Values Over Beliefs: Guiding Decisions at Summer Camp
As we prepare for staff training, I think it's time to start thinking about what your camp believes and what they value. The onset of summer is invariably going to lead to some tough decisions regarding both staff and campers. Having challenging discussions now will make the difficult decisions you will encounter later much easier to make.
Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist (of whom the camp mechanics are fans), often explores how values and beliefs shape behavior in the workplace. In his work, he distinguishes between values and beliefs in the following ways:
Values: Values are core principles or standards that guide behavior. They represent what is important to us and drive our decisions and actions. For example, values can include integrity, fairness, and compassion. Values tend to be relatively stable over time and are deeply ingrained in our identity.
Beliefs: Beliefs are convictions or acceptances that certain things are true or real. They are often based on personal experiences, education, and cultural influences. Beliefs can be about factual matters (e.g., believing that climate change is caused by human activity) or about more subjective interpretations (e.g., believing that hard work always leads to success). Unlike values, beliefs can be more flexible and susceptible to change as new information is presented.
However, we often conflate the two. When people confuse values (deep-seated principles) with beliefs (ideas considered to be true), they might treat their guiding principles as flexible rather than foundational. This confusion can lead to inconsistencies in decision-making and behavior. For example, if someone treats integrity (a value) as a belief, they might decide it’s acceptable to act dishonestly if they become convinced it could lead to a good outcome, mistaking a situational judgment for a core principle. Likewise, when we mistake a belief for a value, we can become rigid in our thinking, which can prevent us from receiving and processing new information. It can reduce our desire to collaborate if we feel that our beliefs are not shared or respected, and it can lead to conflict if we place an emphasis on being right rather than on finding common ground.
Here is a real-world example where I had mistaken my beliefs for our organization's values and had to be persuaded to make the right decision—one I didn’t agree was right for weeks, maybe months. But now I see how I was wrong and am glad of the decision and the outcome.
In 2016 (I think), we had a camper call another camper the N-word. I believed that camp should be a safe space for all and we should send the kid home, this was the view of nearly all my staff. This was based on the age of the camper, the context it was used, and taking into account the cultural and political climate at large.
In order to remove a child from camp, there was a series of steps to go through. The final step was to contact one of our VPs, who we will call Janice. For that is her name. Janice listened to what I had to say, she paused briefly, asked some questions before asking me to restate why I was sending him home. I thought this was obvious. Then after a long pause, she said “No. That’s not who we are.”
Flabbergasted, I repeated what had happened. She stated that she heard me, and understood the strength of my beliefs but that wasn’t who we were. She told me that we would call all the parents and explain the situation, that we were moving the perpetrator to another cabin. That we would assure the victim felt safe, and that because we were a value-based organization, we would live by those values. The kid would be staying in camp.
She then told me that if we didn't fall back on our values in hard times, they were not values at all, just jingoistic statements and platitudes. I was furious, and said nothing; she could tell and was very patient. She told me that I was mistaking my beliefs for values. Our values were to treat every situation with honesty, respect, caring, and responsibility (The YMCA core values).
She explained that to her, this meant that there were no racist children. Just good children who had been exposed to racism. That we had a responsibility to teach this kid a different way, not send him home to the environment where he was probably exposed to these ideas. That we had to care for the child that had been on the receiving end of these words, and respect his need to feel safe, but also be honest with them about the world's realities. (My fury didn’t subside even a little.) we didn’t have to be happy, in fact we were aloud to be angry. But not with the child.
Before I could say the words out loud, she told me that people would be angry at her decision. (They would be.) But I should tell them that we cannot change who we are to fit a situation, but our beliefs could change when we are presented with new knowledge and ideas. Just like this kid's ideas would change when I placed him in a cabin with as many non-white kids as possible. Our staff would change their beliefs or find somewhere that better fit their values. I could tell them that it was her decision but it was my job to make it happen, and people would try and shoot the messenger.
If staff were not okay with her decision, she said they could call her and she would explain how as a barely five-foot-tall black teen she felt helping people register to vote. Where every ounce of her believed this was a terrible idea as she was convinced she was going to get hurt, but her values told her that people could and would change. Finally, she told me it was our job to build a values-driven culture, where core principles guide behavior, and if we do this well people will naturally make suitable and ethical decisions.
She was right about everything. Staff were pissed at her decision and blamed me. Staff threatened to leave, and we supported that and offered to find them work elsewhere. (no one left). We moved the kid to a new cabin where he made friends. We called his parents, who were mortified and offered to come get him. We explained, to their shock, he could stay. The other family was also grateful and understanding as was their child. Who wrote to us after the summer thanking us for helping navigate the situation. Though he didn’t use the words his letter said that he felt heard and empowered, and to our surprise that the two of them became friends over the course of the week as they played gaga ball together.
Though it took me a while to see. I had conflated my values and beliefs. I have always felt that we should have strong beliefs loosely held. Meaning that we should be firm in our beliefs but be prepared to change them when we had better information becomes available. But the discomfort of this situation had led me to ignore my values, of empathy, education, leadership (to name a few) and make a decision that might have been right in the short term, and would have made me feel better, but not represent who we (or I) were (am).
As we move into the staff training season, we need to have preemptive discussions about who we are and what we value. We need to make sure that all our values align even if our beliefs don’t. This preemptive reflection enables us to navigate challenging situations with a clear, values-driven compass, rather than being swayed by the mutable winds of our beliefs.
At Summer Camp, where the developmental environment for both staff and campers’ hinges on the thousands of quick decisions we have to make, understanding this distinction is vital. As we plan for staff training, we must cultivate a space where values are not just articulated but are actively integrated into every aspect of camp life. This means having open dialogues about what our camps stand for—whether it’s integrity, fairness, or compassion—and ensuring these values are deeply embedded in our actions and policies.
By doing so, we fortify ourselves against the confusion that can arise when beliefs—however strongly held—cloud our judgment or contradict our foundational principles. Like the lesson I learned above, aligning with our values empowers us to make decisions that are not only right but are also reflective of who we are at our core. This alignment ensures that in times of difficulty, our values shine, guiding us to act with integrity and wisdom.
Talking about and understanding your camp's values isn't just a procedural step or another box to check; it's a commitment to ethical leadership and responsible stewardship of the young lives we are privileged to influence.
