Fostering Staff Flexibility and Empowerment
Staff activity training at our multicultural summer camp is now full speed ahead. The staff members are excited and ready to teach activity skills to campers on the water and on land. The weather so far this year has been even more varied here in Northwest Illinois than is “typical”. Some cold and rainy spells have provided staff with some necessary and valuable lessons as they prepare for our girls-only and boys-only camp programs.
First, it teaches us that we sometimes must be flexible with our expectations. While we all wish we could work on some sweet tans, with the sun playing hide and seek everyday, that isn’t always possible. It teaches us the importance of having a “plan B,” given that certain portions of staff training are most amenable to sunny, warm weather. So if for example, we are scheduled for practicing river walking and dam jumping, and the radar shows an imminent potential storm, we moved to practicing arts and crafts instead and getting the bikes and fishing poles ready for the summer.
With these valuable lessons in our brains heading in to summer, it means that if we are supposed to do mud volleyball with the campers and cold or rainy weather arrives, we will be equipped to have a plan B. Teaching and honing flexibility for all circumstances—whether unexpected weather changes or any unforeseen obstacle—helps us be ready to continue to make camp a fun, engaging, and safe place for all campers.