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by Garcia Wood
Why do you lead? How do you lead? I asked these
questions to my audience at the Western Association
of Independent Camps (WAIC) conference and the
ACA Rocky Mountain Section Conference to camp
directors, camp owners, and camp program directors;
the answers varied — "Because I was
asked to." "Because I want to make
a difference." "Because I want to
influence young people in a positive direction
. . . ." As a professional in the camp
industry, one needs to keep asking these questions.
Asking the bigger questions takes us to our place
of mission and vision as opposed to the everyday
details and tasks that bog us down and get us
away from the true essence of leadership, our
purpose, or what one might call the "soul" of
leadership.
As director of training services
for camp leaders and a freelance consultant working
with many corporations, nonprofit organizations,
and young people for the past eighteen years,
I have discovered that knowing the soul of our
individual leadership is critical if we are going
to develop and influence young people and young
adults.
Each of you (camp owners, directors,
counselors) has a responsibility to identify
the soul of your leadership, or more specifically,
what it is that you do that works in your camp
environment. You have a magical quality that
works for you, or you wouldn’t be where
you are. You have had choices in how you work
with others in your camp environment, and you
have chosen a way to "be." Identifying
how you have chosen to "be" is what
allows you to coach and influence others. Identifying
what it is in your core (the values and ethics
you use when working with young people) is what
makes what you have to offer valuable and teachable.
This is what I label as leadership.
How one wants
to "be" is a huge question for all
of us, and one that I ask my students when I
am in a leadership role. The other question I
ask is "what do you have inside that no
one can take away?" These qualities cannot
be affected by the external environment. The
answer to this question takes me and those I
am influencing to the deepest core values and
beliefs of who we are as leaders.
I was working
with an eighteen-year-old counselor, Maria, who
was crying in the bathroom. She told me, "I
do not fit in here, and I do not belong here.
I want to leave." I consoled her and calmly
asked her two questions: "What do you have
that no one can take away from you?" And, "Who
do you want to be?" She paused, but continued
to cry and vent. I asked her again, "What
do you have that no one can take away from you?"
She answered, "I am always nice, and I know
I am a good person. I want to make a difference
in the world, maybe go into the Peace Corps."
I asked her to translate that into her more internal
virtue: kindness and drive for purpose. These
virtues are parts of her soul that make her happy
and that no one can take away. For the remainder
of the time at camp, Maria seemed to have a different
type of confidence and strength. Identifying
these specific characteristics within ourselves
sustains us as individuals, and becomes an important
lesson in leadership among our young people.
As camp professionals, one of our jobs is to
help our campers and camp counselors find their
souls — who they are as different individuals
from each other — and how they can shine
and celebrate these individual differences.
Originally published
in the 2008 September/October issue of Camping Magazine.
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