With summer camp staff, play favorite$$$

Oct 10th, 2024

After visiting, working with, working at, running, or training 500+ camps, two things are true: Happy camp directors have awesome staff, and awesome staff have happy camp directors.

And before we get to how to make that happen, first think back to middle school or high school (or maybe even where you work now).

Picture the cliche version of popularity, the most crushed-on person at the time. Does that same person just happen to be the one who complains the most and also just so happens to have the worst attitude?

Yeah, I thought so.

This type of person, let’s call them the Regina George-type often has the most social capital and is even seen as:

Impressive (yuck)

Influential (double yuck)

Desirable (oof, it’s all bad).

Unfortunately, this can happen at camps as well. It’s probably happened at yours. And when your most popular staff members fit this mold (i.e., are kind of the worst), then the rest of your staff is going to want to be made in their image.

Now you’re in real trouble.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Quite the opposite. You can build a culture of camp where your best counselors and staff are also the ones who are looked up to the most.

Shifting your camp culture, making it more fun, more exciting, and (gasp) even cooler.

Where Camps Spend Money To Make Improvements

If I asked you for a list of things to improve your camp, something you could add for this upcoming summer, you’d probably go with:

Facilities

Better Food

Pool or Lake

Adventure Course

Cool Activities

I bet you wouldn’t list “staff” because camp directors just aren’t trained to think this way. We often silo staff into this other category, and when we do, we ignore hiring influential staff is an investment.

It takes time and, drumroll, money to make it happen. Great staff don’t grow on trees (and neither does cash, unfortunately), but camp directors sometimes don’t (or can’t) see it that way.

These are people, after all. They’ll be wearing staff shirts, singing songs, and consoling crying campers. But just like the state of the dining hall, the look of the pool, or the freshly mowed grass, your staff signals something about your camp almost beyond something materially quantified.

Basically, they are worth A LOT.

I’m Trying To Hire These People, Jack, I Swear

When thinking about spending big bucks on staff, you are probably wondering:

Who are these people?

You want me to pay them even more??!?

Aren’t their jobs just counselors?

How do I make the math, well, math?

You are probably in a situation like many other camps: hiring a bunch of younger and inexperienced folks, some of whom have come through your camp already, so at least they get the culture. And you are probably desperately hoping to just have enough of everyone by the time summer starts.

I get it, but you really need to focus on making sure 1 out of every 40 or 50 staff members is AWESOME. And to get those AWESOME (caps for a reason) staff, you need to put A LOT of time and energy into finding these folks, convincing them to work, and paying them.

Who Are These Mystery Staff?

Maybe they are former alumni who’ve “aged out” but still have summers free, like teachers or that artist friend with a flexible schedule. If they are outside of the camp culture, sometimes it’s even better because they don’t exist within the same norms, which sometimes aren’t all that great.

On a high level, you need to hone in on staff with certain attributes like:

1. They’re cool

Whatever version of “cool” brings people together and makes people want to spend time with them. A couple of my go-to’s through the years were huge nerds (they’d call themselves this, no worries), but they knew how to connect with people and make people laugh.

One’s an athlete, and one’s an artist. Those archetypes are cool in camp culture. It also helps that they were a little older than the rest of camp. Think your friend’s cool older sibling.

They end up as culture-setters and culture-keepers.

2. They’ve got director’s backs

These staff members know your mission, they’re into it, and they know you personally. They won’t need explanations about the camp’s needs, and they’ll offer to help when no one else is bothering.

Not the teacher’s pets, far from it. They’re confident in themselves and want the camp to succeed. These types might be worth double (yes, double, maybe triple) what you pay a typical staff member because they are actually worth about 10x a random weaker staff member.

3. They’re great with kids

Duh, but it’s worth mentioning. They go the extra mile and have fun with it. They understand what it means to have fun and are maybe a little tongue-in-cheek mischievous at the right times.

They model what it means to make everyone’s life easier at camp.

Wait, How Much More Should I Pay Them?

Thousands more. Yes, you read that correctly. $1000s (in number form, just so you get it) more per great staff member isn’t hyperbole. It might be low.

But for every 50 staff, pony up extra cash or bend over backward to bring in one of these exceptional staff.

How much would you pay in a marketing campaign to guarantee you had a 25% increase in paying campers for a summer? Thousands right?

Well, these exceptional counselors and staff are literally walking camp marketing managers.

If money is a reason your best staff members can’t return for a summer, find a way to make it happen in the budget. Or at least know what their number is so you can make a decision.

And when pitching them about returning, make sure to add in perks:

Give them housing

Create a flexible schedule

Get creative, you know your person

It’s not preferential treatment, far from it. This is creating a culture where the best staff get the best camp experience. It’s investing in your camp.

Other staff should aspire to these heights.

If your extraordinary staff member makes enough waves, it can mean a camper returning next summer (or that same summer) and one who comes back and brings a friend, too. We know these camper weeks are worth thousands.

Your best staff have this kind of material impact.

Plus, your extraordinary staff member impacts the staff culture, and everyone is now working twice as hard to be more like them.

The (Mostly Real) Numbers

It’s almost impossible to find global stats on camper retention, but let’s assume 50% of campers don’t come back to camp for a second summer.

That means if just one camper from each cabin or bunk decided to return due to their stellar staff member instead of not, it could mean you’re looking at 12 campers per session who are coming back and maybe bringing friends.

Feel free to use this Summer Camp Retention tool to see what I mean.

Here's a quick glance at some of the numbers

That’s thousands of dollars on the low side. It’s different for every camp because of overall summer numbers, but the effects of great staff are the same throughout.

This doesn’t even factor in the down-chain events when other staff members have their game raised. Those staff are also bringing campers back.

Oh, and one more super analytical and data-driven point. Paying these great staff $1000s more makes your life a billion times easier (check the math). They help avoid costly purchases if needing to replace unengaged staff, reduce the need to outsource camp morale (pizza parties, outings, whatever), and don’t break all the camp stuff.

A Final Equation

If someone came to you and said, “Hey, Super Camp Director, for just $5000 this summer, I can GUARANTEE you have a staff better than last summer while also increasing your camper numbers across the board,” wouldn’t you do this instantly?

Of course you would. It’s the whole math problem.

Start thinking about paying your best staff more to make sure they come back. When they do, so will the campers.

Have you done this with your staff? I'd love to know. Hit reply and tell about a staff member you paid more in the past.

You got this!

Jack