Staff motivation - Vision Realization

Food
Pizza, munchies, soda, and juice at staff meetings.
Personally cook something for the staff. Often, time given is more valuable than money –
especially when the staff appreciate how valuable your time is.
Pastries, hot chocolate, Starbucks coffee, and proper English tea served right before the first
vespers (or morning event) during staff training
Homemade lemonade available at all times
The cooks can be responsible for creating a daily staff special that would be available in the
staff house. Cake, brownies, jello, cookies, a dozen pre-prepared smoothies, . . .
When it is really hot, throw the staff a watermelon party during rest hour or at night.
By turns, have the staff over to the director’s house/cabin for a more intimate gathering.
Benefits // Meeting needs
Provide staff laundry. This perk will add to available staff time off because they won’t need to
take so much personal time to do it.
Fans in the staff house and perhaps in the cabins (depending on culture and need) can be much
appreciated.
Since variety is the spice of life, staff members would appreciate teaching more than just their
core area at camp.
The option for staff to participate and learn another program area of camp is often highly
rewarding. Although this is frequently stated as an option, making time available to staff
exclusively for that purpose is more effective. Also, if your camp has a tripping program, this
can be a powerful perk to staff so inclined.
Every morning, a staff member from some camper groups gets to join a special staff table where
they can just be with one another. Sometimes this table is in another building from where
everyone else eats. There is no agenda, except to help find time for staff to gel together, support
one another, and get a little break. Usually, they end up talking about their kids and camp
anyway. Administration members fill in the counselor holes, which helps lessen any “us versus
them” feelings.
E-mail and the internet used to be a really special perk, but now it is an expectation and need.
Going above and beyond the call of duty is including an impressive MP3 collection, and
multiple computer stations with high-speed internet access. Policing this can be tricky though.
Meet their needs (not dreams) for exercise, relaxation, being social, and doing nothing. Provide
the unconflicted time.
Sometimes what staff really want is the ability to have some life outside of camp. They really
want to go to a concert. They really want to go to a wedding. They have some school or sports
event they want to attend. A friend or relative is coming from far away, and they want to be
with that person. Being flexible with the staff schedule can be a big benefit. Sometimes a
former staff member can be brought in. Sometimes a session might not be totally full.
Sometimes you can wing it for a couple days. This can become epidemic, but staff who really
want these things will usually come talk to you about it, and they’ll do it before camp if you ask
about it explicitly. Even better, don’t dock their pay, as no one at camp is working for an
hourly or daily rate – see more about this point on Page – 112.
Facilitate staff’s need to play and have fun as adults. Vans available for staff at night (if there is
a camp driver) so they can get away from camp if needed or desired for errands or relaxation. A
good knowledge management (OWL) center where staff can learn about all their options and
make informed choices. When folks stay at camp, they can arrange with the program director to
have fun – like participate in activities with campers, or when the activity areas are not in use.
Providing free tickets to some things has worked well too.
For interested staff, personal feedback and development could be arranged on several
personality assessments– EQ, AQ, NEO big five, Strength Finder, and the 16 PF. People
usually find these very interesting and are fascinated by the results. The domain specific,
targeted feedback would also help the staff member do a better job while at camp.
© 2004 Randall Grayson, Ph.D. 40