1 how orgs run

9.4.2 maintenence at camp 9.4.3 changing things 9.4.4 quality control

10 Group 9

10.1 HS 10.1.1 high energy like the kids 10.1.2 connect with kids 10.1.3 more education 10.1.4 striving 10.1.5 purpose for their work

10.2 college education 10.2.1 social skills 10.2.2 team building skills 10.2.3 prior experience with kids 10.2.4 removed from the maturity level of kids 10.2.5 diverse from diverse backgrounds 10.3 Post education group

10.3.1 educators 10.3.2 specialists 10.3.3 dedicated 10.3.4 time less of an issue 10.3.5 go to developmental events

11 group 5 11.1

Hs 11.1.1 concerns about college and post hs 11.1.2 social interests 11.1.3 sports 11.1.4 how they relate with older counselors 11.1.5 parental restrictions

11.2 College 11.2.1 career and future plans 11.2.2 major 11.2.3 social interactions 11.2.4 interests 11.2.5 availabilities 11.2.6 socialization with HS

11.3 non college 11.3.1 personal adult and life experience 11.3.2 life skills 11.3.3 mentoring ability 11.3.4 customer service ability 11.3.5 job motivation 11.3.6 level of participation

Growth = Change

Looking at the period of time you have to work each summer if you are running a camp, it’s easy to think of it as a fixed period of time. When we adopt the philosophy that we are in the growth and development business for those working at camp, it may be more helpful to think of the summer as a segment in a longer timeline that represents your relationship with your staff.  Your relationship begins at the moment you hire someone. continues during training, actual camp sessions, camp clean up, and continues when they leave camp and go on to new phases in their life or return to where they left before they came to camp.

Unless you are a counselor, you have more opportunities to influence and connect with staff, than you do campers. You expect your counseling staff to help manage the experiences and potential growth of campers. You have the responsibility of managing the personal and professional growth of your staff. One of your many challenges is getting to know enough about your staff to identify potential paths for growth and change. This is not as difficult as you may think and the answer lies within some basic knowledge that you already have about your staff.

Categorize Your Staff by Job Type and Begin to learn about motivation

Although we like to think of our entire staff as one happy family, the reality is that your staff falls into a number of categories. You have year round staff, seasonal, Counselors, Specialists, Facilities, Kitchen, Nursing, etc.  There are many groups of staff members you have and you develop training programs that are specific for each of their areas of work.  There will be overview training on topics that all should be aware of: (Emergency Preparedness, Evacuation Process, Child Safety, etc) and there will be very job specific training:(Counselor expectations, Lifeguard roles, Kitchen Staff Etiquette). By acknowledging that you have different types of roles at camp, you can begin to see that you also have different types of people in those roles.

Make a list of the top 5 roles at camp. Now, within those roles, see if you can break down the type of staff serving within the role.  As an example, let’s start with Counselors.  Within that role you have High School Students, College Students, and Post Graduates. How are each of those types of counselors different? Each will come from a different experience immediately prior to camp and will be going on to something quite different when they leave.  But as a group, High School Counselors will be similar in their motivation and experience.  By identifying your staff by the types of groups they relate to, it will be much easier to create developmental activities for them.  And more importantly, create actions which will have longer term effects.

Beginning the Process of Building a Culture of Growth for Camp Staff

As we look at the summer camp experience, terms like developmental, growth, life changing, learning, and fun are all connected to and associated with campers.  This makes complete sense because those responsible for camps are also responsible for marketing them to their clients.  And campers (and their parents) are our clients.

Imagine the effect of focusing time and attention on developing every member of your camp team this summer.  In fact, by starting earlier than staff training (even as early as writing your want ads), you can begin a process that will carry you throughout the summer and well into the next year.  Your new Staff Growth initiative could even:

• Lower your recruitment costs
• Provide you with a competitive advantage over other camps and employers
• Help your staff identify and move toward lifetime goals
• Create a year round connectivity with staff

The Key to creating a Culture of Growth is understanding the process of identifying where staff are entering your environment, where they will be going, and what will they be doing after they leave your environment.  Your ability to impact them starts well before they are physically with you. And that’s where our fun begins.