The Ideal Workplace
Five themes to help today’s youth become tomorrow’s leaders
By Simcha Heisler
Camps have an opportunity to create the “ideal workplace,” a place where every employee is a valued member of the team. While I always felt this to be true, spending a week at the Clifton Strengths Summit last June caused me to see just how ideal it really can be. The summit was a gathering of managers, coaches, innovators, and leaders from all over looking to change the world. The theme was that, by empowering people within the workplace, their true potential can be unlocked. The new demands of today’s workforce are satisfied by the jobs created in camp. I left with two thoughts:
If we just focus on maximizing the resources we already have, we can truly create the ultimate job.
With such potential, camps have no excuse to not create an ideal work environment.
Photos: © Can Stock Photo - starfotograf (left) • Massonforstock (right)
This sounds like a daunting task, but it can be simplified into five themes (that came up numerous times at the summit). By really focusing on these themes, we can maximize the ability to help today’s youth become the leaders of tomorrow.
Meaningful Relationships
Relationships are the foundation of every business, but the most successful businesses take employer/employee relationships to the next level. Employees need to feel is they are cared as persons, as opposed to being cared about because they do their job well. When this quality relationship develops, there are feelings of trust and respect. Employees who trust the employer will listen to ideas, thoughts and needs, and are capable of a high level of productivity. Another advantage of a meaningful relationship is it helps curate the confidence to question and challenge the leaders of the organization, which leads to organizational growth.
This very important opportunity often gets overlooked. Managers don’t have time to socialize and get to know employees because they are just too busy. And every time they do see an employee, the only conversation is work-related. However, in camp, there are more than enough occasions to really get to know an employee. Since everyone lives on the same campus, eats meals together, and does activities together, there is plenty of time to just schmooze with an employee and really get to know that person in a short time. For those who place an emphasis on this, the benefits can be endless.
A few years ago, a new counselor I hired (who had previously worked in a larger, wealthier camp) complained about almost everything in his first days on the job. A few weeks later, (after a bunch of comedy skits and a color war general position as well), he told me he wished he was here longer because no one cared for him as a person at his old camp. From leaving meaningful impressions on his campers to raising the camp spirit, he thrived in this engaging environment.
Mission-Driven Organization
Gallup created the Q12 index to measure employee engagement. One of the questions is, “Does the mission of your company make you feel like your job is important?” Working for something you believe in helps elevate job performance. An employee will stop at nothing to get the job done if it’s something he or she feels is worth it. No obstacle is too difficult to overcome to fulfill the mission.
Camp culture is inherently mission-driven. Without any deep soul-searching, you can easily define the mission (something along the lines of “facilitating growth in a fun environment”). Other companies need to scramble to say what they do is x (e.g., opening and running restaurants) and why they do it is y (to make the world a better place, or some other stretch like that). However, in camp, what you do is a direct result of why you do it. Have you met with your leadership team to discuss your mission?
Photos: © Can Stock Photo / vichie81 (left) • Fleyeing (right)
Strength Coaching
Strength coaching is all about helping employees discover what they are good at and enabling them to work on those strengths. There are two benefits to doing this:
Employees will be much happier and engaged because they are doing something they enjoy.
Tasks will be done much better when every job is being done by the right person.
In camp, there are many ways to create a strength-based workplace. For starters, most employees are college students who need help from their supervisor to do the job (for many, it’s their first job). This leads to a natural coaching opportunity since employees are actively looking for guidance. Additionally, since there are so many different responsibilities at camp, it can make it easy to put the right people in the right job. There are different age groups, types of bunks, divisional activities, electives, etc. Have you had a conversation with counselors about what they are good at? What they enjoy doing?
Diversity And Inclusion
Besides being treated fairly is the right thing to do (which is enough of a reason to have a diverse culture), it is clear it helps the business as well. Having a diverse staff in an inclusive environment, where everyone’s voice is heard, leads to new ideas. Having that wide breadth of ideas pushes a company to achieve its goals. Camp provides an awesome opportunity. It is a safe environment where everyone can just let their true personality shine. No matter the background of a counselor, he or she will have all the same resources and opportunities to excel.
One of my favorite people to work with came from a background exactly opposite from mine. The only thing we had in common was working at the same camp. And that’s why I loved working with him. We always took opposing sides on issues, and then were able to have a conversation in order to meet in the middle. Before, I would have always taken “my side,” which wasn’t always right (although it was most of the time).
Friendships
“I have a best friend at work” is another one of the Gallup Q12 statements, and slightly controversial—but powerful nonetheless. Gallup’s research has repeatedly shown a concrete link between having a best friend at work and the amount of effort employees expend on their job. A best friend at work helps retain top employees, promote teamwork, and add to the work-play balance. This key aspect in the corporate world is also one of the foundations of camp. The main reason to choose one camp over another is for the camaraderie. Spending a month or two together—eating, sleeping, and playing—is a boot camp for creating friendships. The constant social interaction with the same few people adds a whole new dimension to friendships. In this organic way, camps create an ideal culture for creating best friends.
This idea was demonstrated to me only recently. I hadn’t seen one of my closest camp friends for more than five years until we spent a weekend together. It only took about five minutes to catch up, and after that it was back to our “glory days” in camp.
With a little focus, every camp can—and must—create the ideal workplace. Every camp knows it needs to focus on campers’ happiness, and sometimes does this at the expense of staff members. This needs to change. Focus on taking care of staff members and on the above themes, and your camp will be transformed. Camp is a great canvas for drawing the ideal workplace. Everything is in place, set for success. With focus and some work, we can all create an environment that truly allows everyone to maximize their potential.
Simcha Heisler is a division head and staffing coordinator at The Shma Camps. Reach him at sheisler@shmacamps.org.