Summer staff training is right around the corner. When I was a camp director, I always felt like training was a time for me to roll up all the years of history, all the blood, sweat and tears of previous staff, my mom and dad (founders), board members, donors, etc., the weight of all those great camp memories and relationships into a ball and gingerly handing it off to a bunch of college and older high-school students and saying, "Here you go…please be very careful with this!"
Certainly, summer staff training is the time and place for you to make sure your summer staff are all trained, certified, lisenced, and prepared to assume their summer posts. But it's so much more than that. It's your chance to really pour into them what it means to be on staff at your camp or conference center. They should get a healthy dose of heritage. The founders or previous staffers or camper moms should be featured "after dinner speakers."
Although the content of your training week (or more) is probably already planned, take a look at the following list to help shape the tone for the week.
1. Be Intentional Nothing just happens. That's true in life and also at camp. Those critical things that every staff member absolutely has to know, must be intentionally planned and executed. There's no other way to guarantee that you've done your job. Don't just assume that summer staffers will "pick up" the dining room routine or the lost camper plan.
2. Be Thorough This actually fits with #1. Train the staff all the way. Don't give them the general idea and then move on to something else. Remember, these are not camp professionals. Many of them (no matter how great your hiring job) lack the mindset and the maturity to connect the dots. You are going to need to cover all your bases and leave nothing to their imagination.
3. Be Specific Summer staff training is no place for generalities. You need to train your staff in specifics. "This is how we lead kids to Christ." Or "This is how we make sure we're safe on the lake." Again, you don't want the summer staff just doing what they think is right.
4. Be Consistent Many camps actually have taken the time to write a manual that describes in detail how tasks should be performed. The only way that McDonald's can guarantee that the Quarter Pounder in Colorado Springs, CO tastes the same as the Quarter Pounder in Alton, NH is because they've left nothing to chance or personal interpretation. They are consistent…every time.
6. Be Realistic At some point you will determine that you simply can't cover everything. And you'll also realize that you can't do a two month training! You'll have to trust at some point. First, trust in God. Second, trust in your ability to recruit the right people and put them in the right places. It's not realistic that you'll be able to cover every possible scenario during training so you'll need to find some peace in knowing that ultimately you've got the right people in place and that God is watching out for you.
7. Be Fun Certainly, training is a very important deal and has huge ramifications if it's not taken seriously. However, don't forget the fun. Staff and campers don't return every year because you've got an efficient way of bussing the tables or because they love the fire drills. They come back because it's fun. The songs, the skits, the traditions are vital and should never be sacrificed.
This is going to be a great summer. Can you feel it?
I agree with those, but I also feel that a big part of the training I do (especially with our counselors) is have them be involved with the training. A way staff members will follow through with what you expect from them is for them to own it. It’s hard for them to be invested in the camp and vision if they are lectured to for a week. As much as we have time for we try to let them share their experiences and knowledge with the group (we’re not the only ones that know how to work with kids). It can be scary, because we don’t know what what they will say, and may have to correct them, but it really helps instill ownership.
We also have our summer leadership staff do work projects around camp during our training session. It gives them an appreciation of what other staff members will be doing for the summer. Also, how can they not feel invested in camp that they mowed, raked, or painted when the summer started?
Question on 4. I agree that through the summer, you need to be consistent in how you trained when you started. It’s tough to follow a boss that is not consistent. However from summer to summer, I really think we need to be creative and innovative in how we train. If we didn’t get the results we wanted last year, how can we refine the training process?