Use a simple framework to create a strong training strategy

By Dan Shortridge

Camp directors who feel overwhelmed by the challenge of staff training are far from alone.

If training is stuck in a rut, the staff week program isn’t properly preparing the team, training materials are years old, or you’re rushing to create visual aids at the last minute, both you and the team could benefit from using a tried-and-true training framework to maximize effectiveness.

It’s certainly tempting to dive in and start in the middle by creating handouts and flip charts. As a trained, veteran camp professional, you know what to teach, after all. But the advantage of using a framework is in the careful planning.

The ADDIE framework is a thoughtful, five-step process that goes beyond simply standing at the front of a room with a slide deck or flipchart. While other models are used in training and instructional design worlds, ADDIE is one of the longest-serving and most durable—plus highly adaptable and easily understandable by people who don’t do training every day.

Entire books and college degrees exist around designing instruction and training. This primer on putting ADDIE to work for camp staff is not a comprehensive guide but a slimmed-down structure with practical examples and insights drawn from experienced trainers and instructional designers. Here are the key principles and steps to get your camp on the right footing:

A = Analysis

The analysis phase helps an effective training leader learn the existing situation:

The needs of learners. Do they require a fundamentals-first approach, or can you go to advanced topics?
The current skills of an audience. What gaps exist in their abilities and experience?
The goals of the training. Are you trying to teach skills or develop culture as well?
The current process or system. How does the staff do things currently, and what can be improved?

“Analysis before training is critical to the training’s success,” says training consultant and instructional designer Kandice Whitaker. She notes that mapping staff’s needs to training objectives can also help participants feel more connected to the topics and the program.

For the camp staff, look at needs (theirs and yours); audience (age, maturity, number of students, learning styles, learning environment); and the tasks to teach (existing methods or procedures, plus new skills that staff members need to master). Also, take an objective look at current training plans, instructional assets, and training environment. What can remain? What should be changed or updated?

D = Design

At this point, you’ve articulated training challenges in the analysis phase. Why not just leap into creating lesson plans to meet those needs?

That would be a mistake. Taking a breath and moving into the design phase is important “because it lets you take a step back from the content and get things organized and laid out properly before going too far,” says Nick Leffler, an instructional designer and founder of an information-technology training consultancy. “You can’t build good training without a good foundation.”

Design training centers by building performance objectives and assessments. In other words, what do you want the audience to know or do at the end of the training, and how will you determine whether they have learned? You may need to divide the material into sub-objectives or incremental skills for a larger topic or a less-experienced staff.

For example, each instructor should know how to write a lesson plan. To determine whether they’re sufficiently trained, they should actually create a sample plan. That larger task can be divided into defining learning objectives; organizing and assessing resources and tools on hand; creating a presentation outline; describing the steps for hands-on practice; and building a tool to check their learning. To ensure the training is effective, align one assessment to one objective.

D = Development

In the design phase, you created scaffolding. In the development stage, you and the leadership team will construct day-to-day plans and a schedule for the staff week program, and then fit in all of the pieces for each individual training topic to match goals and objectives. This is where training sessions are built—write lesson plans, create instructional aids, write quizzes, and make checklists.

You already know the best counselors and instructors focus on motivating and engaging campers. Make certain that training motivates and engages staff members, too. Build that into each session on an intentional level.

And be sure to explicitly emphasize—through hands-on work, if possible—how staff members will apply what they’ve learned to a practical camp context. How can they transfer their new skills and abilities to the dining hall, handicrafts lodge, nature trail, or robotics lab?

I = Implementation

Delivering the training—the exciting, hands-on part that many camp professionals naturally gravitate towards—is the core of the implementation phase. Begin with selecting and training instructors, walking them through the analysis and objectives so they understand and appreciate the context. Prepare an instructional environment, get handouts and handbooks ready, and keep things moving and interesting.

The personality of a trainer can play a big role in the success of a session. Some topics require loud, boisterous energy, such as in leading a song or performing a skit. For other issues, such as child-abuse prevention, a quiet, serious-minded presenter may work best.

Always have a backup plan in case of inclement weather, equipment failure, or acts of God. Being able to pivot with little downtime will ensure maximum use of limited training time.

E = Evaluation

While each part of the ADDIE formula is important, the most critical element is the final phase of Evaluation, says Devlin Peck, an instructional design coach and consultant. “That’s where the model falls short in most organizations,” Peck notes. “This leads to wasted resources and money, but most importantly, it likely means that your staff training program doesn’t fulfill its objectives.”

Evaluation may be as simple as asking for staff feedback, or as involved as obtaining outside, third-party perspective on training. Remember that you’re not just evaluating what people thought or felt about the training, but its intrinsic effectiveness—so next year you won’t have to start from the beginning. Ask questions:

Were the materials clear, useful, and practical?
Did the training session adequately cover each learning objective?
Do the assessments sufficiently measure how well the staff learned?

Measuring the effectiveness of training on multiple levels helps a camp director understand their impact on the staff, Peck says. “Without it, you don’t have any data to use the next time to improve your training program and its results.”

One Tool Of Many

ADDIE is only one tool in the training toolbox. It’s not a prescriptive system but one that’s adaptable to different situations. The phases are not linear, but can overlap or merge. Each stage informs the next, with insights from analysis influencing design work, for example.

It’s also critical for camp leaders to recognize that training can’t solve every problem. Simply layering on more sessions or workshops won’t address fundamental issues of skill gaps, employee fit, temperament, or character. However, working through the ADDIE framework can help identify larger systemic issues that require other tools to fix.

Dan Shortridge is a career coach and marketing consultant who holds a master’s degree in instructional design. Reach him at danshortridge@gmail.com.

Improve Onboarding Effectiveness

Save time and enhance the staff experience with 10 tips

The employee onboarding experience can make or break a new employee’s perception of your camp. Those first interactions and impressions are central to whether team members have a satisfying summer—and whether they return.

Onboarding at camp requires a special degree of attention and focus, more so than for most jobs. Staff members—especially residential ones—are a living community, not merely an assortment of interchangeable roles.

Remember that the attention spans of younger staff members in high school and college may not be that long. Their pre-camp months are being interrupted by college applications, proms, senior projects, sporting events, graduations, and other celebrations. Their time is limited, and their summer jobs may not be a major priority in the spring. (And don’t assume that everyone knows what a W-4 or I-9 is, or why they’re important!)

Here are 10 tips to ensure the onboarding system is optimized and uses limited time to best advantage:

1. Be selective and strategic. Determine what you absolutely need to accomplish and what you would merely like to finish. In partnership with the leadership team, rank onboarding items in order of importance.

2. Set expectations. Create a timeline with deadlines and share them. Then stick to it. Give staff members what they need when they need it; don’t dump all of the information on them at once.

3. Deliver clear and consistent communication. When sharing information with new staff members, use checklists and bullet points to focus their attention, and separate dense blocks of text. Each communication should have a clear call to action. Include standing links in each message to evergreen resources, like a staff handbook or camp calendar. Use every communication method possible—email, private Facebook group, Discord—to increase the chances that staff members will see messages and act.

4. Create a welcome package. This can be either virtual or physical. A short welcoming video message or a camp patch and cookies in the mail can set a positive tone. Don’t let an initial interaction as a new hire be boring tax-and-legal paperwork!

5. Save time with advance education. Determine what pre-camp work can be done early to have everyone on the same page and to save hours during in-person training. Can you use video to teach camp songs and cheers? What about a webinar or booklet that shares camp history and culture?

6. Use the buddy system. Pair new hires and first-time staffers with experienced team members to help get the lay of the land. Coach mentors on what to say and how to answer tough questions. New hires will have a connection with at least one person on the first day.

7. Introduce the team. Providing short bios and photos of leadership and area directors can also help new hires feel connected. A simple organizational chart can help new hires see where they fit and understand all the moving pieces that make up a camp operation.

8. Share uniform or dress code information early. “What do I wear?” is one of the top questions for new employees in any business. Make expectations clear, or set up an ordering system well in advance.

9. Compensate staff members for their pre-camp time. If you’re asking for major work—completing mandatory online trainings, attending virtual hangouts or in-person meetings, or creating lesson plans—then either pay for that time or ensure it’s built into summer pay.

10. Create a first-day, no-jitters program. Anxiety and excitement will be battling for emotional supremacy on the first day for many staff members. They’re moving into new homes, meeting new people, absorbing a ton of information, and eager to make good impressions. Smooth the experience for them with a highly organized check-in and welcoming system. The day may look like organized chaos, but it shouldn’t feel like it.

ADDIE To The Rescue