The key is people management. A skill that finely balances a friendly, fun working environment with enough authority to ensure tasks are completed fully, promptly and to a high standard. 

There is no one method to successful people management, but below are some tips to get you started:

• Think about who your team are. Most activity leaders are students, and therefore your team are likely young and inexperienced in the workplace. They are, however, adults. You should speak to them in a way that demonstrates you are aware of all these factors. Do not expect inherent knowledge based on experience, from a team who may have never held a job before. Your role as a manager of young people is to build the maturity, confidence and intuition that comes with working under a strong manager.  

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• Show respect. Speak to your team and manage your team as you would like to be spoken to and managed yourself. 

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• Be fair and consistent. Special treatment often does more harm than good and should be avoided. All team members should be treated fairly, and all workloads, tasks, reprimands, or praise should be consistent throughout the summer. There is nothing worse than being criticised or punished for something that the day before another team member was laughing and joking with the manager about. 

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• Lead by example. A Language in Action summer management role is not the role for an office manager who sits and barks orders at people. You should lead your team from the front, displaying a positive attitude and a willingness to get stuck in. Never ask your team to do something you wouldn’t be willing to do yourself.  You should demonstrate in your efforts, the work ethic you expect from your team. Leaders Eat Last'. A phrase that summarises what your approach to work should be. Ensure that your team are fully equipped to fulfil their tasks before you begin your own tasks, take breaks, or days off. If you have a task to complete, demonstrate to the team that you don't stop until that task is completed

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• Demonstrate Trust. Assign tasks and delegate duties as required, putting trust in the abilities of your team. You cannot run the summer programme alone, nor can you rely on micro management. Set clear goals and tasks, review progress and expect results. Your team will grow stronger if you trust in their ability to complete the tasks you set. If they fail at a task, review with them team member, set clearer instructions and outline how to succeed next time. 

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• Give praise and feedback. Let your team members know they are doing a good job, that their work is appreciated, and if necessary, where they can improve for next time. Again, your team are young and inexperienced in the workplace, praising their actions will go a long way to building their confidence as the summer progresses.   

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• Thank your team. Every single day. When they leave for the day, when the work is done and everyone is going back to the residence, let them know that their work is appreciated with a simple thank you. It really goes a long way after a long, challenging day. Try to be specific, pick out a task they achieved, or something you think they did well at.

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• Remember we are a family. Family look out for each other, work together and help each other. They support each other and aim to get the best out of each other. Your team are your family, and you just lead by example in everything you do. 

In any workplace, there can be problems that need to be dealt with by the management team. In a summer programme the necessity to fix problems quickly and efficiently is even higher as most team members and management will be living in residence together, as well as working together every day. 

As a manager you must be able to identify problems before they arise, and wherever possible, work at reducing the risk of a problem.

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You and your team will all work long hours, in a city they are unfamiliar with, away from their friends and family, whilst having to live with complete strangers and trying to do a completely new job with a lot of responsibility for student safety. You must always be aware of this, and try your best to mitigate these burdens wherever possible.

If you do encounter problems within your team, speak to them. Ask them what the problem is and how they think the problem can be solved. Perhaps it might mean adjusting the rota, or maybe moving people to other group supervision. It might mean shifting tasks around or swapping someone’s day off. Often just listening and offering words of support is enough to reduce tension levels. 

The summer programme is too enclosed, and too intense to be a manager that comes to work, does the job, then goes home, keeping a distance from their employees. Be approachable and maintain an open dialogue with your team. Don’t lock yourself in your office all day, then head straight to your room, but instead try to find the time to socialise with your team. 

You should arrange team social events for each turn, providing an opportunity for the entire team to relax, you included. Karaoke, family meals, pizza nights, game nights, whatever you and the team would like to keep morale high, and tension low. There is a budget available for team social events, speak to your area manager for more information.  

For more information on this see section 2.4 Down Time

It is important to arrange regular (minimum weekly) team meetings, and more importantly to stick to scheduled meeting times. You should demonstrate the importance of professionalism and punctuality through your behaviour and approach to team communication. 

Meetings should be concise, useful, and informative. They should be planned in advance with an agenda, so the meeting stays on focus and doesn’t just turn into a big group discussion or last for hours. Everyone is working hard over the summer; meetings need to be used for discussing important information and feedback only. 

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A typical meeting should cover the following points, but each meeting will have its own dynamic points that are date or site specific.

• student concerns

• feedback on activities/excursions

• upcoming excursion schedules

• team rota

• group timetables

• information about turnover days

• pack lunch delivery information

• updates from Area Managers

Managers should allocate times for one-to-one meetings with each activity leader to discuss their performance, progress and any questions or concerns they have. It is often all too easy to be ‘too busy’ to conduct one-to-ones, particularly with stronger, more competent members of the team, where it seems ok to say “hey, you’re doing fine, we can probably skip the one-to-one”. This is not good management. Each team member deserves their chance at a one-to-one, and fairness and openness are important. If the team member is doing great, sit them down and tell them exactly what you though they did well at – be specific, and show them that you have noticed their hard work, that they are doing well, and set them goals for further improvement. 

For more information on what should be in the meeting see the Team One-to-One template on the Staff Drive. 

A strong manager is one who is able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their team and can adapt the workload to get the best out of each of them.

If you notice that one particular activity leader is particularly confident with larger groups, speak to them, give them the positive feedback and tell them that you are going to focus their work more in that area. Likewise, if you have an activity leader who is quieter and more reserved, and is better suited to smaller, more well-behaved groups, start by focusing their role in that area.  

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You will notice that some activity leaders are more skilled in organisation and logistical planning than others. You can utilise these skills by asking them to help around the office one or two shifts a week – this could be checking excursion plans, tickets organisation, transfer scheduling. Meanwhile, the activity leader than is no good at logistical planning might be great at getting students interested in an activity, or might have a background in theatre and performance, so they could run the Karaoke night. 

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As Activity Leaders become more comfortable with their role, you might want to give them new challenges or tasks to help develop their skills on the summer programme. Invest the time to explain and monitor Activity Leaders, and utilise your Senior Activity Leader for support with the team.

If you notice anyone who stands out as a potential future manager, speak to your Area Manager sooner rather than later. There might be the opportunity to train them in Senior Activity Leader or Management roles as they work.