In an earlier blog post and in this podcast, I mentioned adoption of a single golden metric as a tangible practice that camps can learn from Corporate America. As a reminder, a golden metric is the key measure of success for a company, defining the relationship between the customer problems and the company’s offering. Golden metrics are non-revenue figures that signal the health of the business. For example, Doordash’s golden metric is meals delivered and WhatsApp’s golden metric is messages received.
Knowledge of a singular golden metric gives a company and its employees increased focus and a real-time scorecard. It unites a team towards a goal, importantly a goal that every member of the team can influence.
I believe the golden metric for well-established camps should be staff retention.
If you can nail staff retention, everything else falls into place…
- Returning counselors drive elevated staff engagement,
- Your full time team can spend less time hiring, and
- The training you invest in these young adults is able to compound over multiple summers
The most likely people to be successful working at your camp next summer are the people that were successful last summer. Cracking the nut on staff retention should be your camp’s #1 aim… but it’s also one of the most challenging puzzles to solve.
At the WAIC conference I shared 6 ways that corporate practices can be implemented at camp to drive greater staff retention. These ideas generated the largest amount of after session questions and led to a lively dialogue between the camp professionals in the room.
I’ll share these staff retention insights and many others from my presentation in April, following my presentation at the ACA National Conference and the ACA Tri-State Conference. If you’ll be at either of these conferences, drop me a line – I’d love to connect!
The Camp Consultant 
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