Interim Directors' Training

Interim Director and Executive Director Camp, 

Conference, and Retreat Center Training 

Join the ecumenical training for Interim Directors/Executive Directors:

• Build on your present skill set

• Learn the nuts and bolts of an interim season according to the type of interim, as well as assessing and addressing anxious, grieving, or reactive systems

• Engage with other experienced Directors bringing together decades of learning and leading camps, conference, and retreat seasons

• Gain confidence in knowing when to act and when not to act based on stated and perceived urgency in an interim setting

How It Works:

• Each week for 10 weeks join a 2-hour Zoom call

• Read articles and (2) books before class which further inform the learning process

• Can’t make a meeting? While it is best to be present to learn with others in the class, all sessions are recorded and available to watch afterwards.

Class times:

11:00-1:00 Pacific time

12:00-2:00 Mountain time

1:00-3:00 Central

2:00-4:00 Eastern

August 20th  Meet and Greet Information Session:

Wednesday, August 20th, 11:00-noon Pacific / 2:00-3 pm Eastern

Zoom link (all are welcome, no registration required)

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Class Session Content:

September 2^nd, 2025 – What is an interim season?

• Purpose of Interim season 

• 3 types of interims; nuts and bolts 

• Setting goals for interim season

• Suggested MOU 

September 9^th, 2025 – How to make decisions during a liminal time?

• Discernment during a liminal time; how to listen for what is and is not being said

• Seeking clarity regarding decision-making and authority – who supervises me; when do I ask for permission to make changes?

• Procedural vs. operational decision-making

September 16^th, 2025 – How to care for ourselves during an anxious time?

• Two-way mirror of self-awareness 

• Practical self-care in an interim season 

September 23^rd, 2025 – How to help your site find their next, right person?

• Appropriate role of interim in search for settled Executive/ Director

• 9 areas of expertise needed in a camp, conference, retreat center Director and why this knowledge is important – how to engage Search Committee in this conversation 

September 30^th, 2025 – How to help systems during transition?

• Conflictual, anxious, grieving systems 

• Role of pastoral care and non-anxious truth-telling during an interim season

• Review of two-way mirror of self-awareness

• Introduction of conflict management type assessment

October 7^th, 2025 – How to productively engage conflict? 

• Conflict Management continued – discussion of individual preferred conflict management style and when to stretch into other styles

• Five levels of conflict and how to assess conflict level of system

October 14^th, 2025 – The importance of establishing RACI 

• RACI as a way to create more effective leadership and governance of site/s– Who is Responsible? Who has Authority? Who is held aCcountable? How is Information shared? 

October 21^st, 2025 – How to use a Healthy Camp Checklist? How to create greater inclusion of others in the site’s program and in its decision-making

• Healthy Camp Checklist – importance of best practices; how to explain best practices when there is resistance to change

• Inclusion of new populations, programs, and paradigms into camp community 

October 28^th, 2025 – What to do in a crisis, known and not known?

• Crisis Management - how to act when crisis is known going into the interim and how to act when crisis becomes apparent during your service 

• Malfeasance, financial crisis, criminal activity during previous leadership tenure 

November 4^th, 2025 – How to create a healthier decision-making culture at your site

• Changing Culture – working to create healthier decision-making culture; high possibility for culture change because of liminality of interim season; assessment and discerning whether to observe and report, take action and how, or actively choose not to act 

• Character types and patterns often found in interim seasons with practical guidelines 

In-person class gathering* following the OMC Great Gathering, November 13-14^th. (Great Gathering dates are November 9-13, 2025.)

• Case studies created from real life situations 

• In-depth discussion of books and articles 

• Panel discussion of ecumenical leaders regarding present trends and suggestions regarding interim service 

*If participating in the in-person class days, students are responsible for booking their room at Lake Junaluska for Thursday night, Nov.13th. Call 828-454-6710 and ask for Elizabeth Burson, Conference Coordinator Specialist; to request your room from the Healthy Camp Leadership block.

About the instructor, Melinda Trotti:

Melinda has served as a Permanent and Interim Director/ Executive Director at UMC, UCC, and Episcopal camp, conference, and retreat centers across the country. She has taught graduate level Personnel Management for Not-for-Profits. Certified as a spiritual director and trained as a professional coach, she brings her faith-based community organizing experience and commitment to justice to all that she does. Her consulting firm, Healthy Camp Leadership, works with centers in conducting searches for Interim and settled Directors/ Executive Directors. Melinda consults with judicatories and boards to create healthier decision-making cultures, so that that their strategic plans can be successfully implemented for financial and mission-driven sustainability. She has previously served as co-instructor for the Interim Camp Directors’ Class and has written articles about interim camp ministry used in a variety of formats.

Tuition: The cost is $950 per participant. Scholarships may be available from your camp, conference, and retreat ministry association.

Registration Questions? Contact Jen Burch

Class questions? Contact Melinda Trotti