Summer Camp and Business?

I went back to my summer camp’s 75^th reunion in 1999 and found an unlikely model for business excellence.

For six summers I was a camper a YMCA Camp Widjiwagan in Ely, Minnesota. “Widji,” as it is referred to by all who know it, is not your average “Y” camp. You don’t go here for archery, riflery or arts and crafts. Widji is about wilderness travel, which has usually meant canoeing, be it in the Minnesota-Ontario “Boundary Waters” or on a chilly and desolate river in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Friends of mine who know Widji have ribbingly called it “Camp Sparta.” I call it my secret inspiration.

As a camper, when you arrive at Widji, after a five hour bus ride from the Twin Cities, you’re immediately joined by your “group,” four other campers and a counselor. No one has generally met the other members of their group before they arrive, so you’re usually feeling a bit uncomfortable, but you quickly feel glad that you’re part of the group. (I was told recently that other camps put people who know each other into teams, but Widji chooses the more anonymous approach, because they believe that prior friendships may inhibit the full team-building experience.) The team then begins two to three days of intensive training in “The Widji Way.” The business corollary to “The Widji Way” is “standard procedures.” There is a “Widji Way” for just about every aspect of wilderness travel and most of these Widji Ways have been memorialized in written documents. The Widji Way covers:

• Putting up and taking down a tent (always with drop cloth under the tent; campers always clean out the inside of the tent prior to taking down; no shoes are ever allowed inside a tent).
• Packing a pack (smooth items are always packed against your back for camper safety and comfort; a liner is always placed inside the pack; campers never yank on the leather straps to close the pack but instead pull with one hand at the junction of the strap and the pack and use the other hand to close the pack).
• Landing at a portage (a portage is a the stretch of trail between two lakes; it is also the verb for the heavy carrying of canoes, packs and gear through buggy, muddy, rocky and inhospitable terrain; there is a Widji Way for how to land and unload your canoe at a portage).
• What the bottom of a canoe can touch (air, water and bread dough).
• How to rest with a pack on your back during the portage (leaning over, rather than resting your pack on a rock while it is still on your back).
• Pushing off rocks with your paddle (with the butt end).
• Brushing your teeth (don’t spit it out your toothpaste into the lake; spit it onto land where it won’t cause extra algae to grow).
• Going to the bathroom on the trail (bury it or bring it back).

In my first couple years at Widji, I, like many others, rebelled from all these rules and procedures. In later years, I became an ardent supporter of The Widji Way because I understood the purpose. Businesses are no different. Most have standard procedures for how they do what they do. And many employees rebel from these “rules” because they don’t understand or don’t buy into the purpose behind these “rules.”

The Widji Way can be distilled to a few simple principles:

• Make good use of your resources. Widji has, it seems, forever been strapped for cash. Therefore, the camp takes good care of its assets. If you’re carrying a pack on a portage and want to rest, it’s easy to keep the pack on your back and plop the pack onto the nearest rock. The problem is that when the pack meets the rock, the pack can be easily ripped, costing the camp a quick $100. It takes a bit more work, but if you simply lean over and put your hands on your knees, your back gets a rest and the pack remains undamaged. Another example of resource care is canoes: Widji has used wood canvas canoes since the camp was founded in the late 1920’s. The canvas on these canoes will rip if they are run aground and, therefore, the only three things that can touch the bottom of a canoe are air, water and bread dough. When a Widji team gets to a portage, you will see each member of the group spring out of the canoe prior to the canoe bottom touching anything, all to protect their canoe. This not only saves money, it leads to a safe trip.
• Safety first. Widji is consumed with the safety of its campers.
• On my trips, at the first hint of lightning, we would pull onto land, despite however badly we may have wanted to keep going.
• In addition, we only shot rapids after careful scouting of our path. It was hard at times to watch other canoers, not from Widji, paddle up to a set of rapids and quickly shoot the rapids. It seemed like a lot more fun. But it only took one story of a group being swamped because they didn’t scout the rapids to understand Widji’s widsom.
• No food or toothpaste was allowed in our tents lest a bear think that something tasty was inside.
• Leave it better than when you came. When a Widji team gets to a campsite, you will often see the group cleaning up the litter (other people’s litter!) and putting it into their packs to throw out when they get back. And if there’s wood scattered about the campsite, the group will use this wood first in their campfire.
• Sing! The Widji Way encourages taking joy in the moment. Songs are sung after every meal in camp. On the trail, singing breaks up the monotony of paddling across long lakes. For years, Widji has published a songbook of all the favorite camp songs. One of the highlights of my reunion trip was purchasing a copy of the songbook. I can now be spied on the highway, one hand on the wheel of my pickup, another with my songbook, singing hokey camp songs with a big grin on my face.
• Write it down. Widji has chronicled itself for years, from the details of The Widji Way to the names of its campers and each trip they took. Widji even has a log of every canoe and every trip it has taken. Widji cares deeply for its past and thinks hard about its future. Widji knows that when something is written down, it is more likely to be clearly followed and less likely to be forgotten.
• Contemplate. The Widji campfire is a touching and beautiful experience of song and sharing. It’s hard to describe, but being there with a group of people with whom you have shared the experience of wilderness travel, singing, lighting a candle, reading a verse from Sigurd Olsen, one feels alive and a part of something everlasting. I am Jewish by faith and, even though Widji is a Christian camp, I have always felt that the Widji experience knows not religious bounds.
• Love. It’s always been clear that the leaders of Widji love the outdoors and their camp. This deep care permeates and drives everything that Widji does. The leaders of Widji have every intention of seeing that their camp will last for another 75 years.

How many businesses have this kind of enthusiasm and love devoted to their operations?

To learn more about YMCA Camp Widjiwagan, visit www.widjiwagan.org.