The last few weeks have been the beginning of summer staff training at SpringHill Camps. We start with our highest level of summer leadership, and about every week or so, the next layer arrives.
It’s a great exercise in “span of care,” a philosophy we also implemented across all levels of leadership when I was a campus minister at His House Christian Fellowship. The truth is, no one can or should train or care for more than about 7 people at a time. So, the activities director trains her two interns first. They each train their 5 or 6 leadership staff, who in turn each train about 7 of their activities staff.
Ultimately, it will be the activities staff who lead and facilitate the activities with our summer campers and guests. But what is the daily job of their leaders?
Our activities director Sarah Gillespie has boiled it down to a simple set of four responsibilities: ROCC.
- Resource: It is my job to make sure that my staff have the right people, the right number of people, and the right equipment to facilitate a great experience for our guests. If they need additional resources, whether people or things, it’s my job to make sure they get it.
- Observe: It is my job to watch carefully, to ensure my staff are doing their jobs correctly, that the equipment is working properly, and to identify where there might be problems ahead, or how we could change our systems to make this experience better for everyone.
- Coach: It is my job to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with my staff and encourage them when they’re doing well, and provide real-time feedback that will help them to do better right now. The best feedback comes during the experience, so adjustments can be made right away. Great coaches don’t watch quietly from the bench.
- Correct: It is my job to step in, stop the activity, and speak truth to my staff when I see them doing something wrong. I must ensure that they know if they’re not doing something right, and more importantly, giving them instruction so they can change it.
So whether you’re leading staff at a summer camp, or you’re a leader of leaders, managing a line in a factory, or even raising kids, you can use these same four principles to help the people in your span of care be successful.
This week I'll expand on each of these four principles in separate posts.