Staff Recognition: Random Acts of IceCream

Like just about everyone their age our staff’s preferred method of communication is text message.  Though we meet them where they’re at when we can, this is a far from optimal method for communicating all the pre-hire and pre-camp information that they need.

Which leads to a conundrum.  We send them emails, but most of them never check their emails, so we never really know who has got the information and who hasn’t.

So, we text them to say the email is coming, send the email, and tell them the email has been sent.  But rather than wait in hope we would place little easter eggs in the email with a question or instructions with what they should do to let us know they have read the whole email and get back to us.

This is always small - if you have read this far, email us back and tell us your favorite color, what’s your secret shame track on Spotify you play only when you’re on your own, tell us if you have siblings and where you are in the birth order, what’s you favorite ice cream, candy bar, super hero, movie.  This list is potentially endless.  Some emails have more than one, so the staff can’t just scroll to the bottom see the question and respond. Others ask them to reply in a certain style or narrative voice.  What’s important is that they reply and you can start a list of who has read your email.

All of that is true, but none of that is really important.  Because what you have actually done, and this is the genius of Meagan C Springer, is built a data base of all your staff’s favorite things and from this list ‘Random Acts of Ice Cream’ is born.

Image is AI by DAll-E

Random Acts of Ice cream in just another one of the ways that we celebrate our staff.  Remember you are what you celebrate and at the programs I work with I encourage people to celebrate their staff, because they are the program.  Starting at the end of the first quarter of summer we look at the lists, and look at the staff that are really making camp tick and start buying some of the items on it.  Then when we go out and see a staff having a hard time but persevering, a staff who is struggling to balance work and school but not letting effect their kids, a staff that has the kid that refuses to move and the kid that runs away, we can go up to them and say “Hey, I see how patient your being with the kids in this heat, we really appreciate that about you, let me take your kids for ten minutes, here is a room temperature Mango Fanta in a glass bottle, why don’t you go and sit in the air conditioning and drink it, you have earned it.”  They are of course blown away.  Not just because they get to take a break, not just because someone has recognized how hard they are working, but because how could anyone have possibly have remembered that room temperature Mango Fanta in a glass bottle is their favorite drink.

The Staff could be having a rough day with a camper, so when we go over to helpout, and see who the camper is, we can sometimes make serendipitous connections to help the staff and camper bond.  “I just met your brother; did you know Katelyn has an older brother too.”  Or “did you know Jacob and I or also middle children?”  This builds a connection between us and the staff as well as the camper astaff because Jacob can hear that he matters to us, as we have taken the time to get to know him.

The name suggests that this all started with Ice Cream and at first it was random, but like many of our programs we stumbled into its power blindly, recognized its value, and became extremely intentional in its execution.

Meagan doesn’t use this cynically to manipulate staff (I do) but uses it to show the depth of her caring to them.  Its one of her many micro mattering practices, ways that she shows our staff that they are important to us because of who they are, not what they are doing for us.  It goes beyond getting your favorite Ice cream on a hot day, it gives us a window into who they are and allows us to connect with them on a deeper level.

We use this to engage with our staff during the winter months.  We might be out grabbing food, buying supplies, or on line and see a picture of Skye from Paw Patrol, and take a picture of it and send a picture of it to the staff it made us think about, because in January the previous year she told us that it was her favorite cartoon character growing up and used to admire her.  The quick “Saw this and thought of you” message takes no time to send, but might find its way to a staff that is going through a struggle we know nothing about, and lets them know they are important to us. Because at the end of the day they all are

Again from DALL-E. this is its interpretation of Skye from Paw Patrol that doesnt violate their copy rights.

Random acts of ice cream is just another pillar in our staff recognition.

Read about the Button program here, and Hardest worker here.