So I have my new staff starting today!!! So awesome, I have also worked different camps with different staff and had a colleague come to my site so lots of ways of putting things in perspective. I saw how a lot of people worked, and learned from what happens at other sites. They have some of the same issues, I know the higher supervisor level says we should not keep poor staff, and I see it all over, and we need to face the reality of how hard these conversations are, the process, the staffing while we get better staff. It is not just making a decision and plowing through.
I started to feel like I was a bad person for being ready to let my one staff go, and encouraging it. We have been back 2 days and I don't feel bad about it. Now how to have the conversations, I had one with her before the break about her tone with me. It went well, I felt like I was effective. She caught herself being negative and changed it right after our conversation. However her issues are deep. So yesterday her tone with the kids was so bad that I had to step in. Of course another conversation is needed. I had to leave camp yesterday with a debrief, so I sent her an email with tips and encouragement. It is both to keep it positive and to show that I am doing the work to train her.
Now I have to have another conversation, and we all know this is on the edge of her losing her job or at least not getting promoted. Maybe there are no tips or tricks, I just know that I need a lot of some type of support to keep going.