Staff training is hats, haircuts, and tattoos
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Getting to the newsletter in a sec, but if you’re going to be at Tri-State, I want to hang out
Presenting two sessions
From Bored to Bought In: How to Train Staff Who Actually Care - Tuesday, March 10 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Write the Story of Camp: Great Newsletters Driving Enrollment and Connection (this one’s with Doug Norrie) - Tuesday, March 10 @ 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm
Hosting 2 Parties
Camp Idol Tuesday, March 10th | Doors at 8, Music at 8:45pm | The Royce Social Hall @ The Tropicana (Presented by Campminder!)
Campchella Wednesday, March 11th | 10pm - 2am | Kiss Kiss Night Club @ The Tropicana (Presented by IENA)**
Come say hi! And now, on to the newsletter.
Running my first staff training at K&E this summer.
I’ve trained something like 20,000+ staff over the last 10+ years at camps. But this one hits just a bit different.
A lot of K&E staff are coming back. They’ve been there a while, and they know me, but this is my first time training them. It’s awesome and tbh a bit scary.
And because running a camp means like 1K decisions a day (round number), having a staff who can make quick and confident decisions means a ton.
So how do I help staff make decisions faster?
Step 1 is making sure they don’t freeze up thinking every decision is permanent.
James Clear = The Man
James Clear has this framework: Decisions are like hats, haircuts, and tattoos.
Hats = easy to change.
Do it today, undo it tomorrow. Don’t overthink these. Should you have a picnic outside? Should kids sit in different spots at lunch? Which game should you play during free time? These are hats.
Haircuts = couple weeks to work through or reverse.
Changing the schedule. Shifting staff responsibilities. These are reversible but not instantly.
Tattoos = permanent (or at best very hard to undo).
Building infrastructure. Safety protocols. Major program changes. These deserve real thought.
Many times staff treat hat decisions like tattoos. They overthink, delay, ask permission for things that don’t need permission.
The goal is helping them see most decisions are hats, some are hats, very few are tattoos.
Quick example from K&E this summer. We’re building a pickleball court. That’s a tattoo. $40K+, can’t undo it. I’m going to write more about this decision later, maybe over on Write From Camp. It took a lot to consider.
But staff parking further away because of the court? That’s a haircut. Could reverse it but takes time.
Changing the schedule slightly to make it work? Haircut. Staff get more time off, hard to walk that back.
How we train staff on using the new space? Hat. Can adjust daily.
Who gets to play and when? Hat.
One big tattoo decision cascades into haircuts and hats.
ONE MORE QUICK + EXCITING NOTE:
The Staff Training Sprint Cohort is going live tomorrow!
I explain it in the very professional video below.
Can also put your name on the Staff Training Spring Waitlist
Hat decisions create tattoo memories
Too go one mini-level deeper and what I really hope staff can understand: Sometimes a hat decision creates a tattoo memory.
You’re not sure if you should have a spontaneous picnic outside? Just do it. It’s a hat.
But it might create an absolutely banger memory for kids. Tattoo-level memory.
That’s the point. If you’re stuck thinking every decision is permanent, you miss the moments. The spontaneous stuff. The “let’s try this” decisions. The “why not” moments.
Those are often what kids remember most.
Safety stuff? All tattoos. Duh. Harness on high ropes is a tattoo because you can’t undo a fall.
But almost everything else? Hats and haircuts.
The staff training exercise
Here’s one way we are running this at staff training.
Give everyone index cards. Have them write down decisions they’ll make this summer. One decision per card.
Examples:
Who leads songs.
How to handle kids missing home.
Where to take kids during free time.
Whether to do a spontaneous night hike.
How to respond when a kid is having a hard day.
Keep writing. Aim for 5-10 cards per person.
Then shuffle all the cards together. Doesn’t matter who wrote what.
Hand them out to small groups. Maybe 4-5 people per group.
Groups sort the cards into three piles: Hats, Haircuts, Tattoos.
This is where (I’m hoping) it gets good. Because staff will debate.
“Is changing the activity schedule a hat or a haircut?”
“Is letting kids stay up late one night a hat or a tattoo?”
“What about choosing to skip a meal to do something else?”
Let them work through it and disagree. All good.
Then bring everyone back together with each group sharing a few examples from each category.
Most staff think way more things are tattoos than actually are.
They’ll put “choosing which game to play” in the tattoo pile. That’s a hat. Change it tomorrow.
They’ll put “deciding to do an impromptu campfire” in the haircut pile. Also a hat.
This all helps them realize they have way more permission to make decisions than they think.
You can also do a simpler version. Just fold a piece of paper into thirds. Label the columns: Hats, Haircuts, Tattoos. Have staff list decisions in each category.
But the index card version is better because shuffling and discussing as groups makes it stick.
The goal is getting staff to stop spending tattoo-level thought on hat-level decisions.
Move faster. Try more things. Create more moments.
And above all, see which decisions they can make quickly and which ones deserve real thought.
Hats, haircuts, and tattoos.
Most of camp is hats.
Act accordingly.
You got this,
Jack
PS: And one more time for those in the back...
Going to Tri-State? Great, we are too and have some amazing things for you.
We’re excited to bring two major nights of community + fun to the Tri-State Camp Conference this year. You’re invited to both.
You guys work super hard all year long. You deserve to have an awesome time. You deserve some of that awesomeness that you make for other people.
🎤 CAMP IDOL - Tuesday Night of Tri-State
Presented by CampMinder
Camp Idol is a live-band karaoke competition and camp social for camp professionals. Camp pros take the stage with a professional backing band, competing for prizes - including a $500 grand prize - while the rest of the room hangs out, bowls, plays bar games, and cheers them on.
The night also features a 50/50 raffle benefiting SCOPE, supporting access to camp for more kids.
👉 RSVP for drink specials & info: HERE
🎶 Want to perform? Apply here - performer applications close February 17: PERFORMER APPLICATION LINK
🪩 CAMPCHELLA - Wednesday Night of Tri-State
Presented by IENA
Campchella takes over Kiss Kiss Night Club for a late-night camp pro dance party. Think camp songs in a club setting, a packed dance floor, and a room full of camp people letting loose — the way only camp people can.
👉 RSVP for drink specials & Info: RSVP
Both events are free to attend, open to camp professionals 21+, and produced by The Summer Camp Society.
Can’t wait to see you there - on the dance floor, in the crowd, or on stage 🎶
See you at Tri-State!
Get my newsletter every week.
It’s all about kids today
Jack Schott
Summer Camp Evangelist