Getting to know the most about your staff during Staff Training

At the end of staff training, you are making some critical decisions for how your summer will play out. You will likely make decisions about counselor pairs, age group assignments, and who will be supervising whom. For all of them, it is helpful to know your staff so you can plug them in to play to their strengths. There's a lot of going on during staff training and so it can be difficult to make time to get to know your staff as well as you can.  However, it needs to be a priority. Getting to really know the people that you've hired to fulfill the promises you've been making all year to parents is critical to lowering your stress level this summer. 

Best Practice for Leadership Training

Present a session about the Art of Public Speaking. This can happen just prior to a meal so that during the meal your staff can give toasts during that meal. Give staff topics and a small notecard and a writing utensil to write notes if they need to. This will show you how staff rise to the occasion, how comfortable they are speaking in front of others, and how they operate creating something on the spot. Who shares gratitude? Who is sarcastic? Who is hilarious? There is much to be learned from this activity and much to be shared. Enjoy!