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By Greg Cronin, C.C.D.
So many topics . . . so little time. Planning staff orientation is one
of the most time-consuming, difficult tasks camp directors do. Each year,
in addition to camp-specific content, new regulations must be included
in already overtaxed schedules. With changing weather patterns and school
schedules becoming unpredictable, how are camp leaders going to have
time to produce quality orientations?
This logistical programming puzzle begins the amazing experience we
call camp. Even with all the constraints, most of the important topics
get covered, and it seems like just yesterday we were hearing old Uncle
Bill tell everyone to conserve water and not to use too much toilet paper.
While that speech may never get old, preparing staff for summer 2007
requires a fresh approach with lots of insight. By now you should have
a well-prepared, interactive, and fun schedule planned, which features
more theater than teaching.
Open your orientation file to assure your existing plan contains exactly
the right content to meet your expectations. Start by visualizing the
ending (what you want to have accomplished) and work back towards the
beginning. Include a variety of tactics for transferring important information
while you simultaneously model preferred teaching methods. Important
note: keep the orientation schedule as close to the actual schedule as
possible. This will help staff become accustomed to their new environment
using the natural rhythm of a typical camp day.
Set the Tone
Directors have the responsibility to set the tone for the summer. The
three most common ways staff interpret camp culture are:
- unspoken actions appearing in director behavior;
- stories/examples used by supervisors; and
- what is allowed to happen.
Staff will carefully observe everything leaders do and immediately form
judgments. New staff will use their backgrounds as students and mentally
evaluate everyone in the same manner as they do their teachers. Returning
staff will look to reinforce their opinions from the previous year, or
in the case of a difficult summer, wait to “see” changes.
Caution: camp leaders should transmit both form and structure when using
stories as a training technique. This type of teaching provides a direction
for the expected norm by conveying trust through relevant camp experiences.
Preparing staff to be proficient in all aspects of camp life is an extremely
difficult task. Regardless of the type of camp you run, the precamp orientation
time is all about informing staff of policies and procedures while helping
them with their own personal transition. Remember, they just finished
school and final examinations, some have come directly from school to
camp with no break, others are worried about being away from home, a
few will question their decision to be there, and some will have reasons
unbeknownst to you.
Staff are accustomed to knowing what the course contents are for their
classes or what skills they must possess to make a team—camp should
be no different. It is important to inform staff what your objectives
are for orientation and how they support the camp’s mission. Do
this early on day one of orientation. Don’t go “objective
crazy” when you write or (re-write) these, but it does take some
time. You should have at least ten to fifteen objectives for orientation,
and some camps have a lot more. It is important to remember your purpose
for orientation. Staff can only effectively absorb so much before they
begin to disengage. By the time they seem bored, lackadaisical, or disinterested,
they have already checked out mentally. When introducing new material,
make it interesting!
Writing Objectives
Quality objectives take time to write and should include four essential
components. The ABCD’s of writing objectives ensure you will include:
- Audience
- Behavior
- Conditions
- Degree
The audience is who will be doing the learning. Behavior is described
as a verb and object which describes an observable action. Conditions
are the limitations placed on staff when they are evaluated. Degree is
the decision point or acceptable performance the staff member attains
to prove they have mastered the objective.
For example, let’s say your orientation list includes an objective
like “all staff will get acquainted with each other.” The
idea is good, and you obviously see the intrinsic value in staff becoming
familiar with one another, so how do we make it better? In other words,
how do you know each staff member is actually accomplishing this task?
Remembering our ABCD’s, we could improve the objective by restating
it as follows: Through a series of social interaction activities (condition),
all staff (audience) will actively participate (behavior) in a five-day
precamp orientation (degree). It is now your responsibility to carefully
plan the type of games, special events, skits, role-playing, or team
building that will accomplish your objective.
Other common areas for typical orientation objectives are: learning
about health and safety procedures, becoming familiar with behavior management
philosophy, following daily camp routines, skill development, getting
to know group or cabin campers, knowing special-event procedures, how
to integrate new and returning campers, dining hall policies, specialty
area expectations, and the like.
Incorporate Critical Absolutes
Being able to incorporate these ideas with necessary day-to-day camp
operations is a seemingly daunting task. Even though orientation time
is short, successful programs are able to accomplish their objectives
because they understand how to incorporate several critical absolutes
known as FOID (fun, organized, interactive, directors).
Fun
Without getting into a literal discussion about what is or is not fun,
decide—based on your clientele—how to make the orientation
experience fun. Do not wait until the campers arrive and hope the staff
will automatically change their collective attitude and “know” how
to have fun. Having fun can be difficult, and many times it is a learned
skill. In addition to the activities themselves, ensure senior staff
incorporate a brief “how to” when leading these activities.
They can mention camp-specific examples when it comes to planning, teaching,
equipment and facility usage, supervision, rules, or expectations.
Organized
Each aspect of orientation must be organized. Remember, model the behavior
you want your staff to emulate. To accomplish this, quality camps meet
with senior staff prior to orientation in order to present a united front.
During these meetings, decide how and when information will be presented.
This includes reviewing the overall schedule for content, logistics,
and time. Don’t forget to incorporate areas like food service, office,
health center, transportation, and maintenance. When organizing the times
and activities, make the orientation experience as close to the “regular” camp
schedule as possible. Plan activities and/or workshops to reflect typical
periods or mods. In addition, carefully organize when active and interactive
activities are offered. For each topic presented, keep in mind what it
follows, what time of day it is, what day of orientation it is, and who
is doing the leading. By doing this, you will set the standard by which
all activities will be conducted when the campers arrive.
Interactive
To maximize the time and effort spent to counselor participation ratio,
specifically include a lot of interactive activities. Not only will staff
learn by doing, but they will also appreciate being included in the creation
of what they produce. If you think historically about their background
of being in school or having to follow some sort of curriculum, getting
a chance to affect an outcome via personal involvement is magic. Young
people are not often asked to participate in the creation of what they
do—but they like it. Including staff in carefully selected aspects
of program development will begin to instill a sense of personal pride
toward job performance.
Directors
To form a meaningful parallel process of appropriate actions, direction
comes from the top down. This means directors take an active role in
orientation. The way to contribute without compromising authority is
to pick your spots for participation. Have specific moments like greeting
staff when they arrive, wearing a costume, or making an important announcement
built into your schedule. Camp leaders participate in activities (even
if you do so by proclamation) and be on hand for the results. While working
with a camp last summer, the director told me his time was extremely
limited and could not think of a way to participate in activities. It
turned out the “crazy
T-shirt fashion show” was scheduled for the evening activity. I suggested
he call in the CITs and have them make him one. Just before the contest,
the CITs proudly presented him an awesome shirt he wore to kick off the
show.
Understanding the Camp Experience
Throughout the orientation experience, staff need to be informed in
a manner and language they understand. Since their learning patterns
are heavily influenced by instant information/gratification (Internet,
cell phones, ATM cards), use orientation to teach them the value in understanding
the camp experience. Staff are conditioned to having personal wants quickly
resolved or they get impatient. Crucial Camp Concepts (the three C’s)
such as making friends, developing desired behavior, listening, skill
development, respecting others, and the like take time to accomplish.
Herein lies your big dilemma. Aahh!! You are asking staff to work on
a process of child development when they, themselves, need time to acquire
some of the same skills.
The magic of camp lies in the process of children (and staff) learning
life skills while challenging personal limits. Because camps use fun
activities as a vehicle to accomplish this, most campers do not realize
what they are learning. Choose orientation directors for their ability
to be fun, firm, and sensitive. When carefully done, orientation will
begin to empower staff to make good decisions on a consistent basis.
Setting the Stage
Staff have every possible emotion when it comes to orientation. Some
will count the days with eager anticipation while others will virtually
dread the thought of being asked to participate in uncomfortable situations.
Directors can quickly blend both sides of this emotional continuum together
by giving staff some basic suggestions for developing good working relationships:
- Begin by telling them the administrative staff is there to
support their needs.
- Let them know you will be available in the difficult times as
the complexities of the summer become stressful.
- Be proactive by explaining you will be fair, professional, and
nonjudgmental.
- Give them examples of what being “fair” or “professional” means.
- Ease their anxiety by outlining what you have planned for staff-only
recreation. Create an option for them to participate in this process.
- Tell staff everyone has something to offer. Explain that the
camp experience will be greatly enhanced by knowing what hidden talents
people have.
- Stress to staff that their ideas are important. It not only leads
to great suggestions, it helps the camp to come together by fostering a “we” attitude.
- Thank them in advance for their contributions. Their daily decisions
will be the foundation by which moral and behavioral decisions are
made.
These are all good points and you can add a lot more, but do not stop
here. Educate staff to recognize what building positive relationships
will look like once camp starts. Remember, if you are going to model
the behavior you want them to follow, lead by example. It is not enough
to make caring statements during orientation and hope they are followed.
Your credibility as a director is at stake. Everyone in camp will judge
you on everything you do and say. From the staff’s perspective,
what you do (or allow) is often more powerful than what you say. Experienced
directors use this to their advantage and acknowledge examples of staff
being professional, fair, or supportive.
Highly effective tools which acknowledge staff for specific acts of
relationship building should be a daily part of camp life. Once these
are started during orientation, staff will strive to create new “types” of
achievement which often reflect their unique personalities. Examples
of this kind of creativity are: staff fuzzies, meal time staff trivia,
star boards for divisional awards, specialty area “things” for
recognizing great behavior, “I caught you doing something good” tell-a-grams,
or positive postings for weekly heroics.
Driven by Purpose
Successful orientations should be driven as much by purpose as they
are by schedule. While the majority of time is taken by responsibilities,
skills, program functions, and communication techniques, transition time
is frequently overlooked. This awkward time in the schedule is not just
going from one place to another. Sometimes it happens when a specialist
is late or inclement weather prevents normal programming and suddenly
you have an extra ten or fifteen minutes of pure counselor stress. Put
a scenario like this in orientation, and talk about the concept of “never
a wasted moment.” You
can tell who your great counselors are by how they fill this time. Make
sure all staff have several quick activities they can do when these moments
arise.
In addition to quirks in the schedule, staff can quickly become frustrated
if they are lost or unsure with whom to talk to about a problem. During
orientation have staff learn where to go by modeling the process you
want them to follow. Be innovative, inclusive, and fun as you describe
how they will learn where everything is. Approach this differently each
year by using a game, scavenger hunt, map contest, riddles, mystery,
relay, or location bingo.
Each day of orientation have counselors, specialists, CITs, or any group
play SLT or staff laser tag. The idea is to have all staff meet directors,
supervisors, support staff, and anyone they may have to seek out to get
a problem resolved. Instead of lasers, have staff fire questions to prepare
them for the summer. Rotate groups and have everyone compare answers
over a make-your-own sundae assembly.
The Well-Planned Orientation
Creating an effective orientation, given the constraints of time and
content, can be difficult. By planning carefully and working from the
end toward the beginning, you will be successful. Begin with directors
setting the tone for establishing camp culture. Use this to help individual
staff with their personal transitions as they get used to the new environment.
Fine tune orientation content by creating objectives using the ABCD method.
Successful programs incorporate critical absolutes known as FOID. Staff
trained in a language they understand will enable them to interpret the
three C’s. This is accomplished by assuring staff the benefits
of developing good relationships and how to handle transition time. To
relieve potential logistical frustration, staff will learn where to go
and whom to contact for information.
You will see immediate results from a well-planned orientation. Once
staff are empowered with culture, skills, and knowledge, they will be
motivated to lead your campers through an unforgettable experience which
will forever change their lives.
Originally published in the 2007 May/June
issue of Camping Magazine. |
