What's on your mind? - CampHacker #97

Uncertainty is a Killer of Good Work...and Other Debatable Statements

What's On Your Mind - CampHacker #97
CampHacker

What's on your mind right now?

It's fair to say that it's getting into "crunch time", but it's also probably fair to say that there's still some time to think.

And when there's time to think, there's sometimes a space created in a section of our brains that is reserved for vulnerability. Whatever that is to you - uncertainty, concern, doubt, worry - thoughts like these have a way of floating in and settling in the spaces in-between your day to day. These thoughts don't exactly impede our progress, but if left un-dusted, the can certainly prevent us from moving forward on potentially critical aspects of our upcoming season.

This episode is for some of those thoughts. It's also for the thoughts that are on the minds of our CampHackers and Camp Pros in the community. Travis and Joe are joined by good friend of the show, Paul Sheridan from Four Winds, Westward Ho to share not only what's on their minds in February of 2017, but to comment on some other Camp Pro's thoughts from around the camping community. 

Tune in to hear thoughts on:

  • Uncertainty
  • Embracing change (both for yourself and for your staff/organization)
  • Best advice for a new Director or management in your organization
  • How to deal with the feeling of loneliness after a season of camp is over

What's on your mind?

We would love to hear it and if you have any big burning thoughts, please do throw them down in the comments below. We would be happy to hear them and maybe feature it as a topic of discussion for future episodes!

Thanks!

Tool of the Week – Make Yourself a Better Camp Director

Travis: Book - How To Shoot Video That Doesn’t Suck - Steve Stockman

Joe: Tervis - Mug/Cups that keeps things the temperature that you intend them to be

Paul: Delorme InReach - Global satellite technology useful for tripping programs

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(Thank you!)

The Hard Truth About Staff Evaluations - CampHacker #83

Help your staff grow with meaningful evaluations

The Hard Truth About Staff Evaluations - CampHacker #83
CampHacker

Your leaders at camp need feedback. In the busyness of the summer, it’s tempting to add evaluations to the bottom of your to-do list and never get to it. Before you do that though, take a second to think back to your first few years on staff. How much of your growth would you attribute to the formal or informal evaluations that you got from your staff and peers?

On this episode of the CampHacker podcast, CampHackers Travis, Joe, Gab and Dan break down the ins and outs of all things staff evaluations. You will find excellent discussions on why evaluations are important, how to teach your staff to evaluate each other and some awesome best evaluation practices from four different veteran director perspectives. If you aren’t evaluating, or want to get better at it, then this episode was made especially for you.

How do evaluations work at your camp? We would love to hear your best practices in the comment section below.

Bonus Content!

15five Questions - #HR weekly questions that take 15 min to answer, 5 minutes to read

http://www.15five.com/

  • What's going well? Any wins (big or little) this week?

  • What challenges are you facing? Where are you stuck?

  • How are you feeling?  What's the morale you see around you?

  • One suggestion to improve your role, team or organization?

  • What are your top three priorities for the coming week?

http://99u.com/workbook/39129/2-emails-that-can-shrink-your-workload-by-20

The Office - Teaching Staff Evaluation Ice-Breaker Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkYUDQCYGHA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vMDVzoxu7I

Joe’s 10 point scale:

  1. Initiative - does the individual show the ability to start task on their own, lead things on their own etc.

  2. Independence - can they work by themselves and be successful?    

  3. Problem Solving - are they able to solve problems when they arise?    

  4. Communication - do they communicate well with campers, other staff members and supervisors?    

  5. Ability to work in a team - when needed can they work in a team and be a positive contribution to camps success    

  6. Adaptability - can they go with the flow as things change and different needs arise?    

  7. Compassion - do they show the ability to feel others emotions and help with any issues?    

  8. Leadership - can they lead? Do they lead? Are they a good leader?    

  9. Passion for what camp is - Do they have passion and show that passion in their actions and words    

  10. Willingness to do that needs to be done

Tool of the Week – Make Yourself a Better Camp Director

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(Thank you!)

Volumes of Volunteers - Advancing Your Program and Site - CampHacker #82

Give your culture of volunteerism a facelift

Volumes of Volunteers
CampHacker

“Could I come up to camp and volunteer?"

Music to a camp director’s ears.

We all know that volunteers really are the life-blood of our organizations. If you have a good list of volunteers with a variety of skills, and a good list of tasks for them, then you will undoubtedly have a program that is always looking spiffy and have some awesome, hand-made stuff.

When looking at the ethos of volunteerism at your camp, the following questions likely come up:

  • How do we reach out and recruit more volunteers?
  • What happens if we have too many volunteers to do the jobs we have around camp?
    • (AKA - Happy Problems)
  • What are the implications when it comes to the liability of having volunteers versus professionals or hired staff doing the work?
  • And maybe the most important question - How do we show the volunteers that we do have, that they are valued?

Between CampHackers Travis, Joe and returning guest-host David Gill from Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center, they will not only answer the above questions, but fill your notebook with incredible new ways to approach volunteerism in your organization. 

If you have any more great ideas to share, please feel free to share them in the comment section below. Thanks!

Tool of the Week – Make Yourself a Better Camp Director

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(Thank you!)

Teach Your Staff to Welcome and Talk to Parents - CampHacker #81

Help your front-line staff make a positive impact on camp parents

Teach Your Staff to Welcome and Talk to Parents - CampHacker #81
CampHacker
Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Stitcher App

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Stitcher App

As seasoned camping professionals, you know how to greet your camp families well. You always know their name, greet them with a firm handshake and know how to make good, intentional conversation. But what happens on opening day when you too occupied with running camp to meet and talk with every-single parent on site?

Have you set the rest of your staff up for success?

As we all know, first impressions are a big part of the lasting impact you, or in this case camp, will have on someone. On this episode of the CampHacker Podcast, Chantal "Match" Jackson joins Travis, Joe and Gab to talk about teaching everyone at your camp to make a great first impression on parents.

This episode is full of great tips and tricks, but if you feel like we've missed any, please let us know in the comment section below.

BONUS MATERIAL!


Tool of the Week – Make Yourself a Better Camp Director

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(Thank you!)