Spring Break or Breaking Point?

Spring break is when the outdoor recreation industry shines (or in some cases gets run over by a train). With every family in the country getting a week off from school between March and April people are looking to play in the different ways that they recreate.

Whether you are a winter operator wrapping up your winter season or a summer season provider, spring break is when your staff is being pushed to their limit.

travel trends by adults in the united states from 2022 to February 2023

1 Share of US adults who said they will travel for leisure in the next three months according to Morning Consult

So what can you do about it? Below are the benefits of holding a staff check-in and 3 ways you can implement these check-ins with the few weeks left before summer or the end of your season.

Table of Contents

Benefits of regular check-in meetings with staff
Three ways to implement a staff check-in NOW

What are the benefits of holding regular check-in meetings?

1. Creating a Culture of Feedback

By scheduling and actually holding regular check-ins with the staff, you are showing precedence that giving and receiving feedback matters. Feedback within the workplace can impact overall performance as 72% of staff surveyed said they thought their performance would improve if their managers would provide corrective feedback.

In our recent blog on 7 Impelementable tactics to increase staff retention, Jack Marti, Go Ape's Manager of HR and Organizational Excellence shares a few examples of the impacts of a communicated and value-driven culture within an organization. Jack emphasized the importance of ongoing check-ins with staff to help YOU as leadership makes adjustments in the business.

If the two points of intentional communication between you and staff are when someone is hired or when they leave the company, you are missing key information on how their experience could help you shape culture, processes, and benefits.

2. Assumptions vs Reality

Many times as managers or owners the assumption is that your staff like things the way that you like them - usually because no one is telling you otherwise.

Generational and workplace expectations are changing, if you have staff that ranges in age, and cultural background, or are simply new (to the industry or working in general) then you have different people having different expectations of how their work experience should be.

The best way to know how your staff feels or what they need to be successful is to provide them with a regularly expected check-in to ensure everyone is on the same page. It's worth noting that making sure you are asking questions to help you understand their expectations will be essential (refer to the Come Prepared section below).

3. People Who Feel Heard Stay Longer at Their Jobs

According to Office Vibe, 54% of employees who recently quit felt undervalued by their company, and of that group, 52% felt undervalued by their direct manager.

Your staff wants to share how they are doing and to be either recognized or acknowledged for the work they are doing. It is not enough to assume that as long as they are showing up on time and working that they are happy.

Holding a regularly scheduled check-in can provide the platform for you and your staff to connect on how everything is going and gives an opportunity for acknowledgment or feedback.

Ok, so you can see there are some tangible benefits of holding staff check-ins, but how do you do it?

Below are 3 ways you can implement staff check-ins NOW.

And why just after spring break is a great time to start!

1. Keep it Short and Sweet

Check-ins do not need to be an hour spent with each staff member. Although some issues or topics may arise that you will want to dive deeper into a check-in can aim to be roughly 15 minutes.

Set the expectation up front that this is a quick meeting to make sure you are on the same page.

2. Come Prepared

The quickest way to turn a brief, 15 min check-in into an hour-and-a-half operational explanation is to not have a focus for the discussion.

Come prepared with 3 questions:

One that is open-ended and valuable for the employee.
1. Examples: What is one thing you wish was different about the way you have to do your job?
2. What are some examples of great feedback that you have received [from customers or other staff] in the last couple of months?
One that is useful and informative for you.
1. Examples: What is one thing you are noticing at work that you think I should know about?
2. What are some problems that you have seen that you think you have a solution for?
3. How do you think our customers perceive our business?
One that allows you insight into the culture of the organization?
1. What is the thing you hear staff complain about the most (don’t name names)?
2. Would you be interested in more employee gatherings/benefits/education?
3. Do you have any close friends here and why do you like that person?

Using focus questions like these will help you stay on track and allow you to dive into the meat of what is happening under the surface of the organization. If you learn something interesting that needs more time make a note to touch back on it - AND FOLLOW UP. This way you can stick to the short and sweet effort but also the purpose of this meeting is to learn what you don't know so make sure to do something with what you learn.

3. Spread The Workload

Time is a resource that is limited for everyone. Leaving check-ins (even if they are 15 minutes) just up to chance means that they won’t get done. But you do not have to be the one hunting down each staff member.

Here are a couple of ways you can share the workload of this effort:

If you are an organization with layers of leadership, appoint your managers with the responsibility of coming up with a schedule or plan of attack to check in with staff and allow them to hold the meetings.
- The upper-level leadership should then do check-ins with managers as well.
Create a booking portal using Calendly or some other calendar booking platform and allow staff to book time with you directly. This takes a few reminders to make sure they get it done but once they realized the value of the check-in they will know what to expect the next time.
- Or if you are using the Flybook software, schedule an activity for the check-in and directly assign yourself and the staff member - this allows you to notify them and keep them from being sidetracked to a different engagement.
Make a list of staff and choose 2 people each day to meet with. This is a less structured option that puts the onus on you as the organizer but also allows you the flexibility to slowly connect.
When there is truly no time left in the work day, ask staff to come in 15 minutes early (buy them a coffee or have them clock in) and have the check-in then.

Although these meetings are best conducted in person or over video call sometimes there are other pressing priorities. A way to still create an avenue of connection is to create a survey to share with all staff. This also requires some reminders to get people to answer but can be a great starting point if you can't get face-time with all staff.

Implementing this practice can do wonders for company culture, business innovation, and staff happiness and retention. Want more proof? Refer to the additional resources for more articles on the value of meetings for retention.

Ready to start? The time is now.

The short time after spring break is a great time to start because regardless of the season you primarily operate in. Whether you are wrapping up your season or just getting going spring break is when your staff will either be new and freshly trained or seasoned and maybe a bit burnt and ready to have a break.
Holding a check-in now will give you the opportunity to show them you see them, you care AND to be able to catch operational issues that have arisen so you can fix or adjust.