Culture Shock and Training International Staff - Camp Code #64

How to help your domestic and international shock acclimatize to your camp.

The full ensemble is back! 

In this week’s episode Gabrielle, Beth and Ruby dive in to explore the culture shock of staff and developing techniques to train international staff. International staff members are a wonderful addition to your team, and, it takes a little extra work on your part! On top of the usual onboarding, there’s more intention that needs to go into the way that you help that staff member develop initial relationships with senior staff and ensure that they are feeling comfortable and valued within the camp community. 

Being valued is something that every employee finds desirable. As a leader, it is up to you to find ways to make your staff feel valued. When hiring international staff, there are a lot of things to take into consideration: 

  • Having conversations about cultural differences between your international staff and the country you are in

  • Showcase the international staff’s culture, by introducing their food, games and songs to your staff

  • Assign a staff ambassador to international staff, make the ambassador your go-to person.  

  • Before your international hire arrives, find a camp alumni to sponsor this hire, so they could write to them at camp and be part of their camp family

For more tips and tricks, tune in to this episode!

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Leadership Training Best Practice

Credit: Ellen Nash - Camp Northland B’nai Brith

It’s important that you look every single staff member in the eyes every single day. By doing this, you let the staff know that you see them and acknowledge them for their efforts.

Always have a staff snack in the evening as pretty much all of the staff show up and do as Ellen does and serve as many staff members as you can. By serving the staff, Ellen gets the opportunity to greet them, socialize and thank folks for their work each day.

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This Go Camp Pro podcast is sponsored in part by CampGig - CampGig is more than just a job board, CampGig is designed to be the most useful matching/search tool for camps and camp staff. Camps can sign up today to scan and search through CampGig’s vast selection of candidates. If you’ve ever wanted an “easy-button” for finding your next great camp staff, then head over to CampGig.com and set up your camp’s profile today.