Summer Camp Takeaways for your Team

Labor Day is on our heels. School supplies are flying off the shelves. Lots of kids are back to the classroom. But before I sharpen my pencils and crack a fresh notebook for myself, I’ve been giving summer one last look to see what we can carry through from sweaty season to sweater season. So maybe we can all take a page from the tested-and-proven philosophy of summer camp to bring some camp spirit to your everyday:

1. Meet new people: Have great colleagues? Awesome. Shake it up with some new ones. Ask someone to coffee. Push yourself to grab lunch with someone new. Say yes to that happy hour invitation.

2. Give those new people a fair shot: One of the things about sleepaway camp is that it lasts a while. The kid you thought might be your bestie turns out to be boring; and the one you thought looked at your funny turns out to be super fun. So maybe make it two coffees, or two happy hours before you count a new colleague out.

3. Be (at least a little bit) uncomfortable: The power of camp is that you’re forced to be uncomfortable – whether in the dining hall, in the lukewarm shower, or in some activity that pushes your boundaries. You don’t have the option of all your creature comforts. It builds resilience and as a result, more adaptability. So try a different tack on your next 1:1s with your reports. Take an alternative route to solving a product glitch. Push yourself to raise your hand for something you’re not quite sure is in your wheelhouse.

4. Be messy. Literally or proverbially. There’s freedom in not being so neat and tidy. Go into a meeting and throw ideas at the wall. Say the thing you’ve been wanting to say even if you’re not sure how it will land. Dig into the details even when they are a little gnarly and outside of your scope. It might unlock stuff you didn’t even know would excite you.

5. Laugh a lot. Professional identities are complicated and work is hard. It’s easy to get too wrapped up in all of it. Loosen up a bit. Be a little silly. A good old giggle is a great antidote to a stressful situation. Better yet, if you can manage a solid, belly-aching laugh with colleagues, you’ll all remember it forever.

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