12 Actions to Build a Staff Community That Shapes Camp Culture

Kim Aycock, Founder of Kimspiration LLC, and Jolly Corley, Founder of Jolly Corley LLC, believe building summer staff community is essential to shaping camp culture. "Culture needs to be intentional, practiced, and modeled," they say. Camp culture will happen whether purposefully shaped or not, so it's crucial to strategize how to grow the culture you want to see in camp by starting with staff.

,In their recent SPARC webinar "Your Culture in Action: Building a Staff Community that Shapes the Camp Experience" (members can view the recording on SPARC Connect), Kim and Jolly shared 12 action steps auxiliary leaders can take to build a staff culture founded on mission-alignment and shared values. Even if you start with just one or two, it goes a long way toward reaching the goal of an intentional, impactful, and joyful camp experience. 

1. Make Values Visible

Shaping staff culture starts right at the beginning--with the hiring process. Identify your program's and school's core values and put them front and center on all of your marketing. Kim and Jolly offered one school's example that's on the front page of their web site--"encourage, engage, inspire, and challenge"--as the right place to start. You can include it in your e-mail signature, on business cards, letterhead, anywhere visible, so prospective candidates already have an idea of what your culture is and if they're a good fit.

2. Show Your Values in Action

Once you identify your core values, it's essential to align them. If one of your values is fun, model that value to your staff. Ask how you can make the application process fun--what message do they get when they submit their medical form? "Way to go!" Or "Confetti time!" are examples offered by Kim and Jolly.

If your values include leadership or teamwork, how can you model them? You can add photos to your web site that show staff and campers engaged in teamwork or a staffer leading a group activity. If you have a blog, you can forward a post describing your values to candidates and use it in the staff interview. 

3. Use Interview Questions That Reflect Your Culture

Interview questions are a great way to model your values while finding out if your candidate fits with those values. Kim and Jolly recommend an unusual but effective strategy: ask open-ended questions informed by your values and let the candidate answer without tying anything to camp.

For example, you may ask when was the last time they tried something new, or how they approached an unexpected challenge. By listening to their story and following up with similar questions--without bringing up camp--it allows you to get a feel of who they are as a person, how they'd fit into your community, and if their values align with your program's.

4. The Fishing Metaphor

If you know anything about fishing, you know that you're not supposed to yank the rod at the first bite. You gently tug and reel in the fish. According to Kim and Jolly, you do this primarily by listening--and by listening, you're also modeling the value of listening. 

This is what you're doing during the interview--listening, not yanking, not applying any pressure. Then, at the very end, you can connect what they've shared with camp. Examples include statements like, "I can see your energy and the way you handled that challenge with your colleagues even though it was frustrating. I can see you at camp because we love collaborative thinking and your story shows that it's important to you." This way, you're supporting them, showing your interest, and making them feel like a part of your community without pressuring them.

5. The Puzzle Piece

Think of your candidate as the piece of a puzzle. No matter how capable they are and how perfect they may seem for the job, if the shape of their values aren't aligned with yours, they just won't fit. This idea can help keep you on track during the interview when you want to focus on value-centered questions, listening, and only tying their stories back to camp at the very end.

6. Start Community Early

Once you have your staff hired, it's never too early to start building that community. The question Kim and Jolly ask is: What are you doing from the time they've signed their contract to keep them engaged and build staff community? 

A colleague of theirs created a 13-week pre-camp drip system to prepare staffers for camp life, though it could be 6 weeks or whatever time you can make. Stages can include talking about values, the climate at camp, what to bring with you on a typical camp day, Zoom gatherings, and more.

7. Leadership Moments for Returning Staff

If you have returning staff interested in leadership, get them excited about what opportunities are waiting for them. Have optional Zoom meetings for anyone interested in leading sessions with new staff. Make it professional by having them submit a session proposal on anything camp related--what to pack, how to act if you see campers in the community, etc. This is a great way to create leadership experiences for interested returning staff when leadership positions are limited.

8. Connection Opportunities

A healthy community requires connection, and there are many ways to foster that sense of connection among staff. Kim and Jolly mentioned a mood board where staffers, upon arrival, can write their name in a way that reflects their mood. In group meetings, model the behaviors that you want to see in the staff, whether it's how to handle conflict, how to introduce a change, a leadership or communication skill, or whatever is essential to build connection.

9. Orientation Prep

Whatever you focus on during orientation is what your staff will think is most important. During a Zoom meeting, one way to clarify values is to have each staffer select an object close to them and describe it in a way that represents a value. A banana that's green might reflect a staffer that's new and has a lot of questions. A plant could represent growth and curiosity. 

Another tip is to add icons to the orientation schedule for each value. A session on conflict resolution might have a heart to represent the value of empathy. A meet-and-greet could have an icon for community. This visually reinforces the shared values that will build staff community and impact campers.

10. Values in Action Together

Now you have your staff in training, you can model and practice values with them--putting those values into action. This can be anything from how you greet each other in the morning, how you sit together at lunch, how sessions are led, how you communicate, and how conflict is handled. Kim and Jolly say it's a matter of setting expectations; model empathy by saying you know it's challenging to be doing something new, but model for the staff the mindset and behaviors you want them to use with campers. Give them time, too, during sessions to sit with and process all of the new information they're taking in--this is another value in action.

11. Practice the Routines

Practicing routines can start by designing the orientation schedule to mirror a typical camp day as much as possible to help them get into the flow. If you're planning to do staff evaluations at the end of the session, do an evaluation with them at the end of orientation so they'll know what to expect. If you're asking for feedback after the camp session is over, ask for feedback after orientation. 

12. Create Unexpected Moments of Community

Kim and Jolly told the story of a colleague who was frustrated with his staff coming late to camp every day. After discovering that they were stopping for coffee and pastries in the morning, he decided to provide coffee and donuts for them every day before camp started. Suprisingly, the staff began coming early for both the coffee and to hang out together and get energized for the day. This strengthened their community and made it easier for everyone to transition into work mode.

Another example was teaching power poses to staff to find their power both individually and as a community. This idea spread to the maintenance team who sent a picture of them doing power poses to get ready for a project; and a few 15-year old girls preparing for their lifeguarding test asked to do power poses to build their confidence. These are relatively small actions you can take that have big payoffs in building community.

The Key Takeaway

The most important takeaway is to be intentional with shaping your staff culture. Staff culture starts now, say Kim and Jolly, and you can begin by choosing just one or two of the above steps. Step by step, over time, you'll grow a values-aligned staff community with a powerful and positive impact on your campers' experience.

SPARC member schools have access to recordings of all SPARC webinars and roundtables as well as professional development tools, discounted rates on regional events and the national conference, and unparalleled community support though SPARC Connect. Join us today!