Too often, strategic efforts are disconnected from the day-to-day work of the organization. A strategic plan should inform, shape, and guide how your team shows up every day and how the work of the strategic plan gets done. It is your staff and how they develop and execute your programs that breathe life into your vision for the future. Training, too, often stops after orientation or a one-off workshop. But if your strategic goals are to be achieved, training must become a rhythm. It must equip staff to connect their daily work to strategic direction, support shared leadership with clarity, and strengthen influence across roles. After all, strategy doesn’t execute itself — people do.

Shared Language: The Foundation for Strategic Training

Throughout our planning and implementation conversations, this much became clear: words matter. Without shared language, even the clearest strategy can feel abstract or irrelevant. At Frost Valley, it is now common to hear a staff member speak about our desire to be “more things to more people” (Priority 1 in our plan), or to emphasize the need for our staff to “thrive” (Priority 2 in our plan).

Similarly, strategic concepts like shared leadership, autonomy, influence, and even strategy itself, might seem simple in the pages of the strategic plan, but in reality, these terms will be interpreted differently by staff depending on their experience, role, and prior exposure.

One simple change: We intentionally crafted and began to use a shared strategic vocabulary, repeating this vocabulary throughout formal and informal communications, weaving the terms into conversations, meetings, and expectations, and using the language as lenses through which everyone could reinterpret their daily work.

This matters because when staff recognize strategy in their work — not separate from it — strategy stops feeling like an “up there” artifact and becomes a guiding framework for right here, every day. It is reminiscent of the famous story about President John F. Kennedy’s visit to NASA. When JFK encountered a janitor carrying a broom down the hallway, the President asked the janitor what he did for NASA, and the janitor replied, “I’m helping put a man on the moon” (Byerly, 2017).

Shared language makes strategy tangible, not just conceptual, and it creates ownership.

Evolving Development Beyond Orientation

Most camps treat training as something that happens to staff — orientation, certification, compliance, etc. What we learned from our strategic process is that training must also be something staff pull toward themselves, because it helps them thrive, contribute, and grow. In other words, it is both the organization’s responsibility to develop and train its staff, and each individual staff member’s responsibility to embrace growth and development as a personal imperative.

We now approach staff development as an ongoing continuum rather than a checklist:

• Micro-training moments — short, focused discussions embedded in regular staff meetings that connect strategy to practice.
• Contextual learning — using real organizational work (e.g., budgeting, program planning) as training opportunities.
• Reflection prompts — questions like “How did today’s decisions link to our strategic priorities?” or “Who else needs to be informed about this choice?”

Over time, these small, consistent reinforcements create a culture in which learning and strategy are inseparable.

Ongoing development embeds strategy into the rhythm of work, not just the annual calendar.

Clarifying Shared Leadership — What It Is and What It Is Not

A topic that we returned to regularly in our strategic conversations was the urgent need for shared leadership in the execution of the plan. Empowering and activating staff is perhaps the most crucial element in successfully executing a strategy. Shared leadership is defined as a business management approach in which multiple or many leaders influence the development of strategy and its execution (Sanfilippo, 2024), and is as simple in its description as it is hard in implementation. We found that initially, many staff equated this with complete autonomy. But autonomy without alignment doesn’t support strategy — it fragments it. Difficult to enact in practice, shared leadership requires a high degree of communication, not in the typical hierarchical flow of information, but rather in a more distributed and networked manner.

Over time, through ongoing discussions, we have refined what truly shared leadership at Frost Valley means and introduced tools to assist in its implementation.

Shared leadership means:

• Participation in the decision-making process — not free rein.
• Clarity around who decides what — so responsibility doesn’t get confused with independence.
• Mindful inclusion — knowing who must be involved (and who doesn’t need to be).
• Communication across roles and lines — empowering and encouraging staff to communicate with or provide guidance to any staff, regardless of supervisory or department lines.

Frameworks like the five levels of delegation (Economy, 2024) and RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) (Miranda & Day, 2025) go beyond management jargon and have become powerful, practical tools that engage staff actively in the shared leadership process. In turn, these tools help leaders empower and activate their own team members.

Five Levels of Delegation

Is this a Level 2 or 3? It is a question now common in our camp’s meetings, ensuring staff know not only what is expected, but also how it will be achieved. When we introduced the construct, teams practiced mapping delegation levels with staff so they could see where authority lies:

Level 1 — Directive: “Do exactly what I have asked you to do.”

In this stage, the leader has done the thinking and the planning. The team member is purely executing. For example, if a fire breaks out, you don’t ask for a committee meeting; you hand someone a fire extinguisher and point at the flames.

Level 2 — Investigative: “Research the topic and report back, and then I will decide.”

Here, the team member acts as a scout. They gather the necessary data, such as finding three potential vendors for a building project, but the authority to choose the vendor remains entirely with the leader.

Level 3 — Collaborative: “Explore and propose a plan, then we decide together.”

This is the pivot point where leadership begins to be shared. If you are planning the summer camp curriculum, the staff member drafts the schedule and selects the themes but brings the proposal to the leadership team for discussion and final approval.

Level 4 — Informative: “Make a decision, and then tell me what you did.”

The team member has the authority to act but must keep the leader in the loop to ensure alignment. For instance, a program director might have the authority to hire seasonal counselors but must send a memo to the CEO outlining who was hired and why.

Level 5 — Fully Delegated: “You design and deliver within agreed-upon parameters.”

This is total autonomy within a specific domain. If a senior staff member runs the equestrian program, they set the budget, hire the staff, and manage the horses. The leader only steps in if the parameters (safety, budget, mission alignment) are breached.

Clarifying these levels helps staff understand not just that they are involved, but how their involvement connects to strategic priorities and organizational boundaries.

Shared leadership means shared process — not complete autonomy.

A Framework For Success

One of the challenges of being a leader, whether or not you are working in a shared leadership model, is installing a framework that clearly defines who needs to be involved and at what level. So, while shared leadership is offering each employee the opportunity to have greater agency in the decision-making process, we often forget to start by clarifying who else in the organization needs to be involved in the project, and what the required communication’s cadence is. Knowing who needs to be included and how to communicate with them can lead to further empowering employees while ensuring the work stays aligned with organizational goals and resources.

One approach to manage projects is to utilize the RACI framework. RACI forces employees who lead a project to identify the individuals who will be Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed during the project. This framework scales nicely, whether the project is large or small, because it ensures that individuals are tagged to each of the four areas.

At its core, the RACI framework provides clarity by defining four distinct roles:

• Responsible — The person or people who are doing the work. They are responsible for completing tasks and moving the project forward day to day.
• Accountable — The individual who is ultimately answerable for the outcome. This role ensures decisions are made, priorities are set, and the work aligns with organizational goals. There should be one clear point of accountability.
• Consulted — Those whose input, expertise, or perspective is needed before decisions are finalized. Communication with this group is two-way and intentional.
• Informed — Individuals who need to be kept aware of progress and outcomes but are not directly involved in decision-making. Communication here is one-way and focused on transparency.

When used well, RACI does more than clarify roles — it creates the conditions for trust. By setting expectations up front, leaders reduce confusion, prevent overreach, and give people the confidence to act within clear boundaries. That clarity becomes the foundation for a leadership approach that relies less on oversight and authority and more on trust, alignment, and influence.

Empowerment Through Influence (Not Control)

Another lesson from our work this past year has been the distinction between control and influence. Control says: “Do it because I told you to.” Influence says: “Here’s why this matters, and here’s how your contribution moves the organization forward.” Shared leadership thrives on influence, not control. This can be especially difficult for staff used to working in more traditional or hierarchical teams. Regularly heard at camp: “I don’t supervise that person so I can’t . . ..” But influence doesn’t follow reporting lines per se and is most effective when it flows freely between team members.

Fortunately, as is the case for most leadership techniques, this can be taught. Training for influence means:

• Enabling staff to see how strategic outcomes are driven by the work they do. (“Your ideas help us build a culture that helps staff thrive.”)
• Helping them develop language and tools to explain that connection to others. (“How does this support us in our strategy to do x?”)
• Encouraging and positioning staff to share insights and opinions, especially with those viewed as superiors (“Can you go speak to x about this and share your insights?”)

This is especially important for early career staff who may not have had opportunities to lead or shape direction in prior roles. Empowering them to influence outcomes — with clarity, alignment, and accountability — strengthens both their confidence and the organization’s strategic muscle.

Training Design That Reinforces Strategic Priorities

Strategy needs to be visible in every aspect of training. At Frost Valley, we shifted from episodic learning to strategic training design by:

• Embedding strategic framing in routine gatherings, not just special sessions.
• Using real work examples rather than hypothetical scenarios in training.
• Encouraging reflection on why certain work matters for the plan — not just how to do it.

For instance, rather than a general session on “team communication,” we reframed it as: “How do we communicate so that strategic priorities aren’t lost in our daily flow?” This aligns training with purpose and avoids the common training pitfall of being disconnected from the work itself.

In addition to weekly or biweekly department meetings and monthly administrative and all-staff meetings, we organize two annual “on sites.” These are all-day, all-staff events, which everyone employed by us is asked to attend, whether they work in maintenance, guest services, human resources, or in on-site, remote, or hybrid roles. Over the years, these days have fulfilled many purposes for us, but more and more, these days focus heavily on tying our collective work back to the organization’s vision and direction.

After having introduced and discussed the concept of shared leadership across the organization and at different levels for the better part of the year, we offered team member-led breakout sessions about promoting staff leadership and shared leadership in day-to-day operations as well as within staff teams. This did two things: 1) It taught staff in a very straightforward way about the concept of shared leadership, and 2) modeled this as the sessions were led by non C-suite staff members.

During another portion of the day, teams reviewed progress in individual areas of the strategic plan:

• Where would we give the camp an “A+”?
• Where were we making progress?
• Where had we fallen short this past year?

Then we worked in small groups to brainstorm ideas for a large-grant opportunity in the context of the strategic plan and the work of each group’s department. This engaged the entire staff in strategic thinking and making direct connections to their own work.

It is said that the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place (Ramirez, 2023). How do we know we are on the right track? After our most recent on-site, some staff commented in the post-training survey that the strategic presentation at this point was familiar to them and less needed.

Practical Training Tools That Support Shared Leadership

Here are training practices that have helped bridge strategy and execution at our camp:

• Contextual scorecards — showing how each role’s outcomes connect to strategic goals.
• Strategic briefings — short team presentations grounded in current work and strategic implications.
• RACI mapping exercises — helping teams clarify roles, influence, and communication channels.
• Delegation level discussions — helping supervisors and staff understand scopes of responsibility.
• Real-time reflections — built into meetings (e.g., “How did that choice reflect our strategic priorities?”)

Training becomes strategic when it’s woven into everyday work rather than being siloed.

The Plan Is the People

When we began our strategic plan work, we faced a challenge common to every camp director, board member, and nonprofit leader: How do we build a strategic plan that doesn’t end up as a dusty binder on a shelf, irrelevant the moment the ink dries?

The answer: It is less about the document and more about the culture it creates.

We established that a strategic plan is not just a roadmap for the future, but a mirror for the present. It must be rooted in character. By anchoring our process in core values and navigating change without losing our soul, we learned (and are still learning) that the process of planning is just as or more transformative as the plan itself. (See “Strategic Planning Rooted in Character” in the July/August 2025 issue of Camping Magazine.)

We explored how that character expresses itself through belonging. In a world where “third spaces” are disappearing, camps have a strategic imperative to become hubs of connection. We found that belonging isn’t just a warm feeling around a campfire; it is a structural necessity, built into our systems of recruitment, feedback, and decision-making. (See “The Role of Belonging in Camp’s Strategic Plan” in the September/October 2025 issue of Camping Magazine.)

We discovered that the planning process is a leadership laboratory. By inviting early career staff into the room, we got better ideas and built a deeper bench. We learned that teaching staff to toggle between operational, tactical, and strategic thinking is the surest way to secure the organization’s future. (See “Strategic Planning: A Window Into Leadership Potential” in the November/December 2025 issue of Camping Magazine.)

And finally, we tackled the engine room of execution: training and shared leadership. We defined the terms. We moved from the vague ideal of empowerment to the concrete mechanics of the RACI model and the five levels of delegation. We learned that shared leadership isn’t about the absence of hierarchy, but the presence of clarity.

The through line across all these lessons is simple but profound: Strategy doesn’t execute itself. People do.

If Frost Valley’s continued journey shows anything, it is that the era of the top-down, set-it-and-forget-it strategic plan is over. In a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world, the only sustainable strategy is a living one. It is a strategy breathed into life by a staff that shares a common language, feels a deep sense of belonging, possesses the skills to think critically, and holds the authority to act.

So, as you look toward your own organization’s future, don’t measure your success by the thickness of your strategic report or the perfection of your graphs. Measure it by your team’s clarity. Measure it by the voices in the room. Because the plan is not the destination — it is the people who will get you there.

Photo courtesy of Camp Yachad, Scotch Plains, NJ.

References

Byerly, J. (2017, November 4). The janitor who helped put a man on the moon. From the Green Notebook. fromthegreennotebook.com/2017/11/04/the-janitor-who-help-put-a-man-on-the-moon/

Economy, P, (2014, December 19). 5 levels of remarkably effective delegation. Inc. inc.com/peter-economy/5-levels-of-remarkably-effective-delegation.html

Miranda, D. & Day, B. (2025, September 3). What is a RACI chart? How this project management tool can boost your productivity. Forbes. forbes.com/advisor/business/raci-chart/

Ramirez, A. (2023). The illusion of communication. Kaleidoscope: Educator Voices and Perspectives, 9(2), 8–11.

Sanfilippo, M. (2024, January 18). Shared leadership: How modern businesses run themselves. Business News Daily. businessnewsdaily.com/135-shared-leadership-social-media-fuel-business-growth.html

Vicky Eddings is the chief operating officer at Frost Valley YMCA. With a background in zoology and a long career with the Y, Vicky has extensive experience running successful day camps, resident camps, horse programs, environmental education, and conference programs. She is responsible for executing the overall strategy and vision at Frost Valley YMCA. Vicky can be reached at [email protected].

Riel Peerbooms, MSW, is the chief executive officer at Frost Valley YMCA. He joined Frost Valley YMCA in 2023 after 15 years at another camp, Trail Blazers. Built by camp, Riel’s 30-year career as teacher, social worker, mental health counselor, and camp professional in educational and camp settings in the New York City and tri-state area, started as a counselor and lifeguard at a summer camp in Upstate New York. Riel can be reached at [email protected].

Rob Totaro is the director of member advancement at the Alliance of New York State YMCAs, where he supports YMCAs across New York in strategic planning, board governance, and leadership development. With over a decade in the YMCA movement, he has guided countless organizations through long-term visioning processes, including facilitating Frost Valley YMCA’s strategic plan. Rob can be reached at [email protected].