Welcome to the Summer Camp Leadership blog. For those of us who lead summer camps, making a positive difference in the lives of young people is our passion. Turning that passion into a reality, however, takes more than the ability to lead songs, teach archery or plan craft projects. Creating camp experiences that truly transform lives takes leadership. Leadership that creates a vision for the future, leadership that inspires and engages others, leadership that remains focused and stays the course. My hope is through this blog you'll find ideas, inspiration and tools to help you be a great summer camp leader.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Tools for Evaluating Staff Engagement

Recently some of the world's most promising entrepreneurs were asked for their favorite tools for evaluating overall employee happiness and engagement. Their suggestions included:

  • Taking regular walks with staff.
  • Reaching out individually to staff members. 
  • Watching staff candidly work. 
  • Encouraging constant feedback. 
  • Asking and then really listening. 
  • Checking in more often. 
  • Sharing highs and lows. 
  • Asking what can be changed.  
  • Using an idea box. 

How do you evaluate the happiness and engagement of your camp staff?  Do you have a sense of the "pulse" of your staff? Getting staff to give discretionary effort beyond the minimum necessary to do the job is critical to creating a positive camp culture that translates into a great experiences for campers. That only happens when staff are happy and fully engaged. Think about how you could regularly use several of the strategies mentioned above to make sure you understand camp from your staff's perspective.