11:30AM-12:30PM - It's Fine, We're Fine, Everything's Fine
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Parks and Recreation professionals often operate in dynamic, unpredictable environments where traditional team building models can fall short. Whether managing summer camps, community events, or recreational programming, staff must work collaboratively under pressure, adapt to last minute changes, and maintain a positive group dynamic, all while engaging the public. However, formal team building initiatives are often low priority due to limited time, budget, and staffing. As a result, team cohesion is frequently built (or broken) in the moment, during real world challenges rather than structured training sessions.
This session is designed for frontline staff, supervisors, and program coordinators in Parks and Recreation departments who work in group settings and rely heavily on day to day collaboration. These professionals often juggle logistical demands, community expectations, and limited resources, making informal team-building especially valuable.
While there are many resources on emergency planning and communication, few sessions directly address how staff can strengthen their teams organically through shared challenges, humor, and peer support in real time program settings. Staff need practical, low barrier ways to build trust, resilience, and camaraderie without disrupting workflow or requiring formal retreats.
This session fills the gap by offering fun, interactive, and immediately applicable strategies for building team cohesion in unpredictable environments. Participants will walk away with concrete tools, shared language, and a renewed appreciation for the team building potential embedded in daily chaos. Rather than adding more to staff to do lists, this session reframes what they’re already doing as an opportunity to build stronger, more connected teams.
Speakers - Jaclyn Ciardi & Maureen Sammon