Appreciative Staff Training
Help counselors to support each other by discovering their own strengths
By Susan Langlois
Many campers credit a lifelong friendship that began with a new friend at camp. The strongest bonds can develop while spending lots of time together negotiating the challenges of communal living with a dozen new people, overcoming homesickness, or even feeling the support from another camper during a first horseback-riding lesson.
© Can Stock Photo / kadettmann
The same challenges campers wrestle with can also be found at pre-season camp-staff training. Embedding activities to form those same bonds is part of “Appreciative Staff Training.” Before members start the formal part of training, take time to identify their strengths, common interests, and the support they can receive from each other. This can develop an environment where confidence, optimism, and the love of camp is cultivated.
Appreciative Staff Training is based on a model of “Appreciative Advising” in higher education. Dr. Jennifer Bloom, a leader at Florida Atlantic University, believes using this approach is essential to help students make the most of their college lives. The main goal of camp staff training is to help counselors support each other by discovering their own strengths—especially in the ways they contribute to a strong team that meets new challenges with optimism and grit. This type of training not only builds staff morale and comradery; taking an appreciative approach can give staff members the skills to meet the ultimate challenge: empowering campers to strive and to expect success when encountering any challenge. When the focus is on discovering strengths and learning how to use them, members can build both their confidence and their expectations to succeed.
This positive mindset can be the foundation for lifelong learning as well as meeting life’s challenges knowing that effort matters. This “can-do” approach puts the focus on discovering what works (and what doesn’t work), rather than falling into the trap of “perceived” weaknesses. Focusing on strengths inspires effort and optimism in discovering what works.
Common Bonds
What do your camp staff members have in common?
This first activity is a great icebreaker.Appoint a veteran leader to give the following instructions to the rest of the staff members, who are seated:
“Stand if you are the first-born in your family. Now, everyone else who is still seated please give a round of applause to these brave souls who survived all of the times when their parents were not sure what they were doing.”
After the applause fades, the leader adds, “And for that, you can take a seat and relax.”
“Now stand if you were the baby of the family. Those who are still seated give a great round of applause because these youngest members will probably always be referred to as the baby in the family.”
After the applause fades, the leader adds, “And for that, you can take a seat and relax.”
“Stand if you are born somewhere in the middle of the children in your family. Please give a round of applause to these middle guys. The fact that you are confident to be a leader at camp shows it is possible to overcome the curse of being invisible as the middle child.”
After the applause fades, the leader adds, “And for that, you can take a seat and relax.”
Create other examples for what people have in common by asking staff members to stand, e.g., if they have ever watched a World Series game “in-person.” You could follow up with “How many of you watched your team win a World Series?”
Here are a few more examples:
“Stand if you ever volunteered at a soup kitchen. How many of you ate dinner with your guests?”
“Stand if you prefer soft-serve ice cream over frozen yogurt. How many of you would splurge on the calories for the sprinkles?”
Problem Solvers
This activity uses a “pair-share” format (i.e., working with a partner). Appoint another veteran leader to give these instructions to staff members:
“Decide which partner will be the listener, and which partner will think of a time when they were successful in solving a problem. Describe how the problem was solved.” Give the partners a few minutes to share. “Then have your partner identify a personal strength that made the solution possible.” Give them a few minutes to identify that strength. “Before you switch roles, write down the personal strength you identified.”
“Now switch roles, but the situation will change a little. Think of a time when one of your friends had a problem and you helped that person solve it.” Give them a few minutes to share. “Now work together to identify the personal strength that contributed to solving your friend’s problem and write down the solution.”
Bring the camp staff members together; have each partner report to the group the problem that was solved and the personal attribute that helped solve it. As the attributes are shared, write them on a board/easel/PowerPoint slide—whatever is visible to the group. After all the attributes are on display, note which of those a staff member can bring to a team effort at camp. Ask if any other attributes can be added to the list.
Identifying Differences
This activity can be conducted in pair-share or group format. Make a list of attributes it takes to develop a strong team approach and a successful week at camp. Write a separate list on a board/easel/PowerPoint slide. Compare the attributes on each list. If there are differences, discuss why they are different.
The Welcome Wagon
This activity can be a pair-share or group format. Start with a scenario that is common to every camper’s experience, the first impression when arriving at the entrance on day one:
Ask staff members how to greet campers so they immediately feel welcome. One strategy is to demonstrate you are happy they made it, but that you would also like to learn more about them:
Position several greeters at the camp’s front entrance; before directing arrivals to the designated parking area, a greeter has hand-written nametags for everyone and writes in their hometowns. That small act of creating name tags shows an interest in campers and a desire to know them by name and hometowns.
All staff members, from counselors to lifeguards to camp director, will have their name tags with hometowns listed. Sharing where you are from can spark great conversations and give everyone a feeling their presence matters.
A cabin list of campers shows the number of years they have been at camp. This conveys you are interested in their camp experience.
Susan Langlois has more than 30 years of experience as a college professor, athletic administrator, camp director, and sport-facilities design consultant. She is a graduate of Springfield College and the University of New Hampshire. She is currently the Dean of Arts & Sciences at Rivier University in Nashua, N.H. Reach her at slanglois@rivier.edu.