Staff Retention, Recruiting and Revving up in the Off-Season: 15 “Do Now’s!” that will help create your best camp staff in 2010.

By this point in the year, you’ve processed your staff evaluations, you’ve been thinking about those difficult “should I hire them back?” or “this person just didn’t cut it, it’s time for them to move on” decisions.  So how do you begin to prepare to form your staff for 2010?  Here are some simple, yet effective tips you can “Do Now!” that will help retain, recruit, and rev up your best possible staff.

However, a quick two step process to get the ball rolling…

Step 1: Get a white board or large piece of paper.  Divide it into four sections. For each of these sections write down the staff member’s name and what exactly their role was at camp. Title your sections the following four ways…  1) “No brainers”:  These are staff that you definitely want to bring back. 2) “On the fence”:  These are staff that show potential, they may have had a few bumps in the road this summer, but overall are people that can get the job done. 3) “Out” Staff from 2009 you are not asking back.  4) “Needs”: Here is where your needs for positions for next year are put.  I always loved doing this because it gave me a tangible look at where I needed to go.

Start with your “on the fence” list.  I truly believe you need to pick up the phone and talk to them.  Get a feel for where they are.  Be honest with them about your reservations and why.  Have them tell you why you should hire them (if they want to come back) At least give them an opportunity to explain themselves. Once you get a read on them, get off the fence and make a decision one way or the other.

Step 2: Get out your communication.  However you communicate to your staff (letter, e-mails, phone calls) get on it!  You are communicating two types of correspondence… 1) we want you back! 2) We’re moving in another direction. 

Retain: Get your commitments from staff by February 1, 2010 (at the latest)

Now you have a clearer picture and know you had some awesome staff members you definitely want back! Stop reading this article and communicate with them!  It’s simple, “Present neglect makes future regret.”  If you’re not communicating to them, someone else might be!  As a camp director, one of my joys was always being able to have great staff around me.  We got to the point where we could complete each sentences.  I knew what to expect from that person and they knew what to expect from me.  These were clearly what I like to refer to as “100 percenters”.  You know, the type of staff member that it’s 10:30 at night, evening program is over, they’ve been awake for 16 hours…  They are the last one still cleaning up.  You go over to them and say “listen, I know you are totally exhausted and have been working all day, but I need you to go up to the ball field and dig a hole for me.”  They unquestionably drop their broom, turn and look at you and say “How deep!?”  The “keepers” as some like to refer to them are your best of the best.  Doing the following will help you retain these staff. 

1)Don’t wait, communicate After your correspondence has gone out, don’t wait long with these staff members.  Immediate follow up is so important.  I always liked to treat them as blue-chip college recruits.  Phone calls, text messages, Facebook messages, tweets… get in touch with them.  Let them know how great they were and how much you want them back with you.  Send them a gift card with a note, send them some cool pictures from camp, and get on it.  You may be thinking, “That seems like a bit much”.  Really?  Well if that crisis happens next summer and you need someone around you who knows you, your kids, and your camp you will be grateful you made the extra effort.

2)Send them a contract and give them a raise:  Get these people committed as fast as possible.  Even if the raise is minimal, raise their salary.  I always think of the Dicken’s play a Christmas Carol when I talk about this subject with directors.  If you remember the last scene where Scrooge is talking with Bob Cratchet, after Scrooge has had his transformation.  Scrooge says: “And another thing Bob Cratchet… I’m going to RAISE your salary!”  Cratchet passes out.  Hopefully your staff will just be very happy with the raise.

3)Get their input about camp:  Once staff have committed, get them rolling as soon as you can.  One of the best ways to win people over is to ask for their advice.  As you are wooing these staff members, ask them for their feedback about camp.  Phrase it this simply: “As someone who was such a key player in last summer’s success, I’d really like your thoughts about camp.  What do you think went well and where do we need to get better?” Start soliciting them for their thoughts and getting them in the process.  Anytime we ask for staff’s help, they feel more invested in the process.

4)Increase their responsibility and role at camp:  Again, even if it’s by the slightest.  Make them a campfire director, have them be an asst. evening program coordinator, perhaps they can be on the rainy day program committee.  Giving them more responsibility will boost their confidence in the work and instill more pride in camp.

5)Sell them on your team:  As soon as your team for next summer starts to commit, let others know.  One of my clients now posts it on their website when staff return their contracts.  Start a summer of 2010 staff Facebook group.  You may know this already, but as soon as your “we want you back correspondence” goes out, all of those staff members are talking to each other.  The biggest question among them will be “Are you going back?”  When they start to see others commit they will want to do the same.  “Water seeks it’s own level.”  You want these staff to be working together, so keep them up to date about who is coming back!

Now, you’re looking at your lists.  You’ve gotten your commitments as best you can.  You’ve filled in your “No brainers”, “on the fence” and “out” sections.  Now it’s time to fill in the “needs” section.  Once that is done, use these five tips and go get em’!…

Recruit: To be the best, you have to get the best!

1)www.getoutthereonthewebandfindsomegreatstaffmembers.com (no that’s not real website!)  There are so many staff recruiting websites that exist I could write a whole article about those.  Sign up for them and get on them.  Check resumes.  Post your needs.  The power of this technology has made staff recruiting so much more accessible.  However, the personal touch makes a huge difference as well.  For example, whenever I get an e-mail from someone who wants me to come to their camp to do a staff training, I always follow it up with a phone call.  I want my first contact with someone be my voice and not my written words.  I really believe that makes a difference when you have staff that might be being recruited by many camps.  The personal touch will help sell you, so let your first contact be a phone call instead of an e-mail.

2)Get Educated:  If you have a local college nearby, go there and get on campus.  However, you need to have a specific plan.  As a teacher, I’ve always believed that ‘teacher’s to be’ make great camp staff.  So going to a college is a great idea, but you need to get to the right people.  Contact the chairperson of the education department and ask them to set up a table in their education building.  You may get the “we offer a career day” runaround, but that’s what you’re trying to avoid.  You want a day or a place on campus where you are ‘the only show in town’.  Perhaps in exchange for an exclusive day on campus they can send a representative from their admissions department during the summer to talk to your staffs that are juniors in high school that looking for a college.

3)“Tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are.”:  Ask your 100 percenters if they have friends that want to work at camp.  Great people usually spend time with great people.  It’s that simple. 

4)Get local:  At the high school where I teach, every year, our hometown recreation department has announcements made about the opportunity to work at camp for the summer.  Why not do this at your local high schools?  Arrange a visit with local schools where you can be present during lunches to give out some information about your camp and what you are all about.  Sometimes you don’t have to look very far to find great staff.

5)Look inward:  I work with one client currently that only hires staff if they have been a C.I.T. in their program.  Their thought process is “we know how they have been trained, they know camp, and we now know them.”  It’s obviously working, the camp has done it this way for many years and they always have a full enrollment.

Now, your lists are complete.  You’re feeling pretty good about the team you’re starting to put together.  An excitement and buzz is starting to grow about next summer.  Now, get some of those staff prepared and trained to really make best use of them.  Take advantage of that momentum with the following tips…

Rev up: “Enthusiasm with out knowledge is like running full speed in the dark.”

- Unknown

1)Conference Season:  Haven’t been to a conference in awhile?  Or maybe you have, but some of those key staff members you are looking at for 2010 never have?  Let 2010 be the year.  The ACA offers so many fantastic local and regional conferences it will only make your staff stronger to get to them.  (www.aca-camps.org) At every conference I present at, I love watching camps gathered in corners of a conference center or hotel in mini “mastermind groups” planning away.  It’s a great way to expose your staff to new ideas, great presenters and camp professionals.  It will really open up the eyes of your new staff to the greater picture of camp.

2)Staff retreat: Some of my current clients get some of the key players together and have a staff retreat weekend.  They host it on their camp’s property or a local hotel.  They bunker in and make it an ‘all about camp’ weekend.  This way you have no distractions and you have the full commitment of everyone.  This is a great idea to get your new staff on board, even if it’s only a day.

3)Book report:  That’s right.  Those words send shivers down some spines, but give your new staff some homework to do.  Pick a book that you believe is a great staff training/motivating/inspiring camp book and send it to them.  Send them the hard copy, the e-copy, the Kindle copy, whatever you want.  Have them read it and put together a quick report about what was meaningful about it for them to tell how it ties into camp.  This will give them some good insight into your philosophy and they’ll have a better understanding about your leadership style and what your expectations are.

4)Online training:  Take advantage of this generation’s technology.  Have them look into some online training modules that are available to them to help get them better prepared for the summer ahead.  One example of this is… (www.expertonlinetraining.com)

5)Camp Tours:  This can be a part of your staff retreat weekend or independent of that.  Get your staff together and coordinate with a few other camps in the area and take your key staff to their property.  Get a tour of the facility.  Have your staff meet their staff or director.  Have the other camp take you through a typical day and traditions.  Cover broad-spectrum ideas such as “how do you set up your staff week?” to finite details of “how do you set up your day off schedule?” If you take away one useable idea it’s worth it.  Another plus is it shows your staff that yes; in fact, there are actually other camps that exist other than yours!

In essence, all you have just read about is an investment in people.  The formula of this is quite simple… Time, effort and energy you invest in creating great people on your staff = People that will invest time, effort, and energy into your campers.  When all is said and done, is there anything more important than those positive and healthy relationships?

Steve Maguire

Professional Speaker

Schools and Summer Camps