Engaging Multigenerational Staff During Training - Camp Code #71

That’s a Wrap for Season 7 of Camp Code!

As summer approaches, the Camp Code season finale is here!

Multigenerational staff may not be applicable to your camp today, but it absolutely will happen at some point, and what better time to have this in the back of your mind as summer camps eagerly way and adjust to many new guidelines being put in place as the worldwide pandemic continues. 

Multigenerational staff means that some younger staff may still live at home, not be used to doing laundry, or that their summer at camp may be their first job. At the same time, the older staff probably have car payments, or a mortgage or is used to going to bed at an earlier time than 18-year-olds.

Additionally, there is a physical layer to an older generation staff where they may not be able to crawl on the ground, or have other limitations. In Ruby’s experience, she asked herself during any game “can rock paper scissors resolve this” and in most cases, the answer is yes and most people at any age can play rock paper scissors, so it is a great alternative to something like crawling under someone’s legs in freeze tag. 

As we wrap our season, we hope all you leaders are ready for what summer brings us. We all know camp will be different this summer, but camp is still at heart, summer camp leaders. For everyone who has tuned in to this season, have a great summer and we look forward to more conversations in the fall. 

Thanks for the season, friends! 

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Gabrielle Raill

Even though this best practice is from Gabrielle, it was Ruby that brought it up on another podcast. When you are designing camp training for the summer, bring your leadership in on the conversation. Send your leadership team an outline of the staff training and some of the decisions behind what you want to keep and what you want to change. Open the dialogue with your leadership team to see how decisions are made. 

Your Hosts:

Super Staff Training - with Emma Kennedy - Camp Code #70

Ruby Compton + Emmy Kennedy = Staff Training Brilliance!

Switching things up this week, Ruby is on her own interviewing the fantastic Emma Kennedy, Director of  “Camp La Grande Aventure…en Anglais” summer camp, from Saint-Donat, Quebec, Canada. Camp La Grande Aventure….en Anglais is an English camp for francophones. Emma’s camp is located close to Gabrielle’s Camp Ouareau, Emma and Gab share many of the summer camp leadership tricks and tools. In this episode, Ruby and Emma dissect summer camp training and the importance of starting training, before training officially starts. 

Keeping in touch before camp’s arrival is something that is now a top priority. Touchpoints with your teams prior to the start of camp allows your team to collaborate right from the start. The current pandemic has reinforced what camps already do, engage staff, engage early, or in Beth’s words…. Frontload! 

Another great idea Emma brings to Camp Code is the idea of “starting fresh”. When working with your leadership team, remove your past schedules and training materials and allow your leadership team to think outside of the box. That older material is always there for you to lean on, but allowing your leadership team to collaborate on what skills are required to be a good counsellor and what other training tools would allow your leadership team to succeed, and your camp to have another great summer. 

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Emma Kennedy

During staff training, take an evening offsite to do something as a group. A good example is to take your team out for ice cream and allow your team to talk, get to know one another and collaborate outside of the camp environment. 

Guest:

Your Host:

Keeping it Drama Free When the World is Drama - Camp Code #69

Put out the spark before it becomes a dumpster-fire. Give your staff the tools to avoid and work through drama.

Summer camp staff are usually a tight-knit group. As well, the expectations of a happy go lucky summer with friends vs the hard reality of living together in community smack into each other. This type of cosmic splatter happens to any and every organization at one point or another. As leaders, it is our goal to manage that state of cosmic distraction. We work from having differences and bring our community from disruption to resolution and work to land on collaboration.

Working with people is complicated, you have to set the expectations at the beginning of staff training. As Beth says, by frontloading, it is easier for your staff to reach those attainable goals.

When you are faced with challenges, you can separate these in the two steps of analyzing the situation and work together to resolve issues. To do this, you can break the “views” into a quadrant so you can have a better understanding of other people's perspectives. An example of a view would be campers vs parents vs directors vs staff and dissecting each perspective and how each view can influence the outcome of your resolution.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Beth Allison

Keeping camp drama free is going to be a challenge. If you flip this around and be the challenger, you can reward your staff who best made it through the week without any drama! Beth recommends a pin, keychain, bracelet or a t-shirt of a llama. Perhaps call it the “No-drama Llama” and make it visible to open it up as a discussion piece between staff and campers. 

Your Hosts:

Discussing #metoo at Camp - Camp Code #68

Giving staff the tools to be able to have one of the most important conversations of their lives & directors the tools to make their culture even safer.

This week, our hosts Gabrielle, Beth and Ruby explore the impact that the #MeToo movement has had on summer camps. 

As summer camp leaders, empowerment begins with you. Educating people and Sexual harassment policies are not enough. Camps need to outline the policies and create a dialogue to ensure staff are empowered to act when they recognize something inappropriate. We need to realize that not everyone is going to be comfortable enough to speak up, we must find other ways for staff to feel empowered to share or point out uncomfortable situations.

Training empowerment is not easy and neither is the conversation around sexual harassment. This episode was designed to help you cultivate your approach and build your community on trust and respect. Have a listen as Gabrielle, Beth and Ruby dissect the frameworks around these conversations. 

A small shift in the way you approach the subject will make a big difference. 

Best Practice for Leadership TrainingThis one is simple; Choose to communicate rather than to assume. We all know what assumptions do!

Your Hosts:

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Ruby Compton

This one is simple; Choose to communicate rather than to assume. We all know what assumptions do! When you feel something is unsettling or something you have questions about, it may lead to an assumption. Instead of assuming, lean in and ask a question to understand more. This will help us handle conflicts in a more constructive way.

Your Hosts:

Training Staff to Transition from Frontline to Leadership Team - Camp Code #67

How to help your future leaders see their future at camp!

Are you like Gab? Does your camp have that special “little black book?”.

You know, the one where you keep all the names of the campers and young staff that you just know will be great leadership team members someday?

As directors, we are always looking out for the future. We do this because the earlier you can identify who may eventually take on the senior roles at camp, the earlier that you can start to help them realize their potential and hone their skills.

How you do that is a whole other story - and it depends on the specific person. If they are a keener who recognizes their skill and may be a little over-ambitious or cocky, how can we help them understand the realities of the job they want and give them the patience they are lacking? Conversely, what happens if that person doesn’t realize their potential? What resources and experiences should you give them to not force them, but guide them to the idea that they have a prosperous camp career ahead of them?

It’s hard - but it’s also a good thing Gab, Beth and Ruby aren’t shy about tackling hard issues!

Tune in to this episode to give you over 40 minutes of great ideas that you can implement both now and this summer to plant the seeds of potential for your future leadership staff.

Have a listen!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Jacqui Raill (via Gabrielle Raill)

Raincoat treats - reminds staff that your rainy day programs need to be as good if not better than your sunny day programs. Put a reminder in the camp staff's raincoat pocket so they have a reminder later in the summer to keep the rainy program full of treats!

Your Hosts:

Staff Who Aren't Great at the Very Beginning - Camp Code #66

Not everyone is an all-star camp staff at the beginning. We need to help them get there!

As camp leaders, we’ve all been there. 

We've all hired staff that are great on paper, but who just didn’t perform the way we thought they would. 

However, just because they may not be starting out the way you hoped, doesn’t mean they cannot become the great camp leader you were hoping they would be. 

To help them, and your whole team succeed, start by frontloading information to your staff. Use this time to ensure your expectations are clear right from the beginning. If your staff are not aware of what is expected of them, it’s on the Directors, not the staff! 

By building trust in your staff, in particular, some of the challenging staff; you are able to connect with them so you can be truthful and address what needs to be addressed. As well, keep an eye on self-esteem levels. If you can identify when self-esteem is low, you can seize these moments to promote camp leadership and shape weaker staff to be leaders! When developing trust, there are 4 key concepts that can be used to help develop your staff:

  • Explain things clearly 

  • Ask questions

  • Involve staff in decisions and discussions 

  • Appreciate them for the work they do! 

For more tips and tricks, have a listen!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Ruby:

Ruby's plea to Camp Directors of the world. Format your staff training schedule to how it looks during the summer. Do your best to make the timing match up as closely as you can so they start to understand what the camp day looks like. You can add as many details as you want, or keep detailed information in other places around camp, but do your staff this small service and it will make a huge difference!

Your Hosts:

Staff Meetings Can Be Staff Training - Camp Code #65

Make your meetings so extraordinary, your staff will actually look forward to them!

How’s that for a challenge?

At camp, we have the awesome privilege to get to inject every single moment with creativity and find new ways to engage our staff and campers. So why should meetings be any different?

All meetings have a framework to follow to make any meeting successful. The basics are fairly simple, use an agenda, frontload the expectations of the meetings, and make sure it has a clear purpose. Some simple goals to take into consideration are what you can learn, achieve or solve during the meeting. 

Staff retaining information is another thing that needs to be considered. Meetings can easily become repetitive and valuable information for staff can become easily forgotten. Engaging staff is a key leadership ability to help your staff retain information. The way you deliver your information has a great impact on what information will be retained.

  • One of the best ways to kick off camp meetings is to begin with some singing or games. These add positivity to the room and allows your team to get focused in a more positive environment

  • Use visuals - Staff are more likely to retain pertinent information when charts, wheels, pictures, or other visual tools are used

  • Don’t use rest hour - Rest hour is a sacred moment for your campers and staff, let them recharge

  • Get staff members to talk about great moments in camping (GMICs), it will get your staff to reflect 

  • Ask questions - How can I support you? - what campers are you struggling with? -  what's the best part of the day? - this will engage your staff and collectively work to resolve challenges.

  • Get your staff to take notes! - Be obvious for important notes, say things like “Write this down”

  • Recap your meetings - it gave one more opportunity for the staff to catch something they missed.

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Beth:

What do I need to remember about my age group?

Before your next group of campers arrive, have your team talk about what they need to remember when it comes to their specific age-group. Have them share their wisdom and remind one another to adjust the way you communicate, interact, and supervise them based on the age of campers. Example: If you have 8 year old campers this week, remember that they need concrete instructions.

Your Hosts:

Culture Shock and Training International Staff - Camp Code #64

How to help your domestic and international shock acclimatize to your camp.

The full ensemble is back! 

In this week’s episode Gabrielle, Beth and Ruby dive in to explore the culture shock of staff and developing techniques to train international staff. International staff members are a wonderful addition to your team, and, it takes a little extra work on your part! On top of the usual onboarding, there’s more intention that needs to go into the way that you help that staff member develop initial relationships with senior staff and ensure that they are feeling comfortable and valued within the camp community. 

Being valued is something that every employee finds desirable. As a leader, it is up to you to find ways to make your staff feel valued. When hiring international staff, there are a lot of things to take into consideration: 

  • Having conversations about cultural differences between your international staff and the country you are in

  • Showcase the international staff’s culture, by introducing their food, games and songs to your staff

  • Assign a staff ambassador to international staff, make the ambassador your go-to person.  

  • Before your international hire arrives, find a camp alumni to sponsor this hire, so they could write to them at camp and be part of their camp family

For more tips and tricks, tune in to this episode!

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best Practice

Credit: Ellen Nash - Camp Northland B’nai Brith

It’s important that you look every single staff member in the eyes every single day. By doing this, you let the staff know that you see them and acknowledge them for their efforts.

Always have a staff snack in the evening as pretty much all of the staff show up and do as Ellen does and serve as many staff members as you can. By serving the staff, Ellen gets the opportunity to greet them, socialize and thank folks for their work each day.

Your Hosts:

Thanks to our sponsor for this episode:

This Go Camp Pro podcast is sponsored in part by CampGig - CampGig is more than just a job board, CampGig is designed to be the most useful matching/search tool for camps and camp staff. Camps can sign up today to scan and search through CampGig’s vast selection of candidates. If you’ve ever wanted an “easy-button” for finding your next great camp staff, then head over to CampGig.com and set up your camp’s profile today.

Training for the Transition from Camper to Staff - Camp Code #63

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How do you train the staff of tomorrow? Look no further than to your campers!

You might notice that this week, Ruby is steering the Camp Code ship by herself! Not to worry, the triumphant trio will be back next episode, and you’re going to love this one! 

Tune in to hear Ruby’s interview with Dan Davis, the Camp Director of Camp Rockmont. Dan has dedicated over three decades as a camp leader and has an abundance of knowledge to share with us. 

Transitioning Campers to Staff starts early on in your camp journey. Dan talks about doing little things such as putting returning campers further from the dining hall or the beach and giving them the slight responsibility of having to walk that much further and still being punctual for meals and activities. 

Have you ever wished you had a second chance at a job Interview? Dan talks about his experience with giving staff a second chance at an interview. Sometimes it can be eye contact or even slight body language that can make an interview start to go sideways. Dan and Ruby talk about getting a do-over and stopping an interview when things are going wrong, but taking that pause to address whatever it is that is not going well, then giving the opportunity to the potential staff to restart the interview process. If a potential staff member accepts the do-over and is able to make the small adjustments to have a better interview, it is a good indicator that you are interviewing someone that is capable of change, accepts criticism and most importantly, is really interested in the role they are applying for! 

We hope you love this episode of Camp Code! If you do, please consider subscribing to the show, and leaving us a rating in your Podcast app. It’s SO easy, just head to https://ratethispodcast.com/campcode

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Ruby:

Never miss the opportunity to talk about reminding your staff to sit up, and take a deep breath when sessions are going long. What happens to the brain when you sit up and take a breath of fresh air can really get the body stimulated again. A bonus tip for today is to try to start every training with questions to be answered. This will allow both the trainer and trainee to understand that at the end of the session, a certain question is to be answered...creating a partnership between everyone involved.

Your Hosts:

Special Guest

Thanks to our sponsor for this episode:

This Go Camp Pro podcast is sponsored in part by CampGig - CampGig is more than just a job board, CampGig is designed to be the most useful matching/search tool for camps and camp staff. Camps can sign up today to scan and search through CampGig’s vast selection of candidates. If you’ve ever wanted an “easy-button” for finding your next great camp staff, then head over to CampGig.com and set up your camp’s profile today.

Conflict Between Staff - Camp Code #62

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Because conflict is going to happen, people!

The Camp Code crew is back for their very first episode of 2020!

To ring in the new year, this episode is filled with great tips and tricks, helping to give staff the tools to deal with conflict. Gab dives into an array of acronyms such as the A.C.T Program - Awareness, Communication and Together, and V.I.P - Validate feelings, Investigating and Problem-solving. She also goes in-depth talking about The power of mirroring and how to use mirroring to build connections with people. 

Ruby talks about the importance of dealing with conflict in person. Too often, conflict involves emotions, and emotions cannot be shared over text, so having face to face discussions are the keys to success. As Camp Directors, it is important to equip your staff to some conflict management work for you. Your staff need the practice, and you cannot do it all! 

Beth provides listeners with a ton of insight and explains that EVERYONE must take proactive steps to handle conflict. Personality tests are something that we should all take a various stages of life, camp leadership is one of those times and here is one Camp Codes favourites: True colors personality test. We are all going to be faced with it at some point, so Beth explains some key improvisational negotiation tactics: 

  • Let people tell their story

  • Bring a reality check to the table

  • Identify the true impediment. 

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Ruby:

When dealing with conflicts, Show awkward moments video to kick things off. These people all lived through these awkward moments, so you can get through your conflict conversations! 

Your Hosts:

Thanks to our sponsor for this episode:

This Go Camp Pro podcast is sponsored in part by CampGig - CampGig is more than just a job board, CampGig is designed to be the most useful matching/search tool for camps and camp staff. Camps can sign up today to scan and search through CampGig’s vast selection of candidates. If you’ve ever wanted an “easy-button” for finding your next great camp staff, then head over to CampGig.com and set up your camp’s profile today.

Best Practices for Continuing Education for Returning Staff - Camp Code #61

Keep your returning camp staff passionate and invested with continuing education opportunities

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The Camp Code team would like to wish all of our listeners a Happy New Year! As we start ringing the bells to bring on the start of the 2020 Camp Year, Ruby, Beth and Gabrielle give you the best practices for continuing education for returning staff.

Investing in staff throughout the year is a key component to their success. Lack of growth opportunities is one of the key reasons for employee turnover. As employers, if you continue education, you will get highly educated staff, bringing new ideas to the table. Happy camp staff are loyal and this is shown in their productivity. As a benefit for staff, having continued education will allow them to gain different opportunities at camp, enhance self-image and have a positive impact on life. One of Beth’s ideas is to poll staff throughout the winter to see what they would like to learn. Based on that, you can develop a learning day for staff to focus primarily on what they actually want to learn. 

Ruby talks about building on an idea she remembers from school when you could win the chance to be Principal for the day. For Ruby, this meant pizza at lunch and not confining to school uniforms, but if you expand upon that idea and develop a Director for the day, you can incorporate this into your program and allow returning staff to get insights on what it takes to become a Camp Director. 

Have a listen to get all the tips and tricks from these pros!

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Gab:

Have you ever had some great returning staff who are more than qualified for their role, but who are showing signs of disinterest in some of the summer camp training sessions you are running? One idea is to put these staff in a group and have one of them lead where they go around camp, planting flags around spots where they learned life lessons. On the flags, they can write the story of their lesson. What this will do is throughout your summer leadership training sessions, your staff will see the flags, read them and think about what camp does for them. At the end of your sessions, have your new staff go around and plant the same flags, but this time, write down what life skills they would like to learn at camp.

Your Hosts:

Thanks to our sponsor for this episode:

This Go Camp Pro podcast is sponsored in part by CampGig - CampGig is more than just a job board, CampGig is designed to be the most useful matching/search tool for camps and camp staff. Camps can sign up today to scan and search through CampGig’s vast selection of candidates. If you’ve ever wanted an “easy-button” for finding your next great camp staff, then head over to CampGig.com and set up your camp’s profile today.

Building Self-Esteem in our Camp Staff - Camp Code #60

All behaviour is a result of self-esteem. So let’s start from there.

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The most basic human desire is to be able to fit in. In this episode, our hosts dive into stereotypes, managing life pressures and teaching our staff how to build self-esteem, create their potential and give them the superpowers required to battle any self-esteem issue. 

As Ruby identifies, in order for summer camp leaders to teach self-esteem, it is important to always start with yourself. Take the time to learn your triggers that affects your mood and your view. After paying attention and awareness to your own mental health, it will allow you to grow to then be able to teach your staff.

Low self-esteem can trigger negativity, and can at times overpower the words of leaders at camp. Gabrielle explains a method she uses called the “SAS”. Stop what you’re doing, approach appropriately, speak kindly. In Gabriel’s experience, it is the speak kindly portion that promotes self-esteem. It’s about taking the conversation and add a flare of positivity. 

For all the great tips from Gabrielle, Beth and Ruby, have a listen to this episode. 

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Ruby:

Put an instructor who is willing to be vulnerable and says a challenging situation they dealt with and sets up what the challenge was. Describing the situation, they get the counsellors and leaders in the room to ask other questions to gather information from the instructor. All the participants then discuss what they would have done in groups. Afterwards - the instructor describes what they did to manage the situation, and using the info from the staff, adding how they would change their response if the situation were to arise again.

Shout-out to http://beetlesproject.org/ for the inspiration for this tip.

Your Hosts:

Thanks to our sponsor for this episode:

This Go Camp Pro podcast is sponsored in part by CampGig - CampGig is more than just a job board, CampGig is designed to be the most useful matching/search tool for camps and camp staff. Camps can sign up today to scan and search through CampGig’s vast selection of candidates. If you’ve ever wanted an “easy-button” for finding your next great camp staff, then head over to CampGig.com and set up your camp’s profile today.

Building Trust with Staff - Camp Code #59

It All Starts With Trust!

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Managing summer camp staff, no problem...managing summer camp staff that don’t trust one another, that is where the challenge lays. Having staff sharing information, collaborating and working toward common goals is the foundation of trust and can bring the best out of your staff. Beth defines trust as reliance on the character, ability, strength or truth of someone or something. Breaking that down, trust means that you rely on someone else to do something, to the extent that you are willing to put yourself on the line for that thing. Trust is what brings teams together, so in this episode Gabrielle, Beth and Ruby breakdown how to develop trust within your team. 

Below are some tips on how to develop trust with your staff, we encourage you to listen in for more on...

  • Starting with online meet and greets

  • Using staff training as a job interview for the Camp Director. Use it as a way to work for your staff to earn their trust

  • Work with your staff to build connections. Set the expectations with senior staff, and have them work with new staff to build connections and confidence

  • Because I said I would - a TED talk on making promises, keeping them and the honour of our word

Have a listen to hear about the great list of tricks and tips on how we can engage our staff and develop trust ultimately building great staff for your summer camp.  

Leadership Training Best Practice

From Beth:

Align your words with your actions.

When you notice your staff doing something that they maybe shouldn’t be doing, try asking “So, what’s your plan?”. You may be surprised by their thoughts and ideas and it will help maintain trust!

Your Hosts:

Thanks to our sponsor for this episode:

This Go Camp Pro podcast is sponsored in part by CampGig - CampGig is more than just a job board, CampGig is designed to be the most useful matching/search tool for camps and camp staff. Camps can sign up today to scan and search through CampGig’s vast selection of candidates. If you’ve ever wanted an “easy-button” for finding your next great camp staff, then head over to CampGig.com and set up your camp’s profile today.

The Indoor Generation - Camp Code #58

Teach your staff and campers the value of #getoutside

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Stop reading these show notes and just get outside!

Just kidding - you can give it a read.

So far this season we have discussed the adjustments to camp, and the impact on how this generation is being labelled as the “indoor generation”. Over the past few decades, children's relationships with the great outdoors have changed drastically. We know that parents have transformed from allowing their kids to roam outside free to be worried about children's safety, making our jobs even more difficult as we help develop summer camp leaders and teach our staff about the amazing benefits of spending time outside.

Gabrielle, Beth and Ruby are back and ready to discuss new ways to get you leaders where they belong ...outside! 

Some of these hot topics are listed below, tune in to find out more. 

  • There are Ninja Warriors protecting the forests

  • For the love of nature: Knowledge, Play and Do 

  • Find the Joy of the Outside

  • Doing “nothing” outside to develop your senses

Leadership Training Best Practices

From Gab and one of her friends:

“Treat your life like you have one”.

Create boundaries and systems to help you and your staff remember that there is indeed a life outside of camp. Don’t let your identity get wrapped up in your job. This will make you a happier, healthy person with clearer perspectives.

Your Hosts:

Adjusting to Camp Culture - Camp Code #57

Camp is weird! Let’s help staff navigate.

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Building off of what we learned from Episode 56, we wanted to focus on some of the findings our Camp Directors friends came across this past summer. Focusing on the outside world, and fitting in on some the cultures we develop at camp, we want to focus on some guidance to help prepare your staff for a summer at camp. 

Our hosts Beth Allison, Ruby Compton and Gabrielle Raill dig in to the following topics: 

  • Empowering the staff.. More and more, parents are calling to ask questions about contracts and/or asking for time off for their kids. We want to empower the staff, and are always looking for ways for staff to be accountable for their own employment.

  • Cellphones are a crutch that is a part of our culture, however; at camp it can interfere with the important connections that get created at camp.

  • Vaping!

  • Sleep habits, reflecting on the research of sleep and implementing these with staff

  • Moving from living alone, to having interaction all of the time and how we get staff to welcome being in reach with people at all times.

Leadership Training Best Practices

Overcoming the cell phone issue as a staff with a joy list

Gather the staff together with 5 flip chart papers and markers. Get the staff talking and adding things to categories on sheets like “this made me smile”, “this makes me happy”, “this was a memory or magical moment that I remember most”.

The kicker: Then ask them, “how many of these moments happened because of a phone?”

This can open up a conversation about your cell phone policy and how phones can help or hinder connection.

Your Hosts:

Are You Freaking Kidding Me!? - Camp Code #56

It’s what you say in your head before helping them learn.

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After a shortened Season 6 and a lot of questions from fellow listeners, WE ARE BACK with Season 7.

This episode is dedicated to those moments where you as a camp director see something and say, “Are You Freaking Kidding Me!?”.

Our hosts Beth, Ruby and Gabs have plenty of experience as Camp Directors and they are here to share stories of times where even they were at a loss!

From sounding happy on the phone, riding public transit to doing laundry are all examples of some of the things that we, as directors may take for granted, but are still so necessary to teach our young leaders.

Tune in as our hosts explore ways to work through challenges such as: 

  • Running scenarios to help camp staff work through real life examples

  • Journaling beside your bed. Write down your frustrations at night in one place and ToDos for the next morning. 

  • Interview new staff and veteran staff at the end of the year asking “what do you wish that a new staff member knew prior to the start of summer”

  • Teach the chores by front loading expectations with staff

Leadership Training Best Practices

“Can I show you something” is a phrase that great leaders use. From teaching staff how to budget or greeting parents, or teaching great things at camp. Mentoring staff is a key part for both yours and camp staff success.

Your Hosts:

Training Staff to be Decision-Makers - Camp Code #55

Help staff make up their minds and make good choices

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More and more directors are saying they are finding their staff less and less willing to make decisions. In a world where there are constantly more options available to us, to make a decision can be downright paralyzing. Listen in as Gabz, Ruby, and Beth discuss their best ideas for helping to empower and educator your staff on being smart decision makers at camp.

Best Practice for Leadership Training

Data - Debate - Decide framework for decision making. First, a group must gather data before making a decision and that process may be quite simple or very involved. Next, once the relevant data is on the table, take time to debate the issue at hand using data-based arguments. Finally, take the step to make a decision. The decision may be that more data is needed! Regardless, having this framework can be helpful when discussing issues that are multi-faceted that lead to roundabout conversations where you are covering the same info again and again. By being able to identify what stage you are in, the 3-Ds can help you understand what you need to move forward.

HT to Les McKeown at inc.com for this concept that Ruby really really likes.

Women in Camp Summit Crossver Episode with Rec Heads and Camp Nerds - Bonus Episode

Gabz, Beth, and Ruby have spent the last several months working with Colette and Kim from ACA Illinois to put together the first annual Women in Camp Summit. Patti Sampson of Patchwork Marketplace teamed up with the Camp Code co-hosts to do a crossover episode of the podcast to talk about this exciting event.

Check out the Rec Heads and Camp Nerds podcast here and learn more about the cool work Patti is doing at Patchwork Marketplace and how you can get involved! Also, if you aren’t following Patti on Instagram, she is a boss at Insta stories. Check out how to do it well!

The deadline to register for the Women in Camp Summit is October 1, 2018. Reserve your spot today!

Women in Camp Summit

November 7-9, 2018

Chicago area - St Charles, IL - Pheasant Run Resort

$300 (some meals included)


Can’t make it to the Summit but want to help a sister out?

Designing Training for Volunteers - Camp Code #52

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Leadership training is important for everyone at camp

Many camps have some portion of their staff comprised of volunteers. Be it your nurse for the week who is also a camper parent and trading their work for their child's camp tuition or a community member who simply loves to give back to camp, it is important that these folks get trained too.

If your camp is staffed entirely by volunteers, a complete staff training is still necessary; however there are additional considerations for executing that training, especially when volunteers are coming and going throughout the summer. In this episode, Gabz, Beth, and Ruby discuss some of their recommendations for training volunteers.

Best Practice for Leadership Training

Consider implementing a recognition program for volunteers that highlights the amount of time (in whatever increment makes sense for your camp) that a person has dedicated time to camp. Bonus points for it being a wearable that can be worn at and outside of camp. By having this visual recognition, other in the community become aware that it is, not only an option to come give time to camp, but also that it is a celebrated and valued.

Helping Staff Know If Their Gifts are Best Used at Camp or Elsewhere - Camp Code #51

Training staff for when it is time to move on

Every camp director has had that staff member who needs to move on from camp but having the conversation can be difficult. Tune in to hear Beth, Gabz, and Ruby share their best tips for having those conversations now and how to build this idea of "growing elsewhere" into your camp culture so anyone in your community understands that it may be in everyone's best interest to move on. 

Best Practice for Leadership Training

After a session during training and the possibility of moving on, have staff write you a short letter on their own. Get each person to write to you, the camp director, and to fill in the blanks.

Dear [Camp Director]

If I am ever exhibiting these behaviors:_______________________________please sit down and have the talk with me. 

I'll be scared to leave camp and try something new, but if you say these things to me,_______________________________, it would be helpful. 

I know you are always thinking of the best interests of camp and of me and I also know that I will always have a place here and this will always be my home. And here are ways I'd like to have this conversation:

(Add your own ending/sign off)

Then, partner staff up and have them read their letters out loud. Be sure to tell them that you will be doing this as part of the activity so staff don't feel like they have to share things that are to deeply personal.