Staff motivation - Vision Realization

this will be obvious from the process models, but some interpretation for the different roles
people hold is helpful. The test is to ask staff to take out a blank piece of paper at the end of
orientation and ask them to (a) write out a list of outcomes, and (b) write out the means by
which the camp is going to influence those outcomes. If they can do that and tell you their
specific place in those plans, you’ll have done your job very well. Many kudos.
Once upon a time (really), the boys from a cabin were walking down to the bathhouse
to clean it. Every cabin had a community job to do in the morning. The campers were
complaining, because this was their least favorite job to do. One vocal camper was complaining
bitterly, “Oh man! This sucks! This camp is so bootleg; we paid a lot of money! They should
just hire someone to do this! How come they don’t?” The counselor’s response was “I don’t
know. Look, this is just how it is. We have to do it. Everyone has to do it eventually and today
it’s our turn. If you complain, it’s going to take that much longer. Let’s just get it over with so
we can get on to the fun stuff.” The counselor didn’t get it.
The above counselor’s response isn’t what you would have hoped for. Instead, the
counselor should have replied, “We all live in a community here at camp, and we all need to
contribute. This is our job today and everyone has one. By doing this, we make the camp a nicer
place to live. The camp could pay someone to do it, but that would make the camp more
expensive for everyone to attend. Some people here couldn’t afford it.” If your counselor were
really awesome, she or he might relate it to the broader community: “When people do their part
to recycle or vote, they are all working together to accomplish more than anyone could do by
himself or herself.” Better still would be for the counselor to ask pointed questions so that the
camper could answer his own question. As an aside, if the children picked (choice, power) how
they wanted to contribute to camp, they likely would have been happier about it.
Watching staff who believe in and are committed to enriching lives, and who have the
tools and resources to do so, is an amazing experience. When the vision is not only adopted,
but shaped, refined, assimilated, and perpetuated by staff members who make the vision their
own, going above and beyond average performance becomes the norm. It is expected by
everyone. The visionary cycle, which never really ends, begins to develop a life of its own.
Opportunity
Tools of the trade (standard things)
You probably hire quite a few staff who really love the program area where they’ll
spend much of their time teaching. That’s great, but it comes with a potential cost, because
such a program person often doesn’t feel that their area is supported sufficiently to do their job.
All too often I have witnessed deflated staff who are confronted with the reality of the
equipment at hand and the camp budget. The staff member may then implicitly deduce/think,
“So, this is what the camp really thinks about me, the program area, and the campers.” While
this may be unavoidable to some degree, it can certainly be mitigated by setting realistic
expectations and explaining the realities of a camp budget before the staff member signs up.
Satisfaction on any factor is the discrepancy between reality and expectations. Hiring folks
with expectations that are in line with the realities at camp is a central factor of a motivated
staff. I address setting expectations on page 10 as well. Of course, state-of-the-art equipment
will create satisfaction as well, but it isn’t necessary for a motivated staff as long as the
equipment is capable of meeting the mission point in the eyes of your staff.
Other tools that staff need to achieve the mission outcomes are good training, and good
processes. See the “Staff training best practices” resources for an education about what
excellent trainings entail. In terms of process, not all activities yield respectively greater
environmental attitudes, self-esteem, or appreciation for diversity. As I noted with the D.A.R.E.
example in the introduction, there are lots of well-intentioned programs that fail to meet their
© 2004 Randall Grayson, Ph.D. 24