May 30/06: It's so hard to find good help these days. I never understood this phrase until about a year ago when I started hiring staff to help me run my business. Now I know what all my previous employers went through in the 37 odd jobs I did before I got into something I loved. This Spring we decided to bring in some help because two of my long time friends and helpers Bryan Tait and Bruce Geary are pursuing other things at the moment: Bryan is down in Seattle taking his unrestricted surface supply commercial course, and Bruce took a job at DND dock yards working on subs, and wanted the summer weekends off till further notice. So I found myself in unfamiliar territory; hiring new staff is no easy task. To be honest, I’m a control freak and feel like I must do everything myself. One must learn to let go and trust in others: lets say it together... "leeeet gooooo". And I really wanted get competent trustworthy types who were only interested in learning and becoming part of a team. Besides, we really wanted avoid last years debacle, being overworked, and then ultimately worked over. So this year I thought we’d be a little more selective. And we also instituted another policy: if you’re afraid of getting a bad apple out of the bucket then pick it off the tree, or even better, grow your own tree. We have 6 new DM’s for the summer, Kandice Parker, Scott Duxbury, Derek Thorgeirson, Carl Powell, Jeremy Oatin, and our new instructor Brian Lougheed. I’m really having a good time so far training our 4 new DM’s and it's going to be good for them too, having others to feed off of and compete with. I met Brian Lougheed almost three years ago when he started coming into the store. Through conversations over the next while I got a really good feel for the guy (please don’t take that the wrong way, I’m not into big guys with tattoos). He just seemed really down to earth and friendly, plus he had some recent experience working for Frank Whites dive shop. I have been trying to get Brian to teach for us since then, and I’m happy to say I finally got‘em! Watching him prepare for classes this week I was amazed at how well he was prepared. He knows all of the new PADI multimedia better then I do and utilizes it to the student's benefit. He showed up on the first night with all his own training materials including quiz answer sheets, test books, releases, ect. It seems his former employer didn’t have some of that stuff ready all the time, so Brian started bringing his own. I had good chuckle over that one. It doesn’t surprise me that store is no longer in business and it’s manager is cutting trees for a living now. It’s really nice to see an instructor really take pride in what they are doing. He is also an excellent public speaker and has a presence; he has the attention and respect of the class. This is a trait that I feel I have as well and I think it is pivotal in being an excellent instructor. Meanwhile, our four Dive Masters in training were getting their butts kicked in my super intense Rescue Diver course. Kelly and I, over two days, ran them through drill after drill, scenario and test; some of them not scheduled. On Saturday Kelly started the course with the academics, video and exams then headed to a local site to start the fun stuff. I had a dive charter that day with three ladies, so essentially I got the day off. When we all arrived back at the store that night our team was exhausted. They were all dragging their butts and all of them had big smiles on their faces like they had just climbed Everest or something. Day 2. I decide to teach day 2 of the rescue course on the boat because we do so many dive charters I thought it would be good for them to have some experience in that department. Besides getting more of a feel of urgency because you’re out at sea, working drills on the boat adds another facet to the program. Our last drill was particularly exciting. While at anchor I had my two DM’s hide themselves off our starboard stern side and got our rescue divers to find them after surfacing from a mock dive. The fun began when I realized that I had set them up for failure by underestimating the current running past Little Shell Island’s south bay. Not to mention they were already nearing exhaustion from previous scenarios, I wanted to give them one more chance to perfect their new art. After finding and surfacing the two missing DM’s they started swim back to the Fathom 5, and were caught by the flooding current. YAY!! Time for boat rescue drills!! I thought this was perfect and I was having a blast with it, while my students were paddling with noodles for arms and legs and with looks of hatred for their instructor on their faces. Once we had everyone safely loaded and laying like collapsed broccoli on the front staging deck of the boat I saw that look on their faces again (the Mount Everest one). It was a tough day and I don’t give out certifications just for showing up, and there isn’t one of them that doesn’t beem with pride and accomplishment having made it through mine and Kelly's torture test. Welcome to the team. “Breathe Continuously” Dan Sidney Dive n Surf |