Leadership Through Demonstration In Camp Counseling

     If you’re like me, you’ve worked at a number of summer camps. I’ve worked at half-a-dozen camps across three states, with varying responsibilities ranging from cook to director. I even helped run some high-ropes courses and outdoor education in the mountains of Hawai’i for the elementary school that President Obama attended.

     I loved the work and would still be doing it if it paid enough. (Also, my wife and child would probably take issue with moving to a new camp every three months.) Camping, teaching, hiking, playing games and all on a steady diet of s’mores and campfire songs was a great chapter in my life.

There was one consistent problem I had with that lifestyle, no matter which camp I was at. It wasn’t the campers. It wasn’t even the parents, though conflict from that front was never too far away. The one consistent problem I had working at summer camps was the other counselors.

 The behavior and decorum of the counselors represent a vital component in the success of the camp. The campers are removed from their familiar settings and given a full menu of new and unique experiences. The counselors are there to advise and demonstrate as they go through those experiences with their campers. That’s why camps have counselors.

During the high-ropes courses, I’d have 6th graders walk a tight rope 20 feet up. Naturally, fear of heights reared its head. I’m not particularly good with heights but I had to get over that because If I was scared, the campers would be too. Trapped in midair with a dozen panicky preteens is about the worst thing I can imagine.

Part of my job as the leader was to demonstrate the proper behavior and attitude. It helped the campers accomplish their goals, but it also made my job easier. On more than one occasion I had to assist a counselor with a panicky bunch. Often, their campers were just behaving the way their counselor had demonstrated.

A less dangerous, but more common example, centers around simple rule following. At one camp, we frequently took the campers on field trips. Everyone brought their lunch and was told to leave money behind to avoid the chaos of going to a fast-food place. I had some really interesting dietary conversations with campers as we talked about what everyone had packed and their deep confusion as to the absence of fruit snacks in my lunchbox.

I was often the only counselor that brought my lunch though. The others brought money and would grab a burger at the nearest establishment. Invariably the campers those counselors were responsible for would riot at the perceived injustice. The counselor would argue back that the rules were different for counselors and neither party had a pleasant remainder of the day.

The thing is the counselor was right. The rules were different. We were afforded more liberty because of our role as leader. Their actions weren’t wrong, strictly speaking. Taking such stark advantage of that liberty though actively placed the campers beneath the counselor and ignored the more important part of the leadership role: to set the example for the people we lead.

Leaders have a responsibility to the people they lead. Leaders must demonstrate the attitudes and behaviors that they expect of the people they lead. The same goes with respect for the rules. Leaders who do not follow the rules can’t expect the individuals they stand in front of to follow those rules.

Disregarding the guidelines of the people doesn’t necessarily make a leader wrong, but it does make that leader a bad leader.