The Three S’s

Keys to a successful aquatic operation

By George Deines

With the summer season upon us, aquatic operators across the country are preparing their facilities, training their team members, and doing their best not to pull their hair out! Seeing that facility operations require an immense amount of time and attention, it’s critical that operators focus on three primary areas to ensure success: safety, service, and supervision.

Safety
Success begins with safety at any aquatic facility. Unconscious incidents start with three primary causes:

• Lack of lifeguard recognition or response
• Lack of parental supervision
• Some type of facility issue.

Operators must try to mitigate and even eliminate employee behaviors that lead to these incidents. Lifeguards must be trained to stay attentive at all times, limiting their interaction with guests while on the stand. They also must understand their zone of protection and what portion of the pool they have responsibility for guarding, as well as having the proper supervision from management, whose sole job should be to ensure lifeguards stay attentive, vigilant, and ready when a situation presents itself.

Operators must communicate the importance of parents always watching their children and being within reach of them. Proactively and strategically placing signs around the facility will help communicate this, while also having the lifeguards and managers on-duty taking action when they see children in the pool without any adult supervision.

Mitigation of risk-related issues rounds out the list of the primary areas of unconscious incidents. Incorrect lifeguard-stand locations, surface glare, and cloudy water are only a few items that operators need to address when training their team and running a facility.

Knowing these primary causes and incorporating them into lifeguard and supervisor training will help a team better identify high-risk guests, stay vigilant throughout the season, and take weekly in-services seriously.

Service
The quality of service at an aquatic facility will make or break an operation when it comes to attendance and revenue. Aquatic professionals want guests to praise their facility and experience (i.e., not complain), they want them to return to the facility, and they want them to tell their friends about the great experience they had. This starts by knowing what guests want and why they complain. Guest complaints can be categorized into five primary areas:

• Facility issues
• Policies and procedures
• Experience
• Personnel
• Food and beverage.

When training supervisors and guest-services team members, at the beginning of the season and throughout the season during in-services, daily training scenarios, etc., focusing on these areas of guest complaints and satisfaction will help a team be proactive and with a better overall picture of the expectations of guests.

This starts with overhauling policies and procedures, making sure supervisors address the safety of employees and guests first and foremost, while also providing an enjoyable experience at a facility. Cleanliness, for example, plays a huge role in a facility’s success. Remember that guests don’t come to an aquatic center because of the cleanliness of the bathrooms, but if they aren’t sparkling clean, guests might not come back!

While not all guests complain, those who do most often complain about a facility’s personnel. More specifically, they complain when employees don’t exhibit effective knowledge, efficiency, or engagement. Guests want employees to know the answers to their questions, to be efficient, and to do their job with a certain sense of enthusiasm. And, don’t forget about food and beverages, which always need to be of good quality, priced inexpensively, and served quickly with a smile.

Supervision
Safety and service must also be coupled with—and implemented by—supervision! Supervisors must have good vision, communicate well with team members, work hard, and display great character. To have supervisors reach this point, aquatic operators must hire for attitude and then train for skill. This doesn’t mean that supervisors should be hired with no aquatic experience; it means that people should be hired who mesh well with the vision of the aquatic center, and then be trained on risk management, leadership and supervision principles, guest service, and effective communication with employees. It sounds simple, but it will take time to fully develop a training program and bring it to fruition. The implementation of best practices for safety and service rely on hiring and training quality leadership.

While not the only keys to a successful operation, safety, service, and supervision top the list for aquatic professionals to focus on when training a team. Training doesn’t only occur at the beginning of the season, for every interaction with a team member is an opportunity to reinforce principles of safety, service, and supervision all season long.

George Deines is a Project Manager for Counsilman-Hunsaker, specializing in aquatic master planning, business planning, feasibility studies, and operational training and development. Reach him at georgedeines@chh2o.com.