Good trip leaders go one step beyond: the dos and don'ts of trip leadership

In 1969, when I was a college student, I decided to take a break from bunk counseling duties and try my hand at trip leading. By August, I had earned the honor of leading the camp's annual Delaware River Marathon and was put in charge of eight senior campers for a heralded six-day canoe trip from the mountain headwaters to the ocean.

Three days in, we had experienced nothing but continuous rain coupled with exhausting head winds. Everyone was wet, tired, and cranky. Cooking fires wouldn't work in the rain and we had run out of fuel for the pack stove. Several canoes had swamped, one had been carried off by the river while we slept, and we had left our spaghetti pot - a vital piece of river gear needed to cook large group dishes, make hot drinks and soups, boil water, and mix dry food - behind.

Things were deteriorating rapidly, so I reluctantly announced my decision to pull out at the next boat launch and call the director to pick us up - a decision I thought the group would welcome. I was wrong.

In that darkest moment, Doug, a thirteen year old with a stubborn streak, rescued me and saved our trip. With exaggerated defiance, he stomped down to the river and struggled to right a canoe by himself. Just as he was about to launch the canoe, the other campers got up, one by one, and walked over to where the boy was standing. With a simple pat on the back or a touch of the shoulder, they acknowledged the leadership and began preparing the other canoes for launch. Suddenly, for the first time in three days, we were a team. I had learned the most valuable lesson of all.

To that point, I had assumed that the role of trip leader was solely that of a guide - showing the clients pretty scenery, solving their problems, waiting on them, and simply allowing all to have a good time while I made the decisions. Now I realized that the river was a tool. Its purpose was to take campers beyond their comfort zones and put them in a position where complacent and dependent behavior fail, where they would be forced to experiment with new roles and new confidence. Only when campers are pushed beyond their comfort zones does true learning and emotional growth begin.

My assignment as trip leader was not to ensure a nice hot dinner, but tO build a team capable of accomplishing the goals without dependence on me. Like a successful coach, I had to prove the importance of each person to the team and then allow the team to go out and win or in this case, conquer the river.

No team succeeds until its members meld into a workable support network capable of meeting the emotional needs of the members, establishing a new, extended comfort zone where each can safely function. A challenging trip forces camper groups to seek and discover this lesson. For a trip to be more than just fun, staff have to be willing to adjust their own leadership style to be supportive and not domineering. The idea is to shed the parent role.

When a group has learned to support its members and the natural leaders have stepped forward, then you know you have done your job well.

Dos and Don'ts of Good Trip Leadership

Do

1. Gather before the trip so campers can learn where they are going. Use maps, slides of previous trips, and briefings from campers who have been there before.

2. Allow campers to plan details and set goals. Use your influence, but not your veto power, to guide their decisions. If campers pursue what you feel is a bad choice, bite your tongue and remember that the best learning experience is discovering how to do better next time.

3. Let the group make its own duty roster in advance. Allow group members to agree on how chores will be done around camp, who will do them, and what the ground rules will be.

4. Teach everyone about maps and compasses. In the field, allow each camper to help lead a leg of the trip.

5. Do a mini-test run a few days in advance. Practice duties and review safety steps. It's better to discover that someone is ill-prepared for the trip before you have started.

6. If a situation gets out of hand, use a time-out procedure. Call a break and encourage a discussion of the disruptive behavior. Make a ground rule that discussions focus on positive ideas, suggestions, or solutions. Allow peer pressure to help make the solutions work.

7. Practice democracy. On the trail, allow campers to participate in decisions and come to a reasonable consensus. Have confidence that this practice will allow good leaders to emerge and good decisions to be made even if they are not decisions you would make. Encourage quiet or reluctant campers to speak up by frequently asking for their opinions.

8. Use the evening campfire as a moment for teaching. Set aside time each night for group processing. Start by asking each camper to share his or her own special feelings about the day and to report on at least one new thing that he or she saw, did, learned, or felt. Allow campers to bring up and discuss any problems or concerns. Then have the next day's leaders orient the group to the next leg before breaking out the guitar and marshmallows.

Don't

1. Don't adopt a dictatorial style to ensure safety. Safety is important, but the leader who dominates every decision destroys confidence and group dynamics, setting up sure failure later.

2. Never assume! Grant freedom and independence, but be realistic. Work discreetly to check those things that need checking and do it in a way that gives campers quiet confidence and reinforcement rather than the feeling that you are always checking up on them.

3. Don't compromise safety. Learn the camp's written policies and procedures. An accident tends to happen the one and only time you make an exception. Allow your campers to learn from the bad decisions they make, but never from the dangerous ones.

Michael Peterson is a Camping Magazine Editorial Advisory Board member and the director of YMCA Camp Ralph S. Mason, in Hardwick, New Jersey.

COPYRIGHT 1997 American Camping Association
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