Arrive early

Schedule your staff to arrive at least 15 minutes before the students arrive.  Make sure they have enough time to collect their supplies, organize their clipboard, prepare their table and prepare snack.  Everything that needs to be ready, should be completely ready when students arrive.

Greet Students

Are your group leaders standing at their table or assigned area when students arrive?  They should be.  Train your group leaders to greet each child individually, using their name, when they first arrive.  They need to strike up a little bit of conversation with students and ask about their day.  Really devote some time to making students feel special when they get to your afterschool program.

Give Down Time

Just as adults want to relax for a few minutes when they get home before starting on dinner or chores, students want to relax, too.  Give about 10 minutes for students to just sit and chat when they arrive to the program before you start making any announcements or sending groups off to their assigned activities.

Giving students time to relax and creating a warm, welcoming atmosphere for them when they arrive will help make your afterschool program something that students look forward to.  This can boost your attendance and reduce behavior problems because you have created a calm friendly environment where students want to be.

The key to retaining staff and keeping them happy is building a community.  Here are some suggestions on how to begin.

Teambuilding Activities

Find a way to turn your staff into a team.  No, not by doing “teambuilding” exercises from a book, but by consistently doing things together that everyone enjoys.  In one of my entry level jobs, all five people in our office would have lunch together almost everyday.  It gave us a chance to talk and get to know each other.  Over time, that camaraderie translated to our work.  If one person was trying to finish a project, another would ask if they could help so everyone could leave on time.  Find something fun you and your staff can do together on a regular basis.

Provide Useful Training

Most of your group leaders are not planning on being a group leader forever.  They are probably using this job as a starting point to help them meet their final career goals.  Therefore, try to provide as much useful training as possible so they will feel like their time in this job is not wasted.  For example, train all of your group leaders to do data entry on the computer.  You get extra help and they get a marketable job skill.  Continue to offer additional training and coaching so they feel like you care as much about them as you do the students.

Praise Your Staff

When someone does well, let them know.  A little bit of sincere praise can go a long way.  You don’t always have to buy something big or give them a bonus (although those are great, too) you just have to pull the individual aside and tell them exactly what they did right that day.  This might be difficult for you at first and you may think you sound silly, but trust me on this one.  Practice, “you did a really great job on ____” in the car on the way to work if you have to.  This will get easier the more you do it.

Lead By Example

If you are excited about the program and eager to work every day, your staff will be, too.  If you are dedicated to making your program great for your students, your staff will be, too.  If you mope around and whine and complain all the time, your staff will, too.  You can’t act one way and expect them to act another.  Lead with what you want them to follow because for better or for worse, you will have the program and the staff you create.